When Life Gives You Lemons...

Well I don’t know how much it has been on the news in the states, but life in Rio right now is CRAZY and WET. It has been quite rainy here the last month+, but yesterday afternoon it started to rain torrentially and it’s been on and off since then. I don’t know if Rio is officially under a state of emergency or not, but close to 100 people have died, some neighborhoods were completely flooded, some buses were flooded with mud and water, some houses in favelas have slid off of the mountain sides, and the lake flooded to the point where people don’t know where the lake was and where the road is.

So I should have known the rain was bad yesterday when I tried to walk somewhere a block and half away in Ipanema and the streets were so flooded that I couldn’t actually go where I was intending, and had to return home in defeat, and soaking wet. (I did end up getting out during a lighter rain moment, but I got stuck in it again on the way home and was soaking wet).

So I went to bed with it still pouring and I woke up thinking I would go to the Biblioteca Nacional for a few hours, but I was wrong!! My roommate was awake and watching the News which was only talking about this crazy rain storm and the aftermath.

The bus system was basically shut down and because some of the roads were SO flooded, people were stranded and couldn’t get home from work last night and were still out on the streets or in their cars this am. In general, Ipanema was fine apart from a little bit of flooding in the streets, which drained quickly. But a bigger problem, was, even if Ipanema was okay, a lot of people who work in Ipanema, live far away, and without buses running, can’t get from their far neighborhoods to their jobs in Ipanema—so a lot of stuff was closed.

I stayed in most of the day doing work and only went out to the grocery store later in the evening. 2 observations: 1) the grocery store was closing early because the employees needed to go home while the rain was light and 2) many of the shelves were close to being empty, so I think it’s very clear that this rain is a big deal to people here, and people are surprised, worried and stocking up.

My apartment is on the main street in Ipanema and it’s so eerie to be looking out the window all day, and have the street be almost completely empty. The governor of Rio told people to stay indoors today and it really seems like they did. Usually the street is full of cars, taxis, busses and motorcycles—not today!

It’s always striking when natural disaster type events happen in cities that are so large, and in your neighborhood or area things are wet but fine and a couple of neighborhoods (or even streets away) people are stranded and streets are flooded.

I undoubtedly feel very fortunate to be in a safe neighborhood with relatively good irrigation and sewage and few problems other than not being able to cross the street. In fact, today was quite fun. Two of my roommates and I stayed in all day and did work in our pajamas, made fresh hot brigadeiro, and warmed up some pão de queijo. Like the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, turn it into an all day slumber party.

I hope everyone is safe and dry wherever they are!

Beijos,
Hannah

Current Rain Updated: it's been vacillating between light to no rain, to torrential rain with crazy winds. 5 minutes ago it was light or not raining at all, and now it's torrential. It's still unclear if tomorrow Rio will be closed again, or if the worst of the rain is over and life will start going back to normal. I'll keep you posted!