Travel · Narrative

Mido & Me

Whether drinking caipirinhas with transplanted Europeans, listening to samba beneath a grand aqueduct or meandering the cobblestone streets of a historic Brazilian neighborhood, a tour with a Carioca guide reveals Rio beyond Carnival and Copacabana.

By Marilyn Bauer · San Luis Obispo Tribune · Selected excerpts

$Dancers at the Arcos da Lapa$

Arcos da Lapa · Ellen Pederçane / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

“He’s a street guy, an operator, a man with a heart of gold who gives the proceeds of his tours to the community he lives in.”

Mido’s many braids wave as he moves through the crowds at a Rio street fair. Admílton dos Santos talks with animation about tonight.

“The best place to hear music is in Lapa, in downtown Rio,” he says. “The antique stores along Lavradio Street turn into dance halls after dark. You can dance among the antiques to the rhythms of samba, pagode and chorinho.”

Mido is an expert on off-the-beaten-track Rio. At 33, he has taken advantage of opportunities to become a state-licensed guide. He speaks five languages, all picked up from selling soft drinks on the beach in Copacabana.

“I have always enjoyed showing tourists around the favela,” he says. “I like to show them the reality, the positive side of life here, the community services and projects that keep children occupied and off drugs.”

Later that night · Lapa

Near the Arcos da Carioca, a monumental work undertaken in colonial Rio, the Lapa scene has wealthy Zona Sul residents rubbing shoulders with throngs of the working class. Nowhere is the Carioca love of music more apparent.

From storefront to storefront, sweet strains of live samba filter out through the hot haze of the gafieira, or dance hall. There’s also bossa nova and the hand-clapping and stomping of the percussive batucada.

“I love samba, African-American music, Caribbean music,” Mido says as we enter Emporium 101 on Lavradio Street. We join a table of transplanted Europeans enjoying caipirinhas — an addictive cocktail of cachaça, the local liquor, sugar and limes — and plates of pão de queijo, Brazilian cheese rolls.

“I think we should stop under the aqueduct later,” Mido says, clearly eager to move on.

Santa Teresa

Up the hill

“Hey, why not,” I think. “It’s only 1 a.m. What’s the rush?” Things get started late in Rio — dinner never begins before 9 p.m. and an evening easily extends into the next morning.

So off we go to a neighborhood that reminds me most of New York’s East Village in the 1980s. Dark, even a bit dismal, the narrow cobblestone street is alive with Carioca dancers spilling out from minuscule boîtes and drinking clubs.

There’s great hilarity, a bit of madness. I stay close to Mido.

Bright yellow trolley cars travel the ancient hills of the historic district of Santa Teresa.

Stained glass ceiling of Confeitaria Colombo

Confeitaria Colombo stained-glass ceiling · Eugenio Hansen, OFS / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

After midnight

Confeitaria Colombo

When 2 a.m. rolls around, Mido decides it’s time for dinner and suggests feijoada — a typically Brazilian meal made from pork, beef and black beans, closely resembling a French cassoulet. We walk a few blocks through a pedestrian mall and end up in an incredible Belle Époque dining room, built in 1894 and refurbished to its original Art Nouveau splendor.

Mido

The guide who knows another city

Traveling around Rio with Mido is a unique experience. The son of a boxer and grandson of a former slave — an Amazon Indian who escaped forced labor on a sugar cane plantation to found the favela above Leme Beach — Mido is eager to show me around.

Mido suggests more dancing and leads the way to Carioca da Gema for a little hip-hop. “Carioca da Gema is an expression that means a real Carioca — someone born in Rio,” Mido explains.

“Carioca da Gema is an authentic Rio dance bar,” Mido says. “You can dance there to all kinds of music. There’s a place for everyone.”

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