Rio's Theatro Municipal

This magnificent building has recently been given a complete make over. The restoration is a beautiful success. You can take a guided tour of the restored facility Tuesday through Saturday at several times during the day.  More info here.

Romeo and Juliet, the ballet, is coming to the theater in October.  Good seats are too expensive for our blood, but I understand there is one day a week? month? when tickets are just R$1. Can anybody tell me when that is?  I have been mining their website, but I cant find it...

Miss Gay Brazil 2011

Great night last night. Luiz and I went to the Miss Gay Brazil pageant hosted at the Unidos da Tijuca samba school quadra. LOADS of queer guys.

I felt like the paparazzi, catching all the grrlz in their finest. But they LOVE the camera!  Hahaha

The show was great. I especially loved the intermission (between the regional costume portion and the evening gown portion of the pageant) that drummed the hell out of the place and featured super cute near naked boyz dancing and gesticulating all up in our face.  You go boyz! (I was too entranced to remember to take photos.)

Here’s a little look-see into the event from the photos I took..

Oh – and somehow we didn’t leave until nearly 5:00 a.m.  Plus the bus taking us home was PACKED and we had to stand. At nearly 5:00 in the morning!  Brazilians love their parties.

Oh - and I should mention that Miss Santa Catarina took home the honor.

Hiking in Floresta da Tijuca

You may be aware that the city of Rio has the largest green space park within its borders of any city in the world. Rio is a huge city – AND it has a HUGE park within its borders.

Some people shy away from the park because they think it is dangerous to walk through. But the park is an immense, inviting natural space that calls out to adventurers in the city and beyond.

There are more than 3,300 hectares (8,155 acres; 12.75 square miles) of forest with waterfalls, trails, animals, birds and insects.

As the story is told – back in the day the entire area was deforested and coffee was planted up and over the hills. Then after everyone saw the ecological havoc they had created, in 1857 approximately 100,000 seedlings were planted – over the next 13 years, to try and restore the forest. Slowly things came back to a “natural” state.

Then later, in 1874, for about another ten years, there was another planting campaign.

Now, Floresta da Tijuca acts as the lungs of Rio and attracts countless outdoor enthusiasts to see the waterfalls, the vistas and to simply smell the fresh air.

And that’s exactly what we did on Sunday. Luiz and I joined a guided group, lead by a fellow student of Luiz’s, to visit two waterfalls and climb to heights I thought not possible to get views and inspiration from the forest.

So beautiful.

Niterói Gay Pride and Rio without Homophobia

The Niterói Gay Pride Parade was last night.  Half of me loved the street party that started at about 5:00 p.m. and continued until about midnight.  The other half of me was over the noise and revelry after we were home and trying to sleep at 11:00 p.m.

The huge street party, closing traffic on the avenue along Praia de Icaraí, had traffic rerouted to the street just below our bedroom window. Drivers were not happy and let us know with their horns (Brazilian drivers love to use their horns).

I love a good party. And we went to participate in this party.  But us older guys go home sooner than the young folks that dominate these sorts of events. (Very cute folks, I might add.)  I laid in bed for a very long time listening to drunken revelers making their way home under my bedroom window.  But goddess bless them – I was there once. It was not a big deal.

Sign me up as pro-Gay Pride Parade in Niterói!

More importantly, the theme was once again “Anti-Homophobia.”

There is a very well-funded campaign by the Rio state government to combat homophobia. Lots of media and collateral print materials.

The campaign is called “Rio without Homophobia.”  Nice to see. But as Luiz (in his professional tourism capacity points out) would remind us this is an economic strategy in the build up to the World Cup and the Olympics. It is a tourist publicity campaign.

But that’s OK by me. If you can get hotels to display “Rio sem Homofobia” stickers in their front windows (and on their websites) to try and attract more clients (and actually be less offensive) then I’m all in favor of a legislative or economic campaign that encourages merchants to be less offensive.  Call me practical.

I know you cannot legislate tolerance – but if you can educate folks to be less offensive in an effort to see their business grow – well, I’m all for that.

The Rio Sem Homophbia campaign is robust. It was all over the Niterói Gay Pride Parade yesterday. Let’s hope it catches even more traction.

Check out the Rio Sem Homofobia campaign here.

