It's Raining on the Boy From Ipanema

Greetings Everyone:

 

Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you all went out and bought lots of flowers, cards and chocolates to help stimulate the economy and save jobs. 

 

Anyway, Sean and I finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Thursday night.  With a population of over seven million (almost 14 million in the metro area), Rio is the second largest and most famous (i.e. touristy) city in Brazil.  While we both have plans to re-visit a couple of places during our remaining time in Brazil, this is probably the last new city we will visit in Brazil and in South America.  Unfortunately for us, we seem to be experiencing a repeat of Florianopolis as it has been raining here in Rio since we arrived.  We're staying in a hostel in Ipanema (see our location on the itinerary map), which, along with Copacabana, is one of the most popular tourists neighborhoods.  And it certainly feels that way.  Just walking around the neighborhood, you see more tourists than locals and sometimes, it seems like there is more English spoken on the street than Portuguese.  Ipanema also seems to draw a fair amount of gay tourists, although a lot of the ones we've seen have been the stereotypical old, fat, white men... the ones who can afford to vacation in tropical cities, stay in luxury apartments and rent boys for "companionship" during their stay.  Hmm, maybe I need to just break down and find one of these old men to finance the rest of my trip. 

 

Chris, our friend from back home, arrived on Friday morning and will spend the weekend here with us before he and Sean take off to Floripa on Monday.  I, on the other hand, will stay behind and probably head to Sao Paulo to meet my friend Marcin, who is arriving from Germany next Thursday.  The four of us will all meet up again in Rio after Carnival around the 25th.  Sadly, the weather forecast is predicting rain and/or clouds for much of the next week both here in Rio and in Floripa so who knows what the weather will be like for the official five days of Carnival.  Again, it sucks to be in a city known for its beautiful beaches and not be able to enjoy them due to the rain, but I guess that's the only good thing to come out of not being able to afford to stay in Rio for Carnival.  I would be really pissed if I spent $100 a night for a dorm bed in a hostel, which is what the rates are like for Carnival, only to be stuck indoors for five days and not being able to enjoy the beach.  Sure there are lots of parties and great nightlife and I'm sure Carnival will go on despite the rain, but all those activities and festivities are expensive and I can only party so much and for so long.  The beach is free and I enjoy it just as much, if not more, than any nightclub, so if I were to stay in Rio for Carnival, that's what my plan would be.  The weather in Sao Paulo looks like it will be a little better next week, so perhaps it won't be bad to stay there for Carnival after all.

 

Anyway, for now it looks like we'll just spend the weekend in Rio drinking and catching up with Chris.  It's so nice to have a friend from back home visit us on this trip.  After four months of just the two of us, additional company is a welcome change.  The extra person adds a new dynamic to conversations and Chris has always been good to talk to about politics and such.  Plus, I like living the kind of lifestyle where I can meet my friends in exotic cities and locations all over the world.  Sean and I also haven't gone out to bars and clubs much lately so it will be nice to check out the scene here in Rio.  They are supposed to be known for the music and I know a lot of international DJ's come from Rio; I'll let you know if they are any good.  It would be nice to do some sight-seeing, like see the Christ the Redeemer statue, but things like that are best appreciated on a clear day, which it doesn't look like we'll have this weekend.  I guess we'll leave that for the return trip after Carnival. 

 

Cheers,

Ozell