13/2 – Carnaval 1 & Risky Business.

First day of enjoying the party of the year. After a slow morning, a gym session and some grocery shopping, Band Ipanema and mingling with the crowd were on my schedule for the late afternoon. Just crazy with all these people everywhere, young, old, tall, short, skinny, fat, straight, gay, carioca or gringo, the best mix of all – everything, everyone, everywhere. The only people missing were the sad and angry ones, - wherever you turned, smiles, smiles smiles and some more smiles.

Caipirinhas were served on every corner by anyone who brought enough to earn some money and had some plastic cups to serve it in. Music, singing, dancing, drinking and outfits that would move a proper American Halloween costume to the B-team right away. Normally, I wouldn’t put pictures of people on the internet, unless I’ve checked that they’re ok with it. However, I’m making an exception from that rule today though and somehow I don’t think the ladies above will mind for a single second.
For two months and 3 days I’ve managed to resist the temptation, but today I couldn’t handle it anymore. My eyes have been longing, my mouth has been watering and my stomach has been screaming for it for so long. Corn on the cob with butter and salt…mmm…as close to heaven as I could get on a sunny Saturday afternoon and as good (and fast) as fast food would ever get. The people serving it are everywhere with their small wagons, a big pot with hot water, the cobs, some salt and a container of butter is all they need under their umbrella. Definitely risky business considering gringo’s ability to handle carioca food at times, but hey, let’s live life on the edge and take the risk. Could be a good check to see if my stomach has toughened up a bit or if I will need to feed it some concrete.

Thanks SPORTV2 for keeping us snow loving people in mind. I hope the Swedish performance picks up a bit after today’s Biathlon disappointment though.