25/5 – Perfect water and expert commentators.

Early morning, sunshine, no cars on the road, birds singing here and there, small lizards flying across the road, no one else on the beach or in the water and the lagoon was like absolute glass. Not a ripple in sight, pristine and absolutely perfect - for water skiing. Too bad we were there for kite surfing.

Instead, last Sunday was spent sleeping in the sun, reading books in the sun, playing frescobol in the sun, practising Eskimo rolls in the sun and finally when we’d given up the waiting for the wind and before heading back to Rio, having lunch in the sun. At a small kiosk, on the beach, in Praia Seca, with the ultimate entertainment of a 4WD being stuck in sand. They looked very cool when they came driving along the beach. It stopped looking very cool slightly after it was obvious that they weren’t going to become unstuck very soon after burying their tyres in the sand.
Of course, we were the ultimate experts when watching the show. It’s like we had never done else than getting cars out of the sand when stuck. There was no limit to how many details we could comment on and we knew exactly why they didn’t manage to get unstuck, but just digging themselves deeper down every time they tried. In other words, once again a brilliant recipe to keep gringos happy entertainment wise, and that nice balance of people being in a little bit of trouble without being in any danger. To add to the experience, the lunch was brilliant. Catch of the day with all the side orders you can possibly wish for; rice, fries, beans, salad, farofa, lime – the lot. A perfect Sunday lunch on the beach with not only a nice sea view, but also with an ongoing live show. Not to forget the study of the nice dynamic and interesting body language of the couple in respect to each other. Hot tips, when the wife stops digging and pulls out a cigarette instead, she is not happier than she was just before.Just so you don’t think we were only sitting there watching and laughing a bit on the inside, we did go down to help them after finishing our excellent lunch. And they did come loose on the first try after we got there. Then if that had more to do with their stubbornness and persistence than with our ambitious search for wood big and strong enough to replace his silly carpets from the car, I’ll leave to someone else to decide.

19/5 - Finally Niteroi and anyone who knows a wind dance?

Last Sunday, I finally got around to visit Niteroi, the city on the other side of Guanabara Bay. As for many other places and activities, I’ve been thinking about going for months, but it has never seemed to happen really. Could possible be because the list of places and experiences I want to visit and get in my life, doesn’t really match with the time available. Anyways, for once I skipped the typical Rio expat way to go by car and took the Metro and ferry instead. My colleague picked me up at the harbour on the other side and we started the afternoon with Fortaleza de Santa Cruz da Barra. A beautiful drive along the coast, with hills on one side and beaches on the other, took us out to the point of the small peninsula, where the fortress was overlooking the entry of the bay. Chalk white buildings, a small chapel and palm trees and rose bushes along the walk ways within the walls of the fortress, rather made my mind drift to Greek islands and romantic sunsets than to a mindset prepared for the history of the place. Quite scary, how inventive people throughout history seem to have been when it comes to treating prisoners, not only in Brazil - but also in Brazil. Anything from making them go blind to drowning them all in a hollow rock, which would be flooded by the sea, seemed to be great tactics back then.

After the beautiful Brazilian torture place with history lessons, we had a drive around to some of the beaches in the area. They were as pretty as one could wish for so close to a city and heaps better than the touristy Ipanema and Leblon. To make sure we wouldn’t forget that we’re in Brazil, the compulsory oilrig was of course parked in a focus seeking spot to decorate the picture perfect view. The classic Rio joke about Niteroi, is that the best thing with the place is the view. Not sure I would agree it’s the best thing, the beaches will beat it for sure, but no doubt about it – Rio looks great from the other side of the water as well.
We finished the day off with a proper high tea at one of the kilo restaurants. Don’t think you’ll get a more British meal anywhere in this country. As always, kilo places are great, in the way that you only pay for what you choose to put on your plate. Not that great, to get it black on white how much nibbles, triangular sandwiches, chocolates, cakes, crepes and cheese you have actually chosen to put on your plate though. But hey, only Sunday once a week and Niteroi was worth the treat. Thanks Patricia for an excellent afternoon, need to come back and see more for sure.
Awfully quiet about kite surfing lately, don’t you think. Not much moving around on the board unfortunately and not a single ripple on the water to be seen moving at the kite surfing place. The clouds appear to be very stationary and pretty much no moving of anything, anywhere. Not even the air is moving these days. Keep your fingers crossed for some better luck this upcoming weekend, second last chance before swapping Brazilian winter for Scandinavian summer.

16/5 – Thanks Jose!

