Rio kind of became like a second home to me after staying there for about a month. Just about every day in this city brings an adventure.
Carnival was craaaaazy!! You couldn´t go anywhere in the city without running into a party! I went to catch the metro and a bus to the beach with some friends... there was cheering and singing and from somewhere would always come the sound of bongos (or else people slamming their hands on anything they can find to make a beat), and all this in the line up for the metro ticket, waiting for the train, waiting in the line for the transfer bus, and then on the bus!! Once at the beach side road, it would take 40 minutes to walk what normally would take 5-10 minutes... people were wild... the only way to get through the crowd a bit quicker was to jump and dance past everyone. On the sand there were also thousands of people going off to the trucks slowly driving down the street, pumping samba, funk and other random music while people would carry along and sell food and beer. People would pack into city streets all over Rio to see these bloc parties. Some of the best were in Santa Teresa... the outfits were incredible... I even saw a guy dressed as an id card??
But the best party I went to during the carnival was in a petrol station funnily enough! I have never seen anything quite like it!! A cars boot was let open to blast an echoing mix of funk and techno throughout the station while people in crazy costumes sprayed white froth from a can into the air. This was all fun and wonderful until everyone suddenly dispersed and the music cut... a man was being kicked and belted on the ground by another few men.
Just down the street, another cars boot was open and funk was blaring out the speakers, as another samba bloc party closed in from the other side of the street. Something that I saw shocked me. Little girls as young as 8 or 9 were dancing in the street to the funk music... but dancing like prostitutes would, and all with the guidance from elder women. All in bikinis and short shorts, they crawled on the ground like cats and shook their behinds, with men four times their age watching!
At one of the bloc parties I saw a rusta family standing at the tram stop with their dreadlocks and guitars. Just behind them, police got into their cars and left their machine guns resting, pointing out the windows.
At Lapa every Friday night, even without it being Carnival, thousands pack to the streets to dance and party. Under the huge concrete arches of the tram bridge there´s always thumping and drumming, and the wasted alcoholics lay twisted on urine filled stairs while children pick-pocket or work selling gum.
One night in Lapa an elderly woman leisurely walked down the street, naked, scratching her bottom, and passed by the shops, by the clubs, by the people waiting at a bus stop.
But that was only a small incident compared to what I was to witness one sunny morning on the bus on the way to my friends house. Here´s the story: I happen to come across a quite famous man known as ´The Kisser´. He is called the kisser because he used to run onto onto the soccer fields of stadiums in Rio and hug and kiss the players and the coach. The people used to dislike what he did, until later when he became well known which even helped gain publicity for the matches.
So anyway... my friends Daniel and Claudio and I were sitting on the bus when this ´Kisser´ guy began to play with the windscreen wipers!! We were sitting up the back but could still hear the commotion going on and the drivers annoyance. Suddenly the kisser disappeared and then came towards the bus from behind (next to where we were sitting), with a huge boulder... holding it in the air, he was planning to throw it through the window!! The bus couldn´t move anywhere as we were stuck in traffic! I screamed and ran up the front of the bus as I didn´t want glass smashed all over me. Then he disappeared again!! About a minute later he was at the front of the bus, smashing the mirror out with a huge plank of wood! I managed to take a photo of him as the bus finally could drive off, and after he saw me take the photo, he blew me a kiss... I just stood in awe looking back at him.
During the less heart attack times of Rio, I managed to meet some awesome people, some who I shall remain friends with for life. In the house where I first stayed in Rio, I was supposed to only stay a couple of days... a month later I left. This house (Natalia´s and Gabriel´s) and their neighbours (Santiago and Fernando), always had many travellers passing through and staying there for a few nights. I met during this month four french people, a Belgium guy, a Canadian, a person from England, someone from Argentina, two guys from Italy, a couple from India, and also many Brazilian friends of Natalia and Gabriel. I also met a few Brazilian friends including some Leonardos, met with a friend I had met in Tefe, and stayed in the house of local Brazillian´s, Hercules and Daniel, with one of my now best mates Claudio (from Chile). Through Daniel, we met his wonderful sister who had us over for lunches and barbeque's, and we went out dancing with them and their friends. It has certainly been a very multi-cultural experience for me in Rio.
What a great place to have to wait for a new passport to be processed... especially during Carnival!!
