Waiting for the Bondinho
The Bondinho (sounds like bon-JEEN-yo) is the name used by the people of Rio for the little yellow trams that used to trundle along the steep and winding streets of Santa Teresa (the neighbourhood that I currently call home). They would make their way from the hills of Santa, across the amazing arches of Arcos da Lapa and end up in Centro (downtown Rio). They were sweet, rickety old things, clanking and shaking as they made their way up and down the hills, almost always full to overflowing with a mix of locals and tourists – it was common to see people hanging off the edges as the street-cars went by.
Quintessential image of Santa Teresa in happier days.
Rio+20: Indigenous Brazilians come to town.
You know how it is – you’re waiting on the platform for your morning train, when half a dozen indigenous people in full tribal dress wander past. I am talking about brightly coloured feather headdresses, body paint, spears, bows and arrows.
Índios, checking out the jewellery shop in the station.
As the train pulled in, it looked like around 30% of the passengers were indigenous, mostly dressed up and looking pretty amazing. I should point out that this is not the normal way of things – indigenous people (AKA Índios) make up just 0.4% of the Brazilian population. Clearly something was going on.
Eu quero tchu…
Every so often a song comes along that is so annoying, you just have to do something to get it out of your system. During the year of my Latin American travels the song was the Black Eyed Peas’ I’ve got a feeling. It was everywhere – in clubs, bars, bus stations, you name it – there was no escape. Very quickly it would take just the opening notes of send everyone groaning in pain. The problem wasn’t just that it was a fairly crappy song. The problem was that like it or not, you would find yourself humming it constantly. And if you weren’t humming it, someone else nearby would be humming it and guess what – 30 seconds later you would be humming it again.
Well right now in Brazil we are suffering another of these torture songs. If you’ve been subjected to it already then all I need to say is “Eu quero tchu…“. You will roll your eyes and reply: “Eu quero tcha” and then I will go “Eu quero tchu tcha tcha tchu tcha…”. Like all the best/worst of these songs, it comes with a dance and in this case it even features a celebrity footballer.
This is Neymar – a hugely skillful footballer who plays for Santos and Brazil. Apparently his goal celebration inspired João Lucas and Marcelo to score their hit Tchu Tcha Tcha.
Ipanema Flash Dance
The things I see on my way to work! Nowadays my route takes me through Praça General Osorio in Ipanema. This large square is located close to the border with Copacabana and is the last stop on the Metro. At this point I transfer from the Metro onto a bus and on most mornings I’m in a big rush.
This morning was typical – I was walking double-fast speed, weaving in and out of my fellow travellers who were casually strolling along as if it were Sunday morning. As I came out of the Metro system and into the open square, a girl seemed to nearly fall over, right in front of me, then throw her arms up in a rather dramatic gesture. “Weirdo…” I muttered to myself and kept walking.
I hurried along to my bus and managed to secure myself a seat. I glanced out of the window and noticed the crazy girl again. Then I saw this!