I’m lucky to have friends with better cameras than my mobile. Thanks Jose for sharing some nice pics from the Red Bull Air Race. To the rest of you, enjoy!

15/5 – Watch out! A pair of scissors on the run in Rio!

And an extremely aggressive pair as well. The scissors were in close cooperation with a young Brazilian girl, with long curly hair extensions and big fake golden earrings. Last time they were seen, was at a posh hair salon in the suburb of Ipanema. Also beware, that the pair seem very competent and timid at first encounter, but after a few cuts they turn into relatives of Mr Hyde and totally fire loose. Do not let them trick you!
To their benefit I should mention that it was probably the quickest haircut I’ve ever had, and probably the most efficient as well. At least if hair cutting efficiency is measured in total length of hair cut per time unit.

12/5 – My new black beauties and swoosh, swoosh like Ms. Longstocking.

No need for words, right? Jab, jab, direito, direito. Jab, direito, cruncha, cruza.

At the end of March, when I had my parents, brother and brother’s friend visiting, we all squeezed into a car to go to Petrópolis. The expectations were sky high after all the praise the town gets in tourist guide books, which had only been increased even more by colleagues and friends here who claimed that it is soooo picturesque, and soooo nice. Having a hard time to see a town, or to me a city, with more than 200,000 people as picturesque, but that might be some kind of Scandinavian damage to my brain. To Petrópolis’ defence, the drive to get there was very scenic, and the museums we went to, which weren’t closed for renovation like most of them, were definitely worth a visit. Especially, the Imperial Palace, which was literally like entering a different era. Eh…duh…that’s the whole point with it, but anyways. Well kept, authentic furniture, clothes, pictures, lots of history and best of all – the floors. Like a dream! Massive wooden floor boards out of this world. Imagine having just a little room somewhere with wonders like that, will put it on my dream list for future living, together with gas stove and high water pressure in the shower.
Thanks to the wooden artwork we were supposed to walk on, I think this was my second closest time being like Pippi when she washes her floors by skating around inside with soap everywhere. To protect the amazing floorboards, you get these gigantic slippers with furry soles. And they make it impossible to move your feet in any other way than sliding around with ice-skating moves, quite a sight to watch the girls who showed up in stilettos to be honest.

And the closest time being like the strongest girl in the world? Probably about 10 years ago when I was enjoying having moved out from my parents and decided to clean my bathroom in Luleå, with scrubbing brushes on my feet, just like Pippi, and just because I could without anyone telling me not to.

10/5 – Vrooooooom!

I’d been waiting for this weekend for months and now it was finally here –The Red Bull Air Race was in town. Praia do Flamengo was quickly filled up with people on Saturday morning and of course I was there as well, with my sarong and any devices from home I could find, to possibly get some pictures or films from the action. I got a great day in the sun and of course my eyes were just as big as on a child on Christmas, or as when I enter an Icebreaker store. Amazing how they fly and what they can do with their machines and Rio offered a perfect flying day for the qualifications.

Yesterday, race day and keener than ever, I was on the waterfront just after 9 am, with my chair and properly geared up with GoreTex outfit and umbrella. Two hours of slumbering in the rain, in a sun bathing chair on a Sunday morning might not seem like an exciting weekend thing to do, but…I had a very nice view once the flying kicked off. Later on, the Rio weather decided to put its veto in, after some 90 minutes of racing, the race had to be postponed due to the wind. More waiting in the rain, this time under proper cover though thanks to Øystein and Vera playing the baby cards right. In this country you’ll get all sorts of weird advantages and exceptions if you happen to bring some small kids around or if you consider yourself old enough to be around retirement age. After an hour without any improvements to be seen, the rest of the day was cancelled. Very unfortunate for all the people who thought they would save the viewing for the best, or somehow didn’t make it for the Saturday. But I’m happy, had a good weekend with as many aeroplanes as possible. Vroooooooom!

6/5 – Portuguese challenge and 20 years of artwork.

If you’ve ever seen Inglourious Basterds, with Brad Pitt among others, and remember the named actor’s excellent pronunciation of the Italian Arrivederci, then you know what the r’s in Paraná sound like. The first thing that crossed my mind when I spoke to the first person down in Londrina, was that perhaps he was not a native Brazilian, sounds a bit American to it all… But when person number two, and three and four and all of them were hiding their r’s in the back of their mouths I realised that it was the way it should be there. Fine, no problem, can easily adapt to that one. As well as the kissing on the cheeks, only one in Paraná and São Paulo apparently, just Rio who likes to double them. Lots of kissing to keep in mind now, one or two, in the air or actually on the cheek, kisses only or kiss and hug, Holland is still in the lead with three of them I guess, but nothing beats a good old Scandinavian hug.

