Rio De Janiero, Brazil

Leave Sao Paulo very early in the morning. The taxi driver is driving very fast as there is hardly no one on the road. Suddenly there is a stalled car in front of us and the taxi driver is able to move to the other lane, thank God!!! Scared me!!! Try to buy another memory card for the camera with no luck and again in Rio's airport. Oh well, losing that camera has been a pain-in-the-ass! We are staying at the Premier Copacabana Hotel which is a very nice hotel and about 6 blocks from the beach, Pria Copacabana. Get our suits on a walk to the beach. Rio is a bit dirty and you have to constantly look out for your purse or whatever being snatched. We stop and have lunch across the street from the beach and I have the famous Sao Paulo sandwich called a Bauru. It is very good, with sliced beef, pickle, onion, lettuce, tomato and some special sauce on a crusty bread. The beach is huge with enormous waves crashing in and people are at the edge standing about knee deep to avoid being knocked over by the waves. Some people are riding the waves and a few are out past the breaking point and swimming. That is what I did. The water was warm but there is some debree in the water floating around. I have never seen so many people at the beach. It is similar to being at Miami Beach but there are vendors here selling everything. We find a place to sit on the beach close to the water and a young Brazilian guy tells us not to sit there as it seems to be in the path of the kids entering the water and truthfully, he wants us to sit near him and converse in English. Andre is a very nice guy who has lived in Boston for about 3 years going to school and wants to reciprocate the experience of Americans welcoming him. He buys us a beer and then I buy him and myself a second one a bit later. It is hot here and the beer tastes very good. We leave the beach to check out the street parade in Ipenema. Take the bus there and have my first capairhna (ca pa ree na) and have about 5 plus a beer in all the festivities of the parade. They are selling food at small stands and I get a grilled meat on a stick dipped in a sauce and rolled in bread crumbs. It was pretty good but the capairhna is awesome, my new favorite drink. Tastes similar to a margarita, but different. It is made with sugar cane liquor, fresh lime that is mashed in the bottom of the glass with the sugar, the lime is cut in small pieces with the end cut off and discarded as you don't want too much of the zest flavor, then the liquor poured on top over ice. Very delicious and YUMMY!!! We spot the end of the parade ahead of us and we make our way thru the crowd dancing with guys and getting into the celebration. It was great fun and I got loaded on capairhnas! I'd have never gotten back to the hotel by bus without Janeen, I would have had to take a taxi!!! I did go for a swim on Ipenema Beach that night and lit my cig w/the peanut guy's coals he kept the peanuts warm with. He gave me a bag of peanuts and I gave him a cigarette, such a deal!! It is raining when we finally make it back to the hotel. We go up to the pool to check it out, as it is on the top floor and the view is awesome. The next day we go to the beach again and I buy a skirt from one of the beach vendors. Janeen buys a skirt & top and we both get shrimp on a stick that are yummy. We bump into Andre again, meet his father George and have a great conversation with him. We also meet his sister who is studying to be a nurse and Janeen spends a great amount of time conversing with her. Later meet his Mom and take pictures of the whole ground. Very nice people. I get my ticket to go to the Sambadome tonight and it costs me a lot of money. That is what I came here for though is to see the Carnaval in Rio. Janeen does not go to the Carnaval. I get ready to go to the Carnaval, get on the bus to take us to the Sambadome and they give you instructions on how the whole thing works. You have a credit card like ticket that when you enter the Sambadome you use and never get back. You also have a similar card on a necklace and you use that everytime you want to go up to the bleacher sitting area to watch the parades. There is not assigned seats with the ticket I bought, your just on your own luck for a seat. I never get one but just end up standing on the bleachers with all the people. There are thousands of people here and probably 2,000 people in each parade. There are 7 parades on the two nights of the Carnaval, Sunday and Monday. I am at the Monday night show. The parades are all competing against each other to be the best parade of this Carnaval. I think there are 3 winners from all 14 parades, 7 on Sunday evening and 7 on Monday evening. The following weekend on Saturday they have the parade of the 3 winners. The parades start at 9 p.m. and go on till 5 a.m. or so before the last parade is over. The costumes are fabulous and the women are unbelievably gorgeous with very little clothes on. I get a capairhna and go up to watch the first parade. I meet John and Barbara who are from Greenich & London, but Barbara is originally from Brazil and speaks Portegese. I also meet Charles and dance the Samba with him. He buys me a beer and we dance in the bleachers (there is a picture downloaded of us). The first parade ends and I go downstairs to get another capairhna and pizza. Meet some gay American guys off a cruise ship from Buenos Aires and hang out with them between parades. Joe buys me some cigs and smokes them with me. I go back to the parade and cannot find Charles but spot John and Barbara again and join them. The parade ends and we leave the bleachers as John is buying us all capairhnas. Barbara has been communicating on her cell and finds a party to go to, so I join them. We leave the Sambadome and head for the party. I think we are now in Barra, an exclusive suburb of Rio with beautiful homes. We are in some club with a swimming pool and sitting area around it, another level with dancing and music going on. Very international group from all over the world. People are dancing to some music I really didn't like, more hip hop and not samba. I do dance and hang out and talk with several people. All of a sudden the sun is coming up. It's a very beautiful spot with a pool no one is in. The crowd has thinned out a bit, John and Barbara decide it's time to leave so we get a taxi. The driver drops them off first and John gives me the bulk of the cab fare, drops me off and I pay the driver the full fare. It is 7:30 a.m. and I come dragging into the hotel disappointed we have not exchanged email addresses. I never see them again but had a fabulous night in Rio with these two people. I go to bed until 10 a.m. and Janeen wakes me up to get breakfast. I drag my --- down and have breakfast. I'm sure I look a sight!!! Then back up to the room to sleep till 2p.m. Back to Ipenema Beach to see another street parade at 5p.m. We rent chairs and sit on the beach watching all the people. There is quite a parade of people watching to do on these beaches. It's a beautiful breezy day and we just sit there watching people and me recovering. Hear the parade and make our way across the beach to catch up with the parade. Again it is very fun and festive. Very much like the funeral processions in New Orleans. "Bite the dog that bit me" with another capairhna, buy some peanuts from the same guy as Sunday night, walk back to the hotel having dinner on the beach en route. Next day it is March 1st and my friend Karl's birthday so call him. Go to the beach at Copa and rent chairs, eat shrimp and drink my favorite again. This is our last night in Rio and we go to dinner at a very famous restaurant, Porcao in Ipenema. Fabulous place with the meat cooked on skewers and sliced table side of your choice. There is one fee for the meal and a huge unbelievable salad bar with sushi, sashimi, all kind of salads. When they seat you they give you this little paper disc with the picture of a pig's face on it. When you want the waiters to stop by your table with meat, you turn the disc face up. They walk thru the restaurant with every kind of meat you can imagine on a skewer and cut whatever amount you want. You are given these smaller tweezer-like utensil to grab the meat as he cuts it and deliver it to your plate. Salmon cooked perfect with lemoney sauce. The food was awesome but way too much. Back at the hotel I went to Jim's room, a guy I met on the bus to the Sambadome, for cocktails and a visit and to exchange each other's email address. To bed as we leave tomorrow for Fox de Iguassu......Iguacu Falls next........