Lap(a)!
The following weekend I met up with Mari, who I met through
the Couchsurfing website and who invited me to join her and her
friends to a Halloween party at a friend of her's. We all dressed up,
although my costume was rather sober, considering my very limited
wardrobe and funds to spend on Halloween extravaganza.
Mari and yours truly
It was a great party with a very mixed crowd, with over 15 nationalities represented and caipirinhas consumed by all. Unfortunately the party pictures were lost, but more on that later.
I spent most of Sunday hanging out with Mari as well, taking walks on
the Leme and Copacabana beach at sunset. It yielded some great
pictures, which once again, were lost for eternity.
On Monday, I was debating doing something a little more productive
than bumming around on the beach, but I changed my mind and headed to
Post 9 on Ipanema beach again. I'm glad I did so, as that is where I
met the charming young lady named Claudia. Being German, speaking
perfect English with an Australian accent and being half Chinese, she
was an interesting mix of cultures and we clicked right away and
decided to hang out for the two more days she'd be in town before
heading back to Germany. After the beach we did some grocery shopping
and made dinner, while talking and making plans to visit the Sugar
Loaf (one of the highest hills surrounding Rio and a main tourist
attraction) and the Downtown area together.
Claudia
We met up at 10AM the next day and caught a bus to Urca, one of the
safest and nicest neighborhoods in Rio. From there, it was just a
short walk to the cable car station, where we got two cable cars which
would take us up on the Morro da Urca (Urca Hill) and the Pao de
Azucar (Sugar Loaf). Once we reached the summit at an altitude of 396
meter, we were treated to a nice panoramic view over Rio.
After the visit to the Sugar Loaf, we walked along the Botafogo bay
and caught a bus to the Center. Guided by my loyal Lonely Planet
travel guide, we did a walking tour in the downtown area and wandered
around for a while.
Lapa
Later that afternoon, I had made plans to meet Carol, a very nice Couchsurfing Carioca (inhabitant of Rio) for drinks. Claudia and I met
Carol on the steps of the famous Theatro Municipal.
We agreed to get some drinks in the Lapa neighborhood, which is famous for its
samba schools and clubs, which makes it a major destination for partying Cariocas on weekends.
Carol and I
We had a some caipirinha and a nice chat, but on the way back from the bar, suddenly two guys walked up to me. In low but forceful voices they spoke 'nao policia, nao policia' and one guy tried to pull my messenger bag off of me while the other one ripped my digital compact Canon camera from my front pocket. Dumbfounded and confused, as it all happened in a matter of seconds, I
resisted a little bit and held my messenger bag around my waist, until one of the guys pulled out a gun and basically stuck it in my face. At this point I heard Carol screaming 'let it go' and I let loose of my beloved messenger bag, which held my Lonely Planet, USD 60 'emergency cash', my Oakley sunglasses, pocket knife, AA batteries, camera bag and a Wifi checker. Righ after the incident we walked up to a police car which was parked some 200m away, but it immediately became pretty clear I wouldn't have to get my hopes up. After catching our breaths for a few minutes and trying to deal with the shock, Claudia and I decided to call it a day, get out of Lapa as soon as possible and catch a metro back to Copacabana. Carol was nice enough to escort us on the metro ride back, after which we said our goodbyes and got on a bus to Ipanema. Claudia treated me to a bottle of red wine, which we
drank at the apartment, trying to relax a little. After escorting Claudia back to her hostel, I felt like writing down my thoughts, but, since misfortune doesn't tend to come alone, that same night my laptop, which was a gift from Kate's granddad, decided to die on me as well.
The next day Claudia and I hung around at Post 9 again, killing some
time walking around Ipanema and getting some snacks, before I helped
her carry her luggage to the bus stop, where she got on a bus to the
airport. When she got back home, she emailed me saying she was stuck
at the Rio airport for 5h and obviously missed her connecting flight.
Seems like both of us had some bad luck those days... but I had a
wonderful time hanging out with her. Those three days I couldn't help
but think that it kind of felt like what I imagine my honeymoon to be
like... two gringos hanging out in a tropical country.
Disclaimer/copyright notice: the pictures in this post were taken with Mari's and Claudia's camera, after being run through PS by yours truly. :)