My Rio

   More than anything, it is the small things, the little details that fascinate me when I travel somewhere.

   Rio, it is a constant noise. The cars joining us in our living room from one window, and from the other it is the TV or the music of the neighboor, when it is not the construction work. 

Rio, it is a huge mess, with the worst traffic jam. 

Rio, and Brazil in general, it is an administrative mess even worse than the French one. Just to register as a foreigner on a student visa (already payed in France), you will need to go three times to the airport (about three to four hours in the traffic jam each time...) and pay two more taxes for a total of R$300 (80€). 

Rio, it is the beach five minutes away from your flat. To be able to relax your feet in the ocean after a long run by Copacabana. 

Rio, it is sellers of everything absolutely everywhere. From the metro trains to the beach, as well as inside the buses. These sellers who will sell you everything from kit-kat bars (everybody here knows the famous "kitche-katche - dois reaaaaaais!") to caïpirinhas, as well as swim suits and even glue (remember that I only tell the truth ...). 

Rio, and Brazil, are all these wonderful, interesting and welcoming people. 

Rio, is life in summer. Where not having glass on your windows is the least of your problems, because anyway one doesn't close anymore, I broke the glass of another one a month ago (but actually it gives us some air on very warm days...) and anyway we never close any of them. 

To sleep in Rio is to become best friend with mosquitoes. 

To live in Rio is to take the habit to store honey and sugar in the fridge and flour and rice into well closed boxes because of the numerous ants and moths. 

Rio, it is the carioca accent. Anybody not from Rio that I meet loves to tell to me, laughing "ooooh that's so funny, you say your s's as sh's and your r's as h's !!!". 

Rio, it is mountains in the middle of the city. The one closest to my place is actually at the end of my street! 

And Rio is so many more things...

   It is all these little things, good as well as bad, that make the diversity and exotic of that city and that country. It is all these little things that make me love this place and love these people.

                                                                 Rio, eu te amo !

My Rio, between mountains and ocean, between favela and rich neighborhoods ... (photo taken from the favela of Vidigal)