Chapter 2 - Rio the Adventure Continues

The time has come the Walrus said .....

My time here in Rio is almost at an end, I have one more beach day left, might get in some morning sun on Sunday. What I cant believe is that I am going to the beach every day ... Lying in the sun, albeit under an umbrella, mostly and putting up with sand in my trunks. I am so not a beach bum ....

My days have been spent, waking up around 7am, out of bed around 7:30am and getting on my bike and riding around the Lagoa (Lagoon) behind Ipanema. One lap around the Lagoa is 7.5kms and most mornings this week I have done 2 laps. The Lagoa is beautiful, there are many people running, jogging, walking and cycling the pathways and a large number of rowing skiffs out on the water. There are a couple of rowing clubs around the edge of the Lagoa – each of them has a practice rowing pool – two long pools on either side of a long rowing bench – each seat with a set of rowing oars. It is a great idea to learn how to row and to improve your stroke – but I have to say it looks hilarious as am riding by on my bike.

Each morning there has been a group of Bombeiros (Firemen) who have been jogging around the Lagoa. If Rio is full of beautiful people, then the ugly ones became Bombeiros. I know this is a terrible judgement on my part, but I have never seen in my life such an ugly bunch of Firemen.

After my morning cycle, come home and do some yoga and push up and sit ups (although I have not been as religious with this part of my routine). Then a lazy Brazilian breakfast, meat and cheese on a bread role, with some yoghurt. Shower then off to sit on the beach and read a book and listen to music. On the way I head to the corner store to get a juice and a chicken pastie. I have learnt to ask for my juice in Portuguese, as the first couple of days it was hard to get them to understand me…. “Bonjea, Uma suco, manga com laranja sem asuca, por favor” my spelling is way off but the translation is, “Hello, one juice, mango with orange no added sugar, please” Now it is very important to ask for “manga com laranja” – instead of “laranja com manga”. The former will give you Mango juice with a touch of orange (my favourite) the later with give you Orange juice with a touch of mango – I of course found this out the hard way. The laranja suco was lovely tho.

Most days I would be down at the beach well ahead of the crowd. Jonatan (Jonathan) and Steve would join me at some point. These are some friends I have made through Ivan. I have met some great people here in Rio, locals and ex-pats.

The beach is an experience in itself. There are numerous vendors on the beach, each have their own tent. They will rent you the use of a chair and umbrella for the day ($3 Real for each) and will supply you with anything you want, drinks, food, cigarettes, tip them appropriately and they will run into Ipanema and get you a four course meal and bring it back to the beach. In fact there should be no reason you should need to get out of your chair, except to go for a swim or talk with a cute man who has caught your eye. For a week this has been fantastic, I think for a month it could be fun, but as a lifestyle I think it could get very boring. Although the two English Steve’s that I have meet, both serious alcoholics (no judgement, just a statement of fact) seem to want to spend the rest of their lives doing just that. The beach in a way is perfect for them; there is someone who will bring them a beverage at the blink of an eye.

The little group that I have made friends with hangs out near Miriam’s tent on the beach. Miriam is this rather large lesbian, who apparently is very depressed and on anti-depressants. She sits on her thrown in the middle of her tent, in the shade, occasionally directing her servants (Leo and Tracey) to provide services to her customers, all done in Brazilian time of course – the pace of life here is so very different. The only time I have seen her animated is when the Sun is setting and they pack their tent and collect their umbrellas, chairs and cash from the punters.

The beaches in Rio are rather unusual, in that the coastline faces south. This means the Sun rises at one end of the beach and sets at the other end of the beach. So initially until I figured this out I thought the laws of nature had been warped and the sun was rising in the north and setting in the south – very confusing for a boy from the east coast of Oz. Although the warping of natures law in Rio would not surprise me one little bit.

