Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro!!

DAY 1:
We arrived in Rio de Janeiro late morning on January 30th. We were picked up by Martin, a cab driver the hostel had sent for us. During the 30 minutes drive to the hostel he gave us a little Portuguese lesson, and then quizzed us at the end. We arrived at our hostel, Brazil Hostel which is in Lapa, next to the Arcos de Lapa (pretty much party central for Carnaval) We also met the owners, Jorge and Ana. They seemed really nice and the hostel looked like a good place to call home for the week. We ended up sharing a room with 4 Aussie girls. They were pretty nice, even though their crap was all over the room. One of the girls even lived in Seattle for a few months, so she was our favorite. After putting our stuff away we went in search of food. We ran into our taxi driver on the way out and he offered to help us find somewhere. We ended up at Zabor, a per kilo restaurant. He ended up eating lunch with us and we had a pretty good conversation despite the fact he didn’t know much English. We also ordered our first of many Caipirinha´s; and it was nice and strong. We went back to the hostel and met some of our hostel mates. The coolest one was Trish, a girl from England . We decided she was our new best friend! We also met Junior, who works for the hostel and helps plan events and outings. We signed up to go to a futebol (soccer) match that evening. It took place at Maracanã, the largest soccer stadium in the world. Flamengo, the team we were rooting for won! People really get into the game, it´s pretty awesome! We went to bed early that night so that we could rest up for the upcoming festivities.

DAY 2:
We got up semi early so that we could see some of Rio´s sights. We took the tram on top of the Lapa Arches to the neighborhood of Santa Teresa. It was a really cute, hilly area with good views of the city. We visited a museum, a park and a convent. The convent was cool, because they unlocked it especially for us, so we got VIP access! We walked down the extremely steep hills back to Lapa, where we visited the fine arts museum. A lot of it was closed for renovations, but it was free so that’s always good. They even had a replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue, so Katie was very happy. We returned to the hostel for a nap, so that we would be well rested for another outing with Junior and our hostel peeps. We walked to a nearby club, which had free Caipirinha´s until 1am! And we definetly drank our fair share, so that it would last us the whole night. We also got a cool t-shirt with our entry fee that said something about Carnaval on it. We hung out and danced with our hostel people for a while to mostly hip hop music. Deepeka would have loved it! After a while the music changed to samba and a live band performed on a balcony. Katie and Trish were on the dance floor, but when they returned Leif was nowhere to be found. Katie looked up and saw that him and Casper (a Danish dude) had joined the Samba group on stage and they were dancing. Katie ran up to join them! We stayed there for a while and danced with the Samba girl, and Katie even got to wear her head dress for a while. Around 4amish, we walked back to the hostel. IMPORTANT: This will be the earliest we will have returned home after a night of partying!

DAY 3:
The next day we woke up around 1pm. We hired a cab to take us to the statue, Christ the Redeemer and to Sugar Loaf Mountain. He first took us to a place to get a good overall view of the statue, as well as the city. Also at this stop we saw some monkeys! So Leif was really happy! We then chugged up the hill, where we had 30 minutes to see the statue and buy some souvenirs. The statue was huge! And we also got some really nice shots of the cityscape. The driver then dropped us off at the cable car station to get up to the top of Sugar Loaf. Unfortunately, the cable car was $20 each to get to the top, and we didn’t even have enough for one of us to go. So we took some pictures of the mountain itself, found a metro station and went back to the hostel for a nap. Naps were an essential part of our life in Rio during Carnaval! We left the hostel around 9pmish. The second we stepped out we heard drums and music. We looked down the street and saw a crap load of people singing and dancing. We joined them and we all headed toward the Arches. We also bought some beers along the way. At the Arches we ran into someone walking around and selling tequila shots. He had a tray of salt and limes with a fifth of Jose Cuervo in his hand. We bought a shot and toasted to Frank! We were hanging out in the square with all the people, when all of a sudden it began to rain. People scattered like cockroaches to any form of shelter. We ran to a nearby tent to wait out the rain. But the rain didn´t stop everybody; people continued to dance and drink out in the rain. Once the rain subsided, we headed toward a club we had read about. We got a little lost for about 20 minutes, and had to navigate through the flooded streets. We finally found it, and it ended up being right next to the club we went to the previous night. The place was good, but kinda sketchy. There was an upstairs area called a ´dark room´, which is where people went to have sex. We danced a little bit and saw part of a drag show. But the best part of the night was when we met our new Brazilian friends! We stayed with them at the club until closing. Then we headed out into the streets with the rest of the city. Back at the Arches we met some of their other friends, and they invited us to a party that was going to start at 8am! Of course, we could not refuse! The people we met are Fabiano, Thiago, Natalia, Erica and Diego. Later on while we were hanging out and drinking Thiago (the cutest little black, gay man) introduced us to Bruno and Jhones (aka Johnny). Jhones told Thiago he thought Katie was cute, and it wasn´t long before they started making out. The two love birds wandered around for a while, but eventually caught up with everyone else. After having a hot dog, we made our way to Cinelandia Square , where the 8am party was to start. We switched from beer to coconut water and mate (a more sugary version of the Argentina tea). By 9:30am, nothing was happening yet so we decided to make our way home. On the way they showed us a club, where we would meet them at later that night. They walked us to our hostel and we said our goodbyes and see you soons.

