Yesterday was my first day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My flight was generally boring, but highlights include the incident with United giving me the wrong boarding pass, so when I went through security I was sent back and had to do it all over again. I flew from Denver to Chicago, from there to Sao Paulo, and from there to Rio. I was pretty calm and collected until I got to Chicago, where there in the terminal the announcer was speaking portuguese and the people around me were too, and the butterflies started. They were killed, however, by the extremely long and boring flight from Chicago to Sao Paulo. Once I got off the plane in Sao Paulo I was immediately whisked onto the plane for Rio, which luckily was a short trip.
The view from the sky of Rio was much different than I had expected. There is a huge mountain range around it that I didn't know existed! But it was when we landed that I was knocked off my feet by the city. There are grand cathedrals hidden amongst ruins, favelas (slums) all over the hillside and in each favela are many children flying kites. Graffitti covers many of the buildings, much of it very artistic and beautiful. Forests cover mountains which spring out of the city sporadically. The city is gigantic, and every neighborhood looks like it could be in a different town, with its own standard of living and style. Everything is new to me, everything, and I feel like I am in the most fascinating city in the entire world. Perhaps I am.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I haven't even left the airport yet! I wait half an hour for my luggage, which each bag getting more and more nervous until there are no bags left and it is obvious that my luggage is elsewhere. At this point I haven't eaten or slept in many many hours and I almost faint right on the spot, but remember a snickers bar in my backpack and wolf it down. It is now that I get my first taste of Brazilian hospitality.
His name is Raul (pronounced How-oo) and he works at the baggage center. He walks me through customs and makes me feel a little less dizzy, gives me his personal phone number and tells me to call him anytime I want something to do in Rio, and asks if he can copy my email address so he can contact me, then a kiss on each cheek and I am into the world.
Except I'm not. Because the cab driver doesn't speak English and insists that there is no hostel called Baron Garden in Gloria. Eventually I get the address and find a nice driver. We converse the entire way in broken spanish and portuguese. We understand each other surprisingly well and laugh more than half of the time we are together over our misunderstandings. We drive up a narrow cobblestone road that twists and turns up a steep hill, and we arrive at my destination.
I get to this "baron garden" and find merely a house with a foreboding feel to it. There are big dogs barking and growling on the other side of the fence and a lady comes out looking bewildered and annoyed. She speaks no English and the next few minutes are a confusing, complicated wreck of the three of us trying to figure out what is happening. Finally she realizes that I am to stay with her and takes me in. She speaks not a word of English, but she speaks slowly and clearly and I get the gist of what she is saying. The house is bigger than it looks from the outside, and it is gorgeous with high ceilings, an amazing garden, ornate restrooms, and a secluded swimming pool. I cut my thumb really really badly after looking through the house. The bleeding will not stop no matter what, and my caretaker sees. She cleans my wound and bandages it, and I like her a lot more.
After a few hours I am ready to go to sleep but decided to sit on the balchony first. There I meet another foreigner whom I immediately take a liking to. She is a volunteer in the favelas, and soon the other volunteers come back from work. They are all either Brits or Aussies and they are all delightful people. They are going out later in the night and are so excited that I am convinced to take a power nap, which I do, and then at midnight we set out for Lapa.
Lapa is amazing. Amazing. And I will talk about it in my next post.
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