Five Days in Rio

This is the unedited version of the column that appeared on August 11, 2016 in The Daily News - The newspaper servicing Cowlitz County

Going to the Olympics had long been a dream of mine. As did visiting Rio de Janeiro. So with a chance to see the Olympics in this dream destination of Rio, I booked my flights and packed my bags not knowing what to expect.

Upon arriving in Rio, the natural beauty of this city - rugged mountain peaks scattered all over town with the tropical paradise feel of Miami - provided a perfect welcome. Add in the international spirit of the Olympics and the the first impression did not disappoint!

I traveled with my roommate and we were able to get tickets to the Opening Ceremonies on the secondary market outside the stadium. The event was a perfect display of worldly beauty with spectacular performances and an indescribable energy provided by a crowd that represented nearly every nation.  There was a neat feeling of pride seeing the American Flag come out of the tunnel with a trail athletes behind it. And the whole stadium shared this sense as their respective countries came out, capped off with an enormous cheer from the hometown fans as Brazil entered the stadium.

I got to see five events live and the swimming finals proved to be the most memorable. I didn't know what to expect as I don't know the sport well and personally have a hard time swimming from one end of the pool to another.  But one race in to the event and I was hooked. Here were athletes from every corner of the world who had dedicated literally their entire lives to this pursuit of this Olympic gold.  

It was a sport that allowed for zero margin of error.  In one race four-tenths of a second separated second place from ninth place. I marveled at the thought of the detail of the training the athletes must put themselves through every day for many years. The difference between Olympic Gold and not medalist at all was found literally in the blink of an eye and every second of preparation from practicing to weights to dieting played in to this!  Seeing the faces and body language on the winners as they experienced this life long dream was priceless.

Another memorable moment came on a wild taxi ride back to our Air B&B. Portuguese is the language of Brazil and English was relatively hard to find among the locals in Rio. A mix of English, Spanish and hand gestures could usually get our point across enough to get what we needed. But this particular night we had the hardest time explaining to our cab driver that we needed to go to the Parque Olimpico which was blocks from our Air B&B.

After about an hour of winding through Rio, we found ourselves stopped by a guard. He asked something in Portuguese close enough to "De que país" (Spanish for what country are you from) that I could respond by saying "Estados Unidos" (United States). With that he let the cab advance and before we knew it we were in the heart of the Olympic Village where the athletes from every country were housed.

We had convinced the cab driver and guard in charge of security for the entire Olympic Village that we were Olympic athletes... Without even knowing what we had done!  Upon realizing the confusion we explained the miscommunication and eventually found our way home. It was quite the adventure and Michael Phelps may never know how close he was to waking up with two strangers sleeping on his floor!

The undisputed highlight of the experience was the Brazilian people. Rio is the first South American host of the Olympics and the people had spent years preparing the city for the games. Pride emanated as they got to show off their majestic city and vibrant culture to the world. 

This spirit of the Brazilian people - lost in the American media by unrealistic and exaggerated stories of Zika and flesh eating bacteria - was the true hero of the 2016 Olympic Games.

We got to experience this first hand as Cowlitz County native and owner of Kelso's Black Lotus Salon Jennifer Radcliffe is Brazilian and has an aunt and uncle who live in Ipanema - a neighborhood in Rio where many Olympic events were being held.

Her aunt and uncle graciously took us in for two nights and welcomed us as family in their beautiful apartment in this beach neighb
orhood. They oozed this spirit, proudly showing us the local's beach, teaching the Brazilian game of Frescobol and making sure we got to taste the finest Brazilian cuisine.

It was a true local experience capped off with about ten of their family members and us two crazy Americans gathered around the TV in the living room watching the Olympics as we cheered for our respective countries.

In the end, five days were not enough in Rio - I could have stayed for five months! But it was an adventure I will never forget. For years my mind has created so many fantasies about the glory of attending the Olympics and the paradise of Rio de Janeiro. The real experience was even better!

.