I've finally escaped from the beach paradise to arrive in another beach paradise, but this one comes with a nasty reputation. That said, my experience in this town has been nothing but amazing. We (my friend Katerina and I) live in a beautiful neighborhood called Larangeiras, where apparently professors and whatnot live from the various universities here. It's safe and quaint with lots of little bars and shops to pick up an espresso and a pastry. And we're about a 1/2 hour walk to the beach (not the famous ones, granted, but beach nonetheless). This is the VIEW! Amazing. From the Flamengo beach. These mountains surround the whole coast here. Breathtaking!
However, by living in this part of the city, we don't get a realistic view of what Rio is like. The discrepancy between the rich and the poor is stark here, and by living in Larangeiras we're largely protected from the violence--lucky for us--but kept in an upper-middle class bubble, completely ignorant of the happenings that appear in the news everyday, the reality that a great majority of the people who live here face everyday. Just as ever major city has it's rougher areas, Rio has it's worst. The question remains, how to know Rio without imposing myself, without being a spectator to a situation where people die violently everyday, without being a tourist to someone else's misfortune. I haven't worked that one out yet.
The real tourist attraction for both foreigners and Cariocas (people who are from Rio) alike is the Cristo Redentor, who sits atop a mountain and takes care of the city.
The view from atop was really amazing, but the sky was hazy and a bit smoggy. I have a million pictures from atop the mountain but I held back when posting. There was so much to see: the curves of the neighborhoods around the mountains, the houses stacked up on the hills, all the various beaches that swing around the landscape, highways filled with millions of cars and people, the unnavigable maze of streets...
Even the monkeys enjoy the view! Not sure how he got up this high, but vestiges of the rain forest climb up the hills as well. You can take a old cable-car train up the mountain and to see the lushness still existing in this huge metropolis is strange.
Samba is a craze here. We went to a club called Democratus, an old dance hall that still has big samba parties. The space was enormous and beautiful. It's hard to see but 10 or so musicians lined up on stage sitting in chairs with little tables with bottles of water and played and sang their hearts out. The place got more and more packed until you could barely even dance. I can't really do it even if I have the whole dancefloor to myself. You have to move your feet faster than mine can, so I just faked it. No one noticed, I don't think!
Uncle Steve, this is for you. Some of the graffiti we see passing under the viaduct to get to the other side of the neighborhood. There's not as much respect for the art here as there was in Salvador. You can see that people paint over it, or around it, at times. But the work is cool. Realistically, the only thing I can read is from the one above: PAZ = PEACE.
Of course, another famous site here is the Copacabana beach, where we did a little sunbathing, ate super cheap seafood, and talked down a vendor into selling his Cristo Redentor sarong for R$10 instead of R$25. I've become quite the negotiator after all this time.
Someone had built this miniature replica of Rio out of sand, and even strung little cable cars that take you to the top of the mountain Pão de Açucar (Sweetbread--don't know), which is the left mountain in the background. We haven't done that yet, but I'll post those pictures when we do.
And the delicious tropical delight of fresh chilled coconut milk. Delicious!
However, by living in this part of the city, we don't get a realistic view of what Rio is like. The discrepancy between the rich and the poor is stark here, and by living in Larangeiras we're largely protected from the violence--lucky for us--but kept in an upper-middle class bubble, completely ignorant of the happenings that appear in the news everyday, the reality that a great majority of the people who live here face everyday. Just as ever major city has it's rougher areas, Rio has it's worst. The question remains, how to know Rio without imposing myself, without being a spectator to a situation where people die violently everyday, without being a tourist to someone else's misfortune. I haven't worked that one out yet.
The real tourist attraction for both foreigners and Cariocas (people who are from Rio) alike is the Cristo Redentor, who sits atop a mountain and takes care of the city.
The view from atop was really amazing, but the sky was hazy and a bit smoggy. I have a million pictures from atop the mountain but I held back when posting. There was so much to see: the curves of the neighborhoods around the mountains, the houses stacked up on the hills, all the various beaches that swing around the landscape, highways filled with millions of cars and people, the unnavigable maze of streets...
Even the monkeys enjoy the view! Not sure how he got up this high, but vestiges of the rain forest climb up the hills as well. You can take a old cable-car train up the mountain and to see the lushness still existing in this huge metropolis is strange.
Samba is a craze here. We went to a club called Democratus, an old dance hall that still has big samba parties. The space was enormous and beautiful. It's hard to see but 10 or so musicians lined up on stage sitting in chairs with little tables with bottles of water and played and sang their hearts out. The place got more and more packed until you could barely even dance. I can't really do it even if I have the whole dancefloor to myself. You have to move your feet faster than mine can, so I just faked it. No one noticed, I don't think!
Uncle Steve, this is for you. Some of the graffiti we see passing under the viaduct to get to the other side of the neighborhood. There's not as much respect for the art here as there was in Salvador. You can see that people paint over it, or around it, at times. But the work is cool. Realistically, the only thing I can read is from the one above: PAZ = PEACE.
Of course, another famous site here is the Copacabana beach, where we did a little sunbathing, ate super cheap seafood, and talked down a vendor into selling his Cristo Redentor sarong for R$10 instead of R$25. I've become quite the negotiator after all this time.
Someone had built this miniature replica of Rio out of sand, and even strung little cable cars that take you to the top of the mountain Pão de Açucar (Sweetbread--don't know), which is the left mountain in the background. We haven't done that yet, but I'll post those pictures when we do.
And the delicious tropical delight of fresh chilled coconut milk. Delicious!
1 comment:
Christ, Anna! Your tan makes Katerina look as pale as me! [grin]
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