Oopa! Tudo Bem?. Review on Rio de Janeiro

Bon Dia!

Rio de Janeiro is place to live if you want to do whatever you want. I had a mind-blowing stay in Rio during 2000. I lived in Rio for 5 months. We rented an Apart-hotel by the famous Copacabana beach. We worked for a multinational in Rio. In this review I will try to cover my experiences there as a conservative south Indian.

When I landed at Rio I found a certain foul smell in the air. This was due to the use of ethanol in the petrol they use to reduce pollution. We got used to it eventually. The immigration was fast and customs made us open our bags and removed certain food items, as they are not supposed to be imported for fear of destroying local corps. That is normal in all countries but Brazil seems to be enforcing it very well. The local currency is real (pronounced hiyal) which at that time was trading at 1.9 R to 1 USD.

The people we interacted with were very helpful. But be aware of cheaters. We leased an apartment on a monthly basis. We bought groceries in the city market / super bazars just like how we have k.r.puram market/food bazaars. We always traveled by buses even though taxis are not costly compared to US.

The buses are very frequent, always on time, with clear signboards and very convenient. Entry cost into a bus is always standard 90 centavos no mater what distance you travel. Electronics are very costly (due to fluctuating currency). Business attire is mandated for work. Swimwear is appropriate on the beach. If you wear business attire to the beach you will get mugged at knifepoint just like three of our Indian colleagues found out. We always exchanged dollars at the local official hawala to get maximum exchange rate

Now coming to the experiences.

I never paid parking or entry fees to the beaches unlike in US.

I always wore a short with no shirt to the beaches so that would be muggers would not think of harming me. I used to take the room key and very little change.

I always used public transport except for paydays when we used to pool a taxi to carry our cash.

We went to some really cheap discos and watched prostitutes dance the samba with absolute amazement. The disco was absolutely ear shattering with the latest tunes. If you want to watch soft porn, switch on the network television, or look down your street. If you want to watch hard porn, take a binocular and search around where you stand or go to the beach early morning before sunrise. My advise is do not attempt any adventures in Brazil, only watch if you please otherwise you will be risking the deadly disease.

The chicks are the most physically fit I have ever seen. They are always slim and muscular. You cannot wonder why they have 6 pack abs and you don?t. You can see them play chest volleyball on the beach.

The first day when we were in a bus my colleagues and I had a tough time coping with the amount of cloth we were wearing. We are wearing too much! I thought of removing my trouser and shirt but couldn?t force myself to do that. I slowly got used to dressing less and less if I am not in office. The beach was a lookers paradise if you know what I mean. They used to have paintings of local artists displayed on the divider (40ft wide) of the road. The artists also built huge but detailed sandcastles that are very impressive. The beach is also lined with restaurants that serve Brazilian food and star hotels.

The city is surrounded by steep mountains occupied by favellas (Crime and drug infested Slums) and the beach with lakes in between hardly 1KM in width between the beach and the mountains.

We went to the Carnival that happens around march to the SAMBADROME (Yes! they have a stadium built for this event) where we paid 22 reals for the lowest priced seat and watched the amazing colors, songs, dances and ofcourse the bare bodied women. We had a ball that day.

We also went to a local club football match between Butafogo & Flamingo in Maracana stadium which is the biggest football stadium in the world.. The passions that ran there cannot be explained in words. You need to watch it to believe it. Luckily the match tied 3-3. That was the most entertaining 3 hrs of sport I have ever watched in my life. This preceding line is an understatement. I used to believe that football is not a spectator?s sport. This match proved me wrong. The cost of the match was 6 reals but we paid 50 each for security and transport included.

We went to the sugar loaf one day and it was a good experience nothing much to explain. We missed the Carcovado Christ statue because our project was cut short.

We used to buy crates of fruits as they were very tasty. There is one variety that every body liked called ?KAKI? it looks like tomato but tastes like Sapota (in telugu) so we had a telugu name for it TAPOTA. The way a coconut vendor chops the coconut is in itself an art. I don?t know why Indian vendors don?t do it that way.

Every one of my colleagues gained 10-20 percent weight here in brazil either they had lots of fruit & ice-cream if they are veggie or lots of meat, fish and fruit if they were no-veg. The local market they have on Saturday had fresh produce, seafood & poultry that are very clean compared to the Indian markets I saw in my life. The streets are very clean in Rio. The workers here take pride in cleaning that last spec on the road.

There are lots and lots of places to shop in Rio from posh malls to local street vendors.

We arranged for a trip outside Rio since we want to experience a small town in Brazil. The drive was 4 hr freeway ride through mountains and we ended up in Petropolice a small town which looked like any other Indian town where development is unorganized & trash everywhere. There we visited a converted Brazilian Hindu who thinks all Indians are vegetarians and have guru?s who guides us towards god. We performed some bhajans with him uncomfortably.

They changed their names too that come straight out of Bagawath Geetha. We came to realize how ISCKON has brainwashed them. We didn?t feel sorry for them but felt they are not properly introduced to Hinduism. They were rather converted to ISCKONISM. The places of interest that we went in Petropolice do not qualify anywhere near the architectural standards what we have in India. In this town we also visited DUMONT?s house (museum) who the Brazilians claim invented the airplane.

We had Portuguese language training in Rio for three months and picked up quite a bit. Most Brazilians do not speak English. So that?s a huge problem.

Philosophically I noticed that my thinking changed a lot after coming to Brazil. I was happy because I could do what ever I choose to do but did not do most of it. I was happy to meet people from a different culture where money is not everything but beach, art, music, samba, food & sex are everything. I miss Brazil because it is a bachelor?s dream come true.

It has healthy food, strong beer that tastes different, cheap entertainment, good public transport, and nice events. You can watch beautiful scenes in office, at stores, in malls, at beaches, at your home. If you want you can do more than watching but beware of the killer disease.

This Brazilian impact on your thinking will fade like the holi colors on your skin once you land in India or US. But the memories live on through out your life.

Tchav!