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Brazil/ Rio. Magic Ball
Rio was fun, if at any point it sounds like I wasn't having fun I was, it was a blast. For that week we were in the party capital of the world and we were going to nail it and have as much fun as humanly possible.
For our wedding present, Elliot, Saskia, and El's brother, mother, aunty and Jose all bought our tickets for a night at the world famous Copacabana Palace, for the Magic Ball. It is the social highlight of the year for people from Rio and is the traditional start of the carnival. I had known that we were going to this ball for months, it was incredibly generous of everyone, and after reading about it we couldn't have been more excited. Google it (or people who have worked/ do work for yahoo, yahoo it), you will see pictures from this year, it was incredible. But it is glamorous, and after two months travelling we were anything but glamorous.
I had known that I was going to have to rent a tux, I had made that decision early on. My tux and shoes would have taken up valuable space, space I didn't have, and after so many nights out in the suit the knees were a little shinny. So off to the rental shop I went, with a price in mind. I left, albeit with a tux, white faced and poorer, much, much poorer. It cost more than my own tux, I had to ask Lisa if I had bought it, i hadn't, and it cost more to rent than the wedding suit. I did look a million dollars though, and it did make me feel confident, even more confident than usual.
The invite said glamorous and Lisa and Saskia's dresses, although lovely, were not strictly 'Rio Glamorous'. We had left El and Sas to their own devices that day as I had gone off in search of a tux so Lisa and I went off in search of a glamorous dress, and to see if I could buy a cheaper tux, I couldn't, there is no BHS in Rio. Luckily for us Lisa did find the Coast equivalent and found a perfect dress, quickly. As you will see from the pictures she also looked a million dollars. It was a relief for her, and me, that she had found the dress.
After spending so much money we went to Lapa, where people were getting into the carnival spirit. After we had been scammed in a taxi getting there we drank cheap caipirinhas and beers on the street and watched the party unfold, in the rain..... Obviously. It was a fun night and certainly got us excited for the coming week.
A bit of lie in and then off with Saskia and El to the dress shop for Saskia to buy a glamorous dress. She found one, thankfully, and she also looked great. Now we were all kitted out and ready for the Magic Ball.
The magic ball started at eleven so after dinner (translation; early afternoon meal) we had a siesta and then got ready. Lisa in her lovely dress with a mask, Saskia in her dress and head piece, and Elliot and I in our tuxes, we looked and felt like legends. We got to the party, in the rain, and were greeted with umbrellas to keep us dry whilst we walked down the red carpet in front of the crowds that had gathered to see Brazil's finest enter the hotel. Our breaths were literally taken away. The pictures we took from Saskia's camera can't do it justice. There were some amazing costumes, lots of tanned flesh and many beautiful people. The men in costumes were barely wearing a stitch and some of the women weren't wearing a stitch. It was a shock to the system. It was quite an amazing sight, and we had been right to go out and get new outfits for this incredible occasion.
The ticket included our food, a sumptuous buffet including steak and sushi, and our drinks. Plus entertainment. We started off with champagne and tucked into the food, pausing only to look at yet another incredible outfit. Lisa and I went for a look around, in one room there was a massive orchestra, in another a band, and another the Hello equivalent of Brazil. We got talking to the reporter despatched to the ball and before we knew it we were being photographed while the great and the good of Rio looked on wondering who the he'll these two pasty white people were. I know we looked as glamorous as we ever had but being photographed by hello made us feel even more glamorous. We found El and Saskia and dragged them in to the room to get their photo taken, but in the intervening few minutes the room had filled up with lots of Rio's finest.
There were reporters and paparazzi in there and people were all gathered around a beautiful older woman. Luiza Brunet, as we found out, was having her picture taken and being interviewed. We had no idea who she was but El and I weren't going to miss out on having our picture taken with her. Up we went, and after a few moments we were having our picture taken with her. She is everything you expect from a three time Playboy cover girl, and at fifty she could have passed for much younger. Her daughter, Yasmin, was just as stunning although after having our picture taken with her mother she had left so we couldn't have a photograph with her. Luiza, as she didn't say I could call her, couldn't have been lovelier to two drooling Brits.
Back in the party and the rooms were full. Full of beautiful people. People who had made an incredible effort. There is something to remember if you ever go; not everyone that looks gorgeous and is wearing a dress is necessarily female on their birth certificate. And after talking to a group of 'women', all with deeper voices than myself I decided not to walk up to women and tell them they looked great. One person was dressed in a leopard outfit with a hat that looked like a leopards head, he wasn't a she. One Brazilian woman that we talked to said it wasn't fair that the men dressed as women looked better than they could.
The party continued through the early hours we moved from room to room pausing only to pick up more champagne, or whiskey, or caipirinhas or vodka red bulls. It was a spectacular affair. El and I had a little walk around while the girls rested their feet, we found Yasmin and stood by her for a while but this Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition model failed, surprisingly, to notice us. We saw some interesting people, not least of which was Miss Brazil Guy (or gay) who demanded to have her picture taken between the two of us.
We danced, drank, talked, flirted and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Back with the girls we started talking to a group of people who turned out to be British/ Aussie / American. The girl who we talked to introduced us to her boss who she was escorting to the do, he was a Brit or an Aussie and he was there as part of his around the world trip. With him was his best mate who worked for him, his nephew and another girl that worked for him, and a guy from Penrith who also worked for him. They invited us to their box. To say that these guys were in another league is like comparing Manchester United to Accrington Stanley, exactly. Their box was near enough on the stage, had a drinks waiter provided with it, and was next to the son of a Brazilian minister's box. Incredible. We all got along and as the night was coming to an end, and at that point the Penrith guy was getting on with Eliott, we were invited to the boat. Richard, the boss, was doing his around the world trip on his own boat. So at day break the four of us were off for breakfast on a boat. The crew were radioed and the speed boat despatched to collect us and deliver us to the boat. I say boat, what I mean is a mini ship. It was massive, had more staff on it than passengers and had been travelling from New Zealand on it's way to England. Look it up, it is called 'Big Fish'. It was anchored next to Paul allen's Microsoft boat and we had incredible views of sugar loaf mountain.
After breakfast (the best bacon and eggs we had on the trip) it was back to the mainland, as we sailors call it, and off for a well deserved sleep.
As Graham would say 'we smashed it!'
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