rio

For New Year's, we drove to Rio, which is about 250 miles away. The trip didn't start out smoothly - we got a late start due to a pain cashing traveller's checks (FYI - traveller's checks are nearly useless here), and halfway there the car started making a wierd noise and the A/C stopped working. We stopped by a small town mechanic and it was determined that the compressor was dead - it had burnt/fused and the noise was a belt slipping. Fortunately, we were able to get back on the road again pretty quickly (driving slowly, without A/C). Unfortunately, around this time Ana's friend called to let us know there were attacks on Linha Amarela, the main road to get into Rio. They had burned buses, with people inside. They also threw a bomb in a tunnel we drove through later. Welcome to Rio! Suffice to say, driving along this road was intense and Ana was a real trooper. I'm just glad we arrived when it was still daylight. (We didn't see any visual evidence of the attacks, they were already cleaned up by the time we got there.)

We got to the hotel, which was really nice, and I started hearing nearby strangers speaking English for the first time since I've gotten here. We were in Leme, a block from the beach, and an easy walk to Copacabana (the main tourism beach spot). We spent a couple days hanging out, eating good food, walking down the street with beer in hand, drinking coconut water right out of the shell, and browsing the outdoor markets. I expected it to be a little bit more "touristy" - but aside from all the prostitutes (seriously, all over the place), the beachfront resturaunts where suprisingly cheap (~$30 US for a meal for 2 with drinks), and the markets were selling some really nice stuff (we bought some christmas presents there). The beaches weren't overcrowded. There were plenty of foreigners to be found, but the people walking around were mostly Brazillian.

On the day of New Year's Eve, we went and did the tourism tour - visiting the Big Ol' Jesus (the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks the city), and Sugar Loaf Mountain (the highest point in the city). I saved a lot of money there - it would have cost about $200 US to take the guided tour, but Ana got us a taxi for the day to do the same thing for only $50. Thanks Ana! We did this early in the morning so that we'd miss the lines (it was already crowded at the "Big Jesus Statue").

At night, they shut down traffic along the main beach strip where we were, and things started getting crazy. There were a LOT of people there (1.5 million I heard). In Brazil, people traditionally wear white on new year's eve. It was easy to spot the gringos by just looking for color in the crowd (including myself). After fireworks, people went to the beach and "jumped" seven waves as they roll in and threw some roses into the water. I did this with Ana, then we walked along the surf to the free Black Eyed Peas concert (yeah, I know, but it was free). We came up from behind the stage. Ana wanted a beer, but instead of walking around behind the stage, we had the bright idea of cutting through the HUGE crowd instead. During a concert. Without shoes on. I'm suprised I still have feet. An hour and a half later, we finally got that beer we were looking for. It was warm. :-P

We left the next day, and had a thankfully uneventful drive back to São Paulo. I hear São Paulo has a great nightlife that I plan on sampling over the next few days, and then we have Celisa and Andre's wedding on the 6th.

Happy new years everyone, and enjoy the pictures!
dan