Travelogue- Brazil

06Jan09

With a week and half behind me and roughly two weeks to go, there’s still so much to see on the trip, but I’ve got to start somewhere, and where best but Brazil!

I landed two days after Christmas and it was raining- who knew that Rio in the middle of their summer would be so rainy? But fortunately for me, the rain was shortlived and the wonders of rio quickly showed themselves.

I’d had all sorts of images of what rio could be, or not be, and more or less they were all a bit off.

First off, its definitely tropical- hot and humid. Second, i thought it would be a vast megalopolis- but instead, i was met with a densely populated city with large veins of jungle interspersed (along with the infamous favellas as well).

The moment i set foot on brazilian soil, I was taken by how welcome, friendly- and well, pysched on life everyone was. Seriously- its like these people are on red bull 24/7 (without the crash). It didn’t matter if I was asking people about food or what way to best get to the bustop- people were more than happy to help.

Speaking of which, the food was _awesome_. Everything from the street sandwiches to the fancier Brazilian food was awesome. They definitely take a page from the meat-a-tarian cookbook and bring it up a few notches. The quality of the meat and chicken was insane. Pretty much all they do is just hit it with salt, pepper and olive oil and voila! crazy tasty food. That and black beans and rice- lots o carbs, which of course, I love! Oh and the portion sizes make the outback steakhouse main entrees look like diet appetizers.

Which is kind of weird, because i don’t think i’ve ever been anywhere where people look so RIPPED. Seriously, everyone has either a sixpack or some sports illustrated swimsuit body- with much skimpier suits- which isn’t always a good thing- there apparently isn’t a weight limit on speedos  😦 Also funny is that you can find Protein Powder for musclebuilding as an option at all fruit drink stands- hows that for a juice boost?

The partying it goes without saying is pretty crazy. Things don’t get hopping at clubs till at least midnight, and don’t end till like 5. It doesn’t matter if you’re in lapa (the mission district of Rio) or the tonier places in Ipanema- people straight party. Watching a live samba band though is a true pleasure watching people move and get down- its awesome!

New years was even more crazy- with over 2 million people mingling on Copacabana beach with fireworks and small fiery shrines to local deities- all combined with healthy amounts of Capirinhas and dancing- a dangerous mix.

All said and done an awesome city- both for eating, tanning, and some sightseeing (sugar loaf was a must see). I don’t know if i’d spend an entire week there again, but it was an awesome place to check out. Now for the next leg of the trip-Argentina!

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Tags: brazil, food, Rio, travel