Also found out about this place called Brotas, apparently the adventure capital of Brazil, for Brazilians at least. River rafting, hiking, canyoning, climbing, biking, you name it. The whole town lives for outdoor activities. So now I need to figure out how to fit a trip with some adventure sports in as well before I leave.

Most of the tourist books mention the Escadaria Selarón as a must to have a look at when you’re in Rio. Funny enough not many Cariocas seem to know about it. Since I had a spare afternoon during the long weekend a while back I thought I should check it out. And it definitely turned out to be worthwhile.
The Chilean Jorge Selarón has been decorating these sets of stairs in the centre of Rio, with tiles and mosaic all over, for the last 20 years. Looks nothing special at all from the top of the stairs, with only the concrete steps visible, but from below, and along the sides – very pretty indeed. The story goes that if you bring him a new tile, he’ll make sure to put it somewhere on the stairs, or replace an old one for it. The day I was there he was busy making a portrait of a girl sitting in the middle of the stairs though, so no tile works that Saturday.
Not many items left on the traditional Rio Tourist check list now, most main attractions experienced in one way or another. Corcovado seems to be a tough one though. After all the rain in the beginning of the month, the access up to the gigantic monument is closed, even for the train. Someone said that this is the first time ever in O Cristo Redentor’s 80 years on that mountain, where the access has been totally closed. It should still be possible to do the hike up so that’s hopefully a future mission for a weekend morning. Or was it Brotas I was going to aim for…or kitesurfing? One thing is for sure though; this weekend Praia do Flamengo is the place to be with the Red Bull Airshow on. Sun bathing chair, chilly bin with drinks, sunglasses, earplugs and iPod to get some film shots. Anyone got a pair of binoculars to lend me? Vrooooom!

2/5 – Good reminder and appreciated change of plan.

The plan of having a weekend with only watching canoe polo, sitting in the sun for a bit, perhaps go for an easy paddle or run and drinking the odd beers, was quickly revised to a weekend of playing myself. I barely managed to arrive at the club yesterday morning before the guys were on the mission of finding me a kayak, which I would fit in and with some descent footrests. And as in the rest of the world when it comes to kayaking equipment, and most other sports and hobbies as well, there are not many things that cannot be sorted with duct tape. And if it can’t be fixed with the silver wonder, it’s really broken…for sure. A few minutes later I was suddenly lined up to play for the team with players from all over Brazil, the Renegades, the keen ones who don’t have any teams at home but still want to play, just like me. More than six months with hardly touching a polo ball and with hours in my kayak, which would be easy to count, I felt anything but ready to take on the Brazilian champs for a game. Can’t really claim that it was my best game in history, but probably not the worst either. Most of yesterday and today was thus spent in a kayak, playing games with a bunch of Brazilian guys, I have no idea why quite a few cameras seemed to be directed towards the female blonde among the lot. Great fun of course, and luckily it also gave me a good reminder of why I love the sport so much. I have a tendency to suppress how much I miss doing things, if I can’t practise them where I am at the moment. If long enough time passes without me being busy with it, it’s like my brain turns on this self-protection function so I won’t miss the things I cannot do anyways. Ice yachting is probably the best example of it, was so long ago that I probably need to write it down somewhere to remember how much fun I think it was…is. Canoe polo was scary enough seeming to head that way after the last few months of boxing classes and kite surfing. And I honestly thought that I would be happy with just watching the games this weekend, without getting on the pitch myself. But the second I saw the goals, the glass water and the people warming up on the side, I could have done a lot of things to get on a team. Luckily, I didn’t share those thoughts with anyone, but got a spot anyways.

So to summarize, this weekend was exactly what my canoe polo part of my brain needed at this stage. And if the Brazilian rock stars need a water girl in Milan, I’m at their service.

Photos to come…just need to figure out how to transfer them from my borrowed camera…you would think it was only to plug the cable in, but apparently not. - check, PC required. Thanks so much for lending me your camera by the way Deep, very much appreciated.

Red Bull Air Race

Red Bull Air Race - Praia do Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, 8-9 May 2010.
Thanks Jose!

May 2010 photos

Romantically glistering on the hillsides from a distant at night, scary, rough and a bit ugly from the outside, full of normal people trying to live normal lives from the inside. They’ve got the best view in town and are often overlooking the poshest areas of the marvellous city. However, they are also totally left to keeping their fingers crossed and wish for some luck when nature, the police or the big guy feels like it.