Enough foolishness. After meeting up with other IBEU students and Rayssa, a young Brazilian woman who is friends with the host family who hosted the churrasco on Friday night, I went to Ipanema beach one neighborhood over (the neighborhood is also called Ipanema! Notice a pattern?) and readied myself to face an old nemesis.
In my first post, I told you that I don't always do well at beaches. And by 'don't always' I really mean 'do never.' As the fairest-skinned white boy on this planet, I know that I will burn no matter how often I apply sunscreen and how high the SPF is. As well as that, I don't find sand comfortable to lie on, and YES I do use a towel. The water can be fun, but that only takes you so far. Once that's done, you're left with another three hours of waiting for the other people in your group to get tired of the beach. For those of you doubting my scornful judgment of beaches, let me just tell you that I spent 16 summers of my life taking in the scenic beaches of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. It's a stupid thing to complain about, because beaches are very fun for almost everyone, and are often a sign of privilege. I very much realize how lucky I am to have been to the beach so many times. I certainly am an American used to the cushy gilded life. Any of my family currently in Massachusetts reading this shouldn't judge me too quickly, just read the following paragraph!
The point is, maybe I'm just fickle about these things, because my attitude completely changed back to one of beach adoration at Ipanema! The sand was smooth (not a trace of glass or litter, despite the thousands of people who visit it every day), the waves were perfect for body surfing, and the sun wasn't too bad, although I did get burned, despite applying sunscreen three times over five hours. My time at the beach reminded me of the old days when I was a young kid on the Vineyard, full of whimsy and without a care in the world. (For those of you that know me, it may be hard to imagine this. It is for me too.) The point is, maybe I have been too hard on beaches. They're pretty fun, when you let them be. And when they're the most famous beach in the world.
We walked back to Copacabana down the beach front and stopped at Arpoador, the small peninsula separating the two neighborhoods. This point is known for being one of the only places you can see the sun set from the water in east-facing Rio. We barely missed the sunset, but the view was still fantastic. Additionally, I saw a few pagode groups playing in the outdoor beachside bars, and it made me miss the Monday night pagode sessions with my friends back home. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to play some repique de mão or rebolo while I'm here. On that subject, most of the locals I've talked to view pagode (acoustic samba) as a lame genre, but many of those same people love Coldplay, U2, and Bon Jovi. All value judgments aside, many people consider those bands lame in the US, so it makes for an interesting juxtaposition.
After the beach walk and a quick dinner/shower combo (not at the same time of course!!!), my friends went back to Ipanema with Rayssa. She took us to her favorite bar: an 'Irish pub' called Shenanigans. For fans of the movie Super Troopers, this name should provoke suspicion, but don't worry, Rod wasn't there. However, he must have been the only one not to go, because the sizably large place was packed wall-to-wall! Our group barely had any dancing/standing/breathing/drink-ordering room, and it made the experience somewhat frustrating. At this point, I was very exhausted from a day in the sun and a lack of sleep from the previous night, so my award-winning dancing skills were subpar anyways. The highlights of the night consisted of nachos, a suave Brazilian man playing some solid covers of American/British songs (Stand By Me, Wonderwall, Valerie, and a bunch of other very predictable ones), and watching Anderson Silva go down in the second round in the big UFC fight live with a bunch of horror-struck locals. After the fight ended, we departed quickly, making sure that no one recognized that we were Americans, like the man who had just defeated the great Silva.
Since the fun-filled weekend, the time has been flying by, and more exciting things have happened. For one, I skyped my family! It was nice to see my grandparents, some aunts and uncles, and my cute cousins, as well as my parents and sister. I also have been running along Copacabana today and yesterday. The views are beautiful and the weather is very conducive to running. I have high hopes for the next four-and-a-half weeks, and the only thing I need to start doing is preparing for UW orchestra auditions, which I will have little time to do when I get back.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment!
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