Brazil Archives - asthejoeflies

Jun 28 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Fears Finally Realized on the Long Way Back (Days 6 and 7)

I’m back in the States – after I got home yesterday afternoon I celebrated my five year anniversary and then proceeded to sleep from 8 PM to 8 AM. The last leg of my trip brought me face to face with two of the things I had feared most before I left: the infamous traffic and getting my money stolen from me.

My flight from Rio was scheduled to leave at 9 PM. After the delirium of the USA qualifying for the knockout stages, I decided to relax for a bit before departing for the airport at 5 PM. Of course, that put me right into rush hour so it took me two hours to get to the airport! I noticed some interesting things in the traffic jam. First, my cabbie loved American music he was listening to a station and jamming to KC & JoJo AND Duran Duran – he knew both by heart. So, props for that. Secondly, it would appear that there is an entire economy built on traffic jams; there are people just wandering between cars selling drinks and chips. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to buy some chips, but I didn’t see any Doritos so I passed.

One of my biggest fears before I left the US was getting stuck in this fabled Brazil traffic. My friends gave me guff for making us leave for the game three hours early “to avoid traffic” (which we didn’t see). I warned that we would sit in tons of traffic getting to and from Cristo Redentor (never happened). So of course, my LAST HOURS in Rio were spent in traffic. I had come so far, only to be greeted by my nemesis in the end!

Gol Smiles Lounge Rio Airport — Not the greatest lounge in the world but better than the alternative

When I got to the airport it wasn’t too crowded (and really I had left so early in case of traffic so I had plenty of time) so I checked in and spent some time in the Gol Smiles lounge. It wasn’t anything to write home about so I won’t spend any time on it here – of course it was nicer than the terminal itself which is what matters. The gate for my United flight was a little crazy, it always seems like there are 50+ people for group 1 (this held true for my domestic leg as well), so it still feels a bit like we are herded cattle when boarding. The only difference is we are herded into pens (by group) instead of one large mass like on other airlines. I guess it’s better…marginally.

The 10 hour flight from Rio to Houston was excellent – United business class is way better than US Airways. First, the monitors were huge and in flight entertainment selection large, which is very important to me.

In flight entertainment United Business First — Big TV, yay!

Secondly, the bed was way more flat, and thus more comfortable to sleep in (I got a solid six hours undisturbed).

Fully reclined United Business First seat — Lie flat bed, yay!

Third, the food was better – and I got an ice cream sundae.

Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae United Business First — Vanilla ice cream sundae, yay!

Fourth, the cabin was newer and cleaner.

United Business First seat — Clean and new seat, yay!

Fifth, there was an air show; if you’re a regular reader you know that’s a big deal to me because I like to know how far we are! United Business First is a very solid product and I arrived in Houston well rested. OH and the BEST thing: you can start watching movies before the plane even starts taxiing! I love airlines that let you do that. So good job United, you’ve completely devalued your award chart and made it more difficult to earn miles, but your product is one of the better US products. Yay?

Anyway, in Houston I flew through customs thanks to Global entry and within 15 minutes of landing I was at the United Club. Houston’s United Club is pretty nice and I caught up in Sportscenter in the TV room by myself before all the commuters started trickling in. My favorite thing about this particular club is that it features donut holes for breakfast. Yum. (Hmm, I realize I am typing this that I sound like a fifteen year old…oh well. It’s the simple things in life.)

United Club Houston Donut Holes — I ate (redacted number) of these

When I arrived home, I was greeted by two things. First and most wonderfully, my wife of five years to the day picked me up at the airport. It was a pretty awesome feeling to get picked up on my anniversary; it made the reunion extra special.

Secondly, I was greeted by a wonderful note saying that a block had been put on my Fidelity debit card thanks to some questionable transactions. It turns out while I was in the air someone had withdrawn almost $1000 dollars from my account. And thus my biggest fear about Brazil was realized: I was robbed. The ironic thing is it happened after I had left Brazil. White collar crime! Where’s Neal Caffrey when you need him?

