Q:I don't know how, but I found your tumblr searching photos for my work about cities..Well, I just wanna say that I'm from Brazil, but from Rio Grande do Sul, and this view that u are having, is unique ! No one from other countries, or sometimes other states, like me, can't see everything that happens on the poor places at Rio de Janeiro !!! Keep writting here cuz' it's amazing what u are telling us ! Great job ! xoxo
Thank you very much!
I’m not in Rio anymore though, I left last month :(
But whenever I go back I’ll start this blog again. Thanks for reading!!
This Is Not Goodbye, It’s See You Later
I’m sitting in this little cafe in Copacabana and I’m effing starving.
I’ve asked a lady, who must be wondering why I’m smiling and crying at the same time, to take a photo of me.
It’s an extremely beautiful day and the thought of me going back to a country where heat is basically non-existent not only makes me sad but a little scared.
Today’s my last day in Rio and I’ve decided to spend it on the beach with a friend,who is typically late, but I’m not bothered because it’s the Brazilian way.
I’m looking at everyone around me and I’m insanely jealous because this is their life, the sun, the samba, the singing and my world is totally different. You can have your purse stolen, get stood up on a date, but because the sun is out it doesn’t seem that bad.
I was supposed to go to São Conrado to go hand gliding or take a trip to Ilha de Paquetá but I’m glad I’m in Copa, I started here so its only right I finish here, however I did spend the morning in the biggest shit-hole of a neighbourhood you will ever see, this was in Centro, I felt like I was in some south African shantytown. It was horrible.
There was no carpet, no wallpaper, no light bulb, broken windows, shit on the floor, there was no toilet door so the stench coming into the main room was unbelievable, and I’m sure there was some sort of virus flying around in the air. In fact it was the worst type of poverty I have ever seen in my life. But that’s another story.
I’m praying, hoping, praying that I don’t cry when I leave my apartment or when I’m at the airport. I don’t care if I faint from that pain one gets in the chest when they try to hold back their tears, I just don’t want people to see me so emotional. But it’s time to go.
Rio de Janeiro,you have given me incomparable moments, moments that I will never forget
I’ll be back,
This is not goodbye, it’s see you later
Q:How are black western men treated in Brazil and what is the best part of brazil for beaches?
Anonymous
I’m not really sure about that, I’m not a black western man lol, I guess western men are generally treated in the same way I think. Banks!
Q:just realized I wrote the name of the school wrong, it's União da Ilha :)
Q:i just read your post about carnival and it's so nice of you to say those things, i'm also cheering for unidos da tijuca and unidos da ilha (a few months before they lost everything due to a fire accident, and managed to put things together all over again before carnival).
Unidos da Tijuca are the best, they were so amazing, yh what happened to União da Ilha was awful but I watched them on TV yesterday and they done pretty well.
“Carnival is not just a celebration, it’s my reason for living”
Following my wonderful night/morning dancing in the Sambodrome, I decided to go and watch the show. I have a favourite’s school, Unidos da Tijuca who were last years winners so I thought I’ll get a cheap ticket and go and watch them and only them.
So I arrived there, it was quite difficult to find the audience entrance, there was no-one with signs, no-one offering to help lost tourists, one information point with a man who only spoke Portuguese (Rio really needs to work on this), but after about 37 minutes of walking I found someone who was selling tickets, got a ticket for R$30 to sit in sector 6,which is the poor mans section but I was only there to see one group so I wasn’t bothered.
Unidos da Tijuca were amazing, they had all these magic tricks, there were gorillas flying off a jungle float, they had a massive TV in one of their floats, a swimming pool, a boat, my eyes were just like O O.
Their theme was films and fear, so they had a Harry Potter float, a Jaws float, King Kong float,Avatar, Chicken run; the time that must have gone into creating these floats, the money, my God! I’ve been told there’s a lot of drug money involved, I mean the samba schools are from the Favelas so there is some dodgy funding going on, they do get sponsor’s from outside though, I read about one school getting 1 million Euros from a French city, because the samba schools theme was based on them.
And the vibe in there is beautiful, the Brazilians are so passionate you wouldn’t believe it, I saw people crying with joy with the biggest smiles on their face, it’s the same kind of passion, emotion and happiness you see during World Cup.
Rio is truly something else, these people really do eat, live and breathe carnival.I’m even a little envious that I’m not as passionate about anything in my world.
My dream is to one day join Unidos da Tijuca in their parade, so who knows maybe next year you will see me on TV, that’s if you watch Brazilian TV of course.
Watch the video in this link to see what I’m talking about.
http://globonews.globo.com/Jornalismo/GN/0„MUL1652089-17665-308,00.html#
And see more amazing pics here, and check my facebook for more photo uploads
http://g1.globo.com/carnaval/2011/fotos/2011/03/veja-fotos-do-desfile-da-unidos-da-tijuca-na-sapucai.html
The Best Pictures You Will Ever See Of Me In Your Life
No drug can compare to the way I felt yesterday.
