Alegria! Alegria! My fabulous trip to Brazil!

Well, I'm back and I must say I had the time of my life. I wrote a pretty extensive blog post on my trip that I converted into forum format here. Plenty of records to be had and I'll be doing a mix (or 2) with all my finds. Major thanks to MoogMan for showing me around... incredibly gracious. Enjoy...b, 21b, 21b, 21There are disputes over how to measure the largest cities in the world, but one thing is for certain... no matter how you cut it, Sao Paulo is one of the top 5. That could not be more evident as when the plane begins its final descent. Skyscrapers for as far as the eye can see. When I caught my first glimpse of the city was when I began my travel panic for the final 15 minutes of my flight... I'm here by myself, I didn't learn enough of the language, I didn't plan any activities, and I have no grasp on the layout of the city. What am I doing!? Luckily my fear quickly turned into excitement and anticipation of what I was going to experience and learn. I wasn't there for the typical American/European reasons, to sleep with Brazilian women... I was there for the culture, people, language, music and dance... all the things that have I have been fascinated with for years. Now I'm here to see it for myself! The one thing that I did struggle with throughout my trip was the language. The barrier was way more difficult than I thought it would be... I spoke less Portuguese than I thought and they spoke less English than I thought. No problem though... everyone was very patient with my speaking because I think that they were impressed that I would even bother to try to learn.b, 21b, 21My first interaction was on the cab ride to the hotel. When I said I was American, the cab driver said "Brasil like Obama... thank you". It was immediately apparent than the world's outlook on America had changed overnight. This is a very, very good thing!b, 21b, 21My hotel was very minimal, but in a great location. Right near the intersection of Av Paulista and Rua Augusta... 2 major streets that cover a good portion of the city. I spent a ton of time walking up and down both streets... covering many neighborhoods. I probably walked about 5 miles a day just exploring... and shopping, of course. I didn't take too many pictures while walking around because I hate looking like a tourist (even though it was obvious!)b, 21b, 21View from my hotel roomb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/hotelview.jpg"1b, 21b, 21My local corner cafe... I became a regular here having coffee every morningb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/corner.jpg"1b, 21b, 21There was a juice bar on pretty much every corner. I probably had about 10 fruit smoothies a day. Acai, Mango, Orange, Pineapple... so good!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/corner2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Good view of the cityb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/saopaulo.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Av Paulista street musiciansb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/street.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Caught some skaters filming... sweet timing on the Crooked Grind!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/street2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Little flea market on Paulista... every statue I saw had a life jacket around it... never figured out whyb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/street4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Some random wall I likedb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/street3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21TONS of grafitti, but I didn't take many pictures cuz I was walking... had to get this one, thoughb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/wallgraf.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I went to the jungle... sike, just some park off Paulistab, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/park.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Another little park off Paulistab, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/park2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I went to the Museum of Modern Art one day... can't take pictures inside so here's a view of the city from underneath the buildingb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/museum.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I had a ton of great dinners... didn't take many pictures cuz I was too busy munching down the goods! Took one pic here cuz they were singing Happy Birthdayb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/dinner.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Had dinner here one night... pretty upscale joint. Took a picture for the Campbell Crew cuz they love "The Spot" :-)b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/spot.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I went out every night to some pretty cool places with some great music... didn't take as many pictures as I probably should have, but I've never been the camera guy so I usually just forgot. I wasn't interested in going to clubs where they would just play bad American music... I wanted to find the places with authentic Brazilian music. These are harder to come by these days as the young people aren't too interested in that music anymore, but I still found some. Rio was better for live music for sure.b, 21b, 21This place was great... Cafe Piu Piu. I loved the logo so much for obvious reasons so I bought a staff t-shirt. This caused a little confusion because I don't think anyone else had ever done that! I hung out with a guy from London who quit his job and is spending 6 months travelling South America. I would find many people like this over the course of my trip. Must be a common European thing to do.b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/piu1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/piu2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21The live music