Gay Pride week in Rio

Note the text in the flag.

This Sunday is the Gay Pride event in Niterói. Luiz has invited a bunch of friends over for a lunchtime party, then we will join the street party in progress, just a few blocks away.

Gay Day in Rio is set for Sunday, October 9th in Copacabana. Mark your calendar. Here is the official program:

Official Program and Events| Rio de Janeiro Gay Pride 2011

Date: October 9, 2011.
Meeting Point : at 1 PM (13:00 hs.)
Posto 6 - Forte de Copacabana / Sofitel Hotel

This year, October is the month of LGBT Pride. Though the march is the most important event, a full week of activities is promoted by the Arco-Iris, the nonprofit organization that organizes the parade.

All dates are yet to be confirmed by Arco-Iris.

The official program of the 16th LGBT Pride Parade in Rio de Janeiro is yet to be released.
Considering last year's calendar, the events for 2011 are most likely to be as follows:

Date: October 4, at 7 PM
Venue: Teatro Carlos Gomes - Centro
Opening show of the 16th. LGBT Pride Parade-Rio 2011

Date: October 4 to 9
Location: Galeria do Centro Cultural Sergio Porto - Humaitá
Exhibition in 2009: "Our history, our strength, our voice: 15 years of LGBT Pride Parade-Rio"

Date: October 7 and 8, 2 PM - 10 PM
Location: Castelinho Flamengo
Movies Shows Metaphors of Diversity

Date: October 8, from 11:30 PM
Local: Cine Ideal - Downtown Rio
Ideal National Pride

Date: October 11 to 4 - 7 PM
Venue: Teatro Gláucio Gil - Copacabana
Self-Portraits - shows Resgate da Cultura Transformista do Rio

Date: October 1 4, 3 PM to 10 PM
Location: Castelinho Flamengo and other sites to confirm

Cycle Arco-Iris Thinking LGBT Citizenship and
State Seminar on AIDS and LGBT Health

Date: October 5 and 6 - 7 PM
Location: Sala Baden Powell - Copacabana
Voices of Diversity - musical show with LGBT singers

Date: October 7 - 9 PM
Local: Cine Ideal - Center
Official Opening Celebration and Party - 15th LGBT Pride Parade Rio - 2011

Date: October 7 - 8 PM
Venue: Teatro João Caetano - Downtown
8th Arco-Iris Awards for Human Rights

Date: October 8, from 10 AM to 10 PM
Location: Terreirão Samba and Centro de Artes Calouste Gulbenkian - Downtown (to be confirmed)
Culture Fair Arco-iris LGBT
Lesbifest - Festival of Culture and Diversity among lesbians and bisexual women

Date: October 8, at 10 PM
Location: Night Club 1140 - Praça Seca - Jacarepaguá
Pre-Parade Party

Date: October 9, 9 AM to 6 PM
Location: Copacabana, Posto 6
Action Pride, Citizenship and Human Rights (stalls and information services for the general population)

Date: October 9, at 1 PM
Location: Copacabana, Posto 6
16th LGBT Pride Parade-Rio 2011

Date: October 9, at 10 PM
Location: Le Boy - Copacabana
Closing Party of the 16th LGBT Pride Parade - Rio 2011

Keep checking here for final details.

Dyke March in Rio - Mark your calendar

Mark your calendars – this year’s Dyke March in Rio is scheduled for Sunday, August 28th, in Copacabana.

The annual LGBT Pride March is set for Saturday, September 10th, also in Copacabana.

This video has lesbian and bi women speaking to the newly elected female president insisting on equality.

Come join the action to raise visibility for Lesbians.

Be there or be square.

World Military Games in Rio

The World Military Games just came and went in Rio.  In some ways they were a dress rehearsal for the World Cup and the Olympics; but on a smaller scale.  There were thousands of athletes put up in several villages who needed three meals a day and language-specific services throughout their stay.

There were competitions, the use of smaller venues (plus the big Copacabana beach venues) and the simple need to get athletes from one place to another. Athletes who had already placed out of their competitions needed something to do every day while others continued to compete.

Luiz was a volunteer during the games.  He was among the volunteers who spoke English – placing him among the more desirable guides. He spent 10 days arriving early and leaving late to facilitate the experience of visiting athletes and their organizers.