I e-mailed my friends and lo and behold, half of them had had their card info stolen as well. You might recall I said that I always take money out of airport ATMs because I feel they were the safest. Well, let me tell you, THE HSBC ATM IN RIO GALEAO IS NOT SAFE. Every single one of us who withdrew money from that ATM had money illegally and surreptitiously withdrawn from our accounts. Honestly, I don’t even want to think about how they did it. Did they get my pin number? Steal the magnetized strip? How many other countless tourists were trapped by this? $1000 X 500 tourists = profit. The HSBC ATM is the only one that doesn’t require a chip, so the bad guys must have been solely targeting tourists. Honestly, I’m a little impressed, but yea, this marks the first time I’ve been “robbed” overseas in my entire life. So, sarcastic applause, Brazilian criminals. You’ve won this round. My money will get refunded, but they still have the cash.

Anyway, I’ll be back with some thoughts wrapping up the overall trip in a day or two. For now, I think I’ll just go back to sleep…

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Jun 26 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Random Musings (Day 5)

Team Chang at Maracana — One last time unto the breach

We went to our second game today – again it was quite an experience though it was pretty similar so I won’t rehash it here. Instead, here are some random thoughts and musings about things I’ve noticed during my time here in Brazil which is regrettably coming to a close.

One note about the stadium – again everything was very secure and we felt very safe. This time we cabbed it to the stadium and there were no issues, though again we left three hours before kickoff. Although streets are blocked off they let cabs through to drop people off (or at least it seemed that way) – not directly at the stadium but by one of the nearby train stations. We did have a little issue this time – five of us were forced to throw away our “Team Chang Bachelor Party” custom made hats! What?

Supposedly the security guard thought that the hats were for sponsorships and Coca-cola, Visa, etc. do not allow that. Obviously with our lack of Portugese we weren’t able to explain that “Team Chang” is not a product for sale. A nice woman stepped in and helped translate; that helped us to get two of the hats back (out of the trash can no less) but this one security guard basically blocked us from taking the other three back out. Kinda messed up. Goodbye Team Chang hat…we hardly knew thee.

Maracana security — The last time I ever saw this hat

This leads me to another observation. I’m not sure if it’s the language barrier, the fact that they are sick of tourists, the fact that we wear stupid Team Chang Bachelor Party hats around, or what, but people have not been as friendly here as I imagined. Service is slow, I’d say 10% of the time we don’t get what we ordered, and some people sound downright rude. Now it is entirely possible I don’t understand what they are saying, but that’s what I’ve noticed. Yesterday I literally watched a waiter write the number down of something we were ordering and it never came (though we also were never charged).

But yes other tourists have been super friendly and happy, but native Brazilians not so much so – even down to simple things like smiling on the street. I don’t know, obviously it’s a small sample size, but that’s what I’ve noticed. I think it’s just surprising compared to my expectations. Though truth be told I’d be pretty grumpy if Boston was overtaken by a bunch of tourists who wear flags around all day like it’s normal.

Leaving the Maracana — How would I feel if my city looked like this?

We also ate at a Brazilian BBQ place that…tasted like the Brazilian BBQ places in the United States. If I was here with Jess we might have gone searching for something more “authentic”, or maybe the stuff in the US is authentic? I don’t know. I’ll say this – it’s definitely different traveling without my wife and I’d like to come back here someday with her.

One last outstanding issue – in terms of Cristo Redentor, you can cut like half the lines if you’re pregnant or have a baby with you or if you are old. I found myself thinking “Where’s Baby M when I need her?” when we were stuck in that huge line yesterday.

Anyway, today is my last day so I’m just going to take it easy and take in Rio for one more day. I’ll be back with some final reflections on the trip and maybe one last diary entry for my last day. Until then!

Maracana at night — The Maracana pitch at night

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Jun 24 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Waiting for the Big Guy (Day 4)

In terms of touristy things, I had only one goal for this trip – Cristo Redentor. The most iconic sight in Rio was my only must-see outside of all the soccer. After taking it easy yesterday and with a match to watch tomorrow, today was the day. It turned out to be an all day affair.

Trem do Corcovado Tram up to Cristo Redentor — The smart way to get up the mountain

Let me start by saying this: buy tickets online. You can do that here. If you buy tickets online, you will be given a date and time. Show up at the train station, Trem do Corcavado, and you’re entitled to a 20 minute ride up to Cristo Redentor and back all for 55 BRL. Or you can do what we did.

