Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Flashback: Brazil, July 28 2006
The following is an excerpt from my private journal about my trip to Rio in July of 2006. This was the day that we made it to Corcovado, but what I noticed reading this over a second time was how much emphasis I placed personally on the people I was with. With one or two exceptions, I've never heard from any of these people again. At the time it felt like I'd made friends for life... but that's what happens when you travel.
Some days I feel like I've done nothing, today I
Hector works at Trader Joe's in LA and is a real nice guy, he's traveling for two weeks - doing a few days in Rio, Iguacu Falls and then Buenos Aires. Emerson works for the Brazilian government. He works with projects that the federal and state governments are doing in conjunction with international organizations. He grew up in Brasilia so this is part work, part fun for him.
We finally got rolling out of here at about 11:30. About two hours after the plan. One of the things about being in a hostel is that when you find people to gang around with, it can take a while to get us all ready to do the same thing. Once we finally got out and ready to go, we took a bus to Corcovado and instead of the tram, the five of us split with a private driver. He took us to a couple lookout spots on the way up. (Corcovado is in an urban forest - a remnant of the rain forest that was around Rio years ago and some of which is still there to the north and south of the city). The views were stunning, you could see everything and the planes which were landing in the local airport (jet planes, mind you) are just about at eye level. It's a little nuts. After we got to the base of Corcovado, you have two options. Stairs (which give you more opportunity to pay ridiculously expensive prices for crappy souvenirs) or the elevator. I was all about the stairs, all about the new, slightly more aerodynamic, slightly less sloth-filled and gluttonous me. About half way up the stairs, I changed my mind, but it was too late to stop. Before long, I was at the top, with the same view that Jesus has.
Corcovado is the name of the mountain that Christ the Redeemer sits on. It was named it for the shape of the mountain, described as a hunch back. Atop the mountain is the statue, the largest art deco sculpture in the world. It really is a wonder and was built in 1931. One thing you notice from being that high is the smog. Rio is a city of ten million people who are letting a lot of crap in the air and the haze was so bad that the entire north end of the city was barely visible from the top of Corcovado. The south side was somewhat prettier. The water over the ocean helped to clear some of it off.
Rio never has many smog free days, but that's because its tropical, literally. It lies just north of the Tropic of Capricorn which means even winter days like today see highs in the mid 90's, like today. But I'm used to the heat now and it doesn't bother me much at all. But without cooler winters, the air is always hazy. Seems the colder the weather, the less crap you actually see in the air.
Our driver was very nice and on the way down offered to drive us through the Favela that he lives in. It's a pretty safe favela, or slum, but safe is a relative term. We didn't get out of the car, we didn't go there at night and I didn't dare pull out the camera. I just didn't want to lose it. The Favelas by and large in Rio (at least as the story goes) are kind of self-policed. Violently. And crime to people outside of the Favelas is just accepted as so. The biggest, baddest one of them all is Rocinha, which we did NOT go through. A couple of people in our hostel tried to go themselves, without a tour. They lasted two minutes there and came back to the hostel, not just lighter their wallets but their shoes and socks too.
Rio is not the safest place on earth, but usually you're OK as long as you're careful and not stupid. Walking into a favela unaccompanied is stupid.
After Corcovado, it was a quick ride back to the hostel for a couple minutes and then off to Ipanema for another afternoon at the beach. I tried to swim. The surf is high on Ipanema - and I found myself being turned literally underwater as the 7 foot waves knocked me around like a rag doll. It was both exhilarating and scary. Complete lack of control and you just pray to be alright in the end (but still a lot of fun) It's sort of like a bus ride in Rio.
Afterwords we saw the bar that Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz wrote The Girl from Ipanema. The bar is still open, now renamed The Girl from Ipanema Bar. We didn't get anything, but the bar across the street was having a Bossa Nova show today. I was all about the show and Emerson and I went after we hung out for live Samba music from two local Rio guitarists. Great music from two guys whose name I cant remember [ feel like I've done a lot. Our gang about Rio is facing some changes in staffing. Gone is Evelyn. Olivia did her own thing today - mostly the beach. Maria and Matthew and I were joined with two new people. Hector, from LA, and Emerson, from Brasilia, the country's capital.It was Antonio Carlos & Jocafi]. But it was wonderful and a great end to another day in Rio. I can't believe I really only have two days left on my vacation. Gotta make the most of it.
