Paradise – Coldplay

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Rio de Janeiro, cidade maravilhosa

Ok, my friend nostalgia is back!! Well, I probably shouldn’t have watched all my pictures from this summer… REALLY BAD IDEA.

I miss Brazil, and I miss Rio! The people, the incredible weather (30°C in WINTER), the beaches, the food, the atmosphere… Everything!

I did an internship in Chile last year, and after working for 6 months, I had the chance to go on a little trip with 4 of my friends, also in South America at the time. A month of travelling days and/or nights in not always comfortable buses, driven by crazy South American drivers (Chileans, Peruvians, Paraguayans, Brazilians… they are all the same!) , who make you fear for your life. I don’t mind discomfort during a short trip, but when you’re crossing countries and have to spend 35 hours in a seat… It is nice to at least be able to change its position. Anyway, the trip was awesome, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing (almost). We travelled through Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil, to  end our trip in Rio.

in red is our summer trip (green and blue are trips I did on my own. the black dot near Concepcion is where I did my internship)

So I’ll probably talk about South America a lot here.

Of all the places I’ve seen this year, Rio de Janeiro probably is my favorite. My friend and I wanted to stay three days there, and then visit the area, but we loved it so much, that we stayed the entire week.

People in Brazil are so nice, welcoming, and always in a good mood. If you start to open your map in the street, you can be sure that someone will come and ask you if you need help, and sometimes will even come with you. Believe me, in France, you don’t see that a lot… You can have great discussions with complete strangers, go partying with people you met 10 minutes before. And as in others South American countries, you’ll have guys hitting on you at every corner, except that Brazilians surely are the best looking 😀 … Flatering and sometimes also disturbing…

We visited all the famous places, the Corcovado, the beaches, el Centro… went to a football game at the Maracaña Stadium (awesome experience!), even visited some favelas, where we met the nicest people. We also ate A LOT! they have the juiciest exotic fruits… mmmm…. And in some restaurant you can eat by kilo… which makes it very cheap!

And then, at night, we went to THE place to be on week-ends, Lapa, where all the clubs and bars are. Except that almost everybody was in the street, singing, dancing samba, drinking…

I just loved the atmosphere back there, it was refreshing, and I was happy and peaceful. You see that many people don’t have a lot and are struggling to make ends meet, but still, they don’t complain, they’re smiling, try to be united and to see the bright side of life. It makes you think a lot.  Because yes, as tourists the country is awesome (well they have some security problems, even if we didn’t notice a thing), but for those living there it is something else.

But even knowing that, my friend and I had a really hard time leaving that place. We were picturing ourselves living there, and thinking about how different life and people were back in our country. We just didn’t want to leave. Even now, we’re thinking about going back there, for a year or two. I hope we will someday.

Bay of Rio de Janeiro

O Cristo Redentor

Musicians in Santa Teresa

a New Yorker and a Brasilian

Sand Castle

Christ watching the city

Curious George?

national drink

Lapa by night

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