... So I´m in Rio... I guess first I should explain why I´m here and not somewhere like Peru or northern Chile... well, I guess I´m starting to show the fatigue of travel and I came very close to returning home... I booked a flight from Santiago to Rio with the intention of moving my Rio to London flight forward... then I reassesed and decided just to shave 5 weeks off my trip and to explore the east cost of South America while I´m here... Peru and Bolivia can go on my ´to do´ list with Japan and India... for another day... :)
So yes, I´m in Rio... Brazil has always been a country that has intrigued me... my love of football has lead me to learn about this vast country ... learn about its society and it´s histroy through the contex of football... and I have to say, after having been here just about 24 hours, it is the first country which makes me feel genuinly excited to just be there since Cambodia... It´s fascinating and very different... like the future after it has had time to get old and dated... the urbanisation is splashed amongst the greenery and hills of the coast like treakle sticking to the sides of a jar... it sprawls and almost seems to dilate and contract with the landscape... ... the language is new and, well, foreign... at least to me... but I love the sound of it... it has a novel feeling with sounds like ´haaaaoooo´ and ´oowwwuch´ which compensate for their lack of hard ´Rs´ and ´Ws´ ... as you walk around the language seems to float around you in the thick humidity of the city... it has the feeling of a voice on a cassette walkman with failing batteries... the speed of speech slowing and speeding up at random to make it strange but melodic... unlike in Chile, I´m starting to enjoy not understanding what people are saying (well except when I´m trying to order something and can´t get my point across!)...
... Of course we´ve all heard that Rio isn´t such a safe city and these thoughts tempered my first night here... I arrived by taxi at night and was full of reticence to explore... the streets were still full with people... some shopping, some tramps, some just hanging about... the country is much more culturally diverse then Chile... in Chile you have white people and dark/olive skinned, traditionally latin people (a traditional, gritty, working class Chilean is known as a Wuchaka... its cool for young people to be wuchakas... I guess like its cooler to be working class then upper class in England)... here in Brazil I see more black and asian faces in any street then I did in my whole time in Chile... I didn´t expect such a striking social change... but my nervousness about the country vanished in the morning with the rising sun... it feels wonderful to wonder about... sure there are risks and because of that I keep my wondering with valuables to a minimum... but I´ve not felt in danger... I just make sure I keep away from the flavalas (the shanty towns on the hills of Rio which are notoriously dangerous... I think its hard to stumble into one of them by accident though)... ... ... I´ve had a busy first day... I booked tickets to Iguazu falls (a bloody girt waterfall shared with Argentina), I visited the Maracana (the massive football stadium) and I visited Ipanema (the famous Rio beach... only dwarfed by Copacabana in fame... thats for tomorrow:)... The Maracana struck me with its sheer size... its being renovated for the 2014 world cup so is kind of gutless at the moment but you can still sense the stadiums soul... it was the venue for the 1950 world cup final... probably the most famous in Brazil´s history... this was before the dawn of the super successful Brazil but not before the country was obsessed with the game... the final was a bit different in that world cup... a group of 3 in a round robin, and the final game was Brazil v Uruaguay... Brazil only needed a draw to win the cup... the news paper printed the headline ´WORLD CHAMPIONS´ before the game... the stadium was full with 200,000 Brazilians, ready for a party... no pressure lads! ... they went 1-0 up but then Uruaguay equalised and the nerves set in as Brazil needed to defend the draw to win the cup... late in the game the Brazil goal keeper Barbosa made a mistake and conceded... 2-1 Uruaguay... Uruaguay lose the world cup... 200,000 silent Brazilians... and they never forgave the team... the team used to play in white and after that the FA had a competition to decide a new strip... someone designed the yellow with green trim and blue shorts, like the flag, and a new Brazil was born... even 40 years later, as an old man, Barbosa was never forgiven... the old goalkeeper was in a shop and a women with her child walked in... she pointed at Barbosa and said, "look dear, theres the man who made the whole of Brazil cry"... there have been many times more books written about that defeat then the 4-1 world cup victory v Italy in 1970 which was arguably the best team ever... looking at the massive old stadium getting its face lift, I could feel the history and could imagine the scenes from so many years ago which I´ve read about and heard about before in my ´studies´ of world football...
