I know what suckers you guys are for quizzes, puzzles and other chances to prove how clever you are (don’t even bother denying it). Well, it’s Friday, so I will indulge you. See if you can spot what the following three images have in common (there are many correct answers, but I can only accept the answer I have written down on my answer cards):
Ipanema last weekend…
People in Rio are always talking about the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. Will they be a success? What will become of Rio afterwards? Will the pacified favelas be abandoned and left to fall back into the control of drug dealers? What will happen to house prices? The list goes on.
A recent story was that Jérôme Valcke, the General Secretary of FIFA (football’s governing body), has been visiting Brazil to oversee the world cup preparations. Mr Valcke kicked up a storm by stating not only that beer must be sold in Brazilian stadiums, but that it will be sold in Brazilian stadiums. This is in spite of the fact that there has been a law here making such alcohol sales illegal since 2003 2008 (thanks Andre)! His words were:
“Alcoholic drinks are part of the Fifa World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that’s something we won’t negotiate.”
Highlighting the fact that you're being arrogant doesn't excuse the arrogance. The head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter (also a scumbag), is a big fan of Valcke, saying: "When he began his work as director of marketing and TV in FIFA four and a half years ago, we were in a financial crisis. Currently we have an equity of 752 million Swiss francs."
We’ve been having some great weather in Rio recently. I felt I should mention it to balance things up because I do like to complain when it’s bad. We decided to spend Saturday on the beach and I finally got round to recording a little audio. When I got home I realised it was pretty terrible quality, so instead of subjecting you to some fuzzy noise, I decided to get a little multimedia on your asses and put the sound of the beach in the background to this rather sweet little scene I witnessed:
I’m not great with names. When I’m being introduced to someone new, I’m usually thinking about whether to shake hands or do the kissing thing or a million other things are rushing around in my head. I never think of committing their name to memory until it’s too late. This weakness is only compounded by the fact that many of the names used here in Brazil seem quite similar to me. Fabio, Fabia, Flavio, Flavia, Fabricio, Fernando, Fernanda, Anna Maria, Anna Luiza, Maria Luiza – you see my point?
But the name that seems to come up more than any other is Luiza. We went to a graduation party a little way out of town on Saturday night and out of the 10 people in the minibus, 3 of them were called Luiza. I don’t want this to sound like I’m knocking the name – as a matter of fact I like it and before I get into trouble I would like to state categorically that I like everyone I know with this delightful name.
But in the last week or so, something weird has been going on. It seems like everyone has been talking about Luiza. But they never seem to mention her surname. And the only thing they’ve been saying about Luiza is that she is in Canada. Huh?
Gerardo Rabello - the man responsible for all this Luiza talk. I believe that the picture next to him is of Luiza, que está no Canadá...
It’s coming up on 2 years that I’ve been living in Rio and during that time I’ve had quite a few visitors. It’s been great having friends and family come over and hang out in my new home town – a chance to catch up on news from home and remind myself how nice it is to chat with someone whose first language is English. As each visitor has come and gone, I’ve noticed the same questions coming up again and again. Is Rio safe? Can you recommend a restaurant or a place to stay? What are the good things to do in Rio?
Well, I thought that rather than just telling my visitors, why not put my suggestions and recommendations on Eat Rio for everyone to see? I thought it would be a fun project to make a collection of all my favourite places, to gather together details, photos and specific recommendations. And so I have begun!
This is my first recommendation under the “Things to do” category.