Sex couldn’t have made me feel that way, not even my Beyonce could have created the feeling I got when I danced in the Sambodromo yesterday.
Orgasmic.
That’s the best way I can describe it. The feeling was orgasmic.
All the colours, all the lights, all the singing fans, all the dancing, naked, shiny girls, all the drums.
I never ever thought I would dance with a samba school during carnival.
It was dream. And it all started with breakfast in Copacabana.
I was out with my friend from England, and after we had had breakfast/lunch in this place that was basically a bread bin; you walk in and you are surrounded by bread, all types of bread, all sizes, all shapes, we were thinking of what we were going to do that night.
She was going to stay with a guy who lived in Tijiuca, and I was waiting with her until he came to Copa to pick her up.
So it was about 6.30pm and we met this guy and he was like:
“What are you guys doing tonight?
And I was like:
“I’m going to a Jamaican carnival, what are you doing tonight?”
And he said:
“ I’m dancing in the carnival parade”
And I was just like SHUT-UP!!!
And he was like:
“Yh, do wanna come?”
“ Do I have a choice, HELLS YH, I want to come!”
And that was it, me, three English girls, a girl from Tunisia, one from Japan, some from Argentina and some Brazilians formed a section of the samba school Estácio de Sá, which was the first samba school in Rio.
We walked down the streets with pride in our costumes, went on the metro in our costumes, and finally danced through the Sambadrome, screaming, smiling, sambering,nonstop. Unimaginable.
Of course all of us foreigners didn’t know the words to the song so we had to sing1-2-3-4, it was hilarious. I think we danced for about an hour, could have been longer could have been shorter, it just felt amazing, it was just amazing.
Much to my surprise, so many costumes were being thrown away, I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was like a Samba wasteland, all the money and effort that goes into making them and as soon as your done, you through them away.Sad.
But they are extremely heavy though,how I will bring my costume back to England, only God knows.
*Big fat Brazilian sigh*
It’s the 4th of march and I am feeling quite sad. In fact I’m feeling a bit similar to the way I felt three months after Michael Jackson died, like everything that just happened was a dream. I’m leaving Rio soon.
I’m leaving Rio soon, but I’m not ready to go and its not just because of the cold I will face when I go back to Europe or the fact that I will have to adapt to a boring university life in Berlin, its just that I’m not emotionally ready.
Just when I was starting to embrace the culture, just when I the language was making sense to me, just as I am learning to samba, I am snatched away.
And before you ask me, No, I can’t extend my stay, Humboldt University in Berlin has personally requested that I arrive there on the 24th of March or face the consequences.
If I don’t go to university in Berlin, then I won’t have fulfilled my year abroad requirements and I basically fail Uni.
3 months is not enough.
I feel like that pissed off guy in a room with a hot, semi-naked girl who is flirting very hard but is not letting him touch her.
I teased myself, I am a tease.
I’ve been in my apartment for the past two days now, only leaving the house to go to school, because every time I catch a glimpse of the beach, or smell feijao or hear samba my eyes start to water and I have to put my sunglasses on.
I’m typing this with my sunglasses on now, because I don’t want people in the house to know I’ve been crying.
I have to stop now.
Brazilian bullies
I’ve already told you about my beef with the mosquitoes here in Rio.
And just when I thought they were starting to leave me alone, they struck again. But this time on my face.
That’s right, one C-U-N-T of a mosquito bit me right under my eye making me look like one of Mike Tyson ex girlfriends. It was not funny neither was it sexy.
It was so awkward in my apartment building, when I was in the lift whoever was in there with me would avert eye contact and when I took the metro people would give me that “I feel sorry for you look”. Terrible.
I spent the whole morning thinking of a story to tell people about the swelling, because I thought the mosquito one sounded silly, I decided I would either tell them “I had an allergic reaction to Feijão, and THAT’S why I don’t like it” or “My Brazilian boyfriend who is crazily jealous saw me talking to you so unfortunately we cant be friends any more”.
Luckily for me it went down in the morning, but I sleep with an anti-mozzie cloth on my face now, I won’t let them win.
Bloco after Bloco after Bloco
Carnival is coming up soon and everybody is going crazy,well except me, I’m too shocked to go crazy at the moment.
The noise in the street is amazing, the nakedness is amazing, the amount of people outside is amazing and these are just the pre-carnival blocos, I’m scared of the real thing!!
Imagine a street parade where guys are running around in skirts and wigs seeing how many girls they can kiss, where 6 feet tall, muscular men are dressed in diamante bikinis and high heels dancing samba effortlessly, everyone is dancing, everyone is singing, everyone is happy or very drunk.
.And these bloco’s just don’t stop, they start from like 7am and go on until the evening, then some start in the evening and go on into the morning.
Its pure madness. There is nothing like it, Rio de Janiero knows how to fucking party!!
Photo’s courtesy of my lovely germ Kay Fochtman, check out his site for more amzing pics of Rio.
