After Santeri took off, and I settled at the Swedish-run hostel Harmonia in Ipanema, I set off to meet my new neighbours. As most backpackers, the folks were laid-back and easy to get along with. On Friday night, I teamed up with a rather eclectic crowd: Patrick, a long-haired oil rig worker from Dublin; Mike, a Brit who spent a whole of 6 weeks as a police officer before moving on to recruiting in the IT sector; Chris, a 7-foot African American college grad, built like a linebacker but with the demeanor of a puppy (and actively flirting with all the nice-looking GUYS we met), and Elaine, a 4-foot something Norwegian blonde who, by her own admission, was after both the guys and girls we met. A few other folks from the hostel also joined us, but this was my main posse for the night. We headed to Lapa (the neighbourhood where Rio Scenarium is located), and unlike our rather subdued experience on Wednesday, Friday night was HAPPENING. The streets were packed with live bands (many using improvised instruments, like trash cans), kiosks selling beer and food, and people of all styles from yuppies to hippies to wifebeater-wearing tattoeed tough guys to dancer girls with some amazing samba moves. We took in the scene for a while, then headed into Rio Scenarium around 1:30am. The place was packed, and despite the samba lessons Kali (who works at the hostel) kindly offered me ("Imagine you're surrounded by crocodiles, and just stomp on them really quickly. Do something creative with your hands, and SMILE!"), I was pretty tired from all the partying up till now, and was ready to hit the sack a bit after 4am.
Saturday was a pretty slow day for me. Slept late, chatted with Ulla (for three hours) via Skype, planned out some logistics for the remainder of my trip, and took a lazy stroll along Ipanema beach.
My dorm was taken over by a group of 5 German guys, at least one of whom snores very loudly, which meant I didn't sleep too well and so felt kind of tired all day. I made a half-hearted attempt to go out in the evening, but after being refused entry to Boox (guys could only get in in female company, and even then only with reservations - this place is more snobby than LA!) got discouraged and headed home after one beer at Galito's. Five days of non-stop partying has kind of stopped working for me since I stopped going to Nummirock at 21.
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