Womblekisses's travel blogs:
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Rio de Janiero ... the last entry
Entry 27 of 33 | show all | print this entry |
Sunday
I had no idea how the carnival worked so to speak ... do you? I assumed the parade was through packed streets, but it is at the Samba Drome and you buy tickets. The most expensive seats are naturally the ones which allow you the best and in this case longest (period of time) watching; thus spend loads and you see the whole length of the road, cheaper ones a portion of it and in our seats the very last bit!! We did take advice from the lovely Simon who said it would be fine to arrive at any time (the whole thing lasts from 9pm until 6am) because people would be coming and going; however arriving at 2am was just a tad late.
The whole of Rio is manic, throbbing with life and street parties. Lapa which is always like that is even crazier at Carnival time so Lisa and I (on our own for the night) started there. We danced in front of the stage where local stars where strutting, we watched a drummer who had set up at the edge of the square playing with amazing energy for about twenty minutes (what stamina!), then we danced again and finally sat down to our pizza and beer around 12pm. After that we danced a bit .... in front of the stage, but not our style so we found a nice little stall, just beyond the one where we bought our caparinhas and danced there. Not really tired of Lapa but realising we had a carnival to go to we set of for the Samba Drome somehow acquiring a chap of around 40 who rather took a fancy to my daughter and stayed with us the rest of the evening!!
The carnival itself was of course fantastic the costumes, which we later examined in some detail as we left the Samba drome because they were discarded and there for the trying, were fantastic. My favourite the ´Where´s Wally´float´ a massive house with many doors; the game was of course to find the favourite character among the many waving from the float. Another with huge elephants ´pulling´ it ... far too many to mention here, especially because at the end of an hour Lisa and I were frantically thirsty so went off in the search of water.
To tell the tale in detail would be excessive but briefly as possible ... we picked up a couple of ´strays;´ one a lad of about twenty who leaned towards Lisa and whispered ´I´´m gay, I like boys.´ He hadn´t needed to tell us and was a delightful companion. The girl with him was crazy in a nice Brazilian sort of way, typical long black hair, plump face and brilliant smile, and a determination to get to Lapa where despite being a Carioca she had never been.(Carioca .... someone from Rio) Our new companion fulfilled her dream and danced away into the crowd.
Lapa is all about music and dance so we did just that once more ... Lisa attracting a lovely young lad, much to the chagrin of our guardian. I danced ´with´ some rasta guy, who extended a hand towards Lisa, no worries ... between his fingers he clutched a small joint, soggy and brown and nearly finished ... she declined the offer.
Finally the bus back to our hotel ... 40 year old still hopefully in toe, but in true Brazilian style he simply cared for us, making sure we got off the bus at the right place before disappearing into the night and out of our lives.
Typically, Brazillian people are friendly, kind, helpful and undemanding.
We departed Rio on Wednesday 21st February and arrived here in Foz on Saturday 5th March; between those dates we travelled and have enjoyed a nice break, but it is too late to regale you with such tales and I will confine myself to the future and Foz so watch this space for more enlightening tales of kids and English classes, creches and schools ... who knows, it will evolve.
At home or away stay safe and have fun.
xx
abracos.
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