Days 80-83 - Going "local" on Rio

My second visit to Rio is a very local experience. As I have mentioned before, I'm hosted here by my friend's (Renata) parents - Isabel and Elisio. Since my return from their guest house in Buzios, I cannot thank my lucky stars enough for choosing this option of travel. In addition to being generous hosts as far as everything - time, food, warmth, information - is concerned, they are very intelligent people with amazing sense of humor, hence a great pleasure to spend time with. I learn A LOT about Brazil and its people, their way of life, their affiliations, their dark sides. I would have never been able to absorb so much if I were here by myself. Of course, the fact that I have all the time in the world to explore the real life of Rio helps a lot. As Elisio puts it, "It's always better to be a traveler than a tourist." I concur.

They take me to places that I would never dare visit by myself, dismissing them as "too dangerous". But it turns out dangerous-looking places are the best! Well, of course, you have to be reasonable and not march straight to favelas, but other than that the city appears to be pretty safe. (By the way, turns out that favelas can be safely accessible too, but you need to get a special permission from a favela leader; otherwise you may get yourself in a whole lot of trouble.) Elisio loves good food, so our gastronomic experiences are always spectacular. The mixture of fancy and shabby places paints for me a realistic picture of the city. And they possess so much information about everything! We can talk for hours on end, and I will never tire of hearing their stories. And the pride that Elisio talks about Brazil with is truly contageous. I won't be surprised if very soon I'll repeat with him in unison: "Brazil has the best nature in the world... this is the longest tunnel in the world... this is the most spectacular looking mountain road in the world... this dish is the most delicious in the world!"

The bottom line - lucky me! As always so far - knock on wood.

My "local" tour of the city includes but is not limited to the following:

Stop 1: Escadaria Selaron. A spectacular art-piece, the staircase is being made by a Chilean-born artist Selaron, who started renovating a dilapidated staircase next to his house in 1990. Twenty years later, it boasts over 2,000 unique tiles from abou 60 countries. It is still work in progress, and people in the streets told us that you can always find the artist in the nearby bar or working on a new section of the stairs.

This neighborhood is super sketchy-looking, and I would never step my foot in this corner, if I were not with Elisio and Isabel. I feel a little ashamed that in my "be careful in Rio" frenzy I squeeze my hangbag into my arms as hard as I can, while Isabel is walking around with hers hanging calmly off her shoulder.


Stop 2: Brazilian music guitar concert in Lapa. I have not laughed so hard for a long-long time. The concert started absolutely normally, with one musician / composer playing his songs and some other popular Brazilian songs. Alessandro Penezzi was extremely good, with brilliant guitar technique, I was absolutely amazed at how fast one can move fingers on the guitar strings and deeply moved by the music. But then he started inviting some other musicians to share stage with him for one or two pieces. The third guitarist - Yamandu Costa - was even better in technique than Alessandro, but oh boy, was he hysterical in his dedicated brilliance!!! You could find his face type on early Netherlandish paintings: kind of chubby, framed by longish oilish hair. The way he was dressed suggested a very rapid movement from bed out the door using the fastest trajectory, potentially not involving any use of the closet: his pants looked like it was part of a pajamas set, and I think he tried to tuck his shirt under, but it didn't quite work out. And the manner of his play!!! This is where the real fun comes in: eyes closed, a down-like smile all over his medieval face, his whole body moving back and forth and sideways and in some undertermined dimensions, and the best part - his leg constantly lifted gently off the floor while still bent and forgotten there in mid-air for several moments... But wait - I do not think my words can paint any fair picture of this character - I strongly recommend watching this video.

Stop 3: Feeding marmosets.

It is 38 degrees Celsius (100 F)! Isabel and I decide to take a picturesque walk in a park around their building complex (located in the Barra neighborhood in west Rio). The sauna effect is nearly fainting, but we keep on, determined to find marmosets. And we are rewarded by a cozy "nest" of them in one of the trees. They are so cute, fighting for the banana that we brought for them, literally pushing each other and hanging off the tree in order to grab the best piece.

Stop 4: Museum of minerals.

It's actually more like a minerals store. What beauty!!! Russia is also big on all sorts of semi-precious (and precious for that matter) stones, but somehow I have never been to a place that in addition to selling jewelry and such would also showcase the rocks in all their RAW beauty. The Indians believe that every stone has some kind of power: for example, for only R$360/kg you can get Pirita stone that would provide you with abundance, financially and otherwise. I think it's a bargain. The Indians also teach that you cannot select the rock, the rock has to CHOOSE YOU. I am not sure how exactly this process works, so I aimlessly walk around the aisles, running my hands over the stones, trying to feel the "pull". Almost immediately though I realize that I need an amethyst. So I go to the amethysts section, sparkling with all the shades of blue and violet, close my eyes, and let my hand grab a rock without looking. When I open my eyes, I can hardly believe what I see - a gorgeous stone, heart-shaped by nature! What a surprise, really!:) Later on, I learn from the Stones Book that amethyst's power lies in spirituality and that physically speaking it is good for - now I AM surprised - MIGRAINES! Seriously??? A tribute to Joel is in order here: What? Wow!