Firstly lets get everyone caught up. I last left off when arriving into Sao Paulo, a super-megatropolis that puts Vancouver, heck Canada to shame when it comes to size.
Arriving in Sao Paulo we find a Gay Pride parade happening outside our hotel, closer inspect seems to indicate perhaps a very strong Transvestite Pride parade, all part of the fun!!
We venture out for some good ol Rodizio BBQ meat style, awaking the next day for our city tour. As we venture into the city we happen upon the local city hall with a protest in full swing, momemts later we see people starting to run and tear gas was sighted, as we take off on foot I did sneeze for a good 5 minutes, few others inhaled a bit of the gas aswell. All part of the fun!
From there we head to Paraty, which was the best day of the trip and the worst night. First night we arrive, we head out for dinner to one of the shacks on the beach, only to see lightening approaching no the horizion, long story short the down pour started soon enough. First full day saw us head out on a party boat, with like 60+ people, leaving the dock, the crew quickly began working on buckets of Caparinah's, the local sugar cane + lime drink, free flowing booze followed for several hours, along with some great beats. We managed to get some swimming in between drinks, sometimes taking the drinks with us. Further along at our second stop was food time, lots of meat from a BBQ at the back of the boat, chorizo sausages, bbq beef, yummy yummy yummy. More Caparinahs. Some cliff diving (didn\t partake in that myself, some that did ended up with some posion ivy like rashes). Some volleyball sorta, hit the ball fun, getting back to the doc, some how, eventually after the Caparinahs finished off and the beer got started.
That night the amigos stop for dinner on the way back from the boat so see a storm brewing up again, we had to help hold down the shack for a bit as the winds got pretty gusty, then it was back to dinner. Upon arriving back at the hotel we find there is no power. Pouring out, no rain, looks like a quiet night in. I hung out on a hammock for a bit, wrapped in my sheet to hold back the bugs. With no power, meaning no fan, no ac, the night turned into a tiring, sweaty horrible ordeal, mosquitos buzzing around your head every few minutes, I counted no less than 10 bites. We awake to no power and the water resevoir seems to require power, so no showers for most, onto a bus for Rio at 6am, with almost no sleep due to the heat and mosquitos. All part of the..... ;).
Arriving in Rio was a milestone, we quickly settled in and then it was off to the city tour, visiting the awe inspiring Christ the Redeemer statue, again blistering heat wave heat, sticky humidity. The views and the statue were amazing, admitidly the statue was smaller and further from the city that I had visioned. The movies seem to make it seem sureal. We also then visited Sugar Loaf, via cable car, which is a big mountain overlooking the city, wheren you can see Copacabana beach and Ipanema beach at the same time.
The second day we went for a tour of a Favela, essentially these massive slums that house 100K people, what City of God was based on. Aftering speeding the mountain side on local scooter/bike, you realize your luckily still alive and didnt read about the bike tour in the "brochue". We spend a few hours walking around the slums, walking through ditches of waste water. A few weeks ago in a similar environment Favela, further outside the city, a police helicopter was shot down. Yikes.
On night 2 we venture out into Lapa, the sorta party central for a night of street drinking and dancing, Carnival started at noon, Dans first mask was black with some gold on it, sorry no photos, one does not venture into the night with anything they not willing to lose to a pick pocketer or worse.
Day 3 has a few of us walking the beaches, Copacabana to be exact. The beaches have electronic signs that show how much SPF one needs for the current conditions, including based on skin type. SPF 45 doesn't seem like enough for me.
Night 3 has us going to a semi final football (soccer) match, an incredible experience of insane chanting and drumming by each team. We sat middle of a one teams cheering section, however unfortunatly the game finished 0-0, but being a semi final, it must have a winner, so a shootout insues. The shootout is now 5 - 5, so now a sudden death shootout insues... The other team wins.... Fun had by all.
Day 4, more beaches, this time we venture to Ipanema, its Sunday with Carnival in full swing, people in costumes, music going here and there. Walking drinking, few photos, walking, drinking, walking, drinking, dancing, drinking!
Day 5 will be our big night to the Samba dome, it starts at like 11 and finishes at like 7am.
Did I mention Tues they are projecting a heat index of 46 celcius.
Dapper
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