Fairytale

I’m writing this from my hostel room balcony, which overlooks a narrow alleyway, lined with apartments and hostels (including the entrance to where I’m staying). The warm summer weather whispers tales of a wispy summer night, but one would never know we were located in the middle of one of the most popular areas of a major global city; the 10pm noise curfew means the parties, guests and neighbors have retreated inside and the only noises are the soft, swift sounds of the fans overhead and an occasional car honking in the distance.  A bird chippers intermittently.  There is a gate at the entrance of this little outlet, big and black, twisted wrought iron, now locked for the night.  I have a key, but I won’t use it tonight. 

Although it’s not more than 50 meters long, the alleyway is lined with large, potted plants; small, gentle trees with blooming dark pink flowers grace the cemented pathway that leads to stoops and colorful doorways.  The door to my powder-colored house is red. 

The image conjures up a very distinct and vivid memory of a moment in time when I was 19, walking along a narrow street in Crete with my good friend Joe and two comrades we had met on the boat from Athens.  Soft pedals fell through the air, past vine-covered walls and similar narrow apartments, as we savored the sounds of church bells ringing in the distance.  Mathias, the Polish guy, makes a comment about how that very moment, a stance in time, was his perfect, his ideal.  If he could be anywhere, he would wish to be in that scenic, elegant street exactly as it was at that moment.  It was like something out of a movie.

And sitting here now, I am reminded of Mathias and that experience.  Again, the overwhelming charm and solitude of the moment feels like a movie.  And I am blessed in some way to be the lucky girl with return tickets to this magical theater.

Ringing In Rio the Way It’s Meant to Be Done

Much has happened since I last wrote.  I’m going to break it down and this might be a long one, but I should just start by saying I am having the most amazing time. This trip is like a fairytale!

Starting where I left off, after resting for a few hours yesterday, I hung out in the hostel lobby (something out of an Amelie set) to relax, get my bearings and to email my parents to let them know, well, I made it alive.  

As I was doing my internet stuff, the guy sitting at the computer next to me struck up a conversation.  It turned out he was also in grad school (MBA) and visiting from Miami with his brother, on break from med school.  We chatted for a while and when we had both finished with our respective emailing, I joined Ari (the new friend) on a little adventure to find this synagogue he wanted to go to later on and to check out the scene at beach (Ipanema, a few blocks down).  When Ari had to get back to meet his brother, I chose to stay at the beach for sunset  (totally stunning) and made plans to meet up with the guys later on since we were all heading to the Friday-night street party in Lapa.  I had also made plans to rendezvous with people I met on the couchsurfing site, so it seemed like a good plan to meet for drinks and split a cab.

Christmas Mass

After catching the sunset, I spent several hours wandering around the streets of Ipanema, grabbing dinner (a franfile at Bob’s; took me a while to figure out that once you pay in one line, you get in another line to submit your paid order to get your sandwich) and doing some window-shopping, (definitely an upscale area, but everything was closed for the holiday).  As I was getting close to the hostel, I ran across an absolutely gorgeous church and noticed I was right on-time for the evening Christmas mass!  I joined the crowds and found a seat inside.

The Church was Catholic and Christmas mass was completely in Portuguese, but I sang about half of the carols (quietly) in English and tried about half of them in Portuguese (which I am sure other people found funny if they heard me). It really wasn’t hard to know what was going on (it is a ritual, after all, right?) and even though I have zero experience with Portuguese, it sort of felt like cheating to be able to somewhat read where we were in the program since the language is written with the roman alphabet (something I appreciate after being in Japan and struggling with the Chinese characters for so long).

To be honest, this Christmas was feeling a little weird, primarily because it’s a) warm, b) being spent far away from family and friends and c) sort of uneventful (in terms of actually celebrating the holiday).  It’s true that this is my fourth Christmas in a row outside of Minnesota (or even the country), but it’s still a little sad to be so far away from loved ones at a time when most people celebrate being together, and I think being able to attend mass (something traditional and important to this day) made up for a lot of those feelings.

Once mass ended, I opted to just head back toward the hostel to get ready to go out, but there were a lot of people out in the streets and many of the parks I passed were decked with blue and white Christmas lights and Christmas signs.  One bank even had carolers standing outside, belting out songs for the crowds.  Awesome vibe.

La-La-LAPA

After getting ready, I met the Miami boys at the bar on the corner and the three of us cabbed over to Lapa, passing through Copacabana and other areas of town on the way.  I ended up missing the couchsurfing crew, but we ran into a French girl Ari had met, and hung out with her and a group of fellow travelers (from all over) for a few beers at one of the open-air bars (best service I’ve seen in a while and it was $7 for the three of us to drink for an hour!).  Lapa is not supposed to be the safest area (they tell you not to wear any jewelry here, for one thing), but I felt totally at ease with my two new friends around and had a grand time wandering the streets and going from bar to bar.  I also discovered my new favorite drink… the Brazilian capriana: loaded with sugar, lots of lime slices, and it packs a strong punch (but I'm a fan).

The whole Lapa event was less of a street party than I would have expected, with most of the action coming from the pumping-clubs (playing samba) or open-air bars, but I think Christmas probably had a lot to do with it.  It was a very pretty area, though; what I imagine Cuba to be like.  There’s a large, white aqueduct splitting this section of town into two areas, with a lot of old, low buildings, many of them with paintings and graffiti on the side.  In contrast to the large, shiny office buildings peaking over the roofs from a few blocks down (the business district??), it definitely took on a lot of old-world charm.