Since it is now autumn, the sun for the most part remains behind the beach all day. Beach dwellers sit their chairs or their towels and face the sun, which means they are looking inland at the row of tall buildings which line Ipanema beach. Yet behind them is a stunning vista of ocean and islands. Since I am not that interested in the sun – I watch the ocean, which also gives me a great view of all the people looking the wrong way and those who wander by at the waters edge.

Then there are the hawkers, selling ever trinket imaginable. The only one that really astounds me are the guys carrying around hammocks and swing chairs. If only I had some palm trees to tie up a hammock I might just be tempted…. Náo (No) Obrigado (Thanks) is the polite way of dismissing them, although some are very persistent. Then there are the clowns, two people with clown faces, coming round collecting money for some clown charity that does clown things for poverty stricken children. These young people speak or at least can say hello in just about every language. They have incredibly short memories and will come back to you day after day – even when you tell them Náo Obrigado, day after day. One young man will say hello in each language until he gets some sort of response, thus knowing what language to do his spiel in. I told him in a very bad and fake accent that I spoke Hebrew – thinking there is no way he would be able to talk to me… he greeted me in Hebrew. Ten points for persistence.

There are a couple of women who sell sandwich’s on the beach, the roam the beach calling out there wares …. “Sand vic cea, Oh, Nat u raal – Sand vic, Nat ur aal” Most of the other hawkers make no attempt to call out there ware in English or other languages – which astounds me as Ipanema is just full of Gringo’s, who don’t speak a word of Portuguese – like me.

There are no seagulls here in Rio, only pigeons on the beach, which is amazing to me. I wonder where all the seagulls have gone….

And at least in Ipanema and surrounding suburbs there are more Labradors dogs than I have seen anywhere in the world – this city seems obsessed with them, so I am in puppy dog heaven....

I love the way the Carioca’s (locals) park – any patch of street will do - the seem to be good about not blocking drive ways – however it is totally OK for a car to drive up on the pedestrian footpath and park – even when there are pedestrians in the way. It is nothing for a motorcycle to just start driving down the footpath to get around some traffic blocking their way. It’s chaos – yet it works. That could some up Rio really ...

The ocean itself, as I mentioned in my previous letter, is different to the pacific I am used to. The tenor and tone of the ocean has an altered pitch. The roar of the surf pounding the beach, is well, not the same, yet the same all the same. The waves are filled with sand, the ocean appears a little rougher and there are strong currents in the water. While I know that these things are not unusual in and of themselves and I could be describing most beaches in the world, there are subtle differences, which are difficult to describe. I get the sense that the Atlantic ocean is a more secretive ocean, than the Pacific. It has a lot of stories that is not willing to reveal.

Rio (pronounce Heo – sounding out each letter - I found out yesterday) itself is a city built around mountainous pinnacles of rock and low lying areas. The huge irony of Rio, is that the Favella’s (slums) are relegated to the side of the mountainous rocks and as a result have some of the best views in the world. While the middleclass and wealthy live in the flat areas of city, in high rise apartments – where you view is often the wall of the next apartment building – unless you are very wealthy and can afford a direct ocean view of Lagoa side apartment.

I went on a Tourist tour of Corcovado (Christ Redeemer), the huge statue of Christ atop the mountain, I am sure you have all seen pictures – it is one of the defining vistas of Rio and possibly Brazil. The tour was in an open jeep. I was the last in the group to be picked up and when I got into the back of the truck found myself with a guide and a bunch of Australian's – it was very funny. It was a great afternoon and the Corcovado gives you a true perspective on how large Rio is... From here you can see a great deal – although if there had been less smog – I probably could have seen a lot more. To get to Corcovado, we drove through jungle areas of Rio and past a number of Favella’s (slums). The statue itself is impressive, but like Leonardo Da Vinci’s Madonna – I was expecting it to be bigger, although at 30 meters high and 28 meters across – its pretty big. It can been seen from just about everywhere in Rio and based on the scale of the mountain etc etc – I thought it would be bigger when I got up close and personal. We then drove through Santa Teresa, an old colonial part of town, amazing architecture and melting pot of people. I need to go back there and spend days, weeks, wandering the streets photographing the building and people.

