Bom Dia! Our arrival in Rio

With great regret we arrived in Rio with no Brazilian Rials, no phone, and no accommodation to speak of. At the airport, we crossed over from Terminal 2 to 1, exchanged money (except Scott, whose debit card was repeatedly declined), bought a SIM card, and called a number in our guidebook in search of a studio apartment for Auggie, Scott and myself. When we arrived in Copacabana, the apartment, though well equipped with the essential amenities (air-conditioning, hot shower, and a blender), was quite cramped for three people so we went street-side in search of an alternative for our 9 day stay.

After walking around for nearly an hour and realizing that nearly every hostel and hotel was fully booked, our 15kg packs suddenly felt much heavier. Distraught, lost and exhausted, we "lucked out" when a pair of beer-drinking locals saw our heavy packs and decided to offer us a deal on an apartment. In a mess of Portuguese and broken English, Framcisco (with an "m") and his brother Bene offered us an apartment with view of the water, which we agreed to look at. We hopped into the back of Bene's small pick-up truck (only after he produced his identification as a military policemen in an effort to convince us he didn't want to kidnap us) and cruised down Avenua Copacabana for 5 minutes, arriving at a building whose ground floor was co-occupied by Bob's Restaurant (Rio's response to McDonald's) and "Pussycat Cafe," an establishment that likely needs little explanation.  

The apartment itself was about what you would expect in a building whose ground floor housed a strip club: the general contractor had, at one point, installed a plywood wall that only rose to about six feet high and attempted to separate the tattered queen-sized bed from the tattered living room.  The bathroom contained artifacts of the last visitor, who must have had a legitimate reason to leave his half-used toothpaste, dirtied toothbrush and rusted razorblade aside the sink. A half-smoked cigarette also sat on the edge of the grungy bathtub.  Tired and anxious to get on with our lives, we accepted the R$150/night rate offered from Bene.

After handing over the cash to Framcisco, we sh*t, showered, and shaved (with our own razors, except Scott who is bearding it), hopped into our 3-man elevator (how convenient!) and met the rest of the crew for an eventful night in Lapa.

The next day, we cleared out of our apartment and ended up signing a one-week lease on the first apartment we had looked at the day before, an apartment that suddenly seemed much bigger, cleaner and more comfortable to us.  

-Phil/Scott/Auggie