this night was a 20 person bossa nova vocal group. Quite interesting to say the least.b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/piu3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Meeting people was challenging while going out because of the language. I would usually just hang by the bar, wait for someone to struggle odering a drink, and speak to them in English. The few times I tried to introduce myself to groups of Brazilians didn't go too well! So I mostly kicked it with other tourists... except for one night when I met a group of super awesome Brazilian girls who all spoke perfect English. Sweet! I started the night out at an Irish Pub where the cover band played "Ivan Karaoke" classics like Don't Stop Believing and Psycho Killer. If they had played Rebel Yell or Under Pressure, my head would have probably exploded. This was extra funny because it was Thursday, my usual karaoke night. I didn't stay long because this was most definitely not the kind of place I was looking for so I wandered across the street into a busy bar. Turns out it was opening night so all the drinks were free. It was also guest list only so I have no idea how I got in... nobody was there when I walked in! This is where I made some new friends. They were actually extremely impressed that I knew any Portuguese and were shocked at my knowledge of their music. They loved me! This was my one crazy night of debauchery :-)b, 21b, 21The group at the barb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/fun2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/fun3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I latched on to these 2 (for obvious reasons) and they took me to a dance club where they knew the owner so we got VIP treatment and bottle service. We got silly for sure!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/candm.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/fun1.jpg"1b, 21b, 21My attempts at the "Chad Style" self-portraits with Camilab, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/camila1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/camila2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Now everyone said I would fall in love in Brazil and well... I kinda did! Just playing, but Mazinha here was super nice, fun and totally gorgeous. Plus, check the pics... I'm known for always pointing at the camera when someone takes a pic of me. It's just one of those habits that I can't break. Bu
t what do we have here? Hmmm... seems like she has a similar picture taking habit with the peace sign. I think we were destined for each other! I kid, I kid :-)b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/mazinha1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/mazinha2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/mazinha3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Before I left, I told myself I wasn't going to make the trip all about records. I've been cutting down on buying lately, and hardly go out and dig anymore. But my fascination with Brazil began with records and as soon as I walked into the first record store in Sao Paulo, I immediately retracted my statement and made my trip all about records! I already had a pretty solid Brazilian record collection as you may know from some of my mixes, but it's mostly the rare ones I picked up on ebay. I had always passed on some of the more common joints because they were too expensive and I always said I would pick it up when I went to Brazil... and that's exactly what I did. I picked up some rares too and some unknown ones of course, but it was nice to fill some gaps in the collection. Everyone told me the prices were going to be outrageous and the condition was going to be sub par, but I found everything to be reasonably priced and clean if you look hard enough. Enough "gringos" have been coming to Brazil looking for vinyl in the past 20 years for these guys to know there's value in the records so it's not like LPs were a buck a pop, but fairly priced with an extremely favorable exchange rate.b, 21b, 21My first day of digging, I hit up a nearby shop where they gave me this flyer pointing out other shops... write that down!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/flyer.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Augusta Discosb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21This guy was pretty funny... kept pulling stuff out that I would never pick up!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Digging through Brazilian 45s can be quite daunting to say the leastb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore6.jpg"1b, 21b, 21My pickups from that placeb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Next, I made a short walk over to this place, Discomania, also on Rua Augustab, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore7.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Their vinyl selection was pretty limited, but I still managed to find some goodies for cheapb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21What's the best part about SoulStrut? No matter where you are in the world, there's a generous strutter willing to take you around. My new friend Edson aka MoogMan was more than gracious to take me downtown where there were what seemed like an edless amount of record stores. I couldn't believe it! He knew all the shop owners and helped me pick out good titles and even did some negotiating for me!b, 21b, 21Entire malls dedicated to record stores... yeah, I know... ridiculous!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/mallsign.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Edson with a nice shop ownerb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/edson.jpg"1b, 21b, 21This guy knew what sound I liked immediately and pulled out some great 45s I'd never heard of beforeb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore8.jpg"1b, 21b, 21This place was great too... a little pricey, but I bought Marcos Valle - Garra here... one of my top wantsb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore9.