Sun, 2 Jan 2005 09:31:47 -0800 (PST)
Brazilian New Years

In Spain, and almost everywhere else in the world there is a saying that goes something like the following: ¨Never trust an Argentinian¨.

As I mentioned in my last email, I was going to head from Rio to a small beach town/fishing village called Buzios with my friend Elias from Toronto ... by accident I woke up early (around 10am) on last tuesday morning (dec 28th), and was talking to an Argentinian guy staying in our Rio hostel who just happend to have rented a car that day and was driving out to Buzios for the day. He basically charged us the cost of the entire rental plus gas, but we didn´t really care because it was still pretty cheap. The plan was that he was going to drive back that night, and that Elias and I were going to stay out there. Most of the 4 hour ride there (was supposed to be 2 but we got lost) he talked about how poor he is (even though he supposedly owns a restaurant and works as an accountant) and how difficult it is to make money in Argentina. When we got there, it was difficult to find a place as everything gets booked up around New Years, but we eventually found a decent place with two beds (one for Elias and one for me) ... then the three of us went for a snack and the Argentine guy stars hinting that he wanted to stay in our room ... I immediately said that there was no space for him. After dinner he asked if he could use our shower and we reluctantly agreed, and as we entered the hotel, he was acting very suspicious and seemed to be making an extra effort to be sure that the front desk people saw him entering the hotel with us (even though he was not checked in oficially) .. so I totally suspected that he would try to come back later and get into our room and steal everything (wouldn´t be the first time I got robbed while travelling) ... while he was in the shower I went down to the front desk and told them that under no circumstances was the Argentinian allowed to enter our room ... the front desk guy looked confused and almost saddened, but agreed to our request. After the guy finished his shower, Elias was hungry so we all went to McDonalds, and I started responding to the Argentinian guy only in English (which he didn´t really speak), in order for him to get the idea that he wasn´t welcome. He then said he had to step out to make a phone call and that he would be back in a second, and that presented our chance to escape, so we just left and didn´t see him again until we came back to the Rio Hostel two days later ... he was pretty pissed off! ... but better than getting robbed!

Buzios was a really beautiful town and felt as modern as any first world resort village that I have been to. It also had pretty good nightlife, and is known as the Cancun of Brazil (but Cancun is definitely more crazy). Was definitely worth taking the side trip to see.

My buddy John Kim who I go to school with in Spain (who was on an exchange in Buenos Aires) flew up on the 30th to meet up and hang out in Rio for a few days. Him and I went up to a look out point which you get to by cable car, and at the top they had helicopter rides available for about $50 for 7 minutes, so we took it ... it was amazing flying over Rio and surprising how much area you can cover in just a few minutes. The helicopter felt pretty unstable, and at one point we hit some turbulance for which I had to just hold on really tight to my seat --that was the most fun part of the ride!

Then on the 31st we were walking along the beach during the afternoon and witnessed a helicopter resuce that took place literally 30 feet in front of us in the water. There was 3 people out in the water and the helicopter released a bucket which scooped up all three, and then he flew over to the packed beach and hovered about 10 feet above the crowd and dropped off the people that were just scooped out. It was pretty impressive, and I am still not sure if it was a real rescue, or if the police (or whoever they were) were just showing off.

Later that evening was the giant New Years eve celebraitions. Literally 2 million people flood the beaches of copacabana and ipanema to view the spectacular fireworks and take in the atmosphere. There were 3 large fireworks bardges off the beach in Copacabana and a few cruise ships in the bay watching the show. There were also numerous huge stages set up for various music groups to preform.

The Rio people have the not-so-intelligent custom of jumping into the water and hopping over 7 waves. I witnessed one woman pulled out of the water completley unconscious literally 2 feet away from me. Some people gave her resuscitation, and it appeared that she was ok in the end. After that I went into the water (had to piss) and the under current was super strong ... luckily made it back without incident (except some wet shoes that now stink of mildew).

After hanging out on the beach for a few hours I came back to the Hostel to continue on with the evening. The bar was open all night long, and I had paid for an all-you-can drink package which I tried to take advantage of. At about 5 in the morning things started winding down, and so I went back to my room. Meanwhile, Rick (an American guy in my room who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer) was wondering around the hostel trying to find a place to have sex with his "girlfriend" that he believes is not a prostitute because he has never paid her for sex. The security guys here don´t allow guests to stay over night for security reasons and because most of the rooms are shared. The security guy cam searching for Rick numerous times in our room and was presumably looking all over the building for him and his friend. Eventually Rick came back with his girlfriend, locked the door, and started having sex on the bed beside me ... within about 2 minutes the security guy was back and banging on the door. Rick and his "girlfriend" ran totally naked and hid in the shower. I answered the door and argued with him a bit about how he is bugging us and how I was trying to get some sleep, and that I hadn´t seen Rick or his girlfriend for a few hours. So the guy came into our room with his flashlight, walked straight into the bathroom, opened the shower door, and stood there for for a few good seconds with the flashlight shining up and down on their two naked bodies. He then told her that she would have to leave -- they quickly put their clothes on, but she was arguing with the security guy that she should be allowed to stay ... meanwhile, a totally drunk british guy who works at the hostel came into the room to try to moderate, and while he was talking to try to get her to leave, she kept flashing her breasts at him (which seemed to be distracting him from his objective of getting her out).. finally Rick and the whore left and I started lauging my head off (probably pretty loudly) and I then went to sleep.

Last night I went for the most amazing meal I think I have ever had. In brazil they have all-you-can-eat restaurants where servers walk around with huge slabs of meat and they cut them off onto your plate at your table. I went with my friend John Kim to such a restaurant last night at around 8pm (probably the most expensive in Rio, but still cheap), and there was about a half hour wait. There was two italian guys (one of whom looked like the godfather or some other 55 year old mafioso boss) waiting beside us as well, and so when the hostess came out and said table for four, and we said "no we´re two", and they said "no we´re two" we then said "wait, we´re four" .. .so we ended up having a four hour meal with a guy who is architecting the new "textiles museum" in Florence, Italy (the 55 year old godfather guy), and another guy who is a wine maker (his 34 year old "Nephew"). I suspect that they were gay and the uncle thing was just a cover. We exchanged emails, and have an invitation to come tour around italy .. the "Nephew" says that his "Uncle" is a very famous architect in Italy. It is 3:30 the next day now, and I am still not hungry.