Anyone got the Munchies?

Rio is a fantastic city to visit. The first thing to strike me about the place (despite its gorgeous beaches) is the constant activitity. At 3am in the morning, sitting on the balcony of my hotel room, I could still see people playing volleyball on the beach and even joggers taking advantage of the cool morning air (around 27 degrees celsius). This may have to do with the amount of juice-bars situated in and around the city. The juice-bars are a must for any tourist who likes fruit, sugar or enough guarana to fuel your plane trip home! The weirdest concotion I sampled at one of these bars, was an Avocado milkshake made with sugar and guarana. It was an experience I'm not likely to forget, since the guy that served it to me sat watching me drink the whole thing, laughing at my multitudinous facial expressions and shouting 'vitamins...vitamins' every time I attempted to surreptitiously slip the contents in the bin.

Being a rather adventurous South African, I have attempted some bold dishes in my brief time on the planet: Mapani Worms, Kudu, Crocodile, Snake and even braaied grasshopper. However, a guarana shake (which arrives at your table looking like thick blue-black mud) is way up there in my top five for weirdness and texture.

Another interesting culinary delight widely available in Brazil is Tapioca (think that's how you spell it). Large amounts of coconut and sugar which taste suprisingly good. If you're not the type of traveller with a 'sweet tooth' then Rio has some of the best seafood and meat as well...but I will write about that experience a little later....since that really was overwhelming. If you go to Rio - go there hungry. Hungry like a hungry American hungry. Hungry like people who eat whole animals for breakfast hungry.

Anyway, the optimistic (and perhaps naive) view I decided to take on the reason behind all the activity was a diet rich in protein, fresh fruit, glorious sunshine and a contagious lust for life. Rio is a place of startling contradicitons and although beautiful, it is best not to play the role of 'Dopey Tourist' and stay on your guard. While there are many saddening things I observed while travelling in Rio, like the sprawling Favelas and extreme poverty, I will try to keep this blog up-beat...until I'm in a more philosophical mood.