so i'm IN my map...

Hey folks, just wanted to do a quick update on what's been goin on in RDJ. Still alive and well and sweating my mind away. I'm starting to think that the beer is just coming out of my pores at this point.

OK OK OK. So Rio, huh? Here's some highlights of my first week here:

After I got through the airport fiasco, I got to the hostel and met my first exotic hostel friend: a white girl from Menlo Park named Christine. After a long conversation with her (about 2 minutes or so), we were on our way to see the Selaron Steps in the Lapa area. Snoop ain't got nothing on this. Spent about 10 minutes here and my friend had to make her way back to a favela tour on motorcycle.

Later on, walked the 3 blocks down to Copacabana beach to catch the sunset. "Just look at that view...." It was nice, but no one was there since it was late and it's not that safe after dark. Walked through the neighborhood and explored a few places. Ate my first meal - A chicken/cheese sandwich and fries plus ACAI = R$25.00 (US$15.50). WHEW! Did i mention this place is muito caro (expensivo)? Can't be doing too many of those meals with my budget. Spent the rest of that night trying to get used to the hostel and started meeting some people. Talked with a new friend from Germany, Marius, and an older guy who called himself a "gypsy" from northern Brazil about life, girls, American sports, futbol, basically anything that we could come up with. Super fast changes of subject. About 12 Ivaipava Beers. They're kinda like drinking bud lite, so I get very full but not too drunk. I started to feel a little more comfortable having met some peoples and went to bed.

Next day, the hostel had organized a boat party with the three other sister hostels in Rio.

These are some of my new British friends, Ben and Will.Sugar Loaf Lookalike
Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer)

At the party, we were about 70ish people and paid R$80 to get a private boat and all you can eat and drink. A little pricey, but not out of control. People literally boarded the boat and created a line at the bar that extended to the dock. Food was almost non-existent as people kept eating it before they could cook more (BBQ). The few pieces I ate were really good, and they had some fruit and bread and this tasty sour chicken and veggies stew-like dish that everyone was eating with their bare hands. It was a pretty sloppy party.

At one point early on, while people were still pretty calm, the police came up and boarded the boat on one side. The music went down, everyone seemed to chill out, and they spoke to the captain. In a few minutes, they hopped off, boated away and everyone started cheering and getting back to the party. Literally 2 minutes later, they came around the OTHER side of the boat and boarded again (wtf?). Spoke to the captain again and left exactly the same way. Luckily they didn't come back. Probably just wanted a little keesh to keep the party going.

People then began jumping off the side of the boat as it anchored (I waited to see how hard it would be to get back on before I decided to jump, haha). They even had noodles and stuff for floating, but upon splashdown, I realized that water was like ICE. Not like in California, but still not cold enough for me to want to float around. I hopped back on the boat in a hurry and grabbed some more beers to warm up. Party continued and we got to see one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL things I've ever seen, the sunset on the water.

Look at that view - sunset on Guanabara Bay.


The following day, I joined a group of people from different hostels to go to the Lapa/Santa Teresa area to see what was cool to do there. Lapa stairs, 2.0.A view from Santa Teresa.

Santa Teresa is the "bohemian" area of the city, something like the Mission in SF. Some street art that reminds me of home.


Later that night, we went out to the Lapa Street Party (I spent a lot of time in Lapa in my first couple days). Basically, every friday the city closes the streets in the Lapa area and people get drunk on cheap (CHEAP) beer and go crazy in the streets. Here's Kayli (Aussie), Ben (Brit) and Will (Brit) straight chillin in the streets.
A peak out into the streets from a hip hop club, where we paid R$9 to enter, took one look around at the 99% dudes, and walked right out. At least I got a good shot of the streets. The music in EVERY club is as LOUD as possible, with no concern for "quality" of sound, they just blast it with a lot of treble and thundering bass and then my ears stop working for about 12-24 hours.

Also, they only seem to have one kind of song playing at every bar - "Funk". EVERY song has a guy saying "CHA, CHA....CHA!!!" which pierces the ears and no one seems to get tired of it. I guess it sounds something like house (boom-chish, boom-chish) over and over, but this is so much more LOUD and painful. I'll probably love it in another week.

I generally get around by taking a mini-van (only with someone who knows portuguese, cuz otherwise I'd be lost) that stops anywhere along the busy streets if you stand by the curb. It's a simple system and you pay R$2.5 to go anywhere. If you get a big enough group together, they'll take you to wherever you want to go for the same price. Other options are the city buses, about R$2.85, which are incredibly complex and hard to figure out because they don't run on schedules and the city streets are a labyrinth instead of a grid. Another option is to take the metro, which is something like the new york subway but runs on a very limited route, like the BART. It costs R$3.10 to go anywhere the train goes.

My Portuguese is basically non-existent, as I depend on short and easy sentences or pointing at things I want. Basically my best move is saying this:

Me: Bom Dia! Voce fala ingles? (Good morning! Do you speak English?)
Person: Nao (no.)
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....Gostaria de uma [point at the thing] (I would like one - point at it).

Another example:

Me: Voce tem acai?
Person: (something fast and confusing in Portuguese)
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....Quanto custa? (How much is it?)
Person: (a number that sounds something like a Spanish number)
Me: (Reach into wallet and pull out a big bill, hoping it's enough and that they'll give me the correct change). Obrigado!
Person: De nada.

Observation about Brazil: There's so many things that cost R$3. BUT...they have a R$2 bill and a R$1 coin. It makes paying for stuff so difficult. Never realized how little cash i used, and I never carried change around. Here, I'm about 99% cash and I'm glad I bought a wallet with a coin purse.

That's enough for now. Lots more to talk about, though. Hope you all are doing well back home. I miss you guys and I hope everything's good. Take care yall!