Here comes the sun

It last day of Carnaval, and Ellick and I decided we should hit some clubs. This unfortunately meant I’d have to put on socks. I haven’t worn socks in this country as of yet, so this was a big deal. In fact the last time I wore socks was in Panama and even that was only because I was hiking through the rain forest.

But the socks went on. So did shoes and a t-shirt. I think I’ve decided I’d prefer to live somewhere where all of these items are truly optional. After all of our research we had heard about some club in Copacabana that was supposed to be great. Of course when we got there it turned out to be closed. No worries, we moved on the Plan B, which was another club in another part of town. The cabbie dropped us off somewhere with a lot of people gathering in front of a club.

Ok, this will work, we thought. After waiting behind the velvet rope for a ½ hour we figured out this wasn’t the place we were trying to find, but it had the distinct advantage of being right in front of us, so we decided to go in. The place was the size of Ellick’s condo in Seattle and packed! Music was good, people were beautiful, but after a while we had to escape and check out another club, which turned out to be even more ridiculous. You see some pretty crazy things on the dance floor in Rio during Fat Tuesday.

By 5 in the morning we were back in the apartment (Did you like how I just fast-forwarded there? I promised Ellick that what happens in Rio stays in Rio!) We had both just about decided to head to bed when we started to notice it was getting light out. Might as well stay up and catch the sunrise over the ocean, huh? While watching the first rays of light I got the great idea to go for a dip.

Ellick told me I shouldn’t go. There was literally no one on the beach, I’d been up all night doing my best Rock Star impression, the water was cold and I’d probably get a cramp. But sometimes I get ideas in my head, and no ones going to talk me out of them. Sometimes I just decide to do something, and that’s just the way it’s going to be. Not too often, usually I’m pretty flexible, but sometimes.

The water turned out to be perfect. I stretched out beforehand so I wasn’t too worried about cramping up. I met a nice Brazilian mom and daughter who happily agreed to watch my stuff while I basked in the morning light. It’s not too often you get an entire ocean to yourself, especially at the Copacabana.

Turns out the secret to floating is to just relax and let go. Trust the water to do what it does. Don’t fight it, let it carry you, don’t struggle. And inevitably when you hit some waves and get some water in your mouth, don’t panic and just know that that’s everything is going to be ok.