So here I am, back to Brazil one year after last trip.  This time I flew TAP and had a short connection in Lisbon, just 75 minutes.  Of course the flight from Italy took off 45 minutes late and things went wrong.  When we landed I had already given up any hope to make it but, surprise, while descending the staircase to get out of the plane I noticed there was a little man waiting with a “Rio de Janeiro transfer” banner in his hands.

He took me and a few more people on a small bus and drove us through the runways straight to a desert, apparently not yet in use terminal.  There, a lone lady official stumbled at my boarding pass: “Sir, you have to go to terminal one, you can’t cross the border here”. Thanks God, the little man convinced the lady that we badly needed a shortcut.  I felt like I was in a sort of “mission impossible” action movie and I was the President or something.  The man eventually took us again on a bus and drove straight to the plane where they where ready to close the doors.  Pheeew!

Despite the adventurous connection I have to say TAP is not bad.  Their planes are modern and well equipped and the onboard service is OK.  And they did the impossible to make me catch the plane to Rio.  Unfortunately my luggage didn’t make it.  I have a very strange stastistic: each and every connection flight in my life, the luggage didn’t arrive at destination, except when flying through Paris.  London, Milan, Bruxelles, Amsterdam, Lisbon: all failed.  Such an high failure rate is remarkable and says it all about the status of the air trasportation system.  Anyhow, now I’m in Rio de Janeiro and therefore – luggage or not – I’m going to relax.

Boa viagem!

Last time I’ve been in Rio de Janeiro I spent my best night at Rio Scenarium, a sort of samba dance floor with real Brazilian live music and a stunning choreography right in the center of Lapa, the historic center of ancient Rio. During daylight, this place is a huge antiquarian’s shop three floors high, with all sorts of things hanging from the walls and from the roof. At night, two thousand people easily fit in to have fun, dance, drink caipirinha and meet people.  Last year this was declared as one of the top 10 bars worldwide by The Guardian.

The setting is so surreal that I first I was speechless, like I were in a different time-space.  Colors everywhere, strange things surrounding joyful people, wonderful traditional music, party atmosphere.  Definitely a must if you happen to travel to Rio.

So I’ve been to Matteo and Flavia’s wedding, and it’s been amazing. The wedding was on Saturday night. I got to Vitória the same day and spent half the afternoon by the pool on the roof of our hotel, together with the groom (meanwhile the bride was relaxing in a spa), then we dressed up and 7pm went to the place. No church, just a restaurant organized as a ceremonial room, with a small ritual table in the middle of several dinner tables. No grand-pa/mas in sight. Just the four parents and about fifteen pairs of uncle-aunts. Average age was in the 30-35 range. Men were dressed with a dark suit, while ladies had a long soirée dress. Lots of ladies. Gorgeous.

Everybody was sit down when the bride arrived and as soon as she entered the room, revealing to the crowd, we all stood up, silent, staring at her. No march, just a romantic song. No claps. Just admiration. Then the priest talked about 40 minutes, in Portuguese. I didn’t understand much, but I got that he wasn’t reading or following a pre-defined phrasebook, as Roman Catholics do. He just described what was flowing out of his heart, like somebody would do to make sure his two friends are doing the right thing and are conscious of the meaning of that act. After the ceremony, we had dinner, buffet, with some fried local specialties, sushi and beer, and finally everybody went to the floor dancing. No samba, just modern dance music, like Disco Inferno and the likes.

The next day most of us went to the bride’s father’s house for a churrasco party on the pool side. Unfortunately we Italians had to leave in the middle of the party in order not to miss our flight back to Rio.

It’s been very different than what I imagined, and I liked a lot as it was. By the way, Vitória is a lovely place.

Anyways, this time I’m going to visit the city of Vitória and to attend a Brazillian wedding!  Stay tuned.