Rio so far...

I’ve been in Rio now for about 3 weeks and have been meaning to start a blo documenting the training and lifestyle here, because if I don’t do it now then I’ll leave it till too late and regret it just like many other things in life.

But where do I start? I guess a good place to start would be with the boring stuff at the beginning. Like how I got here.

The start…

Basically I was on a temporary contract for work for 6 months, which was extended by a year, then finally another 6 months (ending June 09). I got the heads up that the final 6 months wouldn’t be extended to which my response was probably a little too cool because I had long been planning to take a break from working and just travel and train. I only needed an “excuse” to go do it. Which also makes me wonder if the contract had of been extended again would I of quit and pursued something for myself or not, but that’s a whole other story.

My background…

So now it was a choice of where to go to train, which also covers a bit of my training/martial arts background. Pretty much I’ve been doing martial arts since I was a kid. Started out with karate (as most kids do), then did some kung fu, kickboxing, grappling, wing chun kung fu (3yrs), boxing (2yrs), judo (1yr) and finally more kickboxing/muay thai.

My first introduction to grappling was around 2003, through some friends and I had the usual strikers attitude of “just hit them before they get you on the ground” until I found myself tapping out to a RNC and thinking “wtf was that?” I learnt from a friend that had learnt bits and pieces from other people. Then I busted my knee during a training session, which put me out for at least a year. In which I continued with wing chun training and began doing some boxing where I had a few amateur fights. While doing boxing I also began doing a bit of judo until I began getting amateur fights in which I pretty much stopped the judo training. About 2 years ago I switched to kickboxing/muay thai training and began having fights in the ring. In between I’ve found some time and places to grapple with people but there’s never been a BJJ school or professor in my hometown so it was hard to improve skills in that area.

Decisions, decisions…

So now it was deciding where to go and where to train. I had ALWAYS wanted to further my grappling/BJJ skills so I could get into MMA so somewhere that offered that was obvious. I narrowed it down to the Tiger Muay Thai gym (that offers MMA) in Thailand and somewhere in Brasil. So seeing that I had been to Thailand last year for muay thai AND that Brasil has BJJ, Brasil was the obvious choice (even though Thailand would have been cheaper).

Getting organized…

The internet REALLY helps when looking up information on where to train in Brasil which lead me to a few blogs. Two of them (Dynasty’s and Gerbil’s) from Sherdog. Just reading the experiences alone was enough to make me decide 100% on Brasil. Rio sounded like the place I’d want to be because of the number of gyms to choose from PLUS the beaches! Which are a bonus for me because I’ve always wanted to learn to surf, and looking at girls in bikinis all day after training ain’t a bad thing at all. After deciding where in Brasil and getting a list of gyms I’d want to train at I had to find where to stay once I arrived which somehow led me to Piratas de Ipanema Guesthouse. I thought the first week or so I could spend at a hostel and get my party/gringo tourist on and out the way (while also finding longer term accommodation) before more serious training. More about Piratas later.

Next was finding longer term accommodation, where I caught word of www.easyquarto.com.br. The site is in Portuguese but has a limited English option (so the Pimsleur’s listening tapes I had been listening to and google translate really helped in that department). I was also told that August/September was the slower season so I wouldn’t have much problems finding accommodation, which I didn’t. The site is for those that have rooms to rent out and those looking for rooms to rent. Basically you create a profile about yourself including how much you’re willing to pay and the area you’d like to rent a room out.

A good tip would be to ask to look at the room you’re staying at before paying anything up front, also be wary of paying with Western Union etc. Sometimes if you’re staying for a few months or pay for few months in up front they will even give you a discount on the rent.

Another easier option (if you’re staying in Rio) would be to go through Dennis aka ConnectionRio at www.connectionrio.com.

I eventually chose to train at Gordo’s and stay in Barra da Tijuca which pretty much sums things up on how I got to be here. Now that we got that out the way I'll share with you some of the things that I have done while here so far:

• Chilling at the beach
  
• Training at Fight Zone in Copacabana (it's an 5min +/- walk from Piratas)
  
• Climbed Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf mountain) and enjoyed the views all the way up to the top
  
• Walked the streets of Santa Teresa and enjoyed breathtaking views from Parque da Ruinas
  
• Favel Funk.. listened to baile funk music and watched girls shake their booty
  
• Bodysurfing/boarding at the beach
  
• São Cristovo markets
  
• More jiu jitsu training
• Met ALOT of cool people through training and the hostel
  
• Salgueiro Samba Clube
  
• Watched a futebol/soccer match at Maracanã stadium
• Lapa street party and Afro club
  
• Got mugged after a night out drinking
  
• Watched a MMA event that had Renzo Gracie & Big John McCarthy reffing, Anderson Silva, Minotauro as guests and Jeff Monson, Pedro Rizzo, Paulo Filho, Ricardo Arona, Marvin Eastman and Murilo 'Ninja' Rua fighting.
• Lazed in the sun on the beach…

Basically any clear sunny day… especially on weekends.. is a good day for going to the beach. So much has happened since I've been here (but I can't remember them off the top of my head) and it's only been under a month!

Before climbing up the back of Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf mountain)

The spectacular view from the top at sunset. Definitely worth the 3-4hr hike/climb.