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Picked up a couple joints off the wall here... nice and clean toob, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/recordstore10.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Stopped at a few more places along the way here... finds galoreb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records4.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records6.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Before I left, I emailed all the ebay sellers from Brazil I have dealt with in the past... one guy responded to me... nostalgiatwist. We had a tough time coordinating because he spoke NO English, but we worked it out where he would pick me up from my hotel one morning and take me to his place. He tells me he lives nearby, or at least I think that's what he said, but we end up driving for about an hour outside of the city. I panic a little because I think I'm getting kidnapped at this point. I have a ton of cash in my pocket and we're driving through the favelas (slums). We finally get to his place, which is luckily nicer than I though it would be. He had a yard FULL of animals... chickens, turkeys, dogs, donkeys, turtles... probably more hiding out. We walk in and his mother is cooking up something fierce! He takes me to his record room and then disappears. I spend a good amount of time picking through all his records and definitely found some goodies. I was also quite surprised at how little he charged considering he's one of the ebay dudes. I gave him a little extra for the ride because he also had to take me back to my hotel!b, 21b, 21Nostalgiatwistb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/nstwist2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21His record roomb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/nstwist3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21My pickups from him... lots of 45sb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records8.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records7.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Last morning in Sao Paulo, I went to a flea market with Edson. I would have bought more if I hadn't already dropped so much, but I definitely still found some goodies.b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/flea.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/records9.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Well, there's my documented Sao Paulo trip... next stop, Rio de Janiero!b, 21b, 21b, 21I took a very nice 6 hour bus ride from Sao Paulo to Rio. I picked the nicest bus company and got a first class ticket. Turns out I was the only one who bought a first class ticket so I had the entire section to myself! The view of the country was beautiful. As we left Sao Paulo and ans we entere Rio, we passed the depressing part of the country... the favelas. One of the main things I took away from this trip was the extreme distribution of wealth. People are either rich or poor... there really is no middle class. This was more evident in Rio. What's fascinating about it all is how upbeat the people generally are considering the conditions. Music and dance play a huge role in this positive attitude. From my hotel, I could hear wild drum circle parties going on all night at the favela across the street... I almost wanted to go check it out, but I'm not THAT brave!b, 21b, 21Rio is a much different city than Sao Paulo. There's a saying that goes something like "people work in Sao Paulo to spend money in Rio". I can see why... Sao Paulo is a big city like any other... people work hard in a fast paced environment. Rio is the exact opposite... people enjoy their surroundings and have a genuine lust for life. The beaches were beautiful and the music I found was incredible... exactly what I was looking for. Rio was when I was actually on vacation!b, 21b, 21Views from the bus ride of the country... stunningb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/bus1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/bus2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/bus3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/saopaulo/bus4.jpg"1b, 21b, 2
1I stayed at the Sheraton near Ipanema beach which was a full resort... it's own beach, 2 pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, nice restaurants and bars, etc. I didn't actually spend too much time here because I had too much to explore!b, 21b, 21View from my hotel balcony at nightb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Same view during the day... that's Ipanema Beach right thereb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton7.jpg"1b, 21b, 21The Sheraton beachb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton1.jpg"1b, 21b, 21More resort stuffb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21To display the extreme distribution of wealth, here's the favela directly across the street... once you get off the coast a little, you get into the poor areas. This is how most people liveb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/sheraton6.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Unfortunately, the weather was a little iffy while I was there. Luckily, my first full day was beautiful so I walked all the way from the hotel to the end of Ipanema Beach and back. This was quite a hike and I got one of the gnarliest sunburns I've ever had! So I guess it was good that it was cloudy and rainy the rest of the trip. I peeled through multiple layers of skin the next week on my forehead and shoulders. Good thing I had my hat!b, 21b, 21The view of Ipanema Beach on the walk from the hotel... amazing!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21The beach and walkway were packed with people. There was some kind of procession going on... sounded Indian... didn't know there was a presence hereb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21There were juice bars all along the beach and they all served coconuts... they would hack at it with a huge knife and just drop a straw in. So good!