The weekend in Floripa was possibly one of the craziest of my life, rivaling the randomness, excitement, and spontaneity of my weekends in Chelan, the Gorge, and road trips to California. On Saturday, after some time in the sun, Dallas and I had a premonition that it was about to be a great night, and indeed it was.
We started it off on the right foot, going out to an excellent seafood restaurant as a group and having all kinds of oysters, crab, 4 different shrimp dishes, cod, and calamari. Accompanied with a glass of pure, fresh-squeezed suco de maracuja and a view of a secluded beach, I was truly in heaven. On a mature note, Trevin, Dallas and I had a fantastic discussion about family and the dynamics of brotherhood over this meal, and it was a discussion I won't forget. I live for moments like that.
Having been fed up with Brazilians' inability to adequately prefunk, we started off the night American style, dressing up to go out, throwing down some shots of whiskey, and listening to American music, probably annoying the neighbors with our loudness but not caring at the time. By about midnight, 1230ish we headed on a walk down to the club area to see what was going on at Cafe de la Musique (I was stoked to see that they had one in Floripa, too).
By the time Dallas and I got there, we were disappointed to find out that it was closed, but not to our surprise... as nice of an area as Jurere was, it is not known for a vibrant night life. That being said, we heard the welcoming sound of blasting house music off in the distance, and beckoned its call. When we got to the source, we found that it was just someone's beach house (a pretty damn nice beach house at that), and it was only one dude and four girls just going hard while the guy was DJ'ing. We asked if we could join, and they welcomed us in to join the festa.
The guy, named Dirceu, had a legit DJ setup, and asked me if I would like to have a go at it. Having only screwed around with some YouTube DJ'ing, at first the program was a little foreign, but I got the hang of it quickly and would like to think that I was doing well! I was mixing drops, buildups, volumes, loops, etc. and it was all coming out smooth in my drunk mind. Finally put my extensive electronic music listening and knowledge to a test! It was addicting, a total blast and definitely something I could see myself doing again or even as a side hobby.
He gave Dallas and I some drinks, and the atmosphere was an excellent party scene despite the lack of size. For the sake of decency, I will spare some of the social details but would be happy to explain in person between good friends. Let's just say that it was an awesome night (and legal I promise). Dallas didn't make it past about 5am and went home, but I raged on. Tucker Max would have appreciated it.
An absolute sweetheart named Vanessa and I went to go watch the sunrise on the same beach where I had just had dinner hours before. When we came back, I must have dozed off because by the time I woke up again, around 1030 am, I quickly realized that I missed the bus to go snorkeling with my study abroad group, and had no means of communicating with any of them to let them know I wasn't dead or something. Once I reunited with them, I was met by a bunch of questions and people saying "I'm glad you're alive!" ... which has more or less been an accurate quote to label how my colleagues have treated my antics on this trip thus far.
The next morning I went and bought a pair of boardshorts, changed at some good samaritan's house, put my clothes in a bag and set off down the beach to meet up with that group from the night before again. I found them after I had walked the entire length and doubled back, and proceeded to hang out with them all day in the sun. I had an amazing day to say the least. The girls were hilarious, fun, cool people, and Dirceu is possibly one of the nicest, most generous people I have ever met. By about 6, I headed back to the condo, and was too tired to do anything exciting that night so I crashed early. Despite the lack of sleep, my spirits were totally uplifted.
The next day we came back to the good ol' Eco Hostel again. At midnight, it was Mitch's birthday, and I Iced him accordingly.
Yesterday I met up with Patrícia in Iguatemi, a part of town I was not familiar with, and for the next four or five hours had an amazing time with her walking around different parks, shopping areas, etc. And it was awful sweet of her when she insisted on returning the favor in buying me a sushi dinner, I was touched. She's a really great girl, and it's because of people like her that I'm sad to leave Brazil.
Last night was a lot of fun! We celebrated Mitch's birthday, and carried him around Cidade Baixa with a good troop of birthday wishers. Met a really intelligent, well informed Australian guy and talked to him for hours about political issues. It only reaffirmed my intent to move down to that area someday in the near future. After all, I'm as much a Kiwi as I am an American.
Now I'm in bed with a headache writing this blog, about to make moves on my day. Cheap wine was a bad choice, and I'm paying for it now. My only goals are to make some good food, do my laundry, read more Game of Thrones, buy my ticket to Uruguay, and possibly book a hostel in Punta del Este.
Speaking of which! I'm going to Uruguay tomorrow night! It's bound to be an adventure, especially because I feel convicted to do this trip alone. I'm excited and duly nervous to travel solo. But I'm convinced I will be okay. It's going to be very healthy for me to get some space from the group, no offense to anyone in it... when you're stuck in close quarters with the same random people for a prolonged amount of time, you're bound to get cabin fever.
That being said, if you don't hear from me, don't be too worried. I have no idea what the next few days have in store for me, but I have every confidence in the fact that it's going to be a great experience.
Can't wait to surf in Punta del Este...
Praying for everyone at home.
~2/27/13
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