January River

I loved talking to the El Turko girl last night, but today I was dead tired. I had to wake up around 5AM in order to get to the airport in time for my 7AM flight. I slept hard on the Gol Airlines flight (very fitting that Brazil has an airlines called Gol. They have won the most amount of World Cups...I think the number is at five), but was still tired when Kellen~s family picked me up from the airport. I was surprised because they knew exactly who I was. I think Kellen sent her cousin a picture of me from myspace.

Anyhoo, I traveled around Rio with Kellen~s uncle Walter and cousin Juliana and later with her cousin~s friend Mariana. Walter is hilarious. I couldn~t understand anything he said, but the Juliana would interpret. He kept asking if I liked certain celebrites, and if I, for example, am Bill Gate~s niece. He then told me throughout the day that he would push me up Concorvado, save me from the Ipanema waves, and stop traffic for me in order to cross the street. I said he was Superman. He replied that he was, but definitely not Spiderman.



I told the family that I primarily came to go rock climbing, so we just drove around a bit and ended up at Urca. I found Urubu rock, a rock that has various pitoned routes, but it was rainy. The only climbers I could find were some guys from Barcelona bouldering across from the rock. They said they have been in Rio for many days, but it has been too wet to do any long routes. They did part of Concorvado, but the top was too wet, so they had to take the elevator part way up the rock. With the weather my chances of climbing look bleak. Also, it was Walter~s birthday today, so I couldn~t go to the bouldering gym in Botafogo to try to find partners. Instead we returned to their apartment in the suburbs and had a fantastic pizza party. I enjoyed meeting a lot more family members. There were numerous adorable children dabbling in English, women whom would laugh at them, and, thankfully, a guy who speaks fantastic English and Spanish. I went to his house across the street, met his pregnant wife, and then he and I talked about Latin American identities and governments...stuff I studied in undergrad and find fascinating (hence the reason I would some day like to return to my Spanish studies and get at least a masters degree). We also talked about plans for tomorrow. Apparently all the museums are on strike, it might be raining so I might not be able to climb, and I have to leave tomorrow afternoon for Buenos Aires. I REALLY wish I would have scheduled to leave Saturday night because I know people would be climbing on Saturday. But such is life. I will just have to return someday...hopefully with a climbing partner.