Carlão's Stash

1983

This pic was taken just a few minutes before we were seriously spooked.

An afternoon hike took me, Galia Fernandez '86, Rychelle McReynolds '87, Lisa Castaneda '86, Paraguaio (not from EA), as well as Sonny Miccolis '87, Kiarash Ertebati '85 and Santiago Piedrafita '84 (the last 3 not in this pic), up a trail through the forest behind Rua Capuri in Sao Conrado. I think we were trying to get to a river or some type of swimming area, but we took a wrong trail and got lost. Eventually we reached this rectangular open area cut out in the forest, that had a bench cut out from the side of the hill (where this pic was taken). We decided to party there for a while before we started heading back.

A few minutes later, a very weird group of about 10 people appeared from the woods, headed by a mean faced, scary looking fellow holding a knife about 2 feet long, and some people carrying a few tied up chickens. They also had a white scuzzy and mean looking dog that came up to me and just stared at me. The dog had a cross branded into his forehead and had many scars. The whole scene was like out of a horror movie, the kids innocently having fun in the woods when suddenly the killers appear out of nowhere thirsty for blood...

They were not happy to see some long haired hippies and some loud giggling "gringas" there.... Turned out the area was some type of ritual ground. I don't know what kind of ritual they were about to perform, but I'm sure the chickens were not pets... Luckily for us, Paraguaio lived at Rocinha, and knew how to approach these people. He had a quick chat with their leader (the guy with the knife) and we were out of there in a flash.

I was never so glad to see the Sao Conrado Fashion Square Shopping Center again!

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