Adios Rio!

The Rio trip is over for now. I need some peace and quiet! Lapa truly is the party capital.

So what happened in the final few days:

Biking back to Copacabana

• Went on bike ride with Glenda round Ipanema, Copacabana, Lagoa and ended up at Botanical Gardens (definately worth a visit when in Rio – great orchirds, humongously ugly plants of all varieties that somehow manage to seem quite pleasant, tiny monkeys and plenty of unusual fruits. Go there when it’s sunny for best results). On the same road as the botanical gardens is a little ice cream shop called Mil Frutas. They let me try about 12 different varieties before I eventually decided on Orange and Ginger. Simply the best ice cream I have ever ate in my life. The ice cream is quite expensive but it is definately worthwhile. There was apparently a very famous Brazilian behind us in the queue. I later found out it was Chico Buarque, a famous singer whose songs have been covered by pretty much every popular brazilian musician to have lived. I had been listening to an album by Ney Matogrosso which I later found out was completely Chico songs, so there be the evidence.
• Went to Afrobeat night at Clandestino (below some hostel in Copacabana) with Kamille. Unbelievable songs, rarely do I get to hear Fela Kuti played so loud. It also made me want to discover a lot more afrobeat artists, as there were some seriously funky grooves being played here. Unfortunately, the people I was with wanted to leave so we went in search of another party. I can’t remember the name of this place, but it wasn’t too hot so we headed off to Piste 3. Here they played Nirvana, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Blur, it was pretty much like heaven. Unfortunately, this party was not enough either though so we headed off to Casa da Matriz. This is someone’s house that they have converted into a nightclub. Very strange dancing in someone’s living room. I arrived back at the flat at 7.30am. I think I mentioned this in an earlier post.
• Went to gallery opening with Fabiola (collection of stickers plastered over 2 rooms, creating a technicolour vision of Rio – very nice indeed. I think the exhibit was called ‘A Gentile Carioca’ which means a friendly resident of Rio). Afterwards, we headed up the hill to a house party. I can’t remember the name of the area, Morra de something, but was a beautiful little place on top of a hill. All the streets were about 4 foot wide, and every house seemed to be full of people spurting out raucous laughter like no man’s business. The party was in an artist’s studio. Each room had a different discipline. One room had huge murals and paint splattered from floor to ceiling. Probably the primal scream room. There was a room for more considered paintings and some nice acrylics were on show here, but my favourite was the music room, where one of the housemates had taken apart a huge array of amps and electronic devices, mixed up all the pieces and then started to recreate them. The ability to make strange noises will never lose its appeal.
• Fresh fruit market on Sunday. Are mango, papaya, guava, abrico and manioc. A little disappointed that every amazonian fruit I encountered tasted like papier mache, but hey, the papayas were good.

And I think that’s it for Rio. I will definately return at some point. For now, I am heading to Sao Paulo for an evening before getting the night bus to Isla de Santa Catarina, or Floriannopolis as it’s better known.