They Don't Care About Us

Some of you know but most of you don’t that Scott is a master when it comes to maximizing the potential of award programs. On this trip he arranged for his room to be reserved in his friend’s name and his name. The key here is that his friend is a Platinum member of Starwood’s rewards program. This allowed us to access both free internet and free breakfast every morning. This free breakfast was key because it worked as an excellent incentive for the both of us to get up before noon.

Today we each made it to breakfast by 10. We had plans to meet Scott’s friend Diego at his apartment at 12:30 P.M. Diego is a guy Scott met through his couch surfing community. For those wondering, couch surfing is a website that connects people who want to travel on the cheap. Diego is a native Brazilian with fantastic English. He wanted to take us to a favela, which is basically a Brazilian slum, and show us around. I thought this sounded awesome assuming it was safe. Diego ensured us it was as this was a “pacified” favela. To instill confidence he told Scott earlier in the week that “It’s even totally fine to bring your phone or camera.”

We initial thought when leaving the Sheraton that it was going to take us an hour or so to get to Diego’s apartment. It actually took 15 minutes, so we decided to walk the Copacabana section of the beach for a bit. We stayed primarily on the path at the back of the beach, so we didn’t have too many insane swimsuit encounters. We eventually made our way to Diego’s place.

We chatted for a bit and then checked out Diego’s media room, aka his bedroom. Diego’s obsession with American movies and TV shows is amazing. Below is a picture of his media library that he shows on his gigantic blue-ray Epson projector that he bought for himself as a birthday present. Diego credits the quality of his English to the time he has spent watching American television. At one point Scott and I were laughing when Diego dropped the line “no pecs, no sex.” We both said we had never heard this and we wondered where he got it. The answer? Jack on Will and Grace.

At 1:30 PM we met two more of Diego’s friends, Michael and Oscar (from NYC), at the subway. I like that we road the subway since we hadn’t done that yet. Rio is a sort of ghetto city and it certainly isn’t clean, however, the subway is surprisingly nice. The subway didn’t appear to go that many places but if it happened to stop near your destination, it seemed to be a good transportation option.

We got off at the Botafoga subway and walked to the Dona Marta Favela. This is the Favela where Michael Jackson filmed his music video for the song They Don’t Care About Us. It is also the favela Madonna visited while in Brazil with her 20 something Brazilian dancer boyfriend three or so years ago.

This favela has a cable car that can take residents or visitors to the top of it. At least on days where the cable car is working. Today did not happen to be one those days, which meant we were hoofing it to the top. I actually enjoyed the hike tremendously. I’m not sure Michael, who was a little overweight, felt the same way.

Like many other places I have been with poverty (not US “poverty” but real poverty) I was uplifted by the joy of the children. Throughout our hike we encountered many cute kids entertaining themselves with whatever they had. We saw a girl joyfully playing in a water bucket, what appeared to be two brothers playing with homemade kites, and a shy girl hiding with her dolly.

The views 80% up the climb where the Michael Jackson shrine is located and at the top of the favela were both gorgeous. The top of the favela also included one surprise which was a fairly nice and new appearing mini turf soccer field installed for the people of the favela. Diego thought the government paid for the refurbishment but he wasn’t certain. The little kid pictured below was remarkably good. Diego said many families like to try and get their sons interested in the game because soccer is considered their one shot out of poverty. Sadly favela kids traditionally have had no access to an education.

After trekking back down the mountain we grabbed some refreshments inside the Shell gas station across the street. Shockingly the bathroom in the Shell station was one of the cleanest I saw in all of Rio. The snacks were tasty too. Diego said every foreigner had to try a Brigadier ice cream bar because it is the best ice cream bar on earth. Having now tasted it, I find that statement hard to dispute. If you visit Brazil, be sure to try one of these.

After refreshments I made all the boys go on a four block detour before returning to the subway. At the top of the favela I spotted a basketball hoop that I thought might have a view of Christ the Redeemer. We found the hoop without too much difficulty but unfortunately it was located in a German school that was locked down because the students were on vacation for Carnaval Week. Diego tried very hard to talk the security guard into letting me inside but he wouldn’t budge. He told Diego it wouldn’t bother him but if his superiors watched the security tape he would get fired. I understood this and wasn’t too disappointed because I was hopeful about our likelihood of finding other hoops that worked. I did, however, appreciate the zest with which Diego tried to talk the guard into allowing entry.

After riding the subway and a ridiculously crowded bus, Scott and I were back at the hotel. I downloaded my photos and worked on this here blog entry. We got cleaned up and then headed out for dinner in Ipanema to a restaurant called Vieira Souto Restaurante. Upon our arrival to the restaurant’s entry the gatekeeper told us we couldn’t enter. Scott countered with a “why”? And he went to get another staff member. The gate keep said something and appeared to point to Scott’s legs and my feet. I actually had on a skirt but was wearing flip flops and Scott was in shorts. The second guy acknowledged it was okay for us to come in with a wave. Neither of us ever figured out what the offending piece of clothing was.

Our dinner experience wasn’t that great, especially when one considers that it cost us $65 a person. Food in Rio is expensive everywhere but Scott and I both left feeling the meal was overpriced for what it was. We were initially served the wrong appetizer. Scott had ordered calamari in ink sauce. I knew I wasn’t a fan of the ink, which is supposed to be a delicacy, but Scott wanted to try it, so I agreed. The picture below illustrates the huge problem Scott noted with this calamari. Not only was it covered in ink sauce but “It WASN’T FRIED.”

There was only one way to cure our less than amazing dinner. We stopped at McD’s for some good ole’ ice cream sundaes. We had some more great conversation and then made our way to a van for the short ride back to the Sheraton.

It’s now passed 1 AM and I’m wiped. Tomorrow we are headed to Cristo Redentor aka Christ the Redeemer.

Until then!

Katy