Today was my first full day with Pria. I think the crazy, party-life Rio that the people in the hostel seem to discover all-too-often is over, but it’s been replaced by a really nice family, homestay kind of Rio that I feel extremely fortunate to receive. I’m sharing a room with Pria and grandma, as I mentioned before, and I honestly already feel like this family is my Brazilian host family. We just click.
They’re literally feeding me whenever they get the chance and are so worried about every little detail and making sure I'm OK and safe. They tried to get me to stay a day longer, too... and I looked into it... but I have to be in Sao Paulo to meet up with the camp people and we already booked a place to stay there, so I booked the bus today with the dates I had previously scheduled.
After sleeping in today, we enjoyed a low-key breakfast in the apartment: bread with salami, this cheese-spread stuff I love called requeirao (sounds like “he-ce-jsoe” – had it last night on little balls of fried cheese called pao ize queijo (which sounds like “pon- chee - kee - sue”) and coffee. Pria’s mom was also making French toast, or rabanaza (sounds like “harbonara”) for lunch, but we basically just got ready to go and left to catch a bus to the city so we could explore for a bit.
Bussin It
On the ride into Ipanema (where I got my ticket) and downtown (where we had plans), Pria pointed out a lot of areas I'm not sure I would have noticed otherwise, including the Santa Marta favella. Santa Marta was the favella in Michael Jackson’s music video (which attempted to bring attention to the poverty here) and was successfully and peacefully occupied by the police earlier this year, so that the drugs have apparently stopped and it’s now safe to go through.
We got off at my old neighborhood (if I can afford to call it that) in Ipanema in order to get my bus tickets out of Rio. While the ticket wasn’t too hard to sort out, thee were already getting booked out for the first few days of the year so was glad we went when we did.
“Hav - ah-ai-nish”
On the way back to the bus, we stopped in a few shops and to try the Ovomaltine-flavor McFlurry at McDonalds, but it had started to pour (like really pour, tropical-rain-style) when we were ready to roll so we decided to duck into the Havianas store to wait it out.
Havianas are getting pretty popular everywhere, so you might have heard of these sandals before, but it seems like literally everyone here owns a pair of the Brazilian shoes (although it seemed like literally everyone in Sydney had them last year, too).
When we got to the store, I was really shocked by how decked-out or expensive some pairs were (they had silver and gold ones with diamonds that were over $100!!) were, but we started talking to a saleslady who explained that it was much cheaper to get personalized sandals if you had them custom-made. We were still waiting for the rain, so I looked into it and, sure enough, the woman was totally right. I got a ridiculous deal on a brown pair that I had two little diamonds added to.
Downtown
Once we finally got going, we hopped another bus (dodging the massive puddles and spray that soaked the crowd at the bus stop everytime a car whizzed past) and headed to the central business district to see the museums and public library, which also has exhibits. I rode through the area on my first bus ride into town, but I was totally blown away by the atmosphere of the old city, where we got off. Old, European structures literally housing exhibit after exhibit. Side streets with cobblestone and outdoor cafes. Brightlight colored buildings. Church spires and bells between rooftops. And later on, confetti all over from the businesses who decided to celebrate their last working day of the year and begin the New Years festivities now. Exceptionally charming.
Pria brought me to the Centero Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), a huge library, business building and museum, free to the public. They had two cool exhibits, one about shapes and lighting and the other about currency, which were impressively done. Currency isn’t always the most exciting of subjects, but they had put patterned windows into the floor, so it looked like you were walking on coins, and had currencies of all forms from ALL over the world. They had a cool exhibit on different Commonwealth notes (showing Queen Elizabeth, and also the notes depicting her at different ages) and also a progression of the Brazilian money, which dropped three zeros from its currency as it emerged from a financial crisis about 20 years ago (i.e. 5000 Reals today isn’t exactly the chunk of change it was in ’88). Pria also told me stories about when the money changed and other exhibits she’s seen at the CCBB. Really lovely afternoon.
We walked around for a while, despite the rain, but it was too late to go to the library or national museum so we just peeked in from the outside. Then we went to get train tickets for tomorrow night, and I was totally shocked to find that a) you can’t just buy a regular ticket, but have to get a special ticket for New Years, b) the New Years tickets were sold out at most stations, c) the trains will run all night tomorrow so we can totally go home whenever we want (good because I’m going out with Pria, two of her friends and maybe some of my friends from the hostel) and d) there was an insanely line for the SUBWAY tickets (not even the event) once we had found a station that still sold them. I think it’s safe to say tomorrow will be huge. This will actually be the first time Pria and her friends go to Copacabana for the big party. Most of the caprianas (Rio locals) go to another beach or house party, since there are millions on the beach, but I convinced them to come with me and I think it will be fun. Worth seeing at least once ;)
Tijuca - My Brazilian Home Sweet Home
Well, anyways, now we’re back home. Pria’s mom made us dinner (wasn’t wild about the farofa – sounds like “farfe” – but loved the empadao – sounds like “impardon”… and there’s a “chu” or accent somewhere in there…) and we’re going to watch the movie we rented, Woody Allen’s Match Point. It was kind of fun to go to the video store because they have a section here called “cult” (along with Drama, Comedy, etc) that included a LOT of my favorites, including all the Woody Allen movies. Pria and I have the same taste in movies and MP comes highly recommended, so I’m excited about a low-key night before tomorrow.
So, I will close by saying I hope this finds you well and if I don’t get a chance to write until after the celebrations tomorrow… a very HAPPY NEW YEARS from me to you!
I couldn’t be happier to be here right now, but my mind and heart are definitely missing certain people and certain places. Stay safe and miss you. Here’s to the best year yet. Love, Bren
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