Last days in Rio
Return from Arraial, traffic. We caught the bus out from Arraial do Cabo without incident and were on the road pretty much on time (which for most things here is not the norm. Brazilians, like Hawaiians, have their own sense of time, punctuality is not really part of that system). However, as we got close to Rio traffic started to back up. Even though it was midday on a weekday, a 3 hour bus still took close to 5 hours to arrive. We covered the last 10km in about an hour to nintey minutes. But after arriving it was nice to be back in Rio. It is night and day between the smaller places around. There are so many small cafes open till midnight or 24 hours, something is always happening, and you can find pretty much whatever you need. Except socks.
Marina bought some boots when we arrived in Sao Paulo because the weather was a lot colder than expected or a least that was the pretense. But because she didnt have any with her, she also didnt have anything besides sport socks which were too thick. After a brief search in Rio, we started to realize that they just dont sell socks. We started looking at women's feet to realize that no one was wearing anything, footwear wise, that required socks. It was all flip-flops and sandals. I guess it just doesn't really get cold enough to warrant foot condoms. So we spent the morning of one of the last days on a mission to find socks, someone had to carry them. After about 6-8 stores we arrived at a C&A, European chain, that had what she was looking for. Some things are hard to find even in Rio.
We also hit up a final Churrascaria, although I know I butchered the spelling. These are the true Brazilian steakhouses. All you can eat meat being paraded around the restaurant on platters. It just keeps coming. At least 10-15 different kinds of BBQ'd beef, chicken, pork and seafood along with a buffet of salads, sushi/sashimi (although pretty much only salmon), and the sucker foods. Sucker foods are the fillers they want you to eat so you cant eat your share of meat. I learned that before coming so I was prepared. But that also means that you eat until you are sickeningly full. The two times that we went out to an all-you-can-eat, I didn't eat again for about 12-18 hours. Just not hungry. And usually need about 3-4 hours to digest enough to feel like moving. But the BBQ is amazing and the variety impressive.
We were also able to go to one last BJJ class the night we arrived back in town. Over the weekend while we were off diving, there was the Rio Open BJJ championship which several of the guys from the gym competed in. One of the white belts took second, a purple belt (who was annoyingly good and composed while rolling) took first, and a black belt took first in both gi and no gi. Impressive given the quality of BJJ that we encountered while in Rio.
On Wednesday afternoon, after stuffing ourselves at BBQ, we went to Parque Lage. It's a park that is open to the public but seems to be maintained by the school for visual arts. It makes it interesting because the center piece is an old mansion that is open to the public, but also is an active classroom/studio building. There are art exhibits on display as well as students working on their paintings in a large courtyard that shares its space with a cafe. So you can sit, have an espresso and watch as the students work on their paintings. The building is scattered with little exhibits and classrooms, with class in session. The grounds are eclectic and well maintained and also contain the trail head to hike up to Christo Redento, which had we known would have been better than the train, but what can you do. Too much in Rio to know it all ahead of time.
The last thing we did was squeeze in a Samba class. Now, I cant dance. But I really cant dance Samba. Marina had a good time, both dancing and watching me fail at it. It's hard and they move their feet so fast in such small little steps. But the instructor was patient and there were only 3 of us in the group class. And the other guy was having a more trouble than me, so at least I took second (out of 3). I am not opposed to going out dancing more often and I think when we settle in the next location the plan is to go more often than every 6 months so at least I dont have to start each class back at the beginning and can hopefully remember something to build on each time moving forward.
Rio was great. It is hard to imagine that I am writing this at the airport in Sao Paulo waiting for check-in to open so we can go through customs for our flight back. 35 days went fast. Real life is going to start again soon...
Return from Arraial, traffic. We caught the bus out from Arraial do Cabo without incident and were on the road pretty much on time (which for most things here is not the norm. Brazilians, like Hawaiians, have their own sense of time, punctuality is not really part of that system). However, as we got close to Rio traffic started to back up. Even though it was midday on a weekday, a 3 hour bus still took close to 5 hours to arrive. We covered the last 10km in about an hour to nintey minutes. But after arriving it was nice to be back in Rio. It is night and day between the smaller places around. There are so many small cafes open till midnight or 24 hours, something is always happening, and you can find pretty much whatever you need. Except socks.
Marina bought some boots when we arrived in Sao Paulo because the weather was a lot colder than expected or a least that was the pretense. But because she didnt have any with her, she also didnt have anything besides sport socks which were too thick. After a brief search in Rio, we started to realize that they just dont sell socks. We started looking at women's feet to realize that no one was wearing anything, footwear wise, that required socks. It was all flip-flops and sandals. I guess it just doesn't really get cold enough to warrant foot condoms. So we spent the morning of one of the last days on a mission to find socks, someone had to carry them. After about 6-8 stores we arrived at a C&A, European chain, that had what she was looking for. Some things are hard to find even in Rio.
We also hit up a final Churrascaria, although I know I butchered the spelling. These are the true Brazilian steakhouses. All you can eat meat being paraded around the restaurant on platters. It just keeps coming. At least 10-15 different kinds of BBQ'd beef, chicken, pork and seafood along with a buffet of salads, sushi/sashimi (although pretty much only salmon), and the sucker foods. Sucker foods are the fillers they want you to eat so you cant eat your share of meat. I learned that before coming so I was prepared. But that also means that you eat until you are sickeningly full. The two times that we went out to an all-you-can-eat, I didn't eat again for about 12-18 hours. Just not hungry. And usually need about 3-4 hours to digest enough to feel like moving. But the BBQ is amazing and the variety impressive.
We were also able to go to one last BJJ class the night we arrived back in town. Over the weekend while we were off diving, there was the Rio Open BJJ championship which several of the guys from the gym competed in. One of the white belts took second, a purple belt (who was annoyingly good and composed while rolling) took first, and a black belt took first in both gi and no gi. Impressive given the quality of BJJ that we encountered while in Rio.
On Wednesday afternoon, after stuffing ourselves at BBQ, we went to Parque Lage. It's a park that is open to the public but seems to be maintained by the school for visual arts. It makes it interesting because the center piece is an old mansion that is open to the public, but also is an active classroom/studio building. There are art exhibits on display as well as students working on their paintings in a large courtyard that shares its space with a cafe. So you can sit, have an espresso and watch as the students work on their paintings. The building is scattered with little exhibits and classrooms, with class in session. The grounds are eclectic and well maintained and also contain the trail head to hike up to Christo Redento, which had we known would have been better than the train, but what can you do. Too much in Rio to know it all ahead of time.
The last thing we did was squeeze in a Samba class. Now, I cant dance. But I really cant dance Samba. Marina had a good time, both dancing and watching me fail at it. It's hard and they move their feet so fast in such small little steps. But the instructor was patient and there were only 3 of us in the group class. And the other guy was having a more trouble than me, so at least I took second (out of 3). I am not opposed to going out dancing more often and I think when we settle in the next location the plan is to go more often than every 6 months so at least I dont have to start each class back at the beginning and can hopefully remember something to build on each time moving forward.
Rio was great. It is hard to imagine that I am writing this at the airport in Sao Paulo waiting for check-in to open so we can go through customs for our flight back. 35 days went fast. Real life is going to start again soon...
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