DAY 4:
On this day we had planned to go hang gliding at 12pm, but we totally slept through it and slept until 3:30pm. After waking up, having lunch and getting ready we headed toward the club. We paid a little extra to get VIP, which meant we had any drink we wanted for free all night! Definitely can´t get that in Seattle ! We had a few Fanta Vodkas and went in search of our friends. We found them pretty quickly and we all headed to the rooftop, which played our kind of music. Our friends introduced us to a lot more people, because it seems like they know everybody no matter where we go. And everyone loved us and said how beautiful we were! They also introduced us to a new song and dance. The song is called Creu by Mc Creu. Everyone in Rio loves it, and they stop everything they´re doing and dance to it. It was described to us as the 5 speed sex song. There are 5 parts to the song, and each one gets progressively faster. The dance is pretty much humping the air. It´s amazing…and a real workout! It´s our favorite new song! So Google it, learn it, love it! Later in the night it began to rain. Rain was pretty much a constant during our time in Rio , but it sure didn´t stop anyone from having a good time! Katie and Thiago danced in the rain together. Katie dancing in the rain seems to be a common theme on the trip. We noticed that in clubs and on the streets people will just approach someone, ask their name, maybe where they´re from, and then just make out with them. We´re not necessarily saying that we participated in this practice, but it happens. ;) We left the club around 6:30am and walked back in the rain to our hostel to pass out.

DAY 5:
Again we woke up to go hang gliding, but it was raining so we weren´t able to go. We went to a buffet style restaurant for lunch. At a Brazilian buffet the waiters continuously bring you food and you can have as much as you want. We had TONS of pasta, and it was so good! We were such fat kids. The best part was the dessert: a pizza with bananas and cinnamon sugar. After our big meal we took another nap. That night we went to a party called, BITCH, which was recommended to us by our new friends. It was a huge, huge club! I don´t think we´ve ever been to a club that ginormous. We ordered vodka drinks, which we assumed came with some type of mixer. However, it was just a glass of vodka, which was surprisingly cheap. After getting good and buzzed we danced for a while, and then met some people on the balcony. We talked to them for a while, but then decided to ditch them. We went downstairs where they played music we liked. Once again, we danced till dawn! After leaving the club we walked through the streets for a while, beer in hand. We stopped at a stand where Leif got a hamburger and Katie got a hot dog. Yum, street food! Then we went to a square where a live cover band was playing. They played Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park , Snoop Dogg and more. We joined everyone and danced and sang along to the lyrics. We eventually got back to the hostel around 7am.

