maresia

"O meu amor me deixou, levou minha identidade, não sei mas bem onde estou, nem onde há realidade..."

Hey y'all! I've been so lazy in updating this, I apologize. I've also been waiting to photo jack my friends but they haven't uploaded all the pictures that I wanted to steal, so alas, I'm going to post this now and get some other pictures for you later on! So as you know, I left you about a week ago to venture down into the beautiful, amazing, wondrous city known as Rio de Janeiro. And what an amazing trip it was! Well, can we talk about the ease of airports in Brazil? First of all, I didn't have to strip naked to get through security. They checked my bag and I walked through the metal detector and I was done. No one waved down my Afro, I didn't have to take off my Havaianas, and I didn't have to take off every piece of clothing that I wore to the airport to be scanned. It was fabulous. All though, like everything else in Brazil, the planes were late and the flight attendants were late and so we were late to board (this is a recurring thing in my trip). But we still made it to Rio, in time to watch the sun set on the cityscape. Upon our arrival, I was immediately greeted with a cool breeze which was definitely a much needed change from humid and very hot Salvador. As we drove into the city, we passed a wall that traced the highways, covered in art, which was supposed to, in fact, hide the favelas behind it in preparation for the Olympic games in 2016. Eventually we settled into Hotel San Marco, in the middle of the famous bairro, Ipanema. I was staying in IPANEMA, yo'. You know what song I'm thinking of, right? Well, I chose the bed closest to the window so I could hear the sounds of Rio and also feel the AC directly. I took a shower and was greeted by piping hot, extremely pressured water which felt so good after a long while of taking lukewarm showers at home in Salvador. I wanted to fall right asleep, and I think I may have taken a nap, but there was a free dinner at the local Pizzeria, and I ate and ate and ate. From the moment that I stepped outside my hotel to walk to the restaurant, I knew that I was in love with Rio. The next day we traveled up to Mangueira's School of Samba to watch them rehearse their performances and choose their song for Carnaval. 

Most of the group, including our professors, got pretty drunk and had a blast dancing and talking with everybody that was there. Unfortunately after one too many caipirinhas, a friend and I were left behind at the party and had to take a taxi home.

 Heheh, OH WELL. The next day I woke up with a blazing migraine and wasn't really in the mood to play pretend friends with the other Americans, so I got dressed, twisted my hair, and went off to the Hippie Fair with my roommates. Then I decided later that afternoon to wander around Rio alone, and this is when I truly enjoyed it. I walked down different neighborhoods, saw the Copacabana beach, went into different stores to window shop (cuz' lord knows I was broker than broke) and then I decided to take myself out for a fancy late lunch/early dinner. 

So as I walking, I stumbled upon a charming little house and after standing outside for 10 minutes trying to figure out if it would look pathetic for me to have dinner by myself, I decided to go in anyway. 

Turns out the place I stumbled upon was actually pretty famous in Rio. Zaza bistro, it's called. I LOVED IT. The music was smooth and the waitress noticed I was shy and she was very sweet to me. I ordered the Penne Pasta that came with freshly sliced cheese, peanuts and broccoli and some water. Water costs money here; it is NOT free. My palate was in heaven. Every sense was stimulated by this dish. And then for dessert, cuz I was feeling like a baller, was a Banana Creme Brulee, topped with Tapioca ice cream and fresh mint leaves....

Needless to say, this little mama ate WELL. And then I skipped down the street, singing songs in my head and taking in the sights of the city around me. I never wanted to leave. I promised myself to return and to stay in this very neighborhood...it was so beautiful. I had to rejoin the Americans for dinner, but they were annoying me and so I was in the strangest of moods. Some, not of all them just annoy me to no end, but others are chill. And I sat next to those others. And I conversed with this super cool chick named Bella who had me cracking up, but somehow I felt like the table felt like we should have been sharing our conversation. Eh, I'm partially deaf so I don't do cross table conversations, especially not a big dinners like this one. So, people were a little irritated. Oh well. I still enjoyed the laughs we shared. And I was so full from my decadent meal that all I ordered was some cheese. I also lost $5 when it came time to pay the bill, so someone (as usual) got off easy without paying a full price. Oh well, again.

It began to rain. And I remembered that I had people to call and sleep to catch up on, so I was ready to go back to the hotel. The weekend flew by quickly. I stayed with my friend Danielle and her friend Deb and we went to St. Theresa and rode the trolley. 

We went window shopping and I had an American breakfast, complete with maple syrup at Chaika, and then had dinner at Outback Steakhouse. It was one of the most memorable weeks, EVER.

Escadas de Selarón

Rio is now one of my favorite cities in Brazil. Sure, some people might hate on my decision to say this, but I don't care. I loved this city and I never wanted to leave. It was amazing. Beautiful. Vibrant. Unique.