House Party

I have no idea what time we left Lapa (it had to have been late considering the Lapa party didn't really get  going until 12), but after a while, the guys got ahold of a Brazilian friend (-of-a-friend) on their cell and we hopped another cab to meet them at a house party.  I still have no idea where we were, but this was by far the coolest house party I’ve ever been to; definitely what they are meant to be.  There was a bouncer at the gate of the mansion, but our names had been added to the list, so we went in to meet the friend (a really sweet Brazilian girl, prob about 20) and her friends.  The backyard was sprinkled in palm trees and they had put up a bar in front of the house.  Most people were dressed up. It was formal in a sense, but totally laid back.  Loved it.

Needless to say, I didn’t make it home until the morning, but I had such a great night chatting with new friends and sipping sweet drinks under the stars - a wondrous welcome to this place, which gets a bad international rap for being dangerous, but which I would (based on my first day) argue to be made up of so many kind, passionate and lovely people.

Saturday

Once I did make it back, I accidentally fell asleep in the bed across from mine at the hostel (no sheets and I was very confused when I woke up), but once I was up, I decided to take it easy for a while and just relax and do some studying/reading at the beach.  I packed just what I needed in a day bag, layered on the SPF50, and found a nice little spot between the yellow umbrellas and towels covering the white sand on Ipanema.  The reading only lasted for about 20 minutes, as I was kept having to wipe my eyes because I was sweating so much from the sun, but it was still nice to just enjoy the weather and lay out for a while.

Santa Theresa

As I mentioned in the first few posts, I had secured an amazing deal staying with a woman in Santa Theresa, which almost seemed too amazing to be true.  I've been emailing with a girl from couchsurfing for a few days and decided to cancel my reservation to stay with her family, but I still needed to find the ST place to deliver the vitamins I picked up for Solange (the woman I've been emailing with, who asked me to get them).  I was still skeptical when I took the bus over to her area of town, but when I got off the bus in Lapa to walk up and first saw the area, I swear I literally gasped in awe.  I’ve heard Santa Theresa is beautiful, but I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful the stone-clad streets would be.  Very nice, seemingly safe and amazing ambiance.  Along the way, I had some trouble finding a street, so I stopped to ask a family sitting outside where to go.  They insisted I didn’t walk alone (typically of older women being protective) and hailed down a van/bus to stop and let me in, telling them where to take me.  We passed a few pairs of policemen on horses, but otherwise, the streets were somewhat lit and the area didn't seem bad, but it was probably good to play it safe.

In the end, Solange and the house turned out to be very real and I was again blown away by the homestay location, which turned out to be a sprawling Spanish-style mansion on the mountain, with a marble swimming pool overlooking all of the city.  I almost got emotional seeing the Jesus statue, shrouded in clouds amidst the sunset – one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve encountered in a while – as Solange was giving me a tour.  Even though I told Solange I wasn’t going to stay, she and I really clicked and I spent a while hanging out at her house and chatting with her family.  They made me stay for a drink while and tried to make me stay for dinner, while we chatted about school (her daughter is 25 and a law student, the other two were playing in the pool) and other things.  In the end, though, it was getting late and I needed to get back to the other side of town, but if I ever come back to Rio, I would love to stay in this place!  I already feel like the family is my host family here after less than an hour talking.  But sometimes you just know...

Saturday Samba

So of course, even though I was tired, I didn’t exactly make it home straught away.  As I was walking back to the bus, I passed a vintage clothing store and popped in to look around.  I’m trying to be good and not buy much (because I already have too much stuff and I can’t carry that much now anyways), but - again, of course, I found the perfect white dress for New Years and it was a steal, so I had to get that (ok, and  a black bag that I think will be good for toting books or whatever back in Boston).  As I was about to leave the shop, again attempting to just head home, I was drawn instead in the opposite direction, up on a hill towards the sounds of loud music coming from a community dance hall.  I could hear the music from the shop asked the girl working there what was going on  and she told me (in the usual communication dance/ charades) that it was a samba party and it was OK to go.  So that’s how I ended up at one of the Saturday samba parties…

When I made it up the stone steps, the scene unfolded and I saw the source of the music: a samba band sitting around a table in the middle of this open pavilion, playing enthusiastically as a packed crowd danced and sang along.  Some people had also brought little picnics and were standing at the tables around the outside. I bought a beer from the bar (a bunch of kids with coolers in the corner of the room) and joined in on the dancing for a while, watching as people of all ages danced together around me.  My friend wasn’t kidding about all the pretty people in Santa Theresa, even though most at the party were older than college-age -  it was electric. 

I stayed for a while, but once I finally left, I did finally make it down towards home again, going back to Lapa by bus, passing an old-fashioned theater (like Amalie or the theater in Inglorious Basterds). 

Waiting for the Bus

I think I almost got mugged as I was standing at a stop, waiting for my next bus, but a Brazilian guy stepped in and saved/defended me, apologizing for the guy who had screamed at me in Portuguese (tried to whisper something in my ear and backed me into a stone wall… so not cool).  

I was also pretty proud when I figured out what bus to take, how to pay when you get in (sort of a little gate system where you pay an attendant and he lets you through) and recognized some of the sights near where I am staying (about 30 minutes from Lapa), so I knew when/where to get off.

When I got off, I asked this old man eating a sandwich that looked amazing where to get food and he brought me to the restaurant he had gone to and helped me order the same thing.  Delightful guy - turns out he had lived in New York for a while.  Even better sandwich.

Back at the hostel, there was a big group hanging out in one of the hostel lobbies (because of the noise curfew outside), but I just hung out with some of the people I had met for a little bit (a girl from England, the Norwegians, a British guy working at the hostel and a Brazilian guy) before calling it an earlier night.

And so here I am...

Sitting on the balcony and trying to catch up. Enjoying the summer weather.  My roommate is sleeping and I think I’m also going to head to bed, but what an awesome beginning to this trip.  It feels like I’ve been here for much longer than a day… I think I am falling in love with this city!