Rio de November

The Brazilian alcohol policy. There are plenty of beers inside here that costs 10 €, in the extreme case 30 € (Delirium tremens). But a litre of 40% something? 2.5 €. It looks like a

European, they said. They meant doves instead of vultures!

The Brazilian alcohol policy. There are plenty of beers inside here that costs 10 €, in the extreme case 30 € (Delirium tremens). But a litre of 40% something? 2.5 €. It looks like a Swede thought “whatthehell” and dropped his Absolut Vodka here. (Not me! I’m buying breakfast.)

Chickpeas and green peas! A euro for the healthiest breakfast ever.
Rio de Metro!

I have one mission in Rio: take a funny picture with Christ on the mountain, so I take the subway to Largo do Machado.

So packed. Must be the higher population density? Untz
Get a book!

I don’t find the bus to Jesus, but get internet from a cafe and get an Uber. The car comes fast, I walk to the street, see it and stand in front of it gesturing “this is me” but he just leaves the place quickly. Do I look like a car robber? I should have had a shower before Christ! But driver number 3 picks me up and is super nice. He also had a red car – the perfect Uber colour! We talk about this and that and have a very good time.

The train to Christ.

The train goes, but the staff tells me that it’s too cloudy up there. Cloudy as in the mountain actually being inside a cloud. You can’t even see Jesus even if you can touch him! [Insert your religious interpretation here.] I think it was very nice of them to say that.

Up there is the invisible master of our hearts and souls!
So cute.
European houses.

I find a bus that goes straight from the Jesus train to Copacabana. And on the inside it has cats on the TV!

Human-kind nature. Mmmm. Build houses first, and plant trees later!
More cats on the TV! What a perfect day.
Mountains everywhere.

Copacabana is apparently a big area, and the bus starts moving away from it, going west, west, west. First I think of walking home by the ocean, but the bus get stuck in the traffic jam. It hardly moves at all. In the end I get off, and start walking back.

Lovely mixture of buildings.
The art.
I tried to make this dog look at me, but he found his own family too interesting.
All the art is making me … crazy! In a good way. I’m photographing like 0.001% of it.
Here you take a right to Copacabana!
Favela overlooking a cemetery. They fall down I guess?
I stay on the main road! And here is a long tunnel …
… and on the other side we have the security of Copacabana! All the policemen.
They even have vegan pizzas!
15 euros for this lunch D: But it was very good! I got so sleepy.
I did see Jesus up there, for a second. I did! But he disappeared quickly into his cloud.

I went to the hostel and slept for the rest of the afternoon, dreaming something of Belo Horizonte.

In the melting pot.

Brazil is quite a melting pot. Often called “the most diverse country on earth”. Melting pot means that everyone can find a place for themselves. It’s like the subway central station in Stockholm: whoever you are, a punker, businessman or in a burqa, you belong there. Like this guy, on the right, speaking Japanese because his mom is from there! She lives in Brazil now, while his dad moved to Japan. They exchanged countries, and produced him in the middle of the trade. So lovely to finally get to speak Japanese, in a place where very few speak English!

But then I found a French girl, who was fluent in English and had been travelling the planet for three years! Making me look like a total no one, having sailed around the New Caledonia etc etc. This is NOT a picture of me trying to strangle her with a beer. I’d never strangle anyone with a beer. And if I did, I’d hardly publish photos about it.

We tried the beer in Copacabana, and later took the subway to Lapa, walking from the Cinelândia station. An Uber would have been a lot better. It was hardly a nice walk! Not that anything happened, but tons of empty streets with homeless people etc. Brrr. Be more careful!

The guy below looks quite skinny on this photo, but that’s because he’s moving too much! The way he shook his belly, his tits, his ass … so incredible! Such a sumo dancer. I wonder what he eats in order to stay so strong despite all the moving. Starting every day with a 100% sugar drink?

One impression I have from Brazil is that people simply doesn’t care so much who they are. Yes, there is a lot of racism, yes there are huge inequalities. But at the end of the day, it feels like most people are like “this is me so fuck you if you don’t like it”. The number of gays for example. I have honestly not met this number of gays in any country, including Amsterdam during Europride. (That was a funny story though, as a guy got jealous at me for talking to his boyfriend. I don’t think I talk that intensely!) I saw nothing gay in Oiapoque or in Macapá, but in Belém they started holding hands, in Brasilia they started kissing, they made out on the bus towards Rio, and here in Copacabana there are so many trannies that you have to swim through them in a female swimming suit just to get your breakfast. Lovely!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *