Quente. . . .Calor. . . Hawt

As my Irish friends would say, "Jaysus" it's hot! Last night was a broken night of sleep and the only word that kept repeating in my head was "Quente. . . Quente. . . Quen-chie. . ..Ken-chi" (wasn't that last one some guy I knew in high school?) Anyway, quente means hot. But so does calor. Whatever it is, it is HOT!

When I came down here to Brazil, I thought I was going to hit up some big time summer! But I've been here since November and I've been surprised at how similar to SF this weather is -- overcast, percipitation, except warmer (mas quente!) by about 20 degress Farenheit.

But this weekend, almost 3 weeks after the First Day of Summer (Dec. 21 -- obvi!), summer finally came to Sao Paulo! And last night, quente quente quente. Like an egg fried on the calcada (sidewalk). Like my brain today after waking up at 4am from the heat. . .quente. ..quente. Hmmmmm fried eggs, scrambled eggs. . . I miss that. The only time I've seen it here, is in a sandwich -- it's called an Americano.

Mark and Monica

So no ex-pat experience is complete, without a few other ex-pats to keep you company. In the lovely Estanconfor, I was lucky enough to be neighbors with Mark and Monica -- my cooler "older Bro and Sis" while in Brazil. Monica was the perfect Brazilian older sis. M's been living in the states ever since she got her Masters in Public Policy at James Madison 5 years ago. Monica hooked me up with EVERYTHING. She told me what was up in the office, in Sao Paulo, took me on an awesome hike and was always there, with an understanding ear and beautiful Brazilian smile when I was lost or confused.

Monica speaks English better than I do. This is due in part to her being incredibly smart. It may also have to do with her husband, Mark, who is American and she met while living in DC. Mark's the most American dude to hit Sampa since Bruce Springsteen came for his last concert. Mark just screams Gringo from miles away -- but he's great! While I was lucky enough to get to know Monica in carpool everyday, Mark we didnt know too well until Thanksgiving. That night Marite and I were both struggling with language and here was an American, telling stories and explaining problems to Johnata, with a strong American sotaque but fluent all the same. Impressionante!

Some of Mark's favorite questions were, "Hey, Liz, dont you like all the "-ade's" in Portuguese? Felicidade. Liberdade. Verdade. gee gee gee. Yep, Mark I sure do. Gente boa which became a theme for me in Brazil, and one which I suggested to him, "'Magina!". Love that. . .

Mark also taught us the Carioca face, which can be seen here in this picture with Monica.

Carioca was one of the first terms I learned in Portuguese class. It simply refers to anyone from Rio de Janeiro. And if you want to stump a Brazilian, just ask them where does "Carioca" come from and what relation it has to Rio. They will be speechless! The term is so tied to Brazilian culture and Rio, people never stop to think where it comes from (according to wiki it refers to an indiginous tribe from Rio.)

ANYWAY, the modern term carioca, conjures images of stuck up, lazy, but potentially beautiful people who are willing to take advantage of you when given the opportunity. Of course, this is just the stereotype. I only found a couple of people from Rio who matched it! BUT, Mark told me and Marite about the face Carioca dudes make when hitting on girls. He's making that face in the photo above. Pretty hilarious.

Valeu for the cultural lesson, Mark! Meu, vc e meu gringo irmao sempre, bruder!

Rio Rio Rio

cool sand artwork on the beach in Rio.

So Marité and I went off to Congonhas airport, caught a flight on Ocean Air and flew into Rio -- airport Santos Dumont. During the descent you could see the outline of that incredible city, it's twisting serpentine coastline and soaring green outcrops, it is absolutely incredible. As you land into Santos Dumont, there's also this church in the middle of the water on the right hand side, that almost reminds me of Venice.


Some cool brasswork reflecting a chef at a Cafeina in Leblon.

Once you get off the plane, there are these incredible tiles at the airport and for some reason, Rio makes me feel like I'm in a 1970's James Bond movie. But in a good way. Before I went to Rio everyone in the office advised me to be careful -- Rio is a dangerous city they told me. But as soon as Mari and I landed there was someone from the tourist board directing us to a taxi and they were able to take us to our hostel in neighborhood Leblon, Lemon Spirit.
Rua Cupertino Durao, where our hostel is, that lime colored building on the left side.