The following is an excerpt from my private journal about my trip to Rio in July of 2006. This was the day that we made it to Corcovado, but what I noticed reading this over a second time was how much emphasis I placed personally on the people I was with. With one or two exceptions, I've never heard from any of these people again. At the time it felt like I'd made friends for life... but that's what happens when you travel.
Some days I feel like I've done nothing, today I
Hector works at Trader Joe's in LA and is a real nice guy, he's traveling for two weeks - doing a few days in Rio, Iguacu Falls and then Buenos Aires. Emerson works for the Brazilian government. He works with projects that the federal and state governments are doing in conjunction with international organizations. He grew up in Brasilia so this is part work, part fun for him.
We finally got rolling out of here at about 11:30. About two hours after the plan. One of the things about being in a hostel is that when you find people to gang around with, it can take a while to get us all ready to do the same thing. Once we finally got out and ready to go, we took a bus to Corcovado and instead of the tram, the five of us split with a private driver. He took us to a couple lookout spots on the way up. (Corcovado is in an urban forest - a remnant of the rain forest that was around Rio years ago and some of which is still there to the north and south of the city). The views were stunning, you could see everything and the planes which were landing in the local airport (jet planes, mind you) are just about at eye level. It's a little nuts. After we got to the base of Corcovado, you have two options. Stairs (which give you more opportunity to pay ridiculously expensive prices for crappy souvenirs) or the elevator. I was all about the stairs, all about the new, slightly more aerodynamic, slightly less sloth-filled and gluttonous me. About half way up the stairs, I changed my mind, but it was too late to stop. Before long, I was at the top, with the same view that Jesus has.
Corcovado is the name of the mountain that Christ the Redeemer sits on. It was named it for the shape of the mountain, described as a hunch back. Atop the mountain is the statue, the largest art deco sculpture in the world. It really is a wonder and was built in 1931. One thing you notice from being that high is the smog. Rio is a city of ten million people who are letting a lot of crap in the air and the haze was so bad that the entire north end of the city was barely visible from the top of Corcovado. The south side was somewhat prettier. The water over the ocean helped to clear some of it off.
Rio never has many smog free days, but that's because its tropical, literally. It lies just north of the Tropic of Capricorn which means even winter days like today see highs in the mid 90's, like today. But I'm used to the heat now and it doesn't bother me much at all. But without cooler winters, the air is always hazy. Seems the colder the weather, the less crap you actually see in the air.
Our driver was very nice and on the way down offered to drive us through the Favela that he lives in. It's a pretty safe favela, or slum, but safe is a relative term. We didn't get out of the car, we didn't go there at night and I didn't dare pull out the camera. I just didn't want to lose it. The Favelas by and large in Rio (at least as the story goes) are kind of self-policed. Violently. And crime to people outside of the Favelas is just accepted as so. The biggest, baddest one of them all is Rocinha, which we did NOT go through. A couple of people in our hostel tried to go themselves, without a tour. They lasted two minutes there and came back to the hostel, not just lighter their wallets but their shoes and socks too.
Rio is not the safest place on earth, but usually you're OK as long as you're careful and not stupid. Walking into a favela unaccompanied is stupid.
After Corcovado, it was a quick ride back to the hostel for a couple minutes and then off to Ipanema for another afternoon at the beach. I tried to swim. The surf is high on Ipanema - and I found myself being turned literally underwater as the 7 foot waves knocked me around like a rag doll. It was both exhilarating and scary. Complete lack of control and you just pray to be alright in the end (but still a lot of fun) It's sort of like a bus ride in Rio.
Afterwords we saw the bar that Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz wrote The Girl from Ipanema. The bar is still open, now renamed The Girl from Ipanema Bar. We didn't get anything, but the bar across the street was having a Bossa Nova show today. I was all about the show and Emerson and I went after we hung out for live Samba music from two local Rio guitarists. Great music from two guys whose name I cant remember [ feel like I've done a lot. Our gang about Rio is facing some changes in staffing. Gone is Evelyn. Olivia did her own thing today - mostly the beach. Maria and Matthew and I were joined with two new people. Hector, from LA, and Emerson, from Brasilia, the country's capital.It was Antonio Carlos & Jocafi]. But it was wonderful and a great end to another day in Rio. I can't believe I really only have two days left on my vacation. Gotta make the most of it.
Labels: antonio carlos and jocafi, bossa nova, brazil, corcovado, flashback, friends, rio, travel
Roger, 7:50 PM
