Urinal Ice Sculptures
If you are ever looking for a comfortable, dependable bar in Rio, you could do a lot worse than Belmonte (pronounced bel-MONCH). There are seven in total, located in convenient locations around Zona Sul. The food is very tasty, the staff are friendly and they do a mean caipirinha (made with Magnifica if you ask).
The familiar pale green décor of Belmonte (this looks like the one in Flamengo I think).
One of the things that my female readers, even those who live in Rio, may not know about is that Belmonte provides a little treat just for the guys. When you visit the toilets you will find that each urinal contains several very large chunks of ice, providing an incredibly satisfying opportunity for some impromptu, do-it-yourself ice sculpture.
At this point I would love to be able to provide you with some photos of my finest work, but people get a bit funny about you snapping photos while they’re relieving themselves. However, I did find this picture at the brilliant urinals.net:
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| Jeez, you find some weird stuff on the internet don’t you? Seriously, urinals.net? Lacking my own image, I’m as grateful as I am baffled that this site exists… |
To be honest, I’m not sure whether the ice blocks are there purely for entertainment or as a way to encourage guys to point in the right direction. I remember hearing that the urinals in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport had the image of a fly etched into the porcelain for this reason and apparently the airport cleaners reported they made a big difference.
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| Go for the fly! Isn’t it weird that guys need this kind of encouragement to pee in the right direction? |
Some years ago I was passing though Amsterdam and saw these fly urinals with my own eyes. I have to say that the novelty wears off pretty quickly – I’ll take the ice blocks thanks.
That’s it for today. Before I go I should mention that the toilets of Rio’s Pé Sujos are not nearly as nice as those of Belmonte… Apologies to anyone who doesn’t enjoy looking at pictures of urinals (urinals.net probably isn’t for you either). And apologies in advance for tomorrow’s post which will also feature some more secrets from the world of toilets in Rio. After that I promise to shift the focus to something less unpleasant. In the meantime, if you are feeling sullied, why not click here and breath deeply?
I do believe that picture is from the Flamengo one.
On another note, why do the boys bathrooms always have the fun stuff? ;)
How beautiful! Ice sculptures shaped from the eroding heat of pee!
I've seen that Damn fly everywhere…why is he not really in the centre of the urinal there? Looks a little crooked….meaning chances of missing..opa!
@Rachel, I think 'boys' is the right term there, we need our entertainment to keep us out of trouble!
@Alex, you're right, it's a beautiful image isn't it? I sometimes work on a single berg over the course of a night – you can imagine my frustration when I come into the bathroom and find someone else messing up my work…
I hate it when my berg is plagiarised. The whole "your work inspires me dude, you should be proud" bit does not work on me at all. I can definitely relate to how David Bowie and Queen felt when they heard Ice Ice Baby for the first time. These damn Vanilla Ice urinal artists, where do they get off even thinking they can sculp berg? They're not from the hood, they never experienced the strife behind the art form …