This hostel was a recommendation from my co-worker Marcella. I didn't know much about it, so we left our bags and tried the other hostels that Lonely Planet listed in the more touristy neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copa cabana. But this just goes to show you what horrible guidebooks those are. The hostels there in Ipanema are all down this one alley way, and you just hear all these British and Australian accents and see these pale, ruddy, sunburned faces. Defo not what Mari and I were looking for, so we headed back to Leblon. Leblon was also great because my other co-worker Lauren was visiting her boyfriend's family there in Rio and they live in Leblon. That Friday night we met up with them at a Boteco Informal on this square. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for a samba club that Lauren knew about.


So we get in a cab with Lauren and Leo and drive from the beach to Lapa, the neighborhood where most of the clubs are near the center of Rio. Me and Marité loved the architecture -- there was something Victorian or almost Cajun about a lot of the older buildings we saw back there. Lauren looooves Rio and was telling us all about how it's normal here to see older people in Rio out in a Samba club right along side all the young kids -- awesome! So we got in line for this one club Rio Scenarium, that I later realized was the same Samba club recommended to me by the hematologist I met on the plane. The place is incredible! The decor inside looks like the set of a play, except there's a big party going on. Totally reminded me of LA. On the bottom floor there was a live Samba band, and upstairs a DJ spinning music -- mostly just contemporary Brazilian stuff, not electro and not hip hop.

me trying to get in on some Samba action at Rio Scenarium

Apparently, me and Marité, two girls from the Inner Richmond district, stand out like sore thumbs in a Samba club like this. We probably could've been wearing flashing signs "GRINGAS". Guys in Brazil aren't shy at all about talking in the clubs, and they all have a certain level of English. At one point, this guy was being a little aggressive and I kept wanting to say "Tu t'en fou!" in French, but lacking the vocab in Portuguese, I turned to Lauren and asked -- right in front of the guy -- "How do you say, 'go away and leave me alone?' " hahahaha!

Another pretty building in Rio.

Similarly, some guy was talking up Marité. He was sharing his American experience with her (almost all the Brazilians we meet have done a stint in America, to learn engligh. The two most popular destinations for these trips 1. Working at a foodstand at Disney World [I know at least 4 people who've done this] OR 2. Small town in the middle of America that i've never heard of.) This guy had spent time in St. Louis, which was original. At one point, he eventually asks, "So, Marité, what do you think of Brazilian boyfriends?" To which Marité, exasperated by being asked this question so many times, throws up her hands "Arrrrrgggggghhhh" and walks away. This is a highlight of my trip there! Later on we ended up dancing with some engineers from Sao Paulo. Seems like a normal thing, to go anywhere in Brazil and meet people who are living/working in Sao Paulo.

We got up late the next day, which was just about the best thing we could've done because it was RAINING! No beach time for us :( We went for a walk and actually ran into Lauren and Leo who were enjoying some Acai right before working out

That acai sure is popular in Rio. That Saturday night we took it pretty easy, with some pizza dinner and later meeting up with Lauren and Leo for chopps at a great Italian restaurant.

That Sunday we visited the Hippy Fair full of artesanal goods. Marité and I each got Capim Dourado earrings, made from this Golden Grass that can be found up in the Amazon. I think it's super elegant. Also at this hippy fair, I encountered the typical friendliness of Cariocas (name for people from Rio de J.) for tourists -- that is to say, non-existent. Mari and I stopped at this one woman's stand for about 20 minutes and ended up buying at least 5 rope bracelets from her. In the course of trying the bracelets on, at one point I put my cell phone down on her table. At which point, she picked it up, checked out the phone and put it in her pocket. I remember noticing that she had the same Motorola razor that I had, and then I noticed that she also had a Nokia. Strange I thought, but the Razor is ubiquitous here, and having two cell phones is common as well. It wasn't till about an hour later that I realized I didnt have my cell phone, so Marite was nice enough to go back with me to that stand. And strangely enough, the woman admitted that she had my cell phone and gave it back. So bizarre. But apparently, this is typical behavior in Rio, a city that sees a lot of crime and a lot of tourists just coming and going.

At any rate, it didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth, Rio de Janeiro is still one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited and I hope I get to go back many times in my life.