DAY 6:
Well, you should know the schedule by now: wake up late, eat, take a nap, and go out! Again, we woke up and couldn´t go hang gliding due to the rain. Around 9:30pm we left the hostel to go to the Sambodromo. We lucked out, because this is the one night where it didn´t rain! So, this is where the big parade is. All the schools from Rio show off their best floats and costumes. Each school gets an hour to dazzle the crowd. They each play their own song, which is basically a 3-4 minute song repeated for an hour! The parade was amazing! So colorful, vibrant and elaborate. Everyone was having a great time, dancing, drinking and singing. It went on from 9pm until 6am. It gets a little tiring after a while, but we made it all the way through with a little help from our friends caffeine and hamburgers. We got a Bob´s Burger, which is like the Brazilian Macdonald’s. It was an amazing thing to see and definitely worth while. We followed the hoards of people to the metro and packed into a subway car. We got off at Cinelandia and sat in the square and people watched for a while. Again, we got home around 7am and passed out.

DAY 7:
This morning we were abruptly awoken by our Aussie room mate. She told us that if we wanted to go hang gliding we had to leave in half an hour. We looked at the clock and saw that it was only 9:30am!! With barely 2 hours of sleep, we slowly got up and got ready. We took a taxi with 3 other guys to the hang gliding office. Katie had to sit on Leif´s lap, and she feared for her life. Drivers in Rio are crazy!! We got to the office and signed our lives away. We hopped in a Ranger Rover and went up through the jungle on a big ass mountain. We got into our gear and had a few practice runs with our pilots. Katie went first. As she was flying through the air, her dude got a call on his cell phone. Leif´s pilot was very informative and told him all about the landscape we saw. We both landed safely, but was sort of abrupt. The hang gliding experience was awesome!! Not as scary as sky diving or bungee jumping, but it was well worth the money! And now we can say we hang glided in Rio ! We waited around for the rest of our group to land. We then took a cab back to the hostel, where we took a much needed nap. We contacted Fabiano to find out the 411 for the night, since it was the last night of Carnaval! We planned to meet up with him, Erica and Thiago in Ipanema. We took a metro and then a taxi to get there. He finally found us on the corner and we went to a nearby street party. So many people were out drinking and dancing. We even got to dance in the middle of the street to the Creu song three times within 20 minutes. It was great!! Katie was sad that Johnny didn´t show up, so all our Brazilian friends were on a mission to find her a man. There were a few candidates, but nothing compared to Johnny. Sigh! Around 2amish we all headed to the beach, where a DJ was playing. We went between dancing on the sand, drinking and talking with all our cool, new Brazilian friends. After our very sad farewells we caught a cab with a girl who was friends with Erica, and returned to Lapa around 6am. Approximately one minute after getting out of the cab we run into Johnny, Bruno and their creepy friend. Katie almost passed out from happiness! We pretended not to notice them at first, and waited till they saw us. And once they did Johnny was so ecstatic! The three of them didn´t speak much English and we knew very little Portuguese, so the conversation was quite entertaining. But we finally got on the same page after about 30 minutes. Katie and Johnny hung out for a few more hours, and made plans to see each other later that night. Katie returned to the hostel around 9:45am, and upon arrival saw the hostel owner who gave her a smile and a knowing glance. It is an odd feeling coming home when other people are getting up and having breakfast!

DAY 8:
We woke up the next day around 3pm, and Katie filled Leif in about what her and Johnny ‘talked’ about. We got some food and wandered around the city for one of the last times. Because Carnaval was over, it was really weird to see how empty the streets were. There were no vendors, no music, and no people drinking, dancing and urinating in the street. Oh yeah, the city was basically a urinal for the week. It was awesome for Leif, but Katie did not appreciate it very much, especially wearing flip flops the whole time. Back at the hostel we packed. Leif went to see American Gangster at a nearby movie theater, while Katie met up with Johnny one last time…well, until they get married.

DAY 9:
Our last day in Rio we woke up at 4:30am in order to catch our 6:45 flight to Salvador. We were really sad to leave Rio! We had an amazing time and met some really awesome people. We want to go back every year for Carnaval. New Years in Amsterdam was awesome. New Years in Prague was amazing. But nothing compares to a week long party in Rio! Any time of the day you will find something to do, something to drink, somewhere to dance and someone to make out with. There is so much that happened, this blog doesn’t even do it justice. We love Rio!!!