El Blog: Last Days in Rio

After seven weeks of working in Rio we are preparing to load up the backpacks again and head to Argentina. Our work here is done - we have held two wind energy trainings, toured a wind turbine factory, completed a site visit to a proposed wind farm site, written some proposals for new work, and participated in a number of client meetings. Hopefully this will get the wind energy office here off to a reasonable start.

During our time in Brazil’s cultural center we have sampled what it is like to be a Carioca (person from Rio). Each day we took the metro to our downtown office, sometimes stopping at a corner fruit stand for fresh mango juice or an açai (a purple smoothie made of a palm fruit that tastes like bubble gum). For lunch we would go to one of the many “per kilo” buffet style restaurants where you pay by weight – so much more pleasant than pointing to something on the menu and receiving a surprise. In the evenings we would enjoy cervejas or caipirinhas (super strong sugar cane alcohol drink) at a neighborhood “dirty-foot” bar with plastic chairs set out on the sidewalk and try to keep up with all the soccer matches on TV.

And we have experienced samba. On one of our favorite evenings, we went into a crowded samba club where the friendly host guided us to a front row table. There were about 10 musicians in the band, including Chris’ favorite – the Cuíca, all sitting around a long table. Once the music got started the dance floor in front of us filled with the most amazing booty shakers we have ever seen. Both men and women effortlessly shaking their bums at frequencies previously thought impossible.

On the weekends we have visited the historic and impossibly cute town of Paraty, hiked to remote and empty beaches, toured a number of museums and art galleries, and took a trip to the mountain town of Petropolis, home to the summer retreat (and now museum) of Brazil’s last emperor Don Pedro II. But our favorite weekend activity was to simply walk a few blocks from our apartment and join the rest of Rio’s population on Copacabana or Ipanema beach. Not only can you swim, surf, and drink beers while sunbathing, but you can play beach soccer, beach volleyball, futevolei (a combination of soccer and volleyball – amazing to watch!), paddle ball, lift weights, get a massage, buy shrimp on a stick, jog, and rollerblade or bike along the beach road that is blocked off to traffic. The beach is the place to be and it is fun to just sit and watch people do their thing, dressed in as little fabric as possible. It is not uncommon to see a hairy but very tan old man with a beer gut standing on a busy corner, blocks away from the beach, dressed in nothing but a speedo and flipflops, maybe puffing on a cigarette.

Overall we give Rio two thumbs up. The people are super friendly and funny and love to laugh, sing, dance, and have fun. And they are infinitely patient with us when we attempt to speak to them in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, English, sign language, or a blank stare.