Street art Rio de Janeiro — Street art seen from van 2

The schedule didn’t work out for us to purchase online, so first we showed up at the train station around 9:15 AM to try to buy train tickets (20 BRL taxi ride). Instead, we opted to take a van up to what we thought was the summit. Some guys herded us into a van, which just drove us 500 feet to a ticket office where we bought tickets to ride a second van. The cost for that was 25 BRL per person.

Paineiras ticket line — Ticket line at Paineiras

After a ten minute wait we took a fifteen minute drive in van 2 up to Paineiras – which isn’t the summit. At Paineiras we had to wait in line for another forty five minutes to buy tickets for van 3 (32 BRL) which was scheduled to take us another ten minutes up to Cristo Redentor itself. By the time we were done buying tickets, we were told we couldn’t line up for van 3 until 12 noon – so that was another hour and change. Geez.

View of Cristo Redentor from Paineiras — So close yet so far…

Of course, when we lined up at 12 noon, we waited another forty minutes to get on van 3 and up the mountain – we finally got to the statue at 1 PM! After waiting ten minutes to get served at the restaurant (and being ignored), we decided just to climb the steps up and visit the statue. We spent about a half hour there and then made our way back down. Luckily, the line for van 4 down to Paineiras was only ten minutes and there was no line for van 5 or for taxis at the train station. We somehow made it back to our apartment at 230 PM – at the worst I had mentally prepared myself to get back by 4!

Lagoa from top of Corcovado — View from the top of Corcovado

So, was it worth it? I’d say yes…by an eyelash. The statue is an impressive work of art and architecture and the views are amazing. I think I’d probably just recommend going with a tour though; there are tours that will take you to both Corcovado (the mountain Cristo Redentor is on) and Sugarloaf (the other big “view” in Rio) in a day. We ended up paying more than the train ticket and waiting way longer as well, so the train is probably the best bet if you’re going it on your own.

Cristo Redentor — It’s tough to fight the crowd for pictures

Some random thoughts:

– Rex Ryan, head coach of the New York Jets was on the mountain. He was at the Belgium Russia game, on my friend’s flight from JFK, and spotted again on Corcovado today. I would have LOVED to have meet him, I feel like Brazil is the kind of place where I would have had a chance

– If you’re following me on Twitter, you may have seen that Britney Spears’ boyfriend mooched some food and drinks off of us. There are conflicting accounts amongst our group about how that went down. Regardless – I feel like a guy like that doesn’t need to be getting food and drinks from us – those onion rings are precious man! (Update – Dude isn’t even her boyfriend anymore!)

– Service in general in Brazil seems kind of slow. Not sure if it’s the large number of tourists or if it’s a regular thing.

– McDonald’s chicken nuggets are better here – it’s a seasoning thing.

– Japanese food is not too bad here either. Also everyone thinks I’m Japanese: I thought there was a large Chinese population in Brazil, what gives?

– Still feel very safe here, hasn’t been a problem at all. Figured it was worth an update since we hit a huge tourist site today.

– Don’t feed the monkeys.

Four out of seven of the New Wonders of the World down. Three to go!

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Jun 23 2014

(Fut)ballin’ in Brazil – Rest and Recovery (Day 3)

After three very full and stressful days, today was a day to take it easy. I slept in until about 930 and then we just hung around the apartment for awhile. When we finally went out, we had lunch at a little place called Galitos which is a chain of some sort. The way things have worked out with our busy schedule we haven’t been able to eat anything authentic yet (though who knows Galitos probably is not either). Regardless, the food was excellent.

Beach Chair Ipanema beach — My handy dandy beach chair

Today is a Brazil match day so the whole city is abuzz. We made it to the beach and some stands wouldn’t even rent us chairs because they were going home to watch the game. After finding a stand that was willing, I rented a chair for 5 reals and just sat on the beach for a good long while. Just the rest and recovery the body needed I’m gonna keep this entry short – the brain needs some rest too.

Still, two more notes. I switched to T-mobile for the free international texting and 2G data; though service has been spotty at times it has been handy to have. Second, whenever Brazil scores you can hear the entire city go crazy – including fireworks that sound like gunfire. Cool and scary at the same time. Hope they win…

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