... So after that bit of imagination-history I decided to check out the beach... I´d been told that Ipanema is famous for its beautiful women who bask in the sun... I only wanted to go to verify the facts I´d been told... but alas, the moment I stepped out of the metro at Ipanema, it pissed it down... dam it! ... oh well, Copacabana and Ipanema tomorrow... a little treat for my birthday:) ... and then I have tickets to watch Fluminaese v America of Mexico in the Copa Libatadores for my birthday evening... its with a tour so don´t worry folks, I´ll be safe... I decided Fluminaese would be my Brazilian team because of a bit of history I can remember... back in the day Black and White people used to have seperate leagues (I think, or black people weren´t allowed to play or something... you know these stupid things that used to exist in the past)... but Fluminaese has a black player who they got to play by whitening up with rice powder before the game... In celebration of this, I´ve heard that the team´s fans throw rice powder up in the air as the team walks out for the game... Although the facts of this story I´ve heard might be questionable (does the whitening powder survive the sweat of a football game?) it sounds like a nice tradition... also they have Deco (ex-Porto, Barcelona and Chelsea) and Fred (ex-Lyon) playing for them so they should be a creative yet primitive and primal team to watch (if you ´Art´ before Deco and ´Flinstone´ after Fred then you will see the delicious word play I have instigated... chortle!)...
... anyway, this has been way to football heavy a post... but I hope you can see the glimpses of social history which make their way through the cracks of the football history... such things have made me fascinated about Brazil... and walking the packed streets and listening to the language has only enhanced the attraction I have for this country... its so nice, after 6-7 weeks in Australia, NZ and Chile, to finally be excited and fascinated by a place... who knows, maybe I´ve got my love for travelling back?:) ... don´t get me wrong, Chile seems a wonderful country, but it just didn´t grab me... like a girl who is beautiful can be nice, but then another girl will come along with just ´something else´ which fascinates you and drives you crazy... Chile is a nice girl but I sense Brazil is a girl you fall in love with (don´t worry Mum and Dad, that is just a metafore... I haven´t met any Brazilian girls I want to introduce you to quite yet;)
... and on that note I´ll bid you adue... keep well and remember that its my birthday tomorrow... a very important day in the calander which I´ll be celebrating by visiting two of the most famous beaches in the world and watching a lovely little football game... not bad, eh?
... love you all people... see you soon:)
So yes, I´m in Rio... Brazil has always been a country that has intrigued me... my love of football has lead me to learn about this vast country ... learn about its society and it´s histroy through the contex of football... and I have to say, after having been here just about 24 hours, it is the first country which makes me feel genuinly excited to just be there since Cambodia... It´s fascinating and very different... like the future after it has had time to get old and dated... the urbanisation is splashed amongst the greenery and hills of the coast like treakle sticking to the sides of a jar... it sprawls and almost seems to dilate and contract with the landscape... ... the language is new and, well, foreign... at least to me... but I love the sound of it... it has a novel feeling with sounds like ´haaaaoooo´ and ´oowwwuch´ which compensate for their lack of hard ´Rs´ and ´Ws´ ... as you walk around the language seems to float around you in the thick humidity of the city... it has the feeling of a voice on a cassette walkman with failing batteries... the speed of speech slowing and speeding up at random to make it strange but melodic... unlike in Chile, I´m starting to enjoy not understanding what people are saying (well except when I´m trying to order something and can´t get my point across!)...
