I have thought to myself many times over the past week - I wonder if Cariocas are always a little afraid too? So I asked a few. The response was basically yes. They think about whether they will be robbed when they are at a stop light at night - and they roll up their windows. They think about whether their bag will be slashed from their shoulder with a knife. The difference between Cariocas and me is that they shrug their shoulders and go about loving life. They HAVE to not care because otherwise they would live their entire lives in fear. That has to be a part of the cultural context within which the laid back happy Brazilian attitude arose. Maybe I am so used to feeling safe and sound that I can´t easily reconcile with the absence of that feeling. Also - I am alone - and throughout the whole week I rarely saw a Carioca alone. The next time I come to Rio, I am bringing someone I love.
Despite being on guard, I met some incredible people this week. I have to thank myself for deciding that I would be open to introducing myself to people whenever it seemed mildly appropriate, and also for being resourceful with the use of the internet. In particular I should mention Rafaela, my aunt´s friend´s daughter, who I contacted a number of times prior to our meeting on Thursday night for dinner. I met her at her house in Jardim Botanico, and she took me to Leblon to a nightclub called 00 where we had a lovely dinner and delicious capisakes. 00 was a beautiful "Sky Bar"-type space that turns into a lively dance club later in the evening. Rafa is awesome. She works for Globo.com and, among other things, scouts Rio for good photo shoot locations. She is into the electronic music scene in Rio, and I invited her to join me for Coachella if she can make it to the US at the end of April. Rafa lived in Los Angeles for a few months when on Work Experience, which is when Brazilians come to the US to work on their English and make some money. She worked for a security company that staffs nightclubs and events, and also at Victoria´s Secret. She had some hilarious stories about getting around LA while living in Hollywood without a car.
I had been networking on asmallworld and made plans to meet up with Natasha, a Ukrainian partygirl who lives in Chicago. :) Natasha met me at 00, and then we decided to go to a club in Ipanema called 69 that a contact of hers recommended. This place was very posh - where the young, beautiful, rich and fabulous Cariocas go. Natasha and I got there a bit early, but the place filled up quickly. There were a lot of groups of friends there and two men eyeing us who were not interesting me at the moment. So, I just walked up to a cute guy and used the most original pick-up line ever - "hi, do you speak English?" followed by a big smile - and what do you know, I was talking to him and his friends in no time. One girl friend was giving me great recommendations about what to do in the state of Céara, which is where I am right now. I then started talking to Victor and his friends - Victor is one of those player types who sees an American girl as a bullseye on a dartboard - and so at this point I went to the ladies room.
In the ladies´ room, someone started talking to me in Portguese when I was washing my hands, to which I always reply "Perdão, Americana" - and since everyone in this circle speaks English, it became a yap party in the bathroom with everyone asking me where I´m from and whether this was my first time in Rio. I became fast friends with one girl in particular - nineteen year old Gabi, cute as a button in a pretty white dress but with lots of earrings and a tattoo in German across her entire back that said "Free Your Soul." This girl was a pixy and had more adorable energy that almost anyone I´ve ever met. She studied in London when she was sixteen and speaks English with an awesome British/Portuguese accent. We became fast friends and she was adamant (although pretty drunk, so there´s the flakiness that comes with that condition and with Brazil in general) that we would be hanging out all night and that I would accompany her and her friends when they moved onto a gay club called Le Boy/La Girl. All of her friends were straight, but the club was so crazy fun that I can see why it´s a destination of choice - especially for late night. (By the way, I have encountered no homophobia in Brazil at all so far, which is so fantastic.) Le Boy, the bigger of the two connected clubs, featured all of the usual smoke machines, go-go boys, glitterati, etc. Such a fun night.
On Friday night, I was still high from hang gliding and was stoked to receive a message from Clarice. I contacted Clarice, who lives in Rio, on asmallworld when I saw that she had held a birthday party for her best friend the previous week and invited everyone to join. I wrote to her saying that I missed the party but would love to get together while I´m in Rio. She ended up organizing a dinner on Friday night with her friend Juliana and three Italians from Rome who are living in Rio, and so she invited me to join. We met for sushi in Leblon, and it was SUCH a fantastic time. It was great to meet a girl like Clarice who is so open to meeting new people. After dinner we went to Lapa to a club called 40 degrees - four floors of fun, with a mix of pool tables, bars, live samba music, some hip hop when the bands were taking breaks, and Brazilian funky. Ok, this funky stuff is SO AWESOME. For all of my music lovers out there - you know who you are - check this stuff out. It pretty much all comes from Rio. I can´t wait to find good artists to download when I have the time.
On the music front, I ended my stay in Rio with a Jorge Ben Jor concert. This guy is a legend in Brazil - their version of Jimmy Buffett. He is from the 80s, but everyone knows the words to every song and is singing along, jumping, clapping and dancing. It was AMAZING!! I got there late after some annoying drama that I will spare you from hearing about, but I learned a good lesson - never depend on someone you don´t know and trust too much. I always need to know where I´m going and how to get there. It´s called making my own fun - setting my own destiny - freeing my soul. I love knowing where I´m going. And I love you all - beijos. Always, Katarina
