First day in Rio with an old friend

Thursday night, nothing spectacular happened.  I went back to Mellow Yellow, scolding myself when I got placed in a room that smelled so foul that I thought I might throw up.  I went up to the bar and met up with the only person left from the original Mellow Yellow group.  At the bar, a new bartender spoke to me in Portuguese and when I told her I didn’t understand, she laughed and commented that she thought I was Brazilian.  ???  Okay, I know I have dark hair, but I’m pretty fair-skinned, so I don’t really get it.  This was actually the third time someone in Brazil had mistaken me as Brazilian.

Friday morning, I woke up early and excited -- Nicki would be here in a few hours!

Not only was I excited to see a familiar face and friend from home in Rio, I was also excited that she was bringing things with her from my mother.  And I was excited to be STAYING IN A HOTEL!!

The plan was to get up early, pack my bag, eat one last Mellow Yellow breakfast, go down to Fifa Fan Fest to get a wristband, leave Fifa Fan Fest, turn around and with the first bracelet removed get another wristband (so Nicki and I would each have one for later), go back to Mellow Yellow to checkout, bring myself and my stuff to Nicki’s hotel, and then with her, go down to Fifa Fan Fest so she could experience her first Brazilian soccer game in Brazil.

Our amazing hotel room!

Things got off to a rough start... Mellow Yellow’s large, free, tasty breakfast (no sarcasm here -- that was the only thing I genuinely enjoyed at that filthy hostel) was sub-par.  It missed the juicy pineapple that was normally there and the coffee had run out.  Then, when I went down to the beach to get the wristbands, the line was already super long and there was no way I was going to be able to get even one unless I waited for 30 minutes or more, and I didn’t have that much time.  So I turned around and figured I would continue with the plan.  Nicki and I would have to try and get into Fifa Fan Fest later.

When I got to the hotel, I could not stop smiling.  A door man!  A concierge! Elevators!  I went to the front desk man and asked if he spoke English.  “Oh, you must be Alison.  Nicki is upstairs waiting for you in the room.” Cool!

The crowd on the other side of Fifa Fan Fest.

The door man took my bag and entered the elevator with me, pushing the 12th floor button and asking me about my plans for Rio.  When we got out, he carried my bag for me and rang the doorbell at our room.  The door flung open and Nicki yelled, excited both to see.

Basically, from that second on, we really didn’t stop for the 5 days we had together.  That late morning, I took her down to the beach to see the game but we sadly couldn’t get into the big set-up.  There was a second not-so-big set-up around the back side of Fifa Fan Fest though, so we went there to watch.  The good news about being there was that anyone could set up a drink stand, so I had Nicki try her first homemade Brazilian drink.  (It was supposed to be a caiprinha but the guy made something else that had pineapple and was really strong.)  

The man, the myth, the legend: Hugh.

The game was a draw, so Nicki didn’t really get to see the insanity that occurs when Brazil wins a game, but there was another Brazil game on Monday, so I held out hope.  We went back to the hotel, got changed, and left the hotel to go see Christ the Redeemer for sunset.  We hopped in a taxi and when we got to the base of the mountain, we were told that the train wasn’t running and that we’d have to take a van up.  After about 10 minutes of us having no idea what was going on because the woman talking to us had limited English, a kind bilingual man explained things to us and we got in the van.

Sunset from the top.

Up we went and when we got there, the sun was just starting to set.  Nicki and I opted to take the stairs up instead of the escalator and on our way, we saw Hugh, the front desk guy from Mellow Yellow.  I had heard through the grapevine while staying there that Hugh would give tours of Christo and that they were actually pretty good, so when I saw him, I grabbed Nicki's wrist and whispered to her that we were going to join in.  

Hugh gave a detailed explanation about when the statue was built, its size, etc before we all headed up to see it.  Minus the scaffolding that was covering the bottom of him, Christo was magnificent.  The whole area around the statue was also unbelievably situated to watch the sunset, and Nicki and I stayed for a long while taking photos.

High five, Jesus!

After we made our way back down the mountain, we got another cab and got to the hotel.  On the agenda for the night?  Go to Mellow Yellow so a) I could show Nicki what a shit-hole it was and b) we could meet some people to go out to Lapa with.  Honestly, Lapa hadn’t been all that the first time I went, so I probably would have been okay had we not gone, but I wanted Nicki to experience it.  

Rio at night.

We got to Mellow Yellow and Nicki didn’t think it was that bad.  “Not that bad??  There are like 17 different kinds of mold growing in this place!” Nicki’s response: “Ali, did you ever live in a college dorm?”  Fair point.  All of my dorms while at GW had been really really nice, none with shared bathrooms or gross common areas, so I guess maybe I had been spoiled a bit.  

Within a couple hours, Nicki had tried her first real caprinha and we had found a group of people to go out with. We all left for Lapa around midnight and when we arrived, it was the same craziness I remembered from the week before.  After walking around a bit, we decided to go into one of the clubs even though I told them that the streets were actually the best part of Lapa at night.  We were in for a little while dancing when I found a back room that was basically empty.  

Popping some champagne before our 1st night out!

Being that I was already over the Lapa club scene and the company (except for Nicki) had become a little lame, I decided to take a seat in the back area and just chill out for a bit.  About two minutes after I’d sat down, a woman walked up to me and said something in Portuguese to me.  Frustrated, I responded with a simple. “No.”  I think I meant to imply, “No, I don’t speak Portuguese.”

Unfortunately, my response was apparently unfavorable for this chick.  Suddenly, her fists were flailing towards me and she was screaming in Portuguese.  Finally, she concluded her rant with a very angry “FUCK YOU!”

Ah, the streets of Lapa at midnight.

Um, WTF just happened??  Up until this point in my travels, I had avoided any potentially dangerous or scary situations at all costs, but I had really had it and my temper got the best of me.  I stood up and went back to her and said, “What the hell is your problem?”  She looked at me in a way that said “ I’m about to kick the shit out of you” which frankly, didn’t scare me, and she said something again in Portuguese.  

“I DON’T SPEAK FUCKING PORTUGUESE!  WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME??”

Pre-screaming match.

She looked at me, turned around, and went over to a guy who had been in the background during the whole confrontation.  I went over to another table with Nicki and the others (who were understandably unsure why I was starting a fight with a Brazilian woman) and sat down with them. I’m sure my face was some shade of crimson and I told them what had happened.  A minute later, the guy that my assailant had turned to talk to tapped me on the shoulder and asked me, “Do you speak Portuguese?”  

“No.  I don’t.  I’m not Brazilian.”

“Oh. She thought you were Brazilian.  When you said ‘No’ to her before, she thought you were blowing her off, and she got angry.  She wants to apologize to you.”

Our protection against intruders.

She came over to us, and said she was sorry.  I can’t even remember if she actually said the words “I’m sorry” or if her interpreter said it to me and she nodded... I was too pissed off to care.

 It was just about then that I decided Lapa is evil and nothing good happens there.  Nicki and I went to get some meat on a stick from one of the street vendors and got a cab ride back to the hotel.  We got into our room and realized that the door didn’t deadbolt, so Nicki put an extensive self-made set-up at the door (pictured) and off to bed we went.