Lapa

We read that Lapa is the musically happening area of town and went one weekday, but were confused because there were like 3 bars open but nobody around. Dead. Later we found that it's Friday and Saturday when one should go; sure enough, the place was one big party on those days.

This was at Madame Vidal. We had an excellent dinner there and by chance heard that a jazz group would start at 9pm. As expected, they started at 10:30. By then, we had finished off our wine and were onto our Caipirinhas. While waiting, we noticed that Dav was the only male customer and all the tables were filling up with women. I joked that perhaps the jazz group was going to be shirtless hot Brazilian men, and that I was in for a treat. But then Dav remembered the place was known for a gay hangout, so we thought perhaps it meant a lesbian hangout. Never quite found out, but the show was great.

The streets of Lapa on Friday. Packed with folks partying on the streets. We never bothered going into a bar.

I looked up an old colleague, Flavia, who lives in Rio. Who would have thought years ago when we worked together in SF that we'd meet up in Rio! Anyway, she took us to a local dance hall where they had awesome live samba music (like 10 band members) and a huge dance floor where people clearly enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately, I felt like a wooden dork doll amongst them. My hips don't have that special joint that allows such wiggling, making a humming bird look slow. Damn - gotta learn how to do that! Luckily Dav held me and we got to do some couple dancing :)