When I arrived in Rio I had no idea I would end up living here – I thought I would stay for 3 or 4 weeks, one last hurrah at the end of nearly 12 months away from home. So I was in holiday mode – lots of sight seeing, trips to the beach, going out and drinking. And lots of drinking means plenty of trips to the banheiro (ban-YEAH-ro – toilet, bathroom, restroom, loo).
After a few days I noticed that many establishments seemed to be trying to tell me the same thing: “2 folhas para mãos suavemente secas”. And they would always provide this information in the same place – the paper towel dispenser:
Here you see a slight variation on the traditional wording of the message. The meaning is just the same.
Now you don’t have to be an expert in Portuguese to get the general idea here. It’s saying that you should just use two sheets to dry your hands. And that is a good message right? It’s saying economise, it’s saying save the trees, save the planet. And yet there is something about this message that seems to get people a little bit wound up for a variety of reasons…
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.
Often your expectations of another country aren’t quite matched by the reality when you finally arrive. It’s like that classic story you hear about the disappointed tourist asking the taxi driver in Sydney where all the kangaroos are hiding. Turns out most cities have the same ugly buildings around the airport, the same traffic jams and the same billboards advertising Coke and McDonald’s. Reality can be underwhelming can’t it?
Well you needn’t worry about that on your drive into town from Rio’s airport. Sure there’s traffic and billboards, but there’s also a massive (and stinky) favela to see/smell – now you know you’re not in London/New York/Kansas anymore...
But often I find it’s the less obvious differences that really pique my curiosity. Like what are those things on the side of bus and truck wheels for?
I was surprised how many people I asked didn’t know what purpose these cable things served. It turns out they are used to regulate pressure and alert the driver when a tyre deflates
https://i0.wp.com/eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013-04-07-12.39.13.jpg?fit=1000%2C750&ssl=17501000tomlemeshttps://eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/eat-rio-logo.pngtomlemes2011-10-20 13:33:002024-04-01 10:56:37The Canonball Tree
We had a bit of a storm last night. I woke up around 2am (I think) to what sounded like a train coming past the window. A few minutes later the lightning started – it produced an effect similar to a small child playing with the light switch. I got up and closed all the windows in the house at the same time as the torrential rain started up. Unfortunately we don’t have particularly well sealed windows so even though they were closed, rain started coming in through the cracks on one side of the house.
I decided to go back to bed and deal with it in the morning. Just as I was drifting off I heard a heavy thonk sound from the roof and wondered vaguely what it might be. Turns out it was this:
Shame about the pot…
I went up onto the roof this morning to find all kinds of debris from the storm – leaves and branches, random bit of rubbish and this, a broken pot. The pot is not such a big disaster as in truth I hated that ugly plant and had been planning to get rid of it (a job I have been meaning to get round to for weeks now). It would have been nice to reuse the pot, but hey-ho, at least this should spur me into getting the job done now.
On my way to work there were more signs of the storm (the sign is not normally hanging down like that).
When friends visit and the weather is bad I feel somehow guilty about it – it’s just not what you expect is it? Rio is meant to be sunny! About a year ago a couple of friends from England were in Rio for 10 full days and didn’t see one day of sunshine. I met them after they’d been up to see the Cristo (Christ the Redeemer Statue) and when I asked if the view had been any good they replied “We could just see his head”. Disappointing.
Last November I got really fed up as the weather seemed to be conspiring against me. All week it would be hot and sunny and then, when the weekend came around, it would be like this.
Still, all this moaning was brought into stark perspective just a few months later when the Serrana region of Rio State was hit by massive landslides which caused more than 900 deaths and huge destruction. Hard to believe it was less than a year ago.
Well, there’ll be plenty of rain for my Northern hemisphere readers in the coming months and, looking at the weather forecast, it looks like we’ll have plenty more this week in Rio. So how about some samba to lift our spirits?
Man, I just love this stuff. The lyrics are brilliant – romantic/soppy/poetic in equal measure and it would sound hideous if sung in English. But just so the non-Portuguese speakers get some idea of what she’s saying, here is my raggedy translation:
The rain is falling outside You’re going to get wet I’ve asked you already, don’t leave Wait for the weather to improve Even nature itself Is telling you to stay here
Answer the call of someone who adores you Wait a little Don’t go now
You staying here will make a heart happy That is tired of suffering disillusionment I hope that nature changes your mind…
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Long (long) before I was born, back in the days when Britain had such things as colonies (nowadays they’re called British Overseas Territories), my grandparents lived in modern day Malawi (then known as Nyasaland), East Africa. Many (many) years later, after my grandparents had long since moved back to England and I had been born, my grandparents would tell me stories about their days in Africa – places like Zomba and Blantyre still have a slightly magical ring to me, even though I’ve never been to either.
One day my grandmother said something to me that has always stuck in my mind – she told me that in Nyasaland (as it would always be known to her) the earth had been so fertile that the fence posts would actually sprout leaves and branches. For me, as a wide-eyed seven year old, it was an amazing image and although I’ve since heard it used to simply signify ‘very fertile’, it will always conjure up images of a part of East Africa I’ve never seen.