Thanks to a friend of ours who is a career military man, we got pairs of tickets to lots of events, including the opening and closing ceremonies.

Since the opening ceremonies conflicted with the Blogger Meet-Up, I just went to the closing ceremonies – with my mother-in-law. It was an adventure. And a beautiful show.

Luiz had a great time working with other volunteers and meeting international athletes. There were lots of cool people eager to discover Rio. He spent long days showing the athletes various parts of the city.

It was a great event. And I hope there were lessons learned. Luiz expressed some frustrations about the overall organization. It would be great to assume these problems were being recorded to help improve the planning for the World Cup and Olympics. One can hope.

Blogger Meet-up in Rio – report back

Gathering at our point of departure.

Phew – it’s been a great weekend spending time with fellow bloggers. Saturday was our planned event in Rio which attracted a great crowd (many bloggers and their husbands, partners, children, etc.).

Inside the Arco do Tellez.

The Arco do Telles area is PACKED every weeknight for Happy Hour.

It was my intention to arrive early to stake out the meeting area and be a responsible leader.  But, the best laid plans… We missed our ferry and given that it was Saturday, the next ferry was 30 minutes later. So by the time we arrived there was already a good group gathered. Thanks to cell phones, everyone was informed of our delay, and some who arrived a bit later were able to hop into the tour in progress.

Confeitaria Columbo has hosted dignitaries and the rest of us for over 100 years.

We somehow stumbled upon these happy barber shop workers...

Luiz was his beaming, charming self as he walked us through some very historic streets, showing us an old home of Carmen Miranda’s and pointing out an ancient street which still has the small gutter running the length of the center of the street (aka: the old open sewer channel).

Rua da Carioca is fantastically scenic busy old street lined with historic archetecture.

While we wandered from historic site to historic building, only a few were open, and many are best seen during the week when you can enter and take tours of. Luiz and I did a lot of encouraging folks to return and spend more time discovering Rio’s history. There is SO MUCH to see we could have walked for three days!

After peeking into the modern Cathedral and walking under the Lapa arches, we made our way to Cinelandia and pulled about 6 tables together and settled in for a LONG and social lunch. While we did get up and switch seats now and again, it was still impossible to chat with everyone.  There were just so many of us present! The meet-up was a total success!

Not everybody (sorry) but a nice group shot at the restaurant Amerelinho in Cinelandia.

Blogger Meet-Up final reminder

We’re ready to go. Don’t miss the action. The Rio/Brazil expat blogger world is about to get smaller. We’re about to meet each other in the flesh (imagine that!)

On Saturday, July 16^th everyone is invited to join us for a blogger meet-up in Rio. It seems to be shaping up into two gatherings: one at 10:00 a.m. sharp at Master Velentim’s Fountain in Praça XV in Rio Centro for a walking tour of about two hours or so through historic sections of Centro, and other interesting parts of downtown.

The second part is lunch at Amarelinho on the square in Cinelandia (not an expensive place). That should be around 12:30 p.m. I’ve heard from some that they cannot make the walking tour, but they will join us for lunch.  Wonderful.

However you can join us – we are eager to see you.

People have confirmed their attendance from all over. It is sure to be a great time. Please plan to join us. Contact me if you have any questions.

See you Saturday!

Luiz's school success

Our Luizinho has completed his first of two semesters of formal technical training to become a certified tour guide in Rio state and beyond.  For the past several months Luis has awakened, Monday through Thursday, at 5:20 a.m. to catch a bus to Rio to sit for five hours of coursework. He has made LOTS of new friends and has demonstrated he has the natural ability to be a leader, a guide, an engaging teacher and a charismatic guide. I’m personally excited to report that he earned an average of 9.0 out of 10 points each for the 10 courses he took. (Said the proud husband.)

All modesty aside, Luiz was voted by his peers to be the class leader/liaison to the course administration; he was cheered as a natural speaker by his colleagues; and credited by his professors as a valuable resource to any agency that will certainly utilize his services.

But we knew all that.

It has been wonderful for me to see Luiz so engaged and excited about this new professional path. He has had a bounce in his step (even at 5:20 a.m.) and I know he is proud to have been recognized by his peers.

