Carnaval: Part II

We were pretty tired on Monday, so we didn’t leave the hotel until about 2:00 in the afternoon. The six of us made our way to Ipanema, another Rio neighborhood known for its famous beach. We had thought Copacabana was crowded, but Ipanema was insane—we literally had to step over sunbathers and duck under people’s umbrellas just to make our way to the ocean. Fortunately, the crowd started thinning out once dinner time rolled around. We stuck around until sunset, which was lovely.

Sunset at Ipanema

For dinner that night, we decided to splurge. Brazil is known for its churrascarias; loosely translated, I think it means “restaurant where you gorge yourself on meat.” Every couple minutes, the waiter brings you another slice of delicious animal flesh. We sampled a dozen different kinds of meat, the best of which was picanha.

Stuffed

By the time midnight rolled around, it still didn’t feel very late (probably because we slept until noon). So we headed to a neighborhood called Lapa, where there was a big street party. It was pretty crazy. All the parked cars had music blasting out of their stereos, and everyone in the street was dancing and drinking. And, as is usually the case when thousands of people converge on a small space, there was garbage everywhere. It reminded me of that scene from Back to the Future Part II, when Marty goes to alternate-1985.

Street party in Lapa

On Tuesday we went to see the big statue of Jesus, which stands atop Mount Corcovado. Unfortunately, it was rather foggy by the time we got to the top. For a while, the fog made the statue look spooky and mysterious—but then the fog got thicker and pretty much ruined our view of the city.

Let there be fog

To cap off our trip to Rio, the six of us went out for dinner on Copacabana beach. We enjoyed several rounds of our new favorite drink. The caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail, consists of vodka, limes, and a huge spoonful of sugar.

Last night in Rio

We figured we’d take the subway back to our hotel, since the subway is open 24 hours a day during Carnaval. However, we’d failed to account for the fact that Carnaval was technically over. So, somehow, the six of us crammed ourselves into a taxi and headed home. It was an early night; we were in bed by 2:00.

Carnaval: Part I

We’ve only been in Brazil for a couple weeks, but we figured it was time for a vacation. After all, the whole country pretty much shuts down for Carnaval. So on Saturday we headed off to Rio de Janeiro, which is the epicenter of the Carnaval celebrations.

Carnaval, in case you’re unfamiliar, is the same thing as Mardi Gras. In other words, everyone is on their worst behavior. When we arrived in Rio, the streets were packed with people who were dancing, singing, yelling, drinking… and urinating. Carnaval isn’t the best time to experience pleasant aromas.

Street party outside our hotel

On Sunday we decided to spend the afternoon in a neighborhood called Copacabana, which is known for its famous beach. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with that idea. The beach was super-crowded, but we somehow managed to claim a patch of sand big enough for six people. (In addition to Kim and me, our group consisted of two guys from Holland, a guy from Finland, and a girl from Texas.)

Copacabana beach

The weather was perfect: 80 degrees and sunny. With all that sun, however, comes the risk of sunburn. As it turns out, sunscreen works extremely well in all the places you apply it. However, it’s completely ineffective in the places you don’t apply it. Crazy, I know. So by the end of the afternoon, I had a bunch of oddly shaped red marks on my skin.

That night we attended the famous samba parade. I had always assumed the parade was on a regular street, but it actually takes place in the Sambadrome—a specially built venue, about half a mile long, with bleachers on one side and luxury boxes on the other. Here’s how it works: 12 of Brazil’s best samba schools compete for the prize. Six schools perform on Sunday night, and six perform on Monday night. Each school gets 90 minutes to go from one end of the Sambadrome to the other.

Samba parade

The floats were really elaborate, and the costumes were quite a spectacle. Samba music was blasting from the speakers, and everyone was dancing. After about 15 minutes, though, we realized that they kept playing the same song over and over. By the time the first school finished, the song was ingrained into our heads.

On the way to Rio, our bus driver had encouraged us to arrive to the Sambadrome early so that we could get good seats. Five o’clock would be best, he said. So when the first samba school went on at 9:00, we were already a bit worn out. By the time the fourth school went on (sometime around 3:00 in the morning), we were completely exhausted. Kim and I wimped out and skipped the last two schools. Nobody had told us that attending the samba parade required rigorous training! The other people in our group stuck around until the end, and they didn’t get back to the hotel until about 6:30.

Needless to say, we took it easy on Monday.

Stay tuned for Part II.

