Paparazzo Vandria

It started raining last week in Rio which left Mads and I with little to do. Most of the sites are outdoors and the malls have very little to offer as we had had already been to all of the same stores in Salvador. We made the best of it by doing a little shopping, a little inside sightseeing and a lot of lounging around the apartment. On Wednesday night we decided to brave the rain and go out to Lapa 40 Graus to see Grupo Revelação in their weekly appearance. We did not have high expectations as the week before was hard to beat (with our Ronaldinho sighting) slash we didn't know if there would be a good crowd as it was raining quite hard, but we had not gone out in 3 nights and we were starting to get cabin fever!

The night started out like any other night, i.e. drinking cheap beer outside the night club followed by "expensive" (~$2USD) beer inside. We were pleasantly surprised with the crowd as we mingled and danced a little to the DJ music while waiting for the samba band to begin playing. The the band began its set with no special introduction of guests, etc... The week before they had pointed to the VIP section where soccer, movie, and musical starts were sitting.

While the weather gods were not smiling down upon us, the music and sports gods sure were! All of a sudden in the middle of one song Ronaldinho appeared on the stage again!! Unlike last week we had NO clue he was there. But this time I had my camera to capture it! I became HARD CORE paparazzo. No joke I think I took over 50 pictures and 10 videos. I was on a mission (slash I was drunk)... Once he started playing I glued myself to the front of the stage to get the perfect shot. Not going to lie I think I did quite well! In addition to being an AMAZING soccer player the man can sure get down on the pandeiro (see video). So now Mads and I are spoiled as we have now seen him two weeks in a row. I don't know if we try our luck again next week or just leave it as is. All I can say is in Rio (esp. Lapa) you can always have an awesome night even when it rains. Enjoy the pics!! ( these are just the highlights... I wasn't kidding when I said I went a lil crazy).

UPDATE: After 6 days the rain finally stopped and (fingers crossed) it is supposed to maybe be beach weather again tomorrow!!!