Duran Duran

Her name is RIO and she dances in the sand, oh Rio, Rio baby across the Rio Grand!



Well Rio is an enigma (it´s not even really called Rio de Janerio...........). It both matches exactly with all accounts and yet doesnt quite correspond with my expectations built upon those accounts. Ill try to explain that - the bay is stunning, the polarisation marked, we´ve been mugged, taught samba on the street and watched the parade after sunning ourselves on Copacabana beach! However, Carnival isnt charged like i had anticipated - its a sort of glorified excuse for a city to dress up in drag although at the blocas its crazy (distinctly over the edge of riotous) the rest of the town is drawn.



I think the decline of Rios prominence and drain of government recentralisation in Brasilia has had more than a physical/socio-economic effect. It appears more and more that carnival is escapism- it allows music, dance and community participation for nothing and in Rio this enjoyment has been lacking so carnival fills the void! I had expected a highly religious country but aside from the Christian fundamentalists of the Jesu Christos e o seignor de Estados Reinos the people tend not to have religious convictions at all or are perfectly happy to see a voodoo doctor whilst pursuing alysium. I think that carnival no longer has any higher significance is what makes it appear baseless - hedonism with no pretence.


Our mugging wasnt all that spectacular - we were out in Lapa by our hostel and speaking to a couple of english boys. Two men moved in - one attempting to distract, the other to grab Eleanor´s camera although it was fairly blatent what their aim was. I did actually pull the rather simple looking one off who i´d seen breaking bottles in preparation earlier. His one good eye registered terror, which made me drop him faster than the bottle clasped in his hand. Ironically the topic of our conversation just prior to the mugging was about muggings in Rio; especially how annoying it would be to have a camera stolen. We weren´t hurt but suddenly all of the thousands by the arches were transformed into potential threats so the walk back was a little gruelling!