BACK TO MY "WRITING LIFE" WITH WAYNE MACKEY

After so many days without writing, after a long period of so many difficult moments I just got through.

Well..I am back!!!! And I have to register that this 7th OF FEBRUARY was special!!!! And Wayne, this adventurous great photographer who lives in California was here to see everything. He just happened to be here when I finally had my car back, after so many long and sad days of so much waiting, so many doubts and so many hard moments.

I had the help, comfort and understanding of so many spectacular people that I gladly register here; MY BELOVED MOTHER, my great RIGHT ARM Marcone, Corina (my dearest PEPA); Marta (the hoster of Copacabana and the HOSTER OF MY HEART!!!!), Doreen, Karen, Gleice, André, Jakob, Diana (whose writing skills produced an ocean of tears in my eyes!); Cedric, so many wonderful people who shown lots of friendship, care, trust and love; and finally WAYNE!!!! Right in our second day tour…he saw RAFAMOBILE…brand new!!!!

But we did a lot and I have to tell to anyone that the World now has a great photographer with very accurate eyes and a GORGEOUS DIGITAL CANON!!!! Wayne is a well traveler person who visited amazed places in the World. He is the one who never stops…he wants to see everything and experience the local taste of our society everywhere I take him and it seems to work very well!!!

My mission here is to make RIO one of the best destinations among such incredible trips!!! Well, I welcomed a guest and now I have a good friend….and since he came here we did…

THE FIRST DAY:

We went to a view point, actually my plan b when the Christ is cloudy, but we did both places... SO THE VIEW POINT IS CALLED MIRANTE DONA MARTA, from there you can see all the views of Rio without the crowd! Then we went to the hill of Corcovado and we saw the Christ After the Christ we drove through the road of Paineiras where we saw the NATURAL SHOWERS with spring waters of Carioca River! We went to the main point of the Floresta da Tijuca to see the gorgeous waterfall CASCATINHA. Then we went back to Copacabana driving around the west part of the city with an unusual stop at the channels of Marapendi Lagoons, a very nice and different place where some CARIOCAS live, in island all spread out in a wetland place! LOTS OF WILD LIFE, NICE HOUSES AND MAIN ISLANDS!

THE SECOND DAY:

We went straight to the Sugar Loaf, also known as PÃO DE AÇUCAR!!! Then we drove to the Centro (downtown area) where we saw the MONUMENT OF THE DEAD SOLDIER and we stopped at the São Bento Church, the oldest church in Rio dated in 1576; genuine barroc sample and they belong to the same order of the Montserrat Monastery in Catalunya, Spain. After that we parked the car by the Ferry Boat Area and we walked in the narrow and old streets of Rio, we walked in Ouvidor and Telles Str, we visit the Cultural Center of Banco do Brasil, an impressive building dated 1856; then we went to Candelaria, another gorgeous spanish-portuguese church in our downtown, contrusction of 1727. After such a pleasant walk under a fierce hot afternoon we drove to another city...the unknown city of Niteroi right at the other side of the Bay. We had such a short time, so we stayed at the Bayside. We saw the CONTEMPORARY MUSEUM - MAC - a arquitecture project of Oscar Niemeyer, the popular criator of BRASILIA; then we continued driving in Niteroi passing through Icarai Beach, Montecarlo Road and finally São Francisco beach and Charitas Beach, we ended our driving in the lovely fishing village of Jurujuba, and in our way back we visited a gorgeous viewpoint of PARQUE DA CIDADE, a very strategic point where you can see all over Rio and the oceanside of Niteroi.

We had lunch at A MINEIRA!!!! :)

AND THIS SATURDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2009 We will do…..

THE THIRD DAY

We will have our third day, but I can tell you in advance what we will see… Wayne is in COPACABANA, so he has to know much more about the place that he spent such a great time in my city, and we will see the Fort of Copacabana, then we will continue walking to the scenic rocks of Arpoador right at the beginning of Ipanema beach and we will walk around the famous neighborhood where we had once the best composers of Bossa Nova, a district with full of beautiful people ready to party. It is the land of THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA where the GIRLS FROM IPANEMA are still very charming and deliciously beautiful; not to be bad with the boys, our female visitors and OTHERS DEAREST VISITORS can also enjoy the company of very cute boys…what really matters is that everywhere you go..you will feel the positive vibe, and you will find all the people with just one very important concern: BEING HAPPY and almost often, another concern: ENJOYING LIFE!!!!

Ipanema is one of the territories for FREEDOM and a place where you can simply live your life! So my friend Wayne will experience the spirit of Rio simply by walking in Ipanema. After that we will continue walking and we will visit a gated community…WHAT A HACK ARE WE GOING TO DO IN A “GATED COMMUNITY”…I will not tell you…but it is one of the most unknown and amazing places of Rio (only when you meet me you will know exactly what I am talking about); after such a weird visit we will continue driving west to the beaches where just CARIOCAS know…names like Barra da Tijuca, Recreio, Prainha and Grumari will be quite common for those who visit Rio in my company!

RAFAMOBILE STRIKES BACK and we will report how great our adventure will be!!!!

KEEP TUNED!!!

Rafa