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/coco.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Street vendors were selling all sorts of good along the beach... I bought some items along the way. Then there was this awesome sandcastle!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema1.jpg"1b, 21b, 21After the long walk, I made it to the tip where I walked up on the rocks to get some great pics from both sidesb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema8.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema10.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema11.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema12.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Peaceb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema9.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Look... I really was here! Nothing I hate more than asking people to take pictures of me... luckily someone offered!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/ipanema6.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Unless you've lived under a rock your whole life, you know the famous tune "Girl From Ipanema" by Antonio Carlos Jobim. As legend has it, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes were sitting by the window of their favorite bar, Veloso, when a beautiful girl walked by inspiring the song. That girl was 15 year old Helo Pinheiro. The song became famous worldwide and so did the bar, thus being renamed A Garota de Ipanema. Well, this is one place I just HAD to go to! There's also a cool bar across the street called Bar Vinicius that had some great live Bossa Nova.b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/garota1.jpg"1b, 21b, 21How cool is that!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/garota2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I sat at a table by the window just as the legend goes... instead of a beautiful girl walking by, some street musicians came by playing a famous tune. When they came by I said "Mas Que Nada!" and they were shocked that "gringo" knew the song. I gave them some money and they played by my table for a while.b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/garota3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21I spent a lot of time in Ipanema walking, shopping and eating. I also did the Copacabana Beach walk one day. Copa is supposed to be more glamourous, but I didn't see it. I wasn't really impressed with any of it... the beach, the shopping, the nightlife. Maybe it used to be more of a hot spot, or I just went on a bad day... it was cloudy after all.b, 21b, 21Copacabana Beachb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/copa1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/copa5.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Another sweet sand castleb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/copa2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Now that's quite a palace... pretty cool inside toob, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/copa6.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Had to get a picture of this... represent!b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/copa4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Like in Sao Paulo, I walked a good 5 miles a day. Walked around this lake for a bit in Leblon. Got caught in a pretty sticky situation here. Now I was warned and heard the horror stories of the groups of favela kids who rush up on you and clean out your pockets. I encountered a lot of beggers throughout the trip, but I would just give them a couple coins and be on my way. Well, I'm walking around the lake, by myself of course with no one else around because it was raining a bit, taking pictures, and holding some shopping bags when a group of 5 kids come rushing up. They would always start with the same line "Amigo... eu quero comere... dinheiro, por favor". "Friend, I want to eat... money, please". Well these kids were more aggressive than the others I encountered. They weren't satisfied with what I gave them so they kept following me, surrounding me as I walked while they asked for more. I kept giving a little more and they kept following. I saw one kid eyeing my pocket with the camera and some bigger bills. This went on for a good half mile and I kept hoping for other people to walk by, but they didn't. I just kept moving, joking around, smiling, and gave them small amounts of money at a time to keep them temporarily satisfied. I pretty much conceded that I was going to get stripped of everything here, but for some reason, they just stopped following me, thanked me immensely and moved on. Phew! What I learned is that crime against tourists has been pretty much wiped out over the past 10 years. It's not the police that cracked down, it's the major drug dealers that cracked down because it's bad for their business if tourists are getting mugged! So there's a basic understanding now that if any of the kids get caught mugging a tourist, they'll simply be killed by the drug dealers. So the kids that used to rob now just aggressively beg. The line has been drawn as to how far they can go. Yeah... it's a different world over there. Fascinating and depressing at the same time.b, 21b, 21Here are my pictures of the lake from the camera I was able to keep! Great views of Corcovado, which I'll get to laterb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/lake1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/lake2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/lake3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/lake4.jpg"1b, 21b, 21The nightlife in Rio was fantastic! Next time, I'll stay close to downtown because that's where it all goes down... took me a few nights to figure that out. I made it that way because I read about a Gilberto Gil concert at a place in Lapa. So I took the 30 minute cab ride downtown only to find out it was an invitation only concert. Doh! I didn't look anything else to do that night because I was set on the concert so I was stuck with no idea what to do. Luckily I met a Brazilian guy who is a doctor living in DC working on various AIDS efforts. He knew the area well an
