3040  Part II Rio Tango Trip

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:03:46 -0800
From: Stella <smling@MSN.COM>
Subject: Fw: Part II Rio Tango Trip

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 5:01 AM
Subject: Misc: Part II Rio Tango Trip


A very helpful source for locating each milonga is the Riotango website:
www.riotango.com.br which incidentally also has photos of our group there.
This website is run by Americo and Raquel. The only caution being that
sometimes the information is out of date and you should call the organizers
to double check before going. One Sunday night for example the milonga was
listed as ending at midnight, however at 10:30 p.m. everyone started
leaving. Since we had just arrived at 9 p.m. we wondered what happened. It
turned out that the hours had changed and that the milonga had actually
started at 6:30 p.m. In addition the Wednesday milonga is now at a club
called Plataforma in Leblon, not the place listed in Santa Teresa.

In addition to tango classes, we took 2 excellent samba gafeira classes from
Mauro who also teaches at Cafi Xango. Samba gafeira is a slower samba than
samba da pe which is the kind danced during Carnaval. It is a couple dance
with lead and follow and close body contact. There are dozens of samba
teachers as you might expect, but time did not allow us to sample them
unfortunately.

It is helpful to have at least a smattering of Portuguese, as lots of people
do not speak either Spanish or English. We had 3 great language classes
from Lucy, including one at the top of the Pao de Azucar where we almost got
blown away by the sudden tropical storm! From Lucy we learned that a
"malandro" is a "street guy" who doesn't speak grammatically correct
Portuguese but who is still a "nice" guy even if he beats his woman. (The
language will tell you more about cultural prejudices than anything else.)
We also learned about "Feijoada," the national dish, which is derived from
the food of the black slaves. Feijoada is typically eaten on Fridays. The
story goes that leftovers from the Portuguese masters were kept all week and
cooked on Friday into a stew to make feijoada. Originally many different
types of left-over meat were used including salted meat, odd cuts like tail
or hoof, these were all cooked together into a bean stew. The stew is often
served with a bowl of delicious greens called "corve" and a kind of powdery
flour called "farofa" and a peppery sauce. We also made sure to try
"carpirinha" a delicious alcoholic beverage made of sugarcane liquor, lime,
and ice. Brazilians are very fond of their bodies and body-building, health
foods and tanning are national sports there. They have a drink made from a
small fruit that grows in the jungle called acai and you can find acai juice
stands all over the place. This drink can be bought fortified with
additional vitamins and other ingredients, much as our jamba juice stands
here in the States. The drink itself is like a purple slushy, actually very
delicious and sweet. Another taste treat is the otherwise lowly hot dog
"cachorro quente" which has been elevated to proletarian delight. They
serve the cachorro quente there with at least 10 separate condiments
including quail eggs, kernels of corn, and various spices on a warmed bun.

I was glad that we stayed near Ipanema Beach. Copacabana Beach these days,
although much cheaper, is much more polluted and often has a bad smell. It
seems that there are more robberies on that beach as well. We stayed just
near Arpoador Rock, the natural division between Copacabana and Ipanema
beaches. This area is magnificent at sunset. Fishermen go there to cast
their nets and you can actually cook the fresh fish right there on the rock.
Adjacent to this rock is the big surfing beach and also a bicycle path which
runs all the way along the beach. I stayed at the Atlantis-Copacabana Beach
Hotel which was a great location, 1 block from Ipanema Beach and 3 blocks
from Copacabana Beach. The rooms were pretty basic, but it was clean and
low cost.

In general Brazilian prices are 2-3 times more expensive than Buenos Aires
prices, so don't go expecting a bargain vacation. Some things are less
expensive than the U.S., but not all. Milongas for example cost the
equivalent of about $5 USD compared to BA where they are about $2 USD.
Taxicabs are also way more expensive than in BA. A good meal in a
"churrasqueria" with wine, dessert and coffee will cost about $20-30 USD,
considerably more than in BA. Good places to eat are the "kilo" buffets
which line the main street in Copacabana called Avenida N.S. Copacabana.
These are all-you-can eat places which charge you according to the weight of
the food you select.

Although people are always exclaiming about how "violent" Rio is, we did not
personally experience any crime or violence. Personally I feel that it is
probably at about the same level as in BA, but for some reason, has just
gotten more bad press. We went around at all hours of day and night and
felt quite comfortable and welcomed.

Two excellent excursions that are a must are the visit to the top of
Corcovado Mountain and a visit to Santa Teresa. Corcovado is the tallest
peak in Rio and is crowned by the white statue of Christ blessing Rio. The
trip up the winding mountain road takes at least an hour to complete, but
you pass through many interesting neighborhoods of Rio on the way. At the
very top in the forests are the small monkeys which scamper about in the
trees. The view from up there on a clear day is amazing. I have also heard
it is a great place to come at night for star-gazing. Santa Theresa is the
bohemian, cobble-stoned, older part of town. You take a small gauge tram
across the Aqueduct of Lapa to get there. Once there you can wander around,
look at the Museum de Ceu and eat at one of the quaint restaurants which
specialize in seafood. We went to the very top of one of the hills and ate
at the expensive restaurant Aprazivel which overlooked the entire city.

One of the highlights of my trip was my visit to Niteroi, the city across
Guanabera Bay from Rio to see the Niedermeyer designed modern art museum.
The museum is designed like a spaceship floating over the water with 360
degree views. The glass is so perfect without any contortions that looking
through you feel that you are actually hovering in space over the Bay. The
views of Rio from there are exquisite. The other highlight was the
motorcycle ride with Paulo into the incredibly lush hills of Rio. It is
unbelievable that these untouched, verdant jungles exist so close to this
bustling, modern city and a tribute I think to Brazilians that they have
been able to keep it thus.

I will be planning another trip back to Brazil because there are wonderful
people that I want to see again, dancers that I want to dance with, more
samba and Portuguese classes to cram in, and things that I wanted
desperately to do that I ended up not having time for: like fishing off the
Arpoador rocks, throwing myself off Pedra Bonita in a paraglider, bicycling
around the Lagoa, jumping in the waterfalls near the Chinese lookout pagoda.
And of course tango classes with Paulo! If you are interested in a future



Stella



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