Saturday Me and Toni woke up late. Toni was working with one of his regular clients, Claudia. Marcelo showed up with her while Toni was out walking the dogs. I was still in my robe. They brought breakfast which was nice. Marcelo had brought bread, ham and a large chicken empanada. I made coffee and serve pineapple juice. While They worked I went to the pool but I wasn't able to use it. They were having a kids party at the chussacaria ( BBQ pit ) and I did not feel like hearing all those children scream. I came back to the apartment. Cleaned up. Played Playstation 3. After Toni was done working he cleaned the house too.
Afterwords we went to go visit Helena. Her doctor in Sao Paulo had recently diagnosed her with cancer. When we got there she was asleep so Toni helped her granddaughter, who is also named Helena, get ready for a party. This took about an Hour. Afterwords we went upstairs and spend about 15 minutes with Helena. She looked tired but other then that she was doing well.
Our plans for the night were to go to Mesquita and see Beija Flur. For those who don't know, the carnival parade is made up of samba escolas. Even thought they are called escolas ( schools ) they are actually community centers from towns and areas around Rio de Janerio. These schools get ready for carnival all year. First a concept is chosen. Then floats, costumes and music is made. In November the songs hit the radio. In November also you can start buying the costumes if you want to march in the parade. That night a few of the drummers and dancers were performing in Mesquita. Beija flor ( Humming bird ) is actually located the next town over in Necropolis. We went to a large community center which was filled with locals. It basically felt like a third world homecoming dance to me. They were playing kind of bad 70's music when we got there. A band then performed. We were there with Marco, Marcelo, Penha ( marcelos' sister that had the Halloween Party. Turigo, marcelos nephew, was also there with his girlfriend. We started drinking beer. We hadn't had time for much dinner so I was pretty tired. Beija-flur did not come on stage till about 2am. I had a little talk with Toni about money. I am concerned that I still don't have a closing date on my apartment in New York. If it doesn't sell in a month or two I might have to come back to New York to take care of it. We spent the rest of the night dancing samba. There was only a small group of drummer but even with that the music thundered around us. You can just imagine what a 100 drummers sounds like at carnival. When the night was over we thought about going home, but it is an hour and a half trip. We ended up sleeping in Marcelos bedroom floor on a blow up mattress. It was fine, I was exhausted. In the morning I had a terrible headache. I tried to eat and almost vomited. Marcelo gave me some strange medicine though and I felt better. Marco had made ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I ended up eating two. Toni told me we were taking a bus back so we walked to the main square. I felt very strange being in the middle of Masquita in the morning. I grew up in a small town, but it was nothing like this. There are mountains all around. Young men drive buy on Motorcycles. Wild dogs roam around looking for food. A skinny boy was playing in the park. It was hot and the sun shone down on everything. Most of the men who walked in the street where shirtless. Finally the bus came. It didn't go directly to Rio Comprido but close enough that we could take an a taxi home.
When I got home I was looking forward to a dip in the pool. Of course the condo women said that Rio is conserving water so the showers were turned off. Everyone has to take a shower before you get into the pool. Because of this the pool was closed. It seems like using our pool is not easy. Toni promised me we would go the beach tomorrow. Upstairs Toni made pasta for lunch/ dinner. The rest of the night we watched TV.
Afterwords we went to go visit Helena. Her doctor in Sao Paulo had recently diagnosed her with cancer. When we got there she was asleep so Toni helped her granddaughter, who is also named Helena, get ready for a party. This took about an Hour. Afterwords we went upstairs and spend about 15 minutes with Helena. She looked tired but other then that she was doing well.
Our plans for the night were to go to Mesquita and see Beija Flur. For those who don't know, the carnival parade is made up of samba escolas. Even thought they are called escolas ( schools ) they are actually community centers from towns and areas around Rio de Janerio. These schools get ready for carnival all year. First a concept is chosen. Then floats, costumes and music is made. In November the songs hit the radio. In November also you can start buying the costumes if you want to march in the parade. That night a few of the drummers and dancers were performing in Mesquita. Beija flor ( Humming bird ) is actually located the next town over in Necropolis. We went to a large community center which was filled with locals. It basically felt like a third world homecoming dance to me. They were playing kind of bad 70's music when we got there. A band then performed. We were there with Marco, Marcelo, Penha ( marcelos' sister that had the Halloween Party. Turigo, marcelos nephew, was also there with his girlfriend. We started drinking beer. We hadn't had time for much dinner so I was pretty tired. Beija-flur did not come on stage till about 2am. I had a little talk with Toni about money. I am concerned that I still don't have a closing date on my apartment in New York. If it doesn't sell in a month or two I might have to come back to New York to take care of it. We spent the rest of the night dancing samba. There was only a small group of drummer but even with that the music thundered around us. You can just imagine what a 100 drummers sounds like at carnival. When the night was over we thought about going home, but it is an hour and a half trip. We ended up sleeping in Marcelos bedroom floor on a blow up mattress. It was fine, I was exhausted. In the morning I had a terrible headache. I tried to eat and almost vomited. Marcelo gave me some strange medicine though and I felt better. Marco had made ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I ended up eating two. Toni told me we were taking a bus back so we walked to the main square. I felt very strange being in the middle of Masquita in the morning. I grew up in a small town, but it was nothing like this. There are mountains all around. Young men drive buy on Motorcycles. Wild dogs roam around looking for food. A skinny boy was playing in the park. It was hot and the sun shone down on everything. Most of the men who walked in the street where shirtless. Finally the bus came. It didn't go directly to Rio Comprido but close enough that we could take an a taxi home.
When I got home I was looking forward to a dip in the pool. Of course the condo women said that Rio is conserving water so the showers were turned off. Everyone has to take a shower before you get into the pool. Because of this the pool was closed. It seems like using our pool is not easy. Toni promised me we would go the beach tomorrow. Upstairs Toni made pasta for lunch/ dinner. The rest of the night we watched TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment