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Main | Journal: Rio, Brazil | ||
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Monday, March 1 ...We last left our clueless traveler in at Carnaval in Salvador,
Brazil, trying to make sense of the music, the food, and the people.
Since then (nearly two weeks) he has been exposed to many new people
and places which he will try his best to recall for all of you people
who could not be with him...
I spent another week in Salvador, partly to recover from the previous
week of samba and cerveja (beer for those of you who do not speak
Portuguese), but not much from the latter, right Mom? The beautiful
beaches and wonderful new friends also beckoned me to spend extra time
there. A nucleus of about 10 or so Americans hung out daily and
nightly in various parts of the city. My favorite activity was the
Ballet Folklorico--a furious performance of dancing, drumming, and
capoiera, which is part dancing and part fighting. Also, my Brazilian
roommate and his friend from Brasilia took good care of me and enabled
me to see the city and culture through the eyes of a native. However,
after two weeks in paradise it was time to pack it up and move it
out...to Rio de Janeiro.
In Rio, I have accomplished something vital to the success of my trip.
Over the past week, I have attended two soccer/futbol games at
Maracana Stadium, a stadium which held 200,000 people (so I hear) for
Pele's final match. It typically holds 120,000 people for games, and
yesterday I went to the final of a Rio-Sao Paulo tournament where
roughly 90,000 fans cheered on the home team. I must say that as a
dear supporter of Michigan football, I have seen large crowds before,
but I have never seen such a boisterous, such a dedicated, and such an
entertaining crowd as I did in Rio. They play drums, wave large
flags, and chant endlessly. You must see it sometime. I'm glad that
I did.
Of course, no trip here would be complete without a walk along Rio's
famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. I'm currently residing in a
hostel in Copacabana and have enjoyed walking the area and taking in
the views. (There will be a special e-mail on this topic for the men
on this list relating to this subject.)
One of my favorite aspects of Rio is the food--it's cheap, it's great,
and it's various. Daily, I go into a buffet-type place and load up on
steak, chicken, fish, etc. that costs about $4 for a heaping plate.
My favorite aspect of traveling is the interesting people that I meet
along the way. At the moment, I'm hanging out with a few Aussies, a
Brit, a Swiss (person?), and a (Dol)Fin. Together we've done Rio
pretty well.
All for now. Next stop is probably going to be Iguazu Falls which
borders Argentina and Brazil.
Dan
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