d took me to a really cool Bossa Nova bar where there was some famous soccer player sitting at a table, but I didn't recognize him. He also said he saw Adriana Lima there a week before. Damn it! If only I came a week earlier!b, 21b, 21Great Bossa Nova groupb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/centro.jpg"1b, 21b, 21While at that place, we met another tourist... a Canadian wine dealer who was spending 3 months travelling South America. From here, the three of us moved along to another famous spot called Rio Scenarium... which became my favorite place of all time and the absolute highlight of my trip! This place was amazing... a three floor antique store by day and a popular samba dance club by night. The decor was amazing as you might imagine and the music was the best I found. Turns out everyone there was pretty much a professional samba dancer. The crowd was as diverse in age as anywhere I'd ever seen. People from their 20s to their 80s were here all having the time of their life! I was awkwardly doing my white boy dance moves on the floor surrounded by pros. A couple of the girls tried to teach me to samba, but I was waaaay out of my league! They were all nice about it and had a good laugh at my expense :-)b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium3.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Once I figured out downtown is the place to be, I made that my nightly destination. I found some great places to eat and go out. Now I told myself I would not go to the same place twice, but I was eating dinner nearby Rio Scenarium when I met a couple Eastern European girls from LA who just got into town and were looking for somewhere to go. Naturally, I was like "let's go to Rio Scenarium! It's awesome!"b, 21b, 21Nice dinner spot downtown with a great Bossa Nova triob, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/dinner2.jpg"1b, 21b, 21My new LA friendsb, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/dinner.jpg"1b, 21b, 21So I'm back at my favorite spot and it's Friday so the place is packed with people. This made it easier to dance because my awkward white boy moves weren't on display as much. We took some more pictures here this night, which was good because I didn't take many the first night. This is just a small sampling of the super cool and unique decor. It was pretty funny hanging out with these girls. They were sooo LA! All they could talk about was how disappointed they were that the streets and beaches weren't 100% full of the beautiful people they had heard of. They were totally looking for the "bigger, better deal" so they left to find a dance club with younger people. I bet they had an awful trip! That's what they get for their preconceived notions and for not embracing the culture. I stuck around after they left and danced until the place closed. It was my last night after all so I didn't want to miss a minute of this place!b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium4.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium6.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium7.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium9.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium10.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium11.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/rio/scenarium12.jpg"1b, 21b, 21For my last full day, I had to do the tourist thing and go to Corcovado, a mountain peak with incredible views and a big Jesus statue. I had a driver from the hotel take me and he knew every little detail of everything down to the dimensions of the statue. I got a crash course in the history of Rio and Corcovado! First, he took me to a halfway viewing point where you could see how vast and beautiful Rio really is as well as a closer, but still distant look at the statue. Amazing!b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view4.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view6.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view7.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view8.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view9.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view10.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view11.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view12.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/view13.jpg"1b, 21b, 21After that, he drove me as far as you can drive, where I then hopped on a shuttle to the peak. My shuttle driver loved to speak English and gave the thumbs up more than any man I've ever seen! Once I got to the peak and looked out at the views, I realized it was a good idea to come here on my last day because I knew what I was looking at from my previous explorations. The pictures really don't do it justice here... you have to see for yourself!b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview4.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview5.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview6.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview7.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/topview8.jpg"1b, 21b, 21The statue itself was quite a spectacle... even for an Atheist!b, 21b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/history.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/statue1.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/statue2.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/statue3.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/statue4.jpg"1b, 21img src="http://www.djferrari.com/pics/brazil/corcovado/statue5.jpg"1b, 21b, 21Well... there you have it folks... my awesome trip! I will definitely be going back someday and I'm super motivated to learn more about the land, language, music, culture, dance, and more. So that begs the question... who wants to take samba classes with me? :-)b, 21b, 21Obrigado Brasil