Where the samba was born

It was quite late after we got back and we haven’t eaten so we went to get some good traditional burgers made with Picanha. With a full belly we took the subway to Uruguaiana, quite a dangerous zone to be at by night.

After a few scary blocks we started to listen to the drums and as we got nearer all the other instruments joined in. It was a live band playing samba while people gathered in a huge circle dancing and singing, with huge smiles.

We met Carla, my friends roomie and her friend Miriam and she started to tell us about the story of Pedra do Sal, where we were. Back in the days of slavery, the slaves would carry salt sacks up and down the stone the whole day and in the night they would gather and dance to music which is now known as samba.

After a while we wandered to a yet more dangerous place, at least to get there the streets kept getting quieter and darker, but without any events we arrived to Praça do Armonia where a live music band cheered from the small children to those who’ve seen already too many sunsets.

The heart of Rio; it’s people and no tourists around, it’s most typical music, food and drinks, I even tried chicken hearts, they were not bad when I tried them, but now that I think of it :s

The music stopped and we were back in the dark scary streets, which were now packed with the most exotic women we’ve seen so far, I have shirts that are longer than the dresses they were wearing, high heels and the biggest butts I’ve ever seen in my life.

Our last destination of the night was Lapa, where the carnival of Rio takes place in February. The streets were full with restaurants, bars, street stands and people, all kinds, all races, all sex’s, all professions, LOL.

The hiking of Pão de Azucar catched up and we were exhausted, we could hardly stand and keeping our eyes open was as hard as taking a pee/poo in a dirty toilet (at least for me, Lucia).

Ipanema beach

We slept at 3am and woke up at 10am the next day, our last half day in Rio and we haven’t spent time at the beach, how could we? For “breakfast” we had another Picahna burger and some fresh orange juice.

Like every day we passed by, the beach was packed with people, street vendors and small shops where you could buy coconut water for the hangover (which did not work for me). We even saw some guys practicing Capoeira. The pictures of the tangas are specially dedicated to my dad 😉 he wanted to see some nakedness, well there you go, enjoy.

Need to get our flight to Curitiba! 🙂