3/6 – Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…

…but know when I’ll be back again.

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go, I'm standin' here outside my door…

Six months – time flies when having fun, but looking back I have to admit that I’ve seen and experienced more places and things than I ever expected when arriving half a year ago. Most of the things on the standard tourist list have been ticket off by now, but as always, you can never get enough of experiences, so I’m sure I’ll be able to keep busy in this country next time I get the chance as well.

Pão de Açúcar – double-check, sunset and morning coffee – sunset to prefer
Copacabana – a-few-checks, despite New Years it never turned into a favourite
Petropolis – day-trip-check
Favela tour – check
Lapa – stop-counting-check, will never forget the Caipirinha lady
Buzios – triple-check, including the most expensive Caipis in Brazil and free entertainment.
Paraty – check
Snorkelling tour – double-check
Washing machine experience (read surfing attempts) – quadruple-check at least, none really successful though, think I’ll give up on this sport. Have also had some interesting experiences with a real washing machine…or maybe not a real one, a top feed one.
Rain forest on horse back – check with bonus brown eyes
Pedra da Gávea – sweaty-check with obvious cultural differences in hiking gear.
Pedra Bonita – check
Barra de Tijuca – check, Bintang is the favourite hang out spot, they just need a coffee bar and I would never have to leave their back porch.
Santa Teresa – check, including Escadaria Selarón
Jardim Botânico – check (mental note…do not wear Havaianas next time.)
Ilha Grande – where did those plans disappear? Next time.
Beach buggy – nah, but we tried…
Corcovados – still semi-closed after the rains, at least he got to keep his arms on

Of course, there are a lot of other experiences that will stay in a solid part of my memory for a long time as well. And experiences, which except for being great fun, also caused future traveling plans for around here to get more and more filled up with musts and wants.
During the first couple of weeks every minute outside the office was like a big holiday, at least once my stomach had recovered from the Christmas Party and the less excellent food there, that is. Thanks to my French colleague being in town in December, the restaurants to visit were quickly ticked off the list. Marius can’t do anything but an excellent impression and Porcão is of course a must for a first time foreigner in town.
Arubinha can probably take a top-five position of places to where I’ve spend hours and hours traveling to and from (mainly from) with very varying pay-off considering the purpose of going there. But when it’s good, it’s really good - the kite surfing haven of Rio de Janeiro state with brilliant water and enthusiastic instructors.

And there’s no way I cannot mention the Carnaval, it’s like entering a different universe. Impossible to imagine, just has to be experienced, including being convinced (quite easily even) to pay for getting dressed out as some kind of Arabic shepard with camel heads on your shoulders.
Guess I wish I would be here for the World Cup starting next week as well. Apparently the Carnaval is not even close to what the city turns into during the football party. According to most people, football is probably the most important thing in life - it even beats samba and having nice looking legs in the ranking. And now wonder Brazil is ruling the world when it comes to futebol. If you start playing on the beach when you’re three years old, with a full size ball and full size goals, it is probably hard not to become good at it. Try to dribble a ball of a size up to your knees and you will see.

Another memorable weekend was the canoe polo trip to Londrina, a place no one has ever heard of but brilliant set-up for the sport. So looking forward to meet the Brazilian rock stars again at the Worlds in September and for the next time, Brotas will have a big treasure hunt cross on the map as well.

I’ve also experienced a lot of water, water from above, water in sinuses, water where it shouldn’t be, water everywhere. And sun, massive amounts of sun, even more than water and the Cariocas wouldn’t last long without their beaches.
A couple of days ago I thought Rio was going to show me the same side when leaving as when I arrived. I arrived in rain and thought I was going to leave in rain as well, but instead Rio decided to give me a last few minutes of Brazilian sun to enjoy my last brunch on the balcony.
Anyways, the Brazilian adventure is over for this time. A Scandinavian summer with family, friends, some newborns, a wedding, canoe polo, my purple beauty, Danish North Sea, Café Latte from the IceQueen and hopefully also some waterskiing and kitesurfing is just around the corner.

Até Setembro!

2/6 – Prejudice confirmed.

After the aggressive haircut that Saturday some time back I thought I’d try to make up for the experience by treating myself with some massage on the beach. There’s a German lady who’s there pretty much every weekend and holiday, and always busy with customers, so thought I’d give her a chance. However, any prejudices you might have about German ladies giving massage were confirmed that afternoon. It was good and just what my sore muscles needed after boxing, paddling and running. But…if that was her, so called, relaxing massage, I think I’ll save myself from her deep tissue or sports massage.

1/6 – Last chance, Indian treats and a sign?

Last weekend in Rio has passed, and also the last chance for some kite surfing for this time. For once the prognosis looked really good (i.e. pretty bad if it would have been January, but with the new winter reference system this turns into really good on the scale), so 6:50 am Sunday morning we were off. This time to Buzios and Praia Rasa instead of the normal Arubinha and hopefully to play it a bit safer with the expected northerlies, than what Lagoa de Araruama would offer. What can I say though, the wind was better than the last few times we’ve been trying...but not enough. With enough working the kite it was almost descent at times, and of course a good experience with some waves. Interesting full stops, with following face plants, at times when the waves broke on the board before picking up enough speed. At least we tried though, and as always when leaving your flat in Brazil you see something you didn’t really expect to see. It could be anything from dads pretending they’re young still to plastic housewives in neon creations or hiking teenagers in Havaianas. The highlight of Sunday in that category was probably this kid on his fairly new bike. Not satisfied with just biking on the beach, which would probably ruin the bike quick enough, but biking in the water. With waves reaching half way up to the saddle he was pedalling along quite happily while the rest of his family was walking further up on the sand. Something tells me that, whoever likes to cover his bike with sandy salt water, probably won’t be the same person who’ll remember to rinse it when he gets home.

My last weekend in Rio was finished off with an authentic Indian dinner at a colleague of mine. To my great relief, his wife had cut down on the spices for the evening, to make sure also a Scandinavian blonde could handle it, and it was absolutely delicious – all of it. Could easily have rolled all the way down the hill, along the beach and home to my place, after the last piece of an amazing desert. Thanks so much Sunita and Deep, I will try to think of something Swedish for in a few months time.

Made a quick stop at my favourite bookshop tonight to sort out a gift for a near and dear one (won’t mention who the book was for, in case Kristofer reads this). After a few minutes of looking for the piece I had in mind, I found myself singing along to the background music inside my head. Took a while before I registered the weird thing about it, not very often I can sing along with any music in this country. But for the first time in Brazil, I heard Swedish music – in Swedish, streaming out from the speakers in the shop. Must be a sign – time to go home.