Channelling the Cane Spirits

Sunday 27.05.07

Pretty much anything a person could need at any hour can be delivered in the big cities of Brasil by motorcycle courier. This time, it was McDonalds that drove through our place! At 10.30pm i climbed into a waiting van with three Brasilians from Porto Alegre, heading to the Favela Funk Party, held in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, near to the (in)famous Cidade de Dios (City of God) favela. Castelo das Pedras, a gigantic nightclub, towered over the intersection it stood on, like a bullfrog perched on a tiny lilypad. People swarmed all over the intersection like insects, ready to be devoured, and it was the girls who lined up first to be swallowed.

With our 'Rich Gringo' VIP passes, we had access to the top deck to look down on the people dancing below (many from the favela itself), an arrangement I wasn't completely comfortable with. Baile Funk reminded me of the Reggaetón played in Central America due to the crowd it pulled, though the crude words shouted over the top of the beats were in Portuguese. The best fun though, was to be had downstairs, where the locals pulled out synchronised dance moves to the more tribal tracks. 'The Best Ball of the City' (see title) it might not have been, but pulling out some risqué dance moves with favela girls was an experience I won't soon forget.

Due to excessive drinking and partying Wednesday through Sunday, i think I've given myself jetlag, and now can't go to bed until at least 2am. A few days before, i had been offered a job at the hostel, and Monday was my first day of work. In the evening, we began preparations for a traditional Churrasco (barbecue) meal. I discovered while at the butchers, that here they use almost every part of the cows, pigs and chickens they kill for food. It makes me wonder where all the chicken hearts and cow hoofs go to in Australia....

Tuesday was spent in part in central Rio de Janeiro amidst throngs of people on a hazy day. I sat on a pier watching old metal barges creaking when stirred from stillness by the wake of ferries, and watching the reflections of beautiful colonial buildings in glass-wall skyscrapers while wandering aimlessly around.

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