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clouds-rio

A delicious drop…

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clouds-rio

This mysterious white object appeared in the sky last weekend.

 

How has the weather been for you over the last few months? It seems like I’ve been hearing stories of freak weather from all over the world – floods in Britain, snow in the US and ice storms in Canada. Here in Rio we had the hottest summer in 50 years. From the start of December 2013, right through to the end of February, we had temperatures that rarely seemed to dip below 35°C (95°F) and spent long periods well up above 40°C (104°F).

They say that the British are always talking about the weather, but I tell you what – when things get hot, the Brazilians talk about it a fair bit too! Day after day I would hear people complaining that the temperatures were insuportável (unbearable). I have to confess that I took a certain amount of pleasure in telling anyone who would listen that I positively loved the high temperatures. And after all, I spent the first 30 years of my life complaining about how cold it was, I wasn’t about to start moaning about the heat!

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bamboo-in-the-rain

Photo Post: Rain in Rio

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My first job interview in Rio went pretty well. We spent about 10 minutes talking about what the new role would be, then another 20 minutes talking about my skills and past work experience. Then, at the end, one of the two interviewers turned to me with a quizzical look on his face and asked: “Just one thing – why would you leave a job like that in London to come to Rio?“. The way he asked the question made it clear that he thought I was crazy!

Conversely, I know that many Brazilians who move to London are asked by incredulous locals “Why would you leave sunny Brazil to come to this miserable place?”. I guess next door’s chicken is always fatter, right?

Well you know what? You might not see it on the postcards, but it rains a lot in Rio. In fact it rains more in Rio than it does in London!

bamboo-in-the-rain

It has rained pretty much non-stop every single time I’ve left the city of Rio to explore other parts of Rio state. This was a nice bamboo sprout I saw in Petrópolis.

 

I imagine that Londoners will be reading this and thinking “Oh sure, you get more actual rain in Rio because of those crazy tropical storms, but I bet we (Londoners) have more rainy days than Rio”. Well that’s where you’re wrong:

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Copacabana, street kids and popcorn in the rain

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We had a massive storm in Rio on Tuesday night. I was leaving work in Barra and had just got on my bus when the first fat drops of rain started to fall. Within minutes the rain was coming down in torrents and the thunder and lightning started soon after.

The windows on the bus steamed up and the rain was so strong that it was like someone was spraying the outside of the bus with a hose. As the bus hurtled along the precipitous Avenida Niemeyer I thought that perhaps it was a good thing that I couldn’t see out of the windows.

Avenida-Niemeyer

When hurtling along Avenida Niemeyer at breakneck speed in the dark in the middle of a thunder storm, looking out of the window is not recommended.

 

The bus came down the hill into Leblon and then followed the beach into Ipanema. Every time the bus doors opened to let passengers off, I saw some new scene of watery mayhem – people cowering on the beach under a buckling gazebo or wading through flood-water and sheltering under wind-smashed umbrellas.

Then I made my fatal error.

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The storm before the calm

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Wow, I’ve been so busy recently that there’s been no time for blogging! Can you believe I actually worked last weekend? Saturday and Sunday? Work has been crazy recently – lots of early starts and late finishes. Thankfully, after 6 months solid work, I have some holiday coming up. During these last few frantic days at work, my mantra has been “This time next week I’ll be in Bahia, this time next week I’ll be in Bahia…”.

Bahia, in Brazil’s northeast, is known for being a particularly laid back place. A friend told me that last time he was there, he was staying in a pousada (like a guest house or nice hostel). At around midday he found the chef snoozing in a hammock. The chef stayed awake just long enough to listen to the lunch order and then turned over and went back to sleep! Apparently the food showed up around 4.30pm!

As if in pre-penance for the relaxing times to come, the pace of work has been building to a crescendo. And as if to mirror this tempestuous ‘storm before the calm’, the weather in Rio has gone a bit crazy too. This was the view outside my window this morning:

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Lawyers in Flip-flops!

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Rio gets pretty hot this time of year. If you pop out for lunch around 12.30 you may find that your favourite restaurant, which is 10 minutes walk away, will suddenly not seem so alluring. Ten minutes walk in 38°C (100F) heat? Maybe you should just grab some rice and beans from the crappy Kilo restaurant next to work.

 

50°C (122°F)? Really? Like most visitors (and locals too, I suspect) I enjoy quoting these signs when telling people how hot it is in Rio. But seriously, I saw one once which said 54 and it was no more than 35. I suspect these are sun-assisted temperatures, rather than in-the-shade temperatures that are more conventionally used.

 

I know what you’re thinking – 38 degrees isn’t that bad – it was as hot as that when I was in [Torremolinos/Death Valley/Timbuktu] last year for my holidays. OK tough guy, but were you wearing a full business suit at the time? Yeah, didn’t think so!

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