This morning the alarm went off early! When I opened the curtains at 8 AM I was greeted by a dense layer of fog. I couldn’t even see the ocean that was within a stone’s throw of my balcony. I was up this early because I wanted to try and take another picture at the military club in hopes of having the sun better positioned. Being that I could stare directly at the sun, which looked like the moon because of the density of the fog, I decided it would be in our best interest to sleep another hour and see what the weather did. Upon my second wake up at 9:15 AM, the fog had cleared. We ate breakfast, got cleaned up and took a cab back to the Military Club.
It turned out that yesterday was actually better lighting on the Cristo even though we were at the club two hours earlier and the sun was in a better position in the sky today. There was one other court I had seen that I wanted to check out to confirm I had already taken the best shot possible. The court was less than a mile away, so Scott and I decided to walk it.
The walk was very pleasant because we were out of tourist central and interacting more with locals. We perused what looked like a Saturday Farmers market filled with lots of fruits, veggies and a few meats that I’m sure Mom would say were not properly refrigerated.
On our walk we also saw a bunch of VW Vans. I was downright shocked by the number of VWs around Rio. They all look like the van from the 70’s that you are all mentally picturing. What I’m not sure about is how all of them magically appeared in Brazil in 2012. They are seriously EVERYWHERE. They serve as the main vehicle beach venders use to transport their chairs, umbrellas and gates. They transport alcoholic cargo and serve as a structural support for farmers market stands.
After 20 minutes or so walking around Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas I found the other hoop I wanted to investigate. This hoop appeared to have a great angle at the Cristo but I couldn’t be sure because it was behind a fence with a locked gate. The Cristo was also still hiding in a bit of a haze. Before doing anything rash I took Scott on a recon mission. I explained how previously I’ve failed to thoroughly investigate entrance and exit points on hoop climbing expeditions and that I’ve learned it’s best to conscientiously think through all options before making any moves. To this end Scott and I circled my target outside the fence three times. This particular court seemed to be located in a strange shmorgishborg of government type buildings. Part of it seemed like a school but then another part seemed like either super low income housing for roughly four people or some kind of sadly run government looney bin. I know that seems like a weird assumption but I say it because there was literally one guy wondering around the periphery of the court on the inside of the fence mumbling to himself. If I had seen him in Eugene I would have assumed he was high on meth because that’s what it looked and sounded like (he was talking to someone that clearly resided only in his mind).
After casing the joint I determined that if I climbed the fence at the easiest entry point I was going to trap myself in the compound without entrance to the court. In the end I determined my best bet for a chance at the shot was going to be to just climb the higher chain linked part located directly by the hoop. Now the question in my mind was did I want to climb the fence now or at night when much of the photo would be dark but the Cristo would be glowing? I decided since the crazy old man was still pacing and the Cristo was surrounded by a little fog, I would try again later, preferably at night.
Satisfied that I had cased the situation to the best of my ability we hailed a cab and went to the Leblon Shopping mall. Scott had a few things he wanted to look for and I’m always amenable to a shopping mall. The mall turned out to be a very high end, high priced mall without a whole lot of local items of interest. Well that’s not entirely true. The people watching was quite entertaining. The woman below was my favorite. I’m not sure if I enjoyed her outfit or watching Scott chase after her to take a picture more.
Next on our Saturday agenda was walking the Ipanema section of the beach. When most Americans think of Brazil they think of the scantily clad beach scene. The scene did not disappoint. One thing that surprised me, however, was that the average Brazilian woman is not that amazing looking. As crazy as it sounds I honestly thought every Brazilian woman wearing a fio dental (literal translation = dental floss) was going to be gorgeous. Clearly that was not the case.
The men on the whole were considerably more fit than the women. Scott attributed much of that to the fact that Rio is known for being home to a significant gay population, especially during Carnaval season. I’m still not sure any man short of an Olympic swimmer should choose a sunga (speedo) as his swimwear of choice. Regardless, playing the gay or straight game walking down the beach easily entertained us for an hour. This group caught both of our attention. I thought they were straight and Scott thought they were gay.
I hate to say it, wait, no I don’t. Sorry Scott, these boys play for my team.
