When it Rains in Rio

Between me getting my Brazilian visa only one day before departure and my travel companion Hana “Lil’ Crooked Legs” Krivonozkova (a literal translation of her Czech sir name) being majorly delayed by a security breach at LAX, we barely made our flight from NYC to Brazil. We are off to a rocky start. We arrive, after 15 hours of flight time, and get on a local bus. Within 10 minutes it breaks down. Right next to the most violent favella (slum) in the city. Nobody on the bus seems to mind or care about the half an hour wait for our bus replacement. Welcome to Rio! Did I mention that it starts pouring down buckets of rain? We slop all of our stuff to the hostel, and finally, after 24 hours of vigilance, get to put our bags down. Phew!


Two idioms come to mind: “When it Rains it Pours”, and “When in Rome (Do as the Romans Do)”. So, what to do when it rains in Rio? Make like a local, and party till the wee hours! And then sleep in until about 2pm or so.

We did manage to make it to Sugarloaf Mountain, one of Rio’s finest attractions, before sunset one day. The lousy weather persisted, but made for some very dramatic photos. A couple of hours later, and night is back. Time to repeat the ritual.

Ritual for When it Rains in Rio:

-Sleep in till afternoon.
-Get up and do something in the few hours of daylight remaining.
-Take a siesta.
-Get ready for a 10pm dinner.
-Hit the local clubs around midnight.
-Arrive home at an unmentionable hour.
-Repeat until sun shines. (At which point you will be advised to wake as early as possible and head to the nearest beach.)

Adventure On!
Kristen