Chorinho in Plaza General Glicerio

Photo from http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/100-weekend-in-rio-de-janeiro/

In true lazy holiday form, I have a video for you today. In all honesty, it's of one of my absolute favorite things in Rio de Janeiro. Every Saturday there is a farmers market in General Glicerio in Laranjeiras. At that market they have live Chorinho. It is awesome to do a little browsing, eat a wonderful pastel, and then have a cold beer (or caipirinha) and watch some classic Carioca  entertainment. Enjoy!

Machismo at it's Best

Brazilian men are known to be a bit masculine when it comes to some things. Today I was shown proof from my very own window.

I heard yelling out on the street and being the nosy girl I am, I decided to check it out.  I was not alone because the chaos had caught the attention of quite a few people.

There they were, a cab driver and a bus driver, screaming at each other. No, not from their vehicles. We are in Brazil!  They had stopped their bus and cab in the middle of the street and were having a little chat. The bus driver was reserved enough to stay in his bus while the cab driver preferred to dance around like a drunk and angry monkey.

From what I could tell, the bus driver had done something to piss the cab driver off.  Personally, I would have just let the bus go because 1. it's bigger than the cab and 2. bus drivers in Rio de Janeiro are bad asses! Driving the way they do in a city like this, and seeing what they see, puts them up there in the don't piss off category.  But that's just me.

They fought in a cycle. The cab driver would go to the front of the bus, scream, and then creep in close to the door and say something really nasty. It must of been bad because I had never heard those phrases before and they made the bus driver dive over the turn rail each and every time.

Thankfully for the cab driver, a nice middle aged lady took it upon herself to stand in front of the door and calm the bus driver down. The bus driver would hear reason and go back to his seat. Then the cycle would start again with the dancing in front of the bus.

Finally the police arrived.  The men were separated and the bus was sent on it's way, I'm guessing to the relief of the passengers. Of course the cab driver took that as an opportunity to call the man a pussy as he drove away.

And the Super Masculine Man award goes to the bus driver for stopping once again, blocking all three lanes of traffic, and trying to get off to kick some ass. Oh, he didn't care that the police were there.  Sadly for my blog, the police got him back on the bus, held the cab driver behind, and then sent him away after a safe distance had been established.

Honking Magic

Rua das Laranjeirasa has traffic every day from about 6pm to 8pm. Every day people. You can count on it as much as you can count on morning wood, well in men from the ages of 12 to 48. 

Hell, all of Zona Sul, Rio de Janeiro for that matter, has traffic from 6pm to 8pm.  And that´s why I get so annoyed when people honk.

I live right on Rua das Laranjeiras with a beautiful view of the street from my living room. Jealous? I know!  Anyway, every single night there´s at least 3 jack asses who honk like the seven horses of the Apocalypse, or how they would honk if they were driving cars and not flying horses.  So what´s the deal? It´s not like it´s a surprise. Not even foreigners would say "Oh my, Rua das Laranjeiras has traffic. How strange". 

I swear, deep down in their hearts they think their horns are magic.  It´s really the only excuse.  They think if they honk enough, the cars are going to suddenly part and it´ll be smooth sailing all the way up to the Santa Barbara tunnel. 

What they don´t realize is that their horns really are magic, only not in the way that it seems.  One of these days, if they keep honking them enough, they are going to call a strange tall, blond woman who will seemingly fly out from nowhere and rip the damn horn right out of their steering wheel. 

All I need now is a cape...

Things to never say to a Carioca taxi Driver

There are numerous things you should never say to a taxi driver in Rio de Janeiro. For starters, Flamengo sucks.  Not the birds, the soccer team.  Like 98 % of all taxi drivers are Flamingistas.  Hell, 98% of all Brazilians are Flamingistas.

I learned the second thing last night coming home from Cathy's birthday party in Lapa.  I got in the cab and said "Laranjeiras por favor, rapidinho".  That translates to "Laranjeiras please, quickly (actually little quickly but we don't say that in English).

Thank goodness for the new seat belt law in Rio that require taxis to have seat belts in the back!  I thought I was going to die. I tried to say a prayer and realized I forgot all of them.  All those church years down the drain.  I'll google them later.

I was sitting thing wondering if this guy was just a fast driver or if he actually took my quickly comment seriously.

We took tunnel Santa Barbara and once we got to the other side, my driver was oh so proud.  He looked at me via the rare view mirror and said "4 minutes! Not bad!  See, I got you hear quickly" It takes between 10 and 15 minutes normally, depending on traffic.

At least I now know how it feels to be in a race car on the streets of Monaco.

Rule 2: Never tell a Carioca taxi to go quickly... unless you really mean it!

How about you?  What rules do you have when it comes to taxi drivers?