March 4

After a two hour flight saved us from one 24 hour bus ride we were at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport. A very friendly girl at a tourist booth made an attempt to help us find a place to stay. She made some calls and eventually made a reservation at a hotel in the Impanema neighborhood. The price over the phone was was $230 for a four day package. She called twice and I heard her confirm the price but when we arrived at the hotel the price magically  jumped to $1000. Way out of our price range so we went on the hunt. Every hotel we went to was sold out and soon there was a feeling of despair and frustration. Right when I began to get a little edgy a desk clerk at one of the sold out hotels made a call and found us a vacancy about a mile away in Leblon. We grabbed a cab and settled into our over priced hotel. 

It was just about 11:00pm by now and we were ready for some of the Rio craziness we have both heard about for so many years so we headed out. There was one blocko very different than the ones in Salvador that went by on the next block from us. This blocko had no rope handlers, no colorful uniforms, no huge trucks with fun samba music booming out. It was about 200 very drunk people surrounding an old shitty pickup that held a couple blown out speakers and two fat drunk old men bellowing gibberish at the top of their lungs. We looked at one another and said "we could do better than that!" It was more pathetic than entertaining but we watched for a while and laughed. We both though that it had to get better than that and proceeded down the street. A block away you could have heard a pin drop. There was nobody out or at least they weren't anywhere near us. We walked along the beach then through the heart of Impanema. Nobody! A little disappointed but a little tired we went back to the hotel for the night. 

March 5, Sunday

I woke up before Dan and went out to the beach to have a look around. I sat on the sand and watched a flood of people swarming the beach. The city shuts down the main street along the beach so people can walk or run or ride their bikes. There is also a board walk and and additional bike lane so there was plenty of room for the whole city to enjoy the beach and it looked like they all showed up. Literally hundreds of volleyball courts had young and old alike battling it out. Every block or so there would be a kiosk with a patio were you could get a beer or hotdog or coconut juice. It started off as a little walk but soon I was out of Leblon and into Impanema. I just kept on going and before I knew it I was at the end of Cococabana and couldn't walk any further. I looked back and had a long walk home. 

When I got back to the hotel I asked the desk clerk about what to do for Carnival. He explained that the big show was at the Sambadrome down town and that he could get us tickets for $250 a peace. Well, we didn't come all this way to sit in the hotel but $250 is just out of our budget. We agreed to show up a little after it started and see what kind of tickets we could get at the door. It was a little tricky finding the right bus that would lead us to the subway but some friendly people set us on the right track. For many blocks around the Sambadrome it was crazy. People selling beer and food and everyone else just trying to get by. It didn't take long before the scalpers found us and we bought two tickets for $6 each. A big relief compared to the $250 the guy at the hotel tried to sell us. They weren't the best seats, in fact, they were probably the worst but it was still an incredible sight. 

There is no way to properly describe the colors and pageantry of Carnival at the Sambadrome, and it would take a far better photographer than me with a proper camera to even come close to trying to capture it all on film, but I have tried. I'll simply say it is one of those things that has to be seen in person to be properly experienced.

Instead of going down a public street as in Salvador, Rio has built the Sambadrome which you purchase tickets to, as I have mentioned. Two sets of bleachers opposite each other line a street much like a quarter mile race track. Each of Rio's Samba Schools has its turn to go down the street with floats and costumes and its own Samba theme in a well choreographed order. Each school has 85 minutes to get all of it's revelers from one end of the street to the other. It's all a huge competition with some sort of awards and ceremony performed at the end of the two day event. On each of the first two nights the show starts at 7:00pm and doesnt end until after 6:00 the next morning. On this first night with our bad seats we mad it until 3:00am but agreed to come back the following night and get better seats. 

March 6

Again I woke before Dan and went out to get a quick cup of coffee. Along the way I found and internet cafe and a quick trip turned out to be a couple of hours. When I returned Dan had gone out so I went back out for a look around. Dan took the afternoon to go up to the big statue of Jesus that Rio is so well known for. We finally met back up at 6 in the evening and agreed to go to the Sambadrome at 8 that night. We held out for better tickets this night and ended up paying $50 per ticket to be front and center. It's the kind of show that you need to see from up close and then from a little distance to take in how big it all is. 

Samba School after Samba School past as we watched and danced along in amazement. Our eyes got heavy and we began our way home but exiting the wrong place ended up sort of back stage where the next and last Samba School was queuing up. Eventually we were approached by security asking for our passes and we just looked at them and spoke English and played dumb. It didn't work and we began being escorted out. Dan suddenly took a hard left turn right through a thick crowd of parade goers. Their thick costumes were like a forest and in a second Dan was invisible. I continued with my escort until the security guard got called away by more pressing business. Surprisingly, we met up and took as many pictures as we could. The last Samba School was let in and we were able to watch from two feet away. After it's passing we continued on our way home. Getting off the subway the sun began to rise and by the time we made it back to the hotel the morning people were up and about. 

March 7, Fat Tuesday- The last day of Carnival

stay in late start. dan heads out and makes it to sugar loaf. looks like rain so i stay in and work on web page. plan on heading out but by the time we meet back up im too wraped up in web page to go out and too tired, dan gos out sees two girls in thongs and nothing else and thinks its his lucky day. he follows them around a corner where the transvestite parade is. woops

Dan was the first out of the gate and was going to Sugar Loaf on the cable car. From there he said you could see all of Rio with a panoramic view. I was going to make it up to the statue of Jesus but first wanted to do a little computer work. When I went out an hour after Dan the clouds had closed in and it had began to sprinkle. On a clear day you could see the statue from our hotel. When I went outside all I could see were clouds and suspected that's all I would see from there so I turned around and went back to my warm bed. 

Dan returned at about 6:00pm and asked what we would do on the last day of Carnival. He was fired up on a nice dinner and ready to go. I was having a case of the spending guilts so I was going to pass on dinner. I said that I would meet him at the restaurant if I felt like going out and he went off. I was deep in a writing grove and watched what was going on on the TV. I felt a little guilty for not going out on the last day of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but after watching the TV I felt much better. It was Gay night in town and the streets were full of transvestites. Brazil is far less inhibited by the human form and just about everything is shown on TV. Who ever the queen diva of Rio is, she was interviewing the long line of VERY nearly nude transvestites. Surly a good time for some but not my cup of tea. Eventually Dan returned with a pretty funny story: 

He was waling down the street when he spotted two very attractive girls wearing thongs, high heels and nothing else and he thought it was the luckiest day of his life. "Boy is Ryan going to regret not going out tonight" I'm sure he thought. He followed them down the street and around a corner. When he rounded the corner there were hundreds if not thousands of  transvestites all nearly nude and thousands more spectators watching the parade. Not quiet what he had hoped for and quickly made his way back to the hotel.

March 8, Ash Wednesday

I was determined to see both the statue of Jesus and Sugar Loaf but when we got up the next morning a steady flow of rain was falling. I was very sad and didn't know what to do. We could check into another hotel and wait for it to stop but what if it didn't stop for days. I resolved to one day return and see those sights then. I really liked Rio and it will defiantly be a place I'll take a vacation some day in the future, I'm only sorry I didn't get there then to take some pictures for all of you. 

Our nest stop is Foz du Iguacu, home of the gargantuan waterfall by the same name. At the bus station we met four Danish guys headed the same direction and made some small talk or Rio and Carnival before getting on the all night bus.