The additional fun aside to all of this is that we have enjoyed many, many free tickets and back-stage passes that come from being a desirable tour guide. Lots of venues want you to know about them and work to encourage you to bring your tour guests to their venues.  Thus the free bits for us. Nice. Work it Luiz!

Rio readies for the future

It’s not your father’s Rio anymore.  Whether you agree with the strategies employed or not (or believe entirely their reports of success), Rio’s government has been taking what they consider to be strategic actions over the past few years to clean up corruption, increase transparency in government, professionalize the police force and take technological steps forward to alert and coordinate various first-responders to emergencies, both natural and criminal.

There is a great post about this effort over on the outstanding new blog Rio Real. If you have not already been following Julia Michael’s postings there – start now.

Here is a taste. This is an official brief video (with English subtitles) that lays out the vision of the “new and improved” Rio in terms of service, safety and coordination, using high tech urban planning and other technology.

Blogger Meet-Up – Update

 Thank you to everyone who responded to the initial post and who have continued with thoughts via email and Facebook.  Looks like we have a plan.

Mark your calendar: on Saturday, July 16^th we will meet in Praça XV in Rio at 10:00 a.m. for first a walking tour and then lunch thereafter at about 12:30 in Cinelandia. We will have a trained city guide leading the way (my partner Luiz).

Everyone is invited: bloggers (expats and otherwise), commenters, readers, lurkers – anybody. Just keep in mind that we are gathering for a social day where we will speak English with each other. Join us.

Here are the fun details:

We will meet at 10:00 sharp at the Master Velentim’s Fountain (old drinking water fountain) located in sort of the middle of the Praça.  From there we will walk through the Arco de Teles and into an ancient section of Rio where some of the streets are just as they were 300 years ago.

From there we will head downtown, past the Imperial Palace to the Tiradentes Palace. From there we will turn up into the thick of Centro, toward Rua da Carioca. On the way we will stop at Confeitaria Columbo, an historic and amazingly ornate place for tea and sweets.

Then back to Rua da Carioca, with its historic buildings and scenic backdrop.

After passing Praça Tiradents, when we get to Rua do Lavradio we will turn left and enjoy this cute, cute, cute street that is the center of antique shops in the City, plus multiple very cool restaurants.

Once we get to Av. Mem de Sá we will turn left and head to the Lapa arches.  We’ll walk under the arches and turn left and head toward Cinelandia.

Once in Cinelandia, with the Municipal Theater, the National Library and the National Museum of Arts in view, we will settle in for lunch at the 90 year old restaurant, Amarelinho.

For people who want to skip the walking tour, plan to meet up with us around 12:30 p.m. at Amarelinho. You might want to get a cell phone number from one of us so you can time your arrival and not wait too long.

Sound like fun?  Come join us!

Time for a Blogger Meet-Up in Rio

On the very exciting occasion of Danielle and Alexandre visiting Rio/Niterói, I’m proposing another Blogger Meet-Up.  Mark your calendar: Saturday, July 16^th. Time and location tbd, leave a comment if you have a fun suggestion.

The first time we got together, well over a year ago, several of us met at a kiosk on Ipanema beach.  Cold beer, small plates of bar food, and lots of English conversation.  Nice!

The next time we met was on Itaipú beach in Niterói. Sun, sunscreen, beer and food – and lots of English conversation. Sweet!

For our next meet-up should we venture into an interesting neighborhood in Rio?  The historic district just north of Praça XV is visually stunning, rich in historic buildings, churches and museums and has LOTS of barzinhos and restaurants.  People could arrive early and walk around, then we could meet at a particular watering hole.  Or we could wander the area together.

Or how about Jardim Botânico?  It’s a very peaceful place to walk and take in the smell of green (and Danielle could point out the interesting birds). There’s not really an interesting place to sit and enjoy a drink and lunch. The snack bar in the park is pretty lame, food-wise.  But there are appropriate places in the adjoining neighborhood.  That could be fun.

I suppose a return to the beach is never a mistake, especially for folks like Danielle, who will be in town on a rare visit.

So what do you think?  Again – mark your calendar. Plan on joining us. We’ll work out the details in the coming weeks.  And wherever we decide, it will be accessible by bus or Metro.

