Engarrafamentão, mother of all bottlenecks

I was caught in the biggest bottleneck ever yesterday afternoon...or night....both, I guess! I saw that it was going to rain monday, but no biggie, life goes on, I thought. I'll just take my umbrella to Botafogo for my samba dance class then kill 5 hours, first in Copacabana at my favorite por kilo (restaurant where you pay by the pound). Side note: brazilians normally don't throw away food on their plates; even in their homes, they clean the plate. I've often thought about the difference between their por kilo restaurants and our all you can eat restaurants in the US....elegant versus piggy/gross. We still revel in that 'abundance forever' way of thinking. If we had to pay for it by the pound, I'm sure there would be less wasted....also, if the food was prepared with more care, that might make a difference!
Back to the engarrafamento story: I was then going to go passista platform shoe window shopping at 'Beth's' for the SambaGata dancers in Saara (area in centro where you can buy anything you need or don't need at good to great prices), then walk over for my firstclass/rehearsal for Fina Batucada, the all women's percussion group that I'd been trying to get to since I arrived in Rio. Alas, yet again it was not to be.
It had been raining steadily all day, and I got the feeling that maybe the ride back could be delayed because Avenida Brasil, the highway that I use to get home, might be flooded in spots as it was the other day I was caught in centro in the rain. As I wanted to go to the Mocidade wednesday tech. rehearsal at 9, I thought maybe I should head home at 4. Went to catch an Expresso, a bus that will make stops until it hits the huge Rodovaria (bus station to everywhere), then thankfully speeds on in it's own bus lane on Avenida Brasil, as opposed to a Parada, which makes MAAANY stops). I was pleasantly surprised; I got a seat...wooohooo! the day was going well! I'd had a great dance class, my new dance shoes worked out well; I only slid a little once and got a seat for the 45 minute to 1 hour bus ride home!
The one thing I would be thankful for in the next five hours is that I had a seat. We sat on that bus barely moving for the next 4 hours, crawled for a half an hour and sped like the devil for the other half an hour. Cariocas are some of the most vocal people on the earth, but only when, in their opinions, something could or should be done about a situation. When it can't, they are resigned and some are subdued. Others were resigned and made new friends. I got to read a newspaper from beginning to end that someone was passing around. It was the longest and shortest bus ride in a funny way. I got home, dried off, but cold and sick of sitting on a bus. It was still raining and I didn't want to go back out there yet. Mocidade will be there next week.

I also found out at home that the whole city was locked up in the traffic jam, not just us 'suburbanos' (people who live in the suburbio; way out there...as I like to call it, the 'real brazil'...I'm sorry, I'm prejudiced...don't listen to me!). Indeed, Avenida Brasil was flooded and at one (long) point, no cars were on the highway...it was empty except for lots of water. Thousands upon thousands of people use Ave. Brasil daily. At least there was a reason! When I arrived home, Regina (Bruno and Renato's mom,) had made pea soup and homemade bread! A taste of the US! The bread was perfect and still warm. I had some for dessert too....warm whole wheat bread with butter and honey.
It was a good day.