Just Like the River

Reveillon or... things to do in Rio when you´re sober

electric_scribe — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:39:00 GMT

So I´m not sure about you, but I definitely saw New Year's Eve (Reveillon, as they call it in Brazil) as a time to get dressed up, get wasted, and get to making your first bad decisions of the new year. Every year the very congenial Cariocas make room for some two million tourists, misconceptions and all, to come dance, drink, and pass out all over their beaches. While those blatantly shallow visitors who come looking for drinks and debauchery will find it, travelers looking for a deeper understanding of the culture of one of Brazil´s favorite seasons await a whole different side of the so-called party capital (I may be the only one who calls it that, but it still counts). I had hoped so, and so, besides an early shot of cachaça and a sip of cerveja, I approached the holiday with sobriety of mind, body, and spirit. (It also helped that my friend Justin from the icy north had shattered our bottle of champagne-- blame Canada).

For the Cariocas and Brazilians all over the country, Reveillon represents novelty, family, and maybe even hope. Beginning around 9 or 10 local time hundreds of thousands of men, women, sons, daughters, and babies dressed in all white in celebration of renewed annual purity flock to Copacabana Beach to watch the fireworks. Not so far removed from the roots of their early indigenous and African beliefs thousands of locals offer gifts to the waves in mock sacrifice to the Candomble Goddes Iemanja (a metaphorical equivalent of the Virgin Mary). Tradition says by offering lilies, roses and the like to the crashing surf, givers can get wishes in return. Very quid pro quo for an early civilization, even a western one.

There is music, food, and much celebration for those relatively early evening hours as revelers jock for positions on the sand. I was struck by the amount of children and babies strolling along the beach with their parents, but, as a local told me, after midnite, it's party time. In the moments leading up to the New Year, friends and families gather at the breadth of the tide to literally leap the threshold of the new calender. Jumping over the first tide on just the right leg and the following six with both, you can watch the excitement build with smiles and more than a few hugs. (Brazil more than any place in the States, is a land of tradition)

At midnite the magic happens. Preceded by a countdown in half a dozen languages, the fireworks in Rio are a sight you don't know you've missed until you see them.

This year, I stood with a few million of my new friends as we watch the trio of barges anchored in the Copacabana bay light up the sky with a brilliant display of pyrotechnics. I considered how I had never seen anything like it as the city was blanketed in its gray haze. It lasted over 15 minutes accompanied by a welcome and deafening chorus of cheers.

The partying, dancing and drinking don't stop until sunrise, but the experience is vastly different after the show. When it ends, my friends and I, like countless others in the sea of humanity, rush through the crowd under frantic and excited screams of "Feliz Ano Novo!" hugging and and kissing perfect strangers like dear friends. And for at least a night, we are.

Here are some additional vids of the chaos (sorry for the shaky camera work) including, a pre-celebration coconut on top of Arpoador, an introduction to some new friends, an Argentine friend explaining a bit about the flower tradition, me tossing a lily, and some general screams...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97D09y56Wvg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qs3UU5EoF8, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XC0U1VfKA0, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C4FvS-X4ZE

And of course our top video of the evening, the full fireworks celebration, is sadly so large it may take tons of future time to upload... But I promise its coming and worth the wait. :) (Disclaimer, I may sound pretty out of it but I promise I was totally sober.)

Day Three: Street Samba and Cachaça

electric_scribe — Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:49:00 GMT

The people in Brazil are instantly endearing. At first Rio´s few English speaking locals may turn off travelers looking for an easy time. It´s really ironic because one of my main reasons for not being the biggest fan of the city when I first arrived was how very Americanized it seemed, from KFC and Citibank right down to the Golden Arches.

Still, having encountered a few friends here at a party for Couchsurfers (see my last post) I decided it would be worth it to see things from the point of view of some of the locals. Totally worth it. First, a few disclaimers... Since I am typing this post a few weeks after these events, I have long since forgotten the way to pronounce many of these words correctly so forgive the stumbling in the videos.

I also usually do all the camerawork, and its handheld. So bear with me on the video quality. I spoke to a friend the other day at a hostel on Ihla Grande (more on that later) and realized that I have long since the beginning of my trip lost track of days (I can only hope I remember when my flight home is) so the titles and dates and times in my posts will be, shall we say, fluid... Finally, I realized that writing all of my posts is a much bigger time and internet connection commitment than I really can make. As a result expect many more video posts, with a bit of introduction and probably some larger posts about specific issues or cultural aspects (in the works). Okay, so thats pretty much it...

As for this adventure I met with some Carioca amigas for a street Samba in Centro (Rio´s financial district and city center). Cordão do Bola Preta was our destination as it is a very popular street during Carnivale, and for good reason. Along the way, I had my first churrasco, essentially seared beef from a cart. The ubiquitous snack is cooked over open coals on a grate, dipped in some kind of light herbs and veggie concoction and sprinkled with Farafo (a popular brazilian grain like cornmeal) and made popular by the cattle driving gauchos in the south of the country and continent. I sipped my first shot of Cachaça (a sugar alcohol made of fermented cane juice and served with honey and ginger, popularly, the main ingredient in Caipirinhas) and enjoyed some great music in the street before visiting the spectacularly diverse Lapa district. For culture hounds, Lapa is the place in Rio where I most felt the African influence, especially in a dance called Zungo, like the Nina Simone song. The Cariocas, even a bit drunk, were very friendly and posed and danced for my camera all night. They also kept saying I looked like some Brazilian soccer player, but that may have been the Cachaça talking...

Though most of these delights (drinking, meat, dancing) can be found in any of Rio´s many Churrascaria´s, bars, and per kilo restaurants, for my money, the best of all three are found in the hot sweaty Centro nights... Enjoy the video posts...

