The Olympics have drawn to a close, and the cariocas are already filled with saudades. You know that feeling, the one of indescribable longing when the circus is leaving town and you want to scurry after it crying: “Please come back. We love you!” I wish Rio were a person so I could give it […]
While the foreign press has been diligently trying to hunt down mosquitoes and murky water to report on, something much fishier has been going down at Rio 2016, and it isn’t floating belly up in Guanabara Bay. The fish, in this case, is a story with enough holes in it to make a slab of […]
(Biscoito Globo became the center of attention during the 2016 Rio Olympics when the New York Times published a critique of this carioca all-time favorite snack. Reporter David Segal described biting into a Biscoito Globo “as if your teeth are at a party to which your tongue was not invited.” The following response was published […]
Today, with Rio at center stage, I can say that in all the years I have lived here, I’ve never seen the cariocas prouder. It seems like only yesterday that the locals — although happy to welcome the athletes and visitors with open arms — weren’t really all that interested in the Olympics. They were […]
Although the carioca would rather not admit it, the sun doesn’t always shine in the Cidade Maravilhosa. To the locals, this climatic phenomenon is referred to as a cold front, no matter if the street thermometers are registering a steamy 35 degrees Celsius (95F) or a teeth-chattering frosty 20 degrees Celsius (69F). Regardless of the […]
The locals, by nature, tend to be extremely open, warm, and friendly. Meet a carioca and within five minutes you become childhood friends. If you should meet a second time, they will probably give you a nickname. And nowhere better to share their inherent gregarious nature than while standing in line. The beauty of the […]
Are you ready to speak like a carioca? Beleza! Whether you’re wandering around a Rio 2016 FanZone, cheering your team on at an Olympic venue, or simply ordering an água de coco (coconut water) at one of the many kiosks lining Rio’s beaches, you’ll want to interact with the natives in their local dialect. You’ll […]
“…being a carioca is, first and foremost, a state of mind.” As much as I would like to lay claim to this marvelous quote, to be fair I have to attribute it to the most carioca of all, Rio’s eternal poet laureate Vinicius de Moraes. No doubt, it’s a great quote, but what exactly is […]