Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Things Dreams are made of



Can you say that you’re at exactly where you want to be? Well, I can and I am!!! This is happiness, being able to enjoy the moment. I can honestly say that tonight, there are no better places to be than here in Rio de Janeiro. This is the best way to start our one week trip to Rio and Buzio. With some experience under my belt I have become a more confident and savvy traveler. I got the universal outlet converter, super light weight traveling towel and sunscreen with insect repellent all neatly packed in my new red professional hiking bag. And Rose, having been to all over the world, is the perfect traveling companion. Instead of taking the taxi like most of the other tourists, we exchanged some Brazilian reals and hopped onto the Real bus for Ipanema for under $3! The nice air conditioned bus took us through the shanty towns immediately outside of the airport, the congested centro, the luscious green mountains, beautiful beaches, and finally Ipanema, the southern end of the city, where we will stay for tonight before going to Buzio in the morning. As soon as we got off the bus we were enveloped by the humid air and the gentle ocean breeze carrying with it the smell of the sea and the surrounding vegetation. We are here! We are in Brazil! We are in Rio de Janeiro! Even though we were exhausted from all day of traveling in taxi, plane and bus, our enthusiasm was higher than ever. Three blocks from the beach sets our charming hostel, Casa6Ipanema, on Barao do Torre 175. The woman who checked us in was most cordial and patient hostess. She explained everything to us in Portuguese and we communicated to her broken Spanish. Some how things all worked out great and she made a reservation for us at the Rio Scenarium for live music and dinner.


After a quick wash up and change we were once again on a bus to Lapa. We were so proud of ourselves for traveling on bus 433 like the rest of the locals. The restaurant was packed with mostly tourists. The band was already playing but it was early so only few dancers occupied the floor. We got our table in the room adjacent to the band and the dancers. Little did we know we were in for an amazing night. The food was good enough to die for. The raviolis with pear and nuts filling in a rich creams sauce was easily the best raviolis I’ve ever had. Who would have thought that pear, nuts and blue cheese would make such good filling! Rose said with enough observation perhaps I could make the same dish myself. If I ever figure that out I would have to be very careful who I cook for. I might end up with more marriage proposals than a single girl could handle. My filet mignon with mushroom sauce was better than anything I’ve ever had, even in Argentina! They really got the meats right here. My steak was cooked to the perfect medium even though I didn’t ask for it. We explored the huge three-level lounged after we devoured our delicious dinner. Each level of the club has dinning tables, lounge chairs and a balcony looking down on the band and the dance floor. The whole place is tastefully decorated with interesting antiques and old photo graphs. The music was a good mix of popular samba and salsa beats. I’m no good at either dance but we had to join the crowd just because we’re here. It’s hard to travel as a single girl sometimes, not because of the strange stares but the fact that amorous lovers are ubiquitous south of the border. Every now and then I wish I could have someone to smooch on too but I wouldn’t exchange this experience for anything. The night turned out to be perfect and surreal. When the cool mist air hit me as I stepped outside of the club, I realized that years from now all this will be a short flash of memory that I once had in a dream.


While waiting for the bus back we had few friendly encounters. A homeless guy came to bother us for some money at the bus stop. Luckily, an older lady stared him down and told him to leave us alone. She didn’t speak anymore English than we did Spanish but nevertheless she inquired about our travels and told us to be very careful here as tourists. Few minutes later a young man joined our little conversation as well. He asked nicely: “what are girls like you doing here in Lapa?” We just laughed and told him we were here for the live music. We couldn’t believe how friendly people are here in Rio. They welcomed us to visit their city and wished us best of luck on our trip to Buzio. So far we’ve had nothing but wonderful experiences. We’re spoiled rotten here! On the way back we got off the bus couple of stops early by accident and had a lovely walk along the lagoon. We laughed at our craziness to walk under the highway overpasses where the homeless people lived. We are under no false impression on how we are very lucky. The fragrant night blooming jasmine ended the night on a perfect note. Now we must rest for Buzio.

No comments: