So........I love Rio

It´s true. As Dave, my patient and peppy travel partner can attest to, I have seen some amazing things that have given me a variety of things, joy, awe, inspiration, but it all seemed to require effort to see it. But Rio requires nothing for me to love it here. It´s like the people have fun and passion firing off them, and there is nothing for us Gringo´s to do but be caught in the cross fire.

I arrived four days ago and I have been out drinking and dancing every night since. I have never, in my entire Sydney social career been out more than two nights in a row. Here I have become the sterotype of standing on the corner excited to buy the next round of drinks for the group, (yes I have a group of friends here, such an easy accomplishment with there friendly folk)a giant bottle of beer to share for three real, that is a dollar fifty for us Aussies. Then saunter off to a dance club at three in the morning.

Now I insert the paragraph that will make you jealous. You go to the beach, (Ipanema all the way) hire a cheap umberella and seat, sit on the beach and look at the fine bodies God created walking past in fine fine form. It´s not even like your perving, you are just gob smacked by how amzing these guys are and how they present themselves. But no-one can deny that there is sex on the beach when these Adonis´ walk by. Then, my absolutely favourite part, there is this whole industry of people walking on the beach yelling out the things they are selling. So you sit in comfort with an amazing view and people come by selling clothes, bags, jewellry, drinks, frozen fruit, ice creams, and my personal favourites corn on the cob, meat pastries, melted cheese with oregano and last but so far from least, cooked prawns on a stick that they smoother with salt pepper and lime. I learnt to take more money to the beach after my first day. It is expensive here at the momemnt, as we are in the best part of town and it is just post Carnivale, but every dollar has been so happily parted with.

We made it out to the club Rio Scenario, voted one of the top ten clubs in the world, and for good reason. It has three floors that has a massive hole that you can look down through to see everything. On the first level is a seven piece band playing Bossa Nova, complete with big sexy guy walking around the crowd pumping it out on a trombone. There is also a great dance floor off to the side, but this places decoration was un frickin believable. Think crazy crap on the walls everywhere, each thing being interesting and looks great. I even had my own personal Bossa Nova dancing with a local, man he had some fancy footwork and was the standard hot male!

The people here are great, all they want to do is include you, or if they don´t they love being interrupted. Today we had an amazing tour of one of the cities Flavellas, these are the slum towns. As you would expect, horrible living conditions but so interesting. I have to give out guide 20 out of 10 for her tour. So much information was given between her cigarettes and hugging the locals that would interrupt her. We learnt all about the drug trade that goes on there, and how this living in the Flavella is the only option some poeple have as there pay is so bad that this is all they can afford. We had our first one cancelled because the police did a raid on the day we were meant to be going through so it was the real deal, but the tour had me see these were great people who live in poverty, dispersing a lot of preconcieved ideas of what that meant to me. The motorcycle ride to the top of the hill was nerve wrecking. The tour guide laughed saying the guys couldn´t touch the drivers but the girls were free to put their arms around them, they love it! She didn´t need to tell me twice, i jumped on, (no helmet and in thongs mind) and held this man so close you couldn´t put a feather between our bodies. Several times I actually thought my kneecaps would be taken off by buses that we were overtaking on the wrong side of the road. The tour was worth it just for that.

I have to go, time runs short, I have so much more I want to tell but next time!!!!

Ciao for now from this Gringa

xoxo
Sim