Carnival day 1: Lost camera no. 2741

One day. That´s all it took to lose my camera in Carnival. Sigh.

I woke up this morning, in a hotel not far from my CS place - fully clothed, mind you - next to an Italian that I JUST partied with. Such a good girl. But even though I am CRAVING sex, I still have my preferences. What a good girl.

So where do I start?? Me and F went into Lapa, essentially the party place for Carnival, to a CS party that was apparently in a house far too small for the bulging guest list we had witnessed materialise online. The bouncer looked very official and the place was great, but we arrived too early and so were sent next door for a beer. Beer? No problemo. I`d had a few already with my meal at F`s (a DELICIOUS traditional Brazilian feast I ate way too much of) so I was in the mood to party.

F had said my tutu was too risque and he wouldn´t be able to protect me all night - I laughed it off... but then we were walking along the street (me sans tutu) and I noticed that actually people weren`t parading around in skimpy outfits, but quite normal, respectable party clothes. Then I saw a girl in a tutu smaller than mine and I excitedly pointed her out to F, who just said "she`s a prostitute". Fine. Point taken.

So... back to the story. We got into the party and a band started, with a bunch of people picking up drums and percussion instruments (we were told no... dammit) and we had a good boogie. Hot Argentinian and a few others from the first CS party I went to arrived, so I had a good crew. Including some cool English girls who had actually been on my flight from London. One of them kissed hot Argentinian... ahh well.

Made friends with an Italian who mentioned the word "coke"... henceforth we were besties, trawling the streets of Lapa for the magic powder. Wasn`t too hard to find, unsurprisingly. I have to admit, my memory stalls a little at this point.

And now we arrive back at the wake-up in the hotel room. I do remember thinking I recognised the area as being close to F`s house but I asked how to get there anyway at reception. The lady didn`t speak English but started to say something about me staying overnight and not paying. I knew exactly what was going on, but I played dumb while they tried to figure out where I had stayed (had no idea what room it was, to be honest) and then eventually said, "OK, thanks, bye". Confused... But happy I got the hell outta there without paying!!! Maybe they thought I was a prostitute... I just can`t win with these people.

Thought I had awoken around my normal early morning time, but it seems I have managed to shake jetlag. It was about 2:45pm. And there goes the day... oops.

Have arranged to meet Italian guy again tonight then meet some CSers at a place in Lapa... CS is really saving me here!! It is so awesome to have a community of people also looking for people to party with. And they are mostly really nice... one guy even said he`d give me a job if I wanted to stay in Rio. Apparently he owns about 15 hotels. And teaches dance, which could be fun (except I think the kind of dance he wants to do with me is more horizontal). Hmmm... well, at least I have options.

Morning, pre-Carnival dog walks

My first morning sleeping at my CS friend F`s pad and I thought it was a well-deserved sleep-in. So I laid just a liiiiiiiiiiiittle while longer and then decided to get up and make something of this day. After a shower and a potter around the kitchen, I looked at my phone. 8:38am. DAMN YOU JETLAG!

So, thinking F was still asleep, I stole his dog and crept out to see the building excitement on the pre-Carnival streets of Rio. And this is what I saw...

On my right side, a man gutting fish. Possibly to prepare for hungry drunkards later tonight, possibly just for his 10 children. Who is to know. On the left, a couple of fuck-off tankers with PROTEGAR (bad Spanish tells me this means protect/prosecute) that I would rather NOT be in by the end of the night.

Further down the road, I get to the beach where black muscles ripple on the weights training set-up, curvacious older women flail about in tiny bikinis at a beach volleyball mini-tournament and people walk by with their little dogs. The sun peeks out from behind the clouds - ahh, such sweet relief! - and I thank the stars I finally remembered to put sunscreen on my albino face. Over in the distance, past the beach, the peak of Sugar Loaf mountain is encased in a foreboding white cloud... as if the gods are truly saying, "You really think you are good enuf to be up here??" to all the tourists trekking to the cable cars.

I get a couple of beeps - well, I think they were for me but the traffic can be a little crazy here - and I take my time crossing the roads not to increase my exposure to this appreciate audience (ha!) but to make sure this crazy dog at the end of my leash doesn`t get himself run over. Now that`s a way to sour a new CS friendship!

Speaking of... last night we went to a big CS party and - Rio being one of the most active CS communities - it was jam-packed with people from all around the world. I made some lovely new friends, including a BEAUTIFUL man from Argentina I just wish I could sink my teeth into (unfortunately I think he falls into the category of I WISH) and I got to practise my Spanish again. Oh, when he speaks it, the words drip like honey...

Annnnyway, F has today off work so that´s good. We can head to this Carnival party this afternoon but I am apparently not on the list, so we`ll have to be a little creative. I am looking forward to not hanging off F`s arm, because besides that being incredibly annoying, I need to make sure I don`t rely on him too much here. He has a habit of pushing the flirting jokes a little far and I feel I will explode if he continues to think it`s funny. But, at the moment, alles gut. Now where did I put that tutu???