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.