... Of course we´ve all heard that Rio isn´t such a safe city and these thoughts tempered my first night here... I arrived by taxi at night and was full of reticence to explore... the streets were still full with people... some shopping, some tramps, some just hanging about... the country is much more culturally diverse then Chile... in Chile you have white people and dark/olive skinned, traditionally latin people (a traditional, gritty, working class Chilean is known as a Wuchaka... its cool for young people to be wuchakas... I guess like its cooler to be working class then upper class in England)... here in Brazil I see more black and asian faces in any street then I did in my whole time in Chile... I didn´t expect such a striking social change... but my nervousness about the country vanished in the morning with the rising sun... it feels wonderful to wonder about... sure there are risks and because of that I keep my wondering with valuables to a minimum... but I´ve not felt in danger... I just make sure I keep away from the flavalas (the shanty towns on the hills of Rio which are notoriously dangerous... I think its hard to stumble into one of them by accident though)... ... ... I´ve had a busy first day... I booked tickets to Iguazu falls (a bloody girt waterfall shared with Argentina), I visited the Maracana (the massive football stadium) and I visited Ipanema (the famous Rio beach... only dwarfed by Copacabana in fame... thats for tomorrow:)... The Maracana struck me with its sheer size... its being renovated for the 2014 world cup so is kind of gutless at the moment but you can still sense the stadiums soul... it was the venue for the 1950 world cup final... probably the most famous in Brazil´s history... this was before the dawn of the super successful Brazil but not before the country was obsessed with the game... the final was a bit different in that world cup... a group of 3 in a round robin, and the final game was Brazil v Uruaguay... Brazil only needed a draw to win the cup... the news paper printed the headline ´WORLD CHAMPIONS´ before the game... the stadium was full with 200,000 Brazilians, ready for a party... no pressure lads! ... they went 1-0 up but then Uruaguay equalised and the nerves set in as Brazil needed to defend the draw to win the cup... late in the game the Brazil goal keeper Barbosa made a mistake and conceded... 2-1 Uruaguay... Uruaguay lose the world cup... 200,000 silent Brazilians... and they never forgave the team... the team used to play in white and after that the FA had a competition to decide a new strip... someone designed the yellow with green trim and blue shorts, like the flag, and a new Brazil was born... even 40 years later, as an old man, Barbosa was never forgiven... the old goalkeeper was in a shop and a women with her child walked in... she pointed at Barbosa and said, "look dear, theres the man who made the whole of Brazil cry"... there have been many times more books written about that defeat then the 4-1 world cup victory v Italy in 1970 which was arguably the best team ever... looking at the massive old stadium getting its face lift, I could feel the history and could imagine the scenes from so many years ago which I´ve read about and heard about before in my ´studies´ of world football...
... So after that bit of imagination-history I decided to check out the beach... I´d been told that Ipanema is famous for its beautiful women who bask in the sun... I only wanted to go to verify the facts I´d been told... but alas, the moment I stepped out of the metro at Ipanema, it pissed it down... dam it! ... oh well, Copacabana and Ipanema tomorrow... a little treat for my birthday:) ... and then I have tickets to watch Fluminaese v America of Mexico in the Copa Libatadores for my birthday evening... its with a tour so don´t worry folks, I´ll be safe... I decided Fluminaese would be my Brazilian team because of a bit of history I can remember... back in the day Black and White people used to have seperate leagues (I think, or black people weren´t allowed to play or something... you know these stupid things that used to exist in the past)... but Fluminaese has a black player who they got to play by whitening up with rice powder before the game... In celebration of this, I´ve heard that the team´s fans throw rice powder up in the air as the team walks out for the game... Although the facts of this story I´ve heard might be questionable (does the whitening powder survive the sweat of a football game?) it sounds like a nice tradition... also they have Deco (ex-Porto, Barcelona and Chelsea) and Fred (ex-Lyon) playing for them so they should be a creative yet primitive and primal team to watch (if you ´Art´ before Deco and ´Flinstone´ after Fred then you will see the delicious word play I have instigated... chortle!)...
... anyway, this has been way to football heavy a post... but I hope you can see the glimpses of social history which make their way through the cracks of the football history... such things have made me fascinated about Brazil... and walking the packed streets and listening to the language has only enhanced the attraction I have for this country... its so nice, after 6-7 weeks in Australia, NZ and Chile, to finally be excited and fascinated by a place... who knows, maybe I´ve got my love for travelling back?:) ... don´t get me wrong, Chile seems a wonderful country, but it just didn´t grab me... like a girl who is beautiful can be nice, but then another girl will come along with just ´something else´ which fascinates you and drives you crazy... Chile is a nice girl but I sense Brazil is a girl you fall in love with (don´t worry Mum and Dad, that is just a metafore... I haven´t met any Brazilian girls I want to introduce you to quite yet;)
... and on that note I´ll bid you adue... keep well and remember that its my birthday tomorrow... a very important day in the calander which I´ll be celebrating by visiting two of the most famous beaches in the world and watching a lovely little football game... not bad, eh?
... love you all people... see you soon:)
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