Mystery Solved

A couple nights ago Kim and I were sitting in our room reading, when suddenly we heard a bunch of screams coming from outside. It sounded like half the neighborhood was about to start a riot or something. Then we heard several loud bangs. The screaming continued for a minute or two, but pretty soon everything was quiet again.

About 20 minutes later the exact same thing happened: lots of screaming and several loud bangs. The screams didn’t sound particularly threatening, and the bangs didn’t sound like gunfire, but still—it was a little unsettling.

A few minutes later we got sick of reading and decided to turn on the TV. We couldn’t find anything to watch, so we settled on a soccer game. The game was almost over, and São Paulo was winning 2–0.

Mystery solved. What better way to celebrate a goal than to yell at the top of your lungs and light off firecrackers?

A day at the office

I’ve been keeping busy. My employer, Read Naturally, has been kind enough to let me continue working while I’m in Brazil. Most days I just work at the kitchen table, but on Tuesday I spent part of the day sitting by our comedically tiny swimming pool. Not that I have anything against my cubicle in Minnesota, but the swimming pool is a little more inspiring.

Kim started classes this week, so she has been busy too—and she’s already involved in an extracurricular activity! Apparently her school is notoriously bad at sports, so the director of her program encouraged all the exchange students to get involved. Kim took them up on their offer and joined the volleyball team. Communication with her teammates is a little difficult, but she’s super-excited to be playing.

Settling In

Kim’s classmate Olivia is staying with a host family (don’t ask me how she got a host family; that would’ve been a lot easier than apartment-hunting for a week), and this weekend Olivia invited us to her house for a barbecue. Her host parents did all the cooking, and they grilled a bunch of delicious sausage, pork, and steak.

Barbecue at Olivia’s house

Nobody went home hungry.

It finally feels like we’re living here, rather than just visiting. We’ve settled into our apartment, and now we’re getting to know the neighborhood. On Saturday night we discovered a street that’s lined with a lot of nice bars and restaurants, and it’s only two blocks away. I took Kim out for Valentine’s Day, only to discover that Brazilians don’t celebrate it on February 14; they celebrate it on June 12. So I guess I have to take her out again in four months! (Or perhaps she could take me out…)

Our neighborhood’s grocery store is quite nice, but they have the peculiar habit of putting each item into its own plastic bag. So when I bought a loaf of bread, a package of ham, and a jar of mayonnaise, they gave me three bags. I think it’s time to invest in a re-usable canvas bag.

We finally learned our roommate’s name: it’s Ígara. She’s really friendly, and she even offered to take Kim shopping sometime. Also, Ígara’s mom has been visiting for a few days, and she’s super-nice. She speaks to us really slowly and uses tiny words, so she’s pretty much the only Brazilian we can understand.

Speaking of Brazilians, here’s what my step-brother said: “So you have a Brazilian roommate? I’m not sure how many a Brazilian is, but it seems like an awful lot to fit into one apartment.” Ahh, Ryan, you make me laugh.

Vila Mariana: Home Sweet Home

I’m happy to report that we found a place to live! We went through the agency that the French guy suggested, and they turned out to be extremely helpful. The price was slightly more than we were hoping to spend, but it’ll be worth it. Our apartment is in a great neighborhood called Vila Mariana, and we’re on the seventh floor of a really nice building. Amenities include a swimming pool, a washing machine in the apartment, and wireless Internet. Plus there’s a grocery store 100 yards down the road, and the nearest subway station is just a 10-minute walk. Also, one of São Paulo’s nicest parks is a 15-minute walk.

Our room!

The only downside is that Kim will have to take the subway to school, since it would take about an hour to walk. The agency had other apartments that were closer (the French guy, for example, lives just down the block from school), but none of them were as nice as this place. Oh, I guess the other downside of this apartment is that we’ll have to buy new sheets, because the ones they gave us are stinky and ugly.

Our apartment has four bedrooms. One is occupied by us, the other is occupied by a Brazilian girl (whose name I can’t pronounce), and the other two are empty. So right now we only have one roommate, but that will probably change. We’re really glad to be living with a Brazilian, because she’ll help us learn Portuguese—whether she wants to or not!

View from our room

Kim doesn’t start class until Monday, but she had a bunch of orientation sessions this week. Getting to know the other exchange students has been fun, and everyone seems really nice. There are a few Americans, but most of them are from Europe. A Dutch guy befriended us, and he’s organizing a trip to Rio de Janeiro next weekend for Carnival.

