Feb 14 - Nadine then Riki

N=After seeing Riki off, I decided to get my shopping chores over and done with. After being told various directions by various people I managed to sort myself onto a bus heading to Shopping Rio Sul. Here at 1045am it had just opened and gloriously I had the place pretty much to myself for a good few hours while I burned my credit card. The Visa pulled through for the first time without problems and thanks to the Liquidacao de Verao I got some great purchases. I think the best would be a R490 dress down to R117. Every single store had a sale with not just one sale rack - but the WHOLE store. I tracked down size33 shoes for mum and then bags in tow I caught a minivan back to the hostel. Shopping delivered and safely locked up in a locker deep inside my slum, I grabbed my sarong and headed out for some more frying on Copacabana. It would be rude not to when the day was so beautiful - and who knows when it will stop?
The rest of the day was spent rethinking and reflecting on lack of a limb (i.e Riki) its just not half as much fun talking to yourself as it is to someone else. Back to the hostel later on and chicken tikka masala dinner at the bar proved to be a winner - if not nearly as spicy as it should be, and then shower time and bed. On my owwwwwwwwwn.....

R= So once I was actually in the taxi and 'three' farewelling Beanie as we drove away the trip to the airport was a relatively painless one despite my newly developed constant insecurity about having messed something up regarding my flight details !!(Wonder why that would be?) Arrived at the Rio International Airport to find my flight on the board and check-in open. Aerolineas Argentinas doing its best to be the worst! The check-in took an eternity but my patience was rewarded when I discovered my tax HAD infact already been paid. I did however control myself in Duty Free didn't buy a single thing. IPOD RoadTrips are BLOOOOODY expensive! Instead I went and waited at the gate for my flight. Looking at my ticket it dawned on me how fortunate I had been, have been and am. In this instance I am going to specify with regard to my summer, the many new precious not to mention hilarious inventions , memories and experiences and the places and people we got to see without too many dramas!There are a few things that really stand out. Starting with the crazy days in BA, The Very Glamorous New Years in Punta, (The bus/border disaster)The Rays, THE SLICE and 'idiot', Our 'amazing' adventures getting to Rio, The Rain Gods Hating us the most, The Three in all its forms and all that it entails whether the team, the fingers or the challenges, 'Spu', Salvador, Dancing classes, Ben Harper (I know I am leaving out things here so bare with me!!! and forgive me!!) Morro with just the beakers!! Horse Riding and Escaping Lencois, More Salvador and missing our flight and our last few hours in Rio (and finally seeing what the place looks like with the sun out.) Thats right, third time really is a charm. Even in saying all this I haven't even started on the flavours that accompanied these last two months. I have never in my life laughed as much nor so hard( or seen my life flash before my eyes by choking after eating something and then starting to laugh- Pieter!!!), Beaded so much or ached so much from doing bizarrely new and wonderful things.
Of course none of this would have happened without my partners in crime- I am not sure where to start singing the praises but stating the reality of what having Beanie 'al lado' meant. Having spent two years apart our reunion was a happy one indeed. I don't think I can sufficiently thank her for having been here or being (and more importantly becoming) the friend she has. The 'naughty' one as called by so many she was always the 'onto' it one whether with reference to technological stuff or just general common sense( yesss that's right the flight idiocy was all my own doing- and I thank her for not losing it at me and infact laughing and eating our way through it!.) This however is all the boring stuff- what i want to say I don't think I can do justly. She let me be as mad and as stupid as I wanted, ate as much and faster than me, shared the same passion for life, food and laughter- has no shame(challenged or own instigated antics alike) and doesn't judge one bit. What may sound like minor things are in fact BIG ASKS out of one friend never mind a friend especially in such constant and confined circumstances. Pieter of course was the other ever entertaining, ever 'taking one for the team' partner in chaos and wreaking havoc and a fantastic friend. A shout out and a slice naturally to those very special people who taught us the beauty of the slice, the BIG caipirinha and the spirit and fun there is in TEAM. Rays we wouldn't have been half as weird without you!!!!That'll do for now Babe!

So sitting there and reflecting passed the time quite nicely with the exception of this dulling withdrawl which grew with the day- Beanie's absence. Apart from our daily physical contact whether flicks, slices or backapack sumo there was NO-ONE to talk to to and laughing by yourself generally isn't received all that well. The three hour flight brought 'meat n pickle' sandwiches and array of small children all conveniently placed within the two rows around me AT THE VERY BACK OF THE PLANE! Touching down in BA was a happy moment for me as flying over I looked down and admired the city that had been my home and my heaven for over 13 months. This feeling of joy was soon after robbed at immigrations(quite frankly the bane of my life) Five counters=7 people and two qeues- one for foreigners and one for Arg- Sounds pretty straight forward , Right?
No, no not when everyone starts looking at which qeue has the least people rather than the number of staff allocated ACCORDINGLY to your passport. So a happy 40 minutes of watching people at work with apparent desire to be anywhere but and consequently not applying themselves or doing it well. At this point i would like to make a suggestion to all airports- I am sure those in charge of budgets won't agree with me. BUT it should be compulsory to take the staff on a trip somewhere great and then when they arrive at the airport put them through two scenarios- a fast, friendly and efficient landing, customs and baggage claim and one similar to that which i experienced . Then on their return do the same. Because if we are honest coming or going no-one wants to have their vacation/business-'travelling' mood ruined by CRAP(excuse my language and my rant) service. Happy days in Spanish and a bus into town did bring the very exciting spotting of a topless transvestite tanning alongside the highway!!!HMMMM! Never a dull moment.
First stop my uni- They were like 'are you still here?'Everything in as much order as I could get I taxi'd to Oliver's apt where i would be crashing. The boys however did not respond to the intercom and I got stranded in an internet cafe for a few hours. Second attempt bought glory and I dropped my stuff and went to my favorite place for a wax. The pain and the pleasure!!!This taxi however had a very solemn driver with organ music and his foot drove according to the moods. IMAGINATE!!!
Any how Florida and phonecalls. Yesss so my attempt to avoid the very obvious and very discriminating reality of Valentines was semi-successful until we went for dinner at this place called 'Mafia' in Palermo Hollywood. Apart from the couples sprawled across tables( At best i would say that on an average day one can see couples behaving in a similar way. The general couple behavious here is EXTREMELY intense and passionate=latin lovers. I would also counter that at times having experienced a little of it although being very soppy-good and bad more than anything it can be quite suffocating and desperate.) Ok so first the waiter looked at us 5 'single' people= 4 F and 1 M with utter horror- I imagine really obese people get looked at similarily when they walk into an ice-cream shop- 'you dare to show your face here?' Finally he put us upstairs in the corner and proceeded to ignore us for a good 40 minutes- he liked us even less when we didn't order the 'special valentines set-menu'(or only one of us did) All the same it was amongst good convo, a great picada and jovial company. Despite Oli not getting all of his meal and us leaving in a 'huff' we smoothly recovered with an ice-cream at Persicco. O Dulce wherefore art my Dulce?
A clean apt was a happy home to return to and the simple pleasure of being able to flush toilet paper inched its way up the ranks to being a BIG pleasure. (In the large majority of Brazil one is not allowed to flush the toilet paper- you have to throw it in the bin!!!Do you know how annoying it us having thrown it in anyway and then realizing that by flushing you are risking clogging the toilets ???)SCNAZZZZ no?
Anyway sleep ensued with the sound of the city-MY city.