The beaches of Rio are certainly an experience. I’m glad that I’ve seen it. If you look at the two pictures below, you will have “seen it” as well. Ipanema and Copacabana didn’t have a great break for surfing or boogie boarding (I’m sure those exist on other beaches somewhere in Rio). They were also ridiculously crowded. Umbrellas of strangers are touching everywhere you look. In terms of a beaches I would like to frequent in the future I’ll take Australia, Hawaii or even the Jersey Shore over Ipanema or Copacabana any day.
When we got back to the hotel this afternoon Scott took a nap and I went swimming in the ocean. I love the ocean. I tried to talk Scott into coming with me to no avail. In his words he doesn’t like to swim in places that are “dirty”.
The water wasn’t pristine upon my entry but that’s not what was unusual about the experience. I’ve never swum in such extreme temperature pockets in my life. I was basically swimming in place 50 feet out from the shoreline. Different pockets of water would come through that were warmer than a bath and then others that felt like I was swimming in a polar bear plunge would quickly follow. I’m assuming it had to be some form of funky riptide but the strange part is that I wasn’t drifting and I wasn’t trying hard to stay in the same place. After 20 minutes or so I said goodbye to the water, went back to my room and cleaned up for our evening shenanigans.
Somehow during the day I talked Scott into agreeing to return to the court we explored this morning at night. I thought it would be quite cool to try and capture a picture where the Cristo was glowing. I would have gone by myself but the safety concerns in Rio had me thinking strolling by myself at night would not be smart. I thought it might be good to try and talk Diego into going with us as well in the event that we needed a native speaker to explain what I wanted to do. Diego had a date in the early evening but agreed to meet us at 10:30 PM. We decided to head out for souvenir shopping at 8:30 PM with the plan to meet up for dinner and hoop hunting with Diego after.
When we left the hotel there was an insane amount of traffic around our hotel unlike anything we had seen during the week. We decided to walk a bit in order to try and find a van that wouldn’t have to fight as much traffic.
Once we rounded the curve by our hotel we realized what the traffic jam was all about. The road in front of the Leblon beach was closed for the blocco seen below.
I was excited to run into this because it was one of the last block parties of the Carnaval week. It gave me a nice taste of the craziness without causing any retinal damage from which I’d never be able to recover.
One concern I had about waiting to go after my night Cristo shot was that He might not be lit past 11 PM. I discussed this with Scott and we decided that we had time hoop hunt prior to meeting to Diego, so we went for it.
Upon arrival at the court, we again scoped the scene. The crazy guy wasn’t anywhere to be seen (or heard). It did sound like some people were milling about in the same random housing unit but no one was outside. I decided to go for it. I climbed the fence at this entry point.
Scott held my stuff and patiently waited for me on the outside of the fence. I ended up spending a solid 10 minutes on the inside because I wanted to be sure I didn’t feel compelled to climb the fence again. I’m not super well versed in shooting at night, so I felt compelled to try lots of settings, flashes, etc. Scott and I were both slightly concerned the flashes might lead to some curiosity seekers coming out to investigate the light changes but it never happened. I climbed back over the fence filled with a rush from being a rebel and excited by the potential of the photos I had taken.
We hailed a cab and made it back to the beach district by 9:55 PM. We still had time to shop, so we hit up the local tourist market on the Copacabana stretch of beach. Scott and I both bought a few souvenirs and presents before making our way to meet Diego at his apartment.
At Diego’s apartment Scott told him about our hoop hunting adventure. Diego declared me as crazy. He said “they could shoot you”. I’m still not sure if he was entirely serious. I will concede climbing that fence was probably not the smartest decision I’ve ever made in my life BUT I’m glad I did it.
Diego took us to a place called Fellini Cafe. It as a buffet style place where your meal price was based on weight. They had a large assortment of food from steak to sushi. Everything I tried was really tasty. We also had another round of really fun conversation.
My favorite part of dinner was probably when Scott went off about how Hollister is a brand for teenagers. Scott’s friend Tom, who is 27 likes to wear it, and Scott is categorically opposed. This discussion went on for a while. Eventually Diego, who is 35, said “Scott, look." And he pointed to himself as seen below.
After dinner we walked back through the leftovers of the blocco. It certainly looked like the people had enjoyed themselves. We had fun people watching and eventually found ourselves back on the main beach street in position to catch a van home.
Today was another great day in Rio. I can’t believe tomorrow I’m already heading home! Scott and I both have evening flights, so our plan for the morning is to go out and try to catch some of a beach volleyball tournament on Ipanema and then we are going to visit some expats he knows from Texas who are currently living here while working for BP.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
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