Oh, and I fixed the Comments thing... so if you tried to leave a comment before but found that it was too difficult, it should be easier now.

Hot and Homeless

I don’t mean to make anyone jealous, but it’s hot here. It has been at least 80 every day so far, and I don’t think the temperature has dropped below 70 at night. Kim has fair skin, so inevitably she got sunburned within a couple days. We didn’t bring any sunscreen for some reason, even though Kim had heard sunscreen was expensive in Brazil. We weren’t prepared for exactly how expensive, however: R$28 (US$14) for a 4-ounce bottle!

Praça da República (Republic Square)

Every weekend there’s a flea market in the Praça da República, so we went to check it out. It was about 90 degrees and humid, so we tried to stick to the shade as much as possible. When we weren’t standing under trees, we wandered around to look at the wares. There was a lot of jewelry, belts, purses, old coins, and novelty t-shirts (which I’m sure would’ve been hilarious if I understood Portuguese). And like any good flea market, there were a few booths selling actual garbage. Best of all, though, there were a bunch of booths selling moderately priced artwork. If you’ve ever been to Art Fair on the Square in Madison, it’s kind of similar to that—except you can actually afford to buy stuff. We bought three small prints which I’m sure will be nice and wrinkled by the time we get home.

Kim’s school, maybe.

I’m pretty sure one of these buildings is Kim’s school. It’s hard to know for sure, though, because just about every building in São Paulo looks the same! Here’s a fun fact: a couple years ago the city banned all outdoor advertising, including billboards, neon signs, and electronic panels.

The apartment hunt has been frustrating. We e-mailed over a dozen people, and we got precisely two responses. In one of them, the guy instructed us to call him (despite the fact that the first sentence of our e-mail said, “We’re e-mailing instead of calling because we can’t speak Portuguese”). In the other response, the guy gave us his height, weight, and several other measurements. Creepy.

Fortunately, one of Kim’s fellow exchange students suggested an agency that he found helpful. We stopped by their office today, but they were closed, so we’re hoping we’ll be able to talk to them tomorrow. If all goes well, they’ll help us find a place to live by the end of the week. In fact, the classmate who told Kim about the agency said there’s an open bedroom in the apartment he’s living in, so it’s possible that we could be roommates. The guy happens to be French, and it occurred to us that we might end up learning more French than Portuguese during our time here. Oh well, c'est la vie.

We have arrived!

Much to our delight (and slight surprise), we made it to Brazil without any trouble whatsoever. We were expecting an inquisition at customs, but they let us right in.

The first thing we noticed upon exiting the plane was the fact that it was 80 degrees outside. Pretty nice, considering it was about 5 when we moved out of our apartment in Minneapolis. Speaking of which, Kim’s parents were our saviors, and we never could have done it without their help. Kim’s dad somehow managed to cram all of our possessions into a 10-foot by 10-foot storage unit.

Anyway, São Paulo is great. It’s not exactly a pretty city, but it has a certain charm. There are high-rises everywhere you look, but there are also a bunch of quaint, two-story houses on many of the side streets. And it’s crowded, which is what you might expect in one of the world’s largest cities.

On our first day in town, we settled into our hotel and took a walk down to Avenida Paulista, which is one of the city’s major streets. It’s the financial center of the city, and it’s also where Kim’s school is located.

Avenida Paulista

The language barrier has been more amusing than troublesome, so that’s a relief. We were a little nervous about it before we left, but it should be fine. We still can’t understand 99% of the things people say, but at least we can make ourselves understood. Mostly, people just laugh at us when we mangle the pronunciation.

The next order of business is finding a place to live. Our hotel is pretty nice, and we have Internet access in our room, but we can’t afford to stay here forever. All of the exchange students are paired off with a Brazilian “buddy,” so we’re hoping Kim’s buddy can give us some tips on finding an apartment. Ideally, we’d like to live with Brazilians so that we can improve our language skills.

Today we took a walk to the Centro neighborhood, which is the city’s historic center. The Banespa Building is one of São Paulo’s most famous buildings, and the Municipal Theater is supposed to have good classical music.

Banespa Building (the white one)

Municipal Theater

Well, that’s about it for now. We’ve only been here for 24 hours, though, so we’ll add updates as we discover more of the city!

Also, feel free to leave a comment. In particular, ask us questions and/or suggest topics for future postings.