Carnaval!!!!!
Trip Start
Sep 2005
1
35
52
Trip End
Sep 2006
Rio de Janiero,
Brazil
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Rio Carnaval, 4 Belfast lads, 2 Real per beer. A great mix. I only had 3 full days there, but I tried to pack in everything you'd normally do in a week, minus the first degree sunburns. The other boys took care of that.
Due to a delayed flight I finally met the boys struggling into the hotel at 5 in the morning. They were wee Brendy (plus guest), Murph (plus guest), and Brendan Catney. Being the perfect hosts they sent the women packing and ran down for a few beers so that we could have a bit of a session. The guys had been here 5 days already and like any good athlete they'd thrown themselves into training as soon as they'd landed.
Next day we crawled out of bed for a football game between Flamenco and Botafoga
01 Quatro cerveja por favor
. "Popcorn and beer" breakfast. The game was lively too. Seven goals in all, with the home side staging a 3 goal comeback in the second half. It was end to end stuff. As luck would have it we were sitting with the away fans under one of those huge flags that takes about 20 people to hold every time theres a goal. There was a lot of action in the first half and we were getting fairly involved in the game. The second half was a bit more subdued. After that it was a quick burger and then round to the night club where wee Brendy and Murph showed us how it was done.On Sunday the Carnaval seemed to really get going. Tens of thousands forced their way onto the beach and streets around Ipanema and just partied. Dancing up and down to the beat of the drums. Easy enough to get into if you're from N'Ireland. I heard recently the orangemen were trying to rebrand their own type of Carnaval, they could do worse than come out here for a few tips. Spraying beer over the bikini dancers would definitely go down well. Later on we headed down to the Centre of town with a couple of Irish guys we met to get more of the real action. Centro is where most of the guidebooks tell you never to go, especially during Carnaval. But we figured there'd be safety in numbers, and beer. We were probably the only gringos down there as it was very much a locals only affair. But nobody seemed to mind us joining in, in fact they seemed delighted to have us there
02 Before the game
. So like perfect ambassadors we danced up and down the street, following the naked ladies on the carnaval floats spraying each other with shaving cream. Well, the ladies weren't actually naked, but as good as. Some of them were wearing makeup. It was all done in a very tasteful manner that in no way degreaded the woman or made them some sort of objects of male lust. Wee Brendy and Murph must have really been studying up on their samba, as they both got invited back to a party by two handfuls of the dancing girls.Next day we had tickets for the "proper" carnaval parade. This is where the competition takes place. It starts at 8pm and goes on to 8am. Tickets don't come cheap if you can get one at all. It's the main show in town. All the footage you see on the telly is filmed here. It's quite a party when it gets going. At the start it's a bit below expectation, a bit like a sitting down concert where you want to get up and dance but everyone still stays sitting. Then after 2 hours or so everyone starts to party. The guys had all the Paddys-On-Tour gear which went down a treat. Not everyone wearing green in the photos is Irish. Murph and wee Brendan met a few more girls. (It's a shame Brendan Catney didn't meet any, as he'd been studying Brazilian for months before he went, and one girl even said he seemed a "nice boy"). We drank, sang and danced our way through to 8am. Which just enough time for a half hour kip before I boarded my plane. Trying hard not to sing and dance.
