Até logo Brasil...

This will be my last blog in Brasil :(((( until I get back to Australia and maybe till my laptop is fixed. I'm sad to be leaving but it hasn't really hit me yet and also I know I'll be back. (Just a matter of when).

I'll be continuing this blog when I get back to Australia (in between finding a job and earning some $ to come back). There's still PLENTY of content I want to blog on about Brasil like language tips, places to eat and see, nightspots etc so keep tabs on it.

My last day was spent training in the morning and helping lay out the new Zebramats. Finally after being here for 5mths I get to roll on the "new" mats, which had been sitting in storage for ages waiting to be collected. The only problem is when you go to collect some guy will charge you R$(insert price) for (insert some B.S.) tax. So it became a waiting game till the dodgy storage people let the mats out, because who wants to pay for mats you already paid for? Ahhh Brasil.

As you can see the new mats look pimp and finally complete the renovations of the gym which started just a couple weeks after I arrived here back in September!! It's been nice seeing the place, that I've spent more than half my time in Brasil at, develop. I'm glad to of been here and see this process, so at least when I come back I can reminisce and be like "Oh I remember when the gym was alot smaller and we only had that area from there to there to roll" lol.





After training I went with the folks to pick up their tickets, from a hotel in Copacabana, to watch the Samba parade. They asked if I wanted to go but I don't think I have the attention span to watch 12 different samba schools parade, each parade going for 1 hour or so AND the whole thing finishing about 6:30/7am.

So instead took off to Praça General Osario in Ipanema to meet up with Junk, Fill and Ben to check out the Blocos in the area.

Praia de Ipanema.


Bloco party in Ipanema.


The drumming section.


More people in costumes line dancing and leading the bloco.


Posto 8 - Ipanema .... Ben and Jeff using these urinal things they had for guys on the streets, f*ck that I say! You'll get spray all over your feet.


Brasilian bunda... I shall miss you :(


Dude dressed in drag talking "japanese" to Junk... Junk loved every bit of it


Ate dinner at Garota de Ipanema. The bar where Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes used to hang out and wrote the song "Garota de Ipanema/Girl from Ipanema," inspired by a beautiful girl that would always walk by.


Some stereotypes are just hard to break


I think the chick behind me liked the pose


After dinner walked around and somehow ended up in a side street with alot of gay people... at least we saw non-butch chicks making out :)


Afterwards found a quiet place (with a mediocre band playing cover songs) to have a drink... banana beer! Doesn't tastes as smooth as it smells but still interesting.


Shout outs...
To everyone I've met and made friends with in and out of the gym. All the guys that I've rolled with and helped me along the way. Gordo, Rommel, Dennis, Neto, Leozinho, Carioca, Thiago, Zoro, Regis, Toquinho, Deigo... too many to name.


A bunch of afternoon training class pics. Got to know a lot of great guys while getting a good workout and really improving my game.




Last afternoon training session with Dennis and the gringos, taken last Friday.


More class pics. From the night classes to the Saturday morning classes to the Vale Tudo class.




With the boxing class on Friday morning. Cesario, the trainer is in the red shorts and baseball cap. He's the guy that called me "Manny Pacquiao" out of nowhere, which caught along and is what all the Brasilians in the gym have been calling me lol.


With Rommel, Dennis and Gordo the day after getting my blue belt.


With Dennis; mentor and good friend. A man I have A LOT to thank for during my stay here, so much that I could dedicate an entire post to it. Thank you Dennis and Connection Rio!