To try and put Rio in perspective, particularly for my Australian friends an family. The official population of Rio is about 7 million, although it is believed that there could be as many as fifteen million. Three quarters of the population of Australia in a densely packed city.

Last night, Friday, Ivan took me to Lapa, this is in the downtown (Centro) area of the city, like many inner city urban centres in the world, it’s run down and neglected. If you have money you do not live in Centro, you live in Ipanema or Leblon or other parts of the city.

On Friday nights the streets of Lapa are transformed in a huge street party. Every living soul in Lapa and many from all over Rio are out on the streets, to let go of the weeks stress and worries. What results, is a pulsating, vibrating, beating, heaving street party that has energy to rival any street parties of San Francisco, New York or even Sydney’s own Mardi Gras, except it is happens every Friday night, every week of the year. The party will go until the wee hours of the morning or until sunrise – depending on the mood of the people and the weather.

There were more beautiful people in Lapa, on Friday night, per square foot, than any place on earth. There is also an equal amount of decay. Wealth and Poverty exists on the same coin, as do beauty and decay – a photographers delight.

Rio is a city of extremes. However you view Rio, this city is alive and yet dying at the same time. Yet the pulse overwhelms you with sensations and delights, the smell of street cooked barbeque beef, thick in the air, the crush of people as you make your way through the arteries of Lapa. The street vendors calling out their wares and the sound of electric blenders humming in the night, as they make a variety of drinks, including Caiparinas and Margaritas. A man walks by carrying a tray of glasses and a bottle of vodka, held high – shots to sooth the worn out spirit. Every bar and club, throbbing to the beat of various styles of music. Blended into the melting pot of this huge party are the stunningly beautiful transvestite street workers, plying their trade.

Everything about Rio is fluid, from the street parties to navigating your way around. There is fluidity in the movement of the people, the way they live, talk, walk and drive. A two-lane road can easily become three lanes of traffic and red stoplights, well if you need to stop then you are probably not going fast enough. Concepts of sexuality are not so fixed here as they are in other parts of world. There are many rules, and yet there are none, corruption is common place, so if you are caught smoking wacky tobacco, a bribe of $100 Reais (hey eyes) to the police will soon solve your problem. The sale of dope of the beach was quiet open, with this little old lady going about hawking her wares – of course not speaking any Portuguese I had no idea, until one of my friends translated what she was attempting to say to me… I wont tell you whether I bought any or not ;-).

Ivan (pronounced Eevan) drove me around the area where the rent boys hang out on the street. I was gob smacked!! Not only are they absolutely stunning young men that cost nothing, $30 real ($15 AUD), many of them are openly stroking their hard cocks on the street, to attract customers. There was one guy in a darkened doorway (to what seemed like an apartment block) that was completely naked – jacking himself off. I did not see him the first time we past by, Ivan looped around the block to show me again, and again and again ;-). Sadly i did not have my camera…

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My last night here in Rio has been just as wonderful as all the rest – I realize that there is so much I have not yet done, having become a beach bum and all. Ivan, a friend, took me and another Gringo friend (Brad) so a look out up in the jungle. With Spectacular vistas of the Corcovado, Lagoa, Ipanema, Leblon, islands and ocean, just on dusk – I don’t know if the pictures I took will do it justice.

One of the things I love at the moment, is the conversations I am having with people, where they only speak portuguese and I only speak english (ignorant aussie that I am). Like just know on the elevator on the way up to my apartment, an elderly couple where talking with me, ask me where I was from and other questions to which I could only give a none-committal shrug – maybe I suppose I was replying .... Its just fun.

I have to say that I have had an absolute blast, I’m in love with Rio, as polluted and dangerous as it may be, and want to return as soon as I can to continue to explore this amazing city. Next time I will come for a couple of months, I could spend a lifetime photographing this place, and I have not even scratched the surface of this amazing city.


Peter
Officially an Ipanema Beach Bum