More links aqui... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_onSbYbwLY, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLsq3ueGS0Y, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4CSmk3Z0Ko, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0wzCU5j5QM

Zungo demo coming soon...

Day 2: The Beach

electric_scribe — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:50:00 GMT

[Sorry this is late, but life here in Rio is moving at a deceptively fast pace.]

On day the second I think I gave in to jetlag a bit more than I planned.

I slept for more than a few hours before I really did anything. (By the way, I´m finding it hard to tell time here and am thinking of dropping the date and time from my lexicon for a while...)

When I eventually woke up I spent the day in lounge mode. I went to the beach early and walked the shore for a bit. The view is stunning, though I suspect that I will say that a lot. Not just the islands and mountains though. I don´t know if you knew this, but many modern locals have zero modesty and Rio is possibly the thong capital of the world. You´ll have to judge for yourself when I get these videos online. There were plenty of Cariocas (Brazilian people) on the beach and I got to see some of the Kite Surfers riding waves and winds. I wrote for a while before my stomach convinced me to seek a new thrill.

I had a lunch of Bife a Cavalo (literally translated Beef Steak, Horse Style) which really hit the spot. It´s a local dish of black beans, rice and beef served with an egg fried hard and sunny side up. I wanted to order Sucor (Fresh Fruit Juice) but I made the "mistake" of getting Açai instead. It was a sweet cross between soft serve and smoothie made from the trendy berries and, if the picture was any indication, strawberries and bananas. Cariocas from all over Brazil generally enjoy it with fresh fruit on top and muesli (like granola). To be honest I don´t think I could take much more sugar even from fruit, but it was quite good.

At night, after a few drinks including another Caipirinha at the hostel, I headed out with a few tourists (a couple of guys from South Africa and my trusty sidekick, Badgers, or maybe I´m hers...) and we went out to a Couch Surfers party on Copacabana Beach. For the unitiated Couch Surfers is a website kind of like a social network that hooks up travelers with locals in lots of different countries who can show them around or let them crash. I met a few locals and we walked back through Copacabana and promised to meet up the next day for new adventures. Meeting people from neighboring states and cities like Sau Paolo, Niteroi and Belo Horizonte made for an interesting evening. Apparently Brazil, like America, has many states with their own capital cities, Rio being the capital of Rio. Someone should put this stuff on a map or something...

The night was a success. And I found 2 Reals on the lonely walk back to my hostel. It´s roughly a dollar American, but I strolled along under the moonlight along the beach and figured it was a fortune.

Please be aware it is completely possible that I have butchered the spelling (and pronunciation on video) of every single term I mention. Videos coming soon, I promise...

Day the First: Standby to Lose Everything

electric_scribe — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 06:39:00 GMT

I´m not one to complain (it´s my New Year´s resolution), but...

Of course, my flight to Charlotte was delayed. I arrived at the O´Hare in Chicago to discover that even though I got there around an hour before my flight was to leave, I was luckier than my companion. Badgers (my nickname for my friend from the dairy state) showed up a full hour before me, but I was able to book the last seat on an earlier flight to connect to Rio. Being the altruist I am (again a New Year´s resolution) I valiantly gave up my seat and my partner and I flew standby like a lesser Batman and Robin (I´m Batman).

On arrival in Charlotte I had been told to pick up my bags at the jetway. Sounded easy enough. We were actually ahead of schedule and my next connection (the flight to Rio) wasn´t leaving for an hour and a half. I planned to grab my bags, grab some food, and lounge the minutes away. This proved difficult as uppon exiting the plane I discovered the bags had either been moved or coated with some type of invisibility formula. I waited in the baggage claim for around an hour before my imminently boarding international flight forced me to head out. A cell phone call from Badgers forced me to leave my baggage in the same hands that had already proven themselves untrustworthy. Nevertheless I left my bag and sprinted through the security gate, and down the concourse to flight gate B12.

The missed call message on my phone and relatively calm waiting area reminded me that our flight was actually departing Gate D12.

Breaking in my new hiking boots with a sprint from the former to the latter gate, I eventually made the flight. After some nonsense about not having a reservation I basically entered as a personal guest of the Brazilian President, and spent ten hours being kicked in the spine by two brazilian boys and their father on a flight in my newly assigned "comfortable" seat.

We arrived to find our bags had decided to vacation seperately, and would probably arrive the next day. The taxi ride was enjoyable as I got a chance to see the Favelas (local slums) and Sugar Loaf mountain. As we caught a glimpse of the Christo (Rio's iconic Christ the Redeemer Statue) our taxi took us through one of Ipanema´s towering big brothers, the series of verdant mountains that surround the crescent beach. Unfortunately for me the anti-malarial meds I started hit me just then and I spent the remainder of the ride to our hostel trying not to flip inside out. I had nearly caused an international incident with our driver by losing a ticket for the ride, so I thought it best not to ask him to roll the window down or stop for air.

The address to our hostel proved to be some kind of clever decoy and we wandered around until someone pointed us in the right direction. It was an enjoyable walk though and we followed it up with a dinner of chicken and vegetables and Suco Manga, a smoothie-like mango juice that tasted very fresh. Next we explored the beach and promised to see it tommorow then tried to walk back to our hostel as fast as our flip-flops could carry us when the blue sky got all pissed and gray. Finally the day ended as our hostel worker/bartender fixed us a pair of Caipirinhas, a cocktail of sugar cane, rum and lime. It was probably the strongest mixed drink I´ve ever had.

God, I can´t wait for tommorow.

Things I learned in Rio so far: 1. If somone hands you a ticket, keep it. 2. Doxycycline is from the devil. 3. Suc0 is awesome. 4. Caipirinha is Portuguese for "hangover".

Peace. I´m goin to get one of those Coconuts with a straw in them. (Videos Coming Soon...)