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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
22° 53' S 43° 14' W
Feb 13, 2006 02:35
Distance 13225km

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Oi Brazil!!

I was in a state as I landed in Rio De Janeiro at 8:30PM on a Saturday night, after travelling over 24 hours from Melbourne, emerging from the air conditioned chill of the plane in my fetching red wine-stained tracksuit pants and thermal top to be bombarded by the heat and set upon by the aggressive spruikers at the airport. Once I was safely inside the taxi that I had pre-booked at an exhorbitant 50 Reials, I was able to relax and take it in. The streets are old in the city: small and grimy, like the walls are about to cave in on themselves. Families are congregating on the corners, people going out, strutting their stuff. I arrive at El Misti about 45 minutes later and it's an intimate scene in the common room - couches draped with faded coloured fabric, low hanging lamps over mismatching chairs and tables. The back part of the room is filled with young English and American backpackers mixing their own drinks. An awkward loner stares vacantly from the corner of a broken couch and freshly showered youngsters tuck into self-prepared boiled rice and not much else. There's no real order here; I couldn't tell anyone was working until someone approached me and said ‘hello' as I surveyed the room. But that's the feeling at El Misti - it's a relaxed suaveness that Marcello, the (very) good-looking guy on duty conveys perfectly. I sit next to an English couple and they buy me a beer. It's exactly what I need. In fact I have three. While I'm sipping these beers I find myself being mesmerised as the sultry heat of Brazil's famous samba is flaunted before me. Marcello definitely knows how to transfer his rhythm as he whisks and sways with some of the girls staying at the hostel. It takes a few more songs to get another beer, as Marcello is the only one with a key to the fridge. Finally as I turn in for bed I'm tipsy and therefore only slightly disappointed at my bare, clinical room with its lonely fluorescent light and rattling fan. It doesn't matter, because it's clean, I'm tired and hey, who cares? I'm in Rio and ‘Carnaval' is just around the corner.   

 

Post script:
A taxi fare from Rio Airport to Copacabana should cost around 35 Reials. If you land in Rio after 6pm there is a limit to how much you can withdraw from an ATM. It should be enough to see you home and take care of your first night's accommodation. Breakfast is usually included in the room rate, which usually consists of coffee, tea, juice, bread rolls, ham and cheese and the tooth-cracking favourite spread, dulce de leche. There is very little English spoken by taxi-drivers, so brushing up on basic Portuguese is very helpful. And of course, go with the flow, there will always be ‘manana'