Lapa!

The girls are very convincing. I go up to the balchony merely to watch the sunset before falling into a deep, long sleep after over 30 hours of consciousness. What actually happens is a three hour power nap followed by a whirlwhind of trying on other girls' clothes (my luggage hadn't made it to Rio yet) and trying on the girls' makeup while the British accents around me complain about their hair or help other Brits and Aussies get their makeup right.

Us girls put our Reais (the brazilian currency) in our bras, because in Lapa if you don't then they will get stolen. We catch a cab while laughing at one girl whose breasts get noticeably larger when she hides her money there.

Then we arrive at Lapa. I get out of a cab and I'm immediately swept into a huge crowd. Lapa is beautiful chaos. There is a huge street covered on both sides by street vendors, where you can find a caipirinha for as little as $R 1.50 (or 75 cents american), by far the cheapest I've seen in Rio. (A caipirinha is cachaca, which is a brazilian liquor similar to rum, sugar, and limes though I have seen it made with lemons and passionfruit as well). A hypnotic beat pulsates throughout the crowd, and as we walk closer I see a live band playing music that sounds tribal but better. We stand close to the band and realize that our hips love the music and we could not stop them if we tried.

We then go out to find a club. As we walk down the blocks I look up to towards the buildings. Such architecture I have never seen before. I have never been to Europe, but I feel like the apartments look old European/ghettofabulous mixed together. It's marvelous. We get to a club and Rhoda asks me, "Do you like bailefunk?" I tell her I have no idea what it is.

A few minutes later we are in the club and I am yelling to Rhoda, "I love bailefunk!" Apparently bailefunk has really dirty lyrics, but us foreigners couldn't care less, and apparently neither could the cariocas. It's got such a good beat and I am hooked instantly. I find myself dancing with reckless abandon with my new friends, never having felt more comfortable in my own skin.

That is, until a minute later when I am dancing with a carioca. About 15 seconds into our dance he starts kissing my neck (which as my girls back home all know is not okay, right girls?) and then asks, "Can I kiss you?" and of course I say no.

"Why not?"
"I don't know you!"
"But... why not? You are very beautiful."
"Because in my culture it is not appropriate and I am not used to it."
"Okay, well can I just dance with you?"
"Sure." We talk for a while before he starts trying to kiss me again.
"No!"
"But you are very beautiful."
"I'm sorry, but no."
"Just dance?" He asks. His friend pinches my butt for the fourth time.
"Tell your friend to stop pinching my butt and then we will talk."
He tells his friend off and we talk some more and he is suprisingly gentlemanly and then has to leave, and a minute later some other guy grabs me, wanting to kiss, or "mouth rape" as some of the volunteers called it. We all have to physically shove him away from me, and though it is annoying I realize that I am having a lot of fun. (Note to viewers, as far as I can tell this acceptable in Lapa or in nightclubs, no where else)

We go back to the main street with the tribal music and I realize that if you look a man directly in the eyes in Lapa, it tells him, "Come kiss me!" Even when I learn this and look at no one, guys still grab my arm. I pull away from them and they call after me, "Garota, porfavor! Namorada, garota! Voce e muito bonita!" And okay, let's admit it, I am still having a lot of fun.

We go into a club unlike any club I have ever seen. Here there is bailefunk and American music and it is basically this shabby dark room filled the brim with dancing people. "Mas Que Nada" with Sergio Mendes and the Black Eyes Peas comes on and this is where it hits me. I am in Rio de Janeiro, la cidade maravilhosa, dancing in a really awesome club at god knows what hour in the morning and nothing matters but everything is perfect at the same time.

Nirvana.

Eventually I get tired and go back my hostel at the early hour of 5 in the morning, two hours before the other girls, and the rest of Lapa for that matter.

I stay up and watch the sun rise over the bay.

It is the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life.