Ola Todos,
Oh god.. where to start...?? Have been here for 5 days allready and its been non-stop crazy good.. I am madly, deeply, gloriously in love with this city.. If London was my husband, and Rio was my lover I would seriously consider a divorce by now...amicably of course..
Well, starting from the beginning, cause it kind of started with a bang.. I got to the hostel at midnight last Thursday, only to find the reception closed.. oisann.. But luckily the hostel next door was open so I got a bed there.. dropped off my luggage and ventured out to toast my arrival to Rio all by my lonesome.. but really rather excited.. 7 hours later I found myself in a little drink kiosk on the board walk of Ipanema beach, enjoying a gorgous sunrise, whilst laughing my head off with my new best friend Tee, a DJ from California, a couple of very very charming gay brazillian women, some prostitutes, and a few drug dealing sons of politicians.. Yup, as first nights go... it was pretty damn good... Then went to get my luggage, dropped it at Tee's and went with him and 2 of his mates to a beach about an hour outside Rio. Prainio (or something, meaning little beach), which was surrounded by lush rainforest and rocky mountains..Perfect... learnt to surf a bit, flashed the beach a bit (surfing in a bikini which doesnt quite fit is not recommended), slept a bit, and laughed a lot :)
Same evening my couch surfing experience went of with a bang as well.. Well, first of all i was one hour late.. and could not get hold of my host Layla.. so was a wee bit nervous on the metro, that I was going to be spending the night in a bus shelter (allthough only last night, at 2 in the morning, I did spend a good half hour in a bus shelter, learning to dance samba from a couple of lovely Brazillian girls, so might not have been so bad after all). Anway, Layla was there (also an hour late so perfect) and took me home to her lovely flat in Tijuca a non-touristy part of Rio.. showered, put the dancing shoes on and then we went off to my first samba experience this side of the new year.. And ....oh... my... god... Im in love with the samba!!!!! Of course being me, the night would not be the same without some kind of mishap.. So Layla went home a little earlier than me and I was to share a taxi with these 3 Argentinians that I had been chatting to, as they also lived in Tijuca... so a few hours later i found myself in ... well not quite Tijuca, but Bahia de Tijuca, which is about an hour from Tijuca by taxi... Oisann.. So had breakfast in Bahia de Tijuca, and then had to trek back for an hour or nearly two on the bus and metro.. but hey, got to see a bit more of the place.. when I finally got back... We (Layla and me) were joined by her equally lovely friend Anny from North Brazil... So had a little disco nap, a good girly chat, then we went out, got some beers and went to a house party.. In a gorgous old colonial building, with a swimming pool and a big group of couch surfers.. Mostly Brazillians a few Germans, a Dane and my goodself.. Listened to some good tunes, danced, laughed, drank some beers, met another new best friend.. Suellen (yup, named after the bitch from Dallas.. haha... thankfully she found it funny too).. then we went out for Pizza (which some of them ate with ketchup and mustard??? WTF??) and then off to Lapa again, where the others went to a couch surfing party.. Suellen and I went of in search of the perfect caipiriniha (found it and had a good few), got a dance lesson from a barlady and here tiny assistant, and then went for a walk about in Lapa... now, Lapa, is AMAZING!! Its this rather dillapetated area of Rio. With gorgous old colonial buildings, famous arches.. and the big draw is all the live music going on.. Oh my god (!!!!!) the drums... it gets in your body.... or booty rather, there are drums everywhere, and stunning girls dancing the samba .. and the men too... and they are all fit as fuxk!!! Its like dying and going to party heaven... (and I didnt get robbed this time, which was a plus as well).
Next day, beach, was introduced to a great Engish gal who lives with her Brazillian husband in the Favela just behind Ipanema, watched a girl getting pick pocketed, the guy getting nicked by a whole beach chasing him and the life guards cathing him and for the robber to subsequently be made to sit on the live guard tower and people yelling rather angrily at him.. was quite a spectacle.. then went for a few beers, then some more beers, met some more great people and had a super night without any mishaps...
Yesterday I moved out of Laylas, and into the hostel where I was meant to beat the beginning... well thats after visiting Tee in the Palace that he lives in first.. 3 storey house in ipanema with a swimming pool on the roof.. so chilled in the swimming pool.. then we went to the favela where he used to live.. Took a motor bike taxi to the very top, got invited in to a house by Francisco, an old Brazillian chap who must have the best view of Rio ever.. from his roof toop terreace.. Then we walked down through the favela.. And it was amazing.. Little alley ways everywhere, and the place is full of LIFE... its litturally buzzing!!! Kids, monkeys, music, little shops.. tiny little shops, gorgous women, manly men, police with machine guns (not so nice.. they where driving around in this jeep with machine gun barrels pointing out of all 4 windows... looked straight into one as i had my lunch... good job they aint got no speed bumps in the favela.. But seriously, the police were the only guys who felt intimidating in any way up there.. It was amazing!!!!).. As Tee had lived there he knew lots of people, so we kept stopping for little chats and everybody made me feel so welcome... Am now in love with the favela... Got my sim card for brazil and then we headed back to Ipanema.. i got to the hostel.. left my bag.. went for a beer and then off to a football match.. Arsenal (I got very excited.. but its Arsenal Argentina.. vs. Lis.. uhm.. i cant remember..).. Learnt a new word.. PUTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... well i knew that allready (whore), but have never heard it quite so many times, shouted quite so loudly by quite as many people..well, men... the stadium took 42.000 people.. wasnt full.. but there was at least 25-30.000 people shouting PUTAAAAAAAAAAA at anyone time so yes... wont forget that one.. On the way home i got an impromtu samba lesson by the Brazillian girls that i met in a bus shelter.. haha.. youve gotte to love these people... The girls here are uber cool!!! The men are scorching hot, and the women are fabulous..
Spent my first night ever in a dorm room.. When i got home it was empty, its not a big room, an average hotel room room, with a bunk bed, a double bed, and a single bed...and I could tell there was another 4 people in there, but they were not there when I fell asleep.. One above me, 2 next to me and another one to the side.. and this morning I woke up in Chile.. That was a bit weird too, gloriously weird.. hahaha.. waking up and then going...uhm Ola.. sono norvegese.. where are you from?.. they didnt speak much english, so we were all lying in our beds, trying to make some sense of eachother... think i now know that 2 were from Santiago de Chile, 2 from somewhere else, they left today.. but the 2 santiago guys and me will be sharing for the next 3 nights.. haha..they invited me to the beach with them, so i think we are amigos allready....
I am SOOOOO excited by life right now... this is living.. for me.. Tjohooooooo
Now, I shall dash to the beach, and tonight Tee is Djing in a bar in Leblon, quite an upmarket are of Rio.. so heading there for a bit of a dance with some of my new found Brazillian girlfriends.. haha.. oh my god.. how will I ever leave this place i wonder.. its in my blood!!
Ok so this got quite long again... but i want to go for a wee swim so no time to look it over.. Have a splendid day to all 3 people who might still be reading this (thanks mum and dad :) )
Bejois from Rio... the marvellous city indeed!!!
PS.. Me, me, me.... I hope everyone is well!!!