Oh, and light a candle in an appeal to the weather spirits that things WARM UP!

UPDATE: Luiz reminded me that he is prepared to provide a walking tour of the historic Praça XV area (where Rio began) and describe the history, archetecture, etc.  Very chic... It would be a couple hours, including a lunch stop. Totally flexible. Something to consider.

Favela tour in Santa Marta

[Note: As soon as we got on the bus from Niterói to Rio we realized we had forgotten our camera. Please know that all of the photos included here were taken by Peter Mountain and were previously posted on a similar account of a favela tour of Santa Marta over on the very enjoyable Sem Destino blog.  Do go check them out.]

My first experience with a walking tour of a favela community was with Zezinho in Rocinha.  Nobody does it better. But now with Luiz in the tour guide biz, his class was taking a tour of Santa Marta, a favelinha climbing the hills behind Botofogo, in Rio. I tagged along to see how they do it.

Santa Marta was the first favela community to be so-called “pacified” by the police chasing out the criminal syndicates that often control favelas. Now the Rio police occupy the “top of the hill” office space.  Residents report being grateful for the calmer quality of life these days.

This community is nearly vertical.  It is amazing how houses have been built on such a dramatic slope. But there are thousands of houses.  I was nervous about having to climb hundreds of stairs to take the walking tour, but to my relief they have an electric tram (free) that takes residents up the hillside.

We started out by taking the tram to the top and then walking a bit further up to get spectacular views of Rio. The tour guide focused on the pacification process, pointing out bullet holes in cement walls. She kept it light, but also seemed to want to dazzle us with the danger of past years.

There is an unlikely football court on the top of the community.

We stopped by the tour guide’s home, where she introduced us to her (very cute) husband and darling little daughter. The house, while small, was quite comfortable.

From there we slipped further down the hillside and went to the now-famous little plaza where Michael Jackson filmed the “They Don't Care About Us” music video (much of which was also clearly filmed in Pelorinho, Salvador). It has since become a fountain of money for local entrepreneurs. There is a little bar, a cocktail vendor and a hot dog stand.  While we were there a group of men showed up with instruments and started some terrific pagode.

Finally, long after the sun went down, we wormed our way through the maze of walking paths and stairways to a tram stop and rode it back down to sea level.

While I did not find the tour as informative or inspiring as that which Zezinho provides in Rocinha, it was nice to see the flow of cash from tourists (in this case tourism students) into the community.

Check out this video made by the folks at Sem Destino.

Favela Santa Marta - Rio de Janeiro (English subtitles) from Pedro Serra on Vimeo.

Visiting Santa Teresa in Rio

Santa Teresa is one of those neighborhoods in Rio where you are transported back in time.  You can see the slowly gentrifying buildings and the expanding number of super cute restaurants and the unparalleled souvenir shops/galleries, but then an original wooden streetcar rattles by and you flash back to the 1950s.

The galleries and gift shops are the best in Rio - really.

Many of the buildings were very large single family homes when first built, larger than most residential buildings in the city, and with gardens. Beautiful. It is a ‘hidden’ Rio.

The jury is out as to whether most people feel safe staying in the many (and growing number of) cute pousadas in the neighborhood.  Certainly during the day all is fine, but at night people report being nervous on the streets and the occasional strong-arm robbery.  But then, this is Rio, these incidents are not confined to any one neighborhood. For me – I would go for it.

There are some incredible restaurants in this close knit, bohemian neighborhood, many with stellar reputations, views and artsy atmospheres.  This is a must. Go for lunch, go for dinner, and certainly go for a romantic meal when the occasion calls for it.

I had the pleasure of visiting Santa Teresa yesterday with Rachel. There could be no better company to wander through galleries, bicker with the shop owners who did not want their picturesque, antique Portuguese-tiled produce storefront photographed, or sip chopp from an elevated patio. Rachel is a stylish chameleon who morphs from confident, unyielding urban driver to chatty, philosophical observer of architecture, to pensive Rio resident contemplating the future of a waning jewel of a neighborhood. (Not to mention being a super mom.)

The Mineiro - a must for a drink.

We had a wonderful afternoon visiting Santa Teresa.  I highly recommend it (with or without Rachel).

Terrific archetectural detail at the entrance to this large home.