X-mas,Réveillon & Rio

OI gente,

After an extended leave I am back in BH and working my last weeks here before i go back to Peru

Right after the festival I left to surprise my girl Valerie in Montevideo. She had been sick as fug for a while so I thought I would be there for christmas time…

 

Montevideo is a great city to relax in and thats exactly what we did…X-mas was chill but it was all about New Year..or as they call it there Réveillon

 

This was the delicious scene that awaited us at the gigantic mercado del puerto it was 1 pm and festivities were in full swing…we got so lucky we managed to get a seat at a restaurant and we ordered the local specialty medio-medio…White wine and sparkling wine in one explosive bottle..we had two and were feeling festive

The market was getting crowded and the heat (34 C°) was strong..so what do the party people in the street do….? start spraying everyone in sight with this faux-champagne…

Bottle fights (plastic), people using their appt sink hose to spray the crowd, crazy music; it was the best time ive had for new year in a long time…me and my menina got quite crunked and proceeded to walk on the beautiful coastline La Rambla all the way home for a nap

then we had our own lil BBQ

 We spent two weeks working (still clocking for casa africa) and took a some days off to go camping near the sea on our last days…

Those who know me know that I love to camp and my girl held it down as a partner of this rugged woodsman weve come to know and love…

Urugay has cool forests to camp in but its all about the BEACH!!

sick long ass beaches with no one in sight..there is just one after another and you can walk the coastline all day

My time in Urugay was incredible and my relationship just grew stronger being 24h juntos seemed like a test at first but everyday was incredibly serene, enjoyable and simply incredible with mi amocita…

So it was with a smile that I left for the infamous Rio de Janeiro..just in time for Carnivale!

I was there to work out a partnership with AfroReggae an incredibly inspiring NGO that works with culture in the favelas of Rio

EVERYONE needs to see the awe-inspiring documentary Favela Rising that will help you understand this project..but let me just say I was amazed (having my own project in the shatytowns of peru) at the simplicity and efficacity of this project…

I went into the Vigario Geral favela and saw some afro-dance lessons as well as the Afro-Samba band (afro-reggae are now a world famous band) in their favela studio…i was there to get in contact with their radio-program and I just want to thank Eve who made everything possible.

I would talk more about this experience and AR in general but I know what you all want to know is how was Carnivale well I let the pictures speak for themselves

Follow the bloco down the street!

Street party and music in Santa Teresa

and just a lot of happy folk

I ended up going to a Jorge Ben show (my favorite Brazilian musician) to end off a great time in Rio