Rio. Wow. I love it so much.
Let's see... what did I do my last week...
Well I went hangliding! Turns out it was exactly a year from when I went paragliding in Nepal. I had a driver, Miguel, pick me up at 7:30am and drive me to the beach landing site. There I met the instructor/guy responsible for my life, Renato. He was really lovely and professional and spoke great English. We did the paperwork and then drove up the mountain to the launch site. Seeing the ramp we had to run off was a little daunting. It doesn't feel like just attaching yourself to a 40kg kite would allow you to fly. We practised the 'running together off the ramp' part a few times and then waited for the wind to be at optimal take-off conditions. I have to say that after failing the first attempt at take-off when I went paragliding a year ago, I was a bit nervous that the same would happen this time. "Don't worry," says Renalto, "That doesn't happen with hangliding, you have to take off the first time or crash." I think this was supposed to reassure me.
Well, we didn't crash and it was a lot of fun. I prefer it to paragliding because you lie down and feel like a bird.
For NYE in Rio everyone wears all white outfits and coloured underwear depending on what you wish for in the new year (pink for love, yellow for money etc), so I had some shopping to do. It wasn't hard since every store was purposefully displaying all their white clothing together.
On New Years Eve Eve (the 30th) I went out for "one beer", a quiet night with a few friends. Ended up seeing the sunrise (most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen). Have you been skinny dipping in Ipanema? I have.
On actual New Years Eve I (understandably) woke up late, got ready, and went out again. A few friends I´d met at a hostel had a friend living in a block from the beach in Copacabana who had booked the rooftop area (with BBQ and pool) for a NYE party complete with DJ and great view of the fireworks. Needless to say I tagged along. It was good to have a place to base ourselves for the night, considering that more than 2 million people flock to Copacabana beach to party. It gets very very crowded, especially near the main stage. We saw in the New Year with champagne and then went down to the beach to samba samba.
The next night was my last night in Rio :( I went back to the Vidigal favela for a BBQ and some drinks and said goodbye to some friends. Didn´t want to leave :(
The next day I flew to Bogota. Business class. Because I can. And because it was on my bucket list. I checked in and the airport nice and early and went and sat in the VIP lounge. It´s a shame that at 10am after 3 consecutive nights of partying I didn´t feel like drinking because man they had a lot of free booze. I ate my fill of free food and then went to the gate. I liked being one of those business class people that skip the inevitable massive line up to get on the plane a little too much I think. Hehe. I really could get used to business class service. Our dedicated flight attendant came and introduced himself, asked what I would like to drink and at which point during the flight (champagne, please) and gave me my menu options. They even laid out a table cloth on the tray table. Three course meal plus snacks. The entree was salmon, main was chicken and potatoes and dessert was a big delicious scoop of icecream with my choice of toppings (caramel and almonds, thankyou). It was super awesome.
I´m in Bogota now. I was understandably exhausted when I got here and have spent a lot of time catching up on sleep. Have done some walking around and sight seeing. I went to the Botero gallery yesterday, where they even have works by Picasso, Miro etc. I really love Botero´s work. Had some beers at a very bohemian bar owned by an old crazy, drunk poet. Loved it there. Going back on Monday when they host local poets reading their work (not that I´ll understand it but I´m sure it´ll be beautiful all the same). Off to explore a market now.
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