Party night in Lapa

Every town has its area or suburb that is renowned for its party. In Rio, the place is the area of Lapa (no, not a braai place :) ). It is in the central area of Rio and borders the CBD. Sandy lived in Rio for a year and told me that this was the place to be on Friday night. I did a good job of spreading the word among the sailors and we had a whole group going.

I started off with the guys from Hot Ice and we trundled into a small street (one of the other guys had been here before) that looked quite local (code for a bit run down with a great atmosphere). We walked to Sala Cecilia Meiteles (steps that are very colourful and decorated with tiles that have been donated from almost every country in the world) where we sat down to have supper at a small restaurant. Prices are really good here :)

After supper with a Caparinha in the hand, we were joined by two gorgeous girls that the skipper of Hot Ice met on Copacabana. Unfortunately only one spoke English. They convinced that group that a Salsa club was the best option, but Hans and I thought otherwise. The local scene was a much more attractive, so we took to exploring the streets. We ended up under the aqueduct in Lapa and got informed by some locals that the “lady” dancing in front of use was in fact a “she-male”. Jikes, they disguise them selves well!

Later we met up with a younger crowd of SA sailors. Back at to the Aqueduct for some dancing, we met up with some South African girls (Carol & co.) who are working on cruise liners. After having a wallet stolen and an attempt on .. necklace, we decided this was a good time to go home.

We commandeered a minibus and piled in, Africa style :) We might have overloaded the minibus, as the cops were close by when we stopped and started to write the driver a ticket. NMP, so we went to sleep. Needless to say that the hangover was quite bad as our main alcoholic intake for the evening was Caparinha’s (Cachaca – Sugar cane spirit, Lime & Sugar).

The street where it all began; The “Sala Cecilia Meiteles “ steps

Supper

 
Our South African cruise liner friends :) Me, Carol & her friend