We spend 4 days in total in Rio because, we plan to go to Buenos Aires and then return here for Carnaval. While we're here we don't do very much and certainly not many touristy things. We figured, while we can hang out with Aldri, who is a local, we might as well do the local thing.
One day though he takes us to a waterfall inside the city. He said not many people even know it exists. We take a 20 min taxi to the park and as we pull up to the entrance the car gets stopped by police. They are stopping everyone and checking for drugs. We all get out of the car and as Rich gets out the cops see him reaching into his pants. This immediately sets them off as they think he is trying to hide something. They make him undo his pants to see what he was stuffing down them. Fortunately they realize he was just trying to get our ID's from the money belt he wears under his shorts. Good thing Aldri was there to explain or else Rich could've been facing a full cavity search. (Or, maybe thats what he was trying to achieve?) When we finally make it into the park, we realize why Aldri made us wear our sneakers, we have to do a 20 min uphill hike/climb to get to the falls. It's well worth it though because the waterfall is very pretty and it has a little pool you can wade in. What a great oasis right inside the city.
That night Aldri got us tickets to a jazz show he was going to with a friend. Aldri is an actor and his friend is an older woman who was in a play with him. She is really sweet and very funny. She kept telling jokes, which Aldri had to translate for us. I really wish I could speak Portuguese because she would be really interesting to chat to. Ah well. The jazz singer was pretty good and the performance was in a small intimate venue.
After the performance, Aldri's friend dropped us off near an area called Lapa and we went out to party. Lapa is a kind of dodgy area in Rio where there are loads of bars and clubs. It's the sort of place that guide books would strongly warn you about, but it's well worth a visit. The place was hopping and loads of people were partying and spilling out onto the streets. Just a typical local Brazilian night out.
