6/3 – Rio Driving #2 – Grand Theft Auto IV.

Taking a taxi in Rio is always a thrilling experience and this was definitely proved last night after an excellent night in Lapa. The first couple of times experiencing this slightly unreal rides past traffic lights and with lane shifting from a different planet, you want to think that you were just a bit lucky with the driver, or unlucky depending how you see it. But no, that’s just the way it is and as always: one time – no time, twice is a habit.

I have never been a big fan of playing video games, but every now and then I’ve given it a try. Normally, I would quickly get a bit bored and if playing any kind of driving-vehicles-games, I would just push it as much as I can, take all my margins out of the tactics and see for how long I can drive as fast as possible without getting Game Over flashing on the screen. However, compared to the taxi rides over here, my video game driving is nothing, close to a sleeping pill probably. Margins are non-existent and cars, buses, tunnels, traffic lights, people, beaches, palm trees and you name it turn into colourful stripes outside the windows. All lanes are used, the car glides across the stripes, past the other vehicles and you get a surreal feeling of that you’re sitting inside this big PlayStation game. The only thing you can do is to keep your fingers crossed that the Game Over won’t start flashing at the level of the game where you entered.

The Caipirinha mission for Brazil can definitely be ticked off the list as well after last night. And the best one of them all turned out to be one of the cheapest ones ever. After getting off the taxi at Arcos da Lapa we quickly moved towards the hand written sign hanging on a dark blue party tent saying Caipirinha with big uneven capital letters. The smiling lady kindly informed us that they would be five reales each, não problemas at all and six drinks were ordered. Eighteen seconds of cachaça was poured over the lime, sugar and ice. Three seconds each, quite a suitable amount for a starter of the samba night and we should be able to finish it before getting to any of the clubs. The only catch was that the eighteen seconds was not for six drinks, but for two. Wouldn’t argue for a minute that a whole bottle of the national spirits was used for our six absolutely perfect and wonderful plastic cup treats.
This charismatic woman should be sent to Buzios to give the beach bar tenders there a couple of lessons, both in how to actually mix the drink and more importantly, how to sort out their pricing strategy. Or perhaps we just want to keep her on the square in Lapa for next time.