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We arrived in Rio on the 31st of January. Inwardly Laura and I were celebrating for two reasons already. Firstly, we would no longer be a part of that claustrophobic, poorly run, expensive organised tour we had been on since Santigo and from now on we would be free again. Secondly, we had been looking forward to Carnival since forever. Don´t get me wrong on that hateful tour we saw some great sights, had some unique experiences and met some brilliant people, but let me put it like this we´re on to our 4th side of typed A4 with the complaints letter we are drafting to the company concerned. My advice to anyone thinking of taking an organized tour for any part of a trip to this continent is DON´T DO IT! ITS MORE FUN AND NO LESS SAFE TO DO IT YOURSELF!
But ranting aside, we had been looking forward to Rio for a long time. On our first full day, which arrived sunny and hot, we went to see Christ the Redeemer who stands on top of a hill looking over Rio in a pose that seems to be trying to constantly absolve Rio of all the multitude of sins that it churns out on a minute to minute basis. It was crowded up there and very hot, but that couldn´t detract from the glorious views of the cityand its lagoons and beaches. If you where to think of a perfect setting for a city, the golden beaches, dramatic mountains, lush green forests and multicoloured lagoons with little pockets of brightly coloured houses between them that you would imagine with your architects eye would not be far away from how Rio looks from up high. Everything a country should be and everything a city should have can be seen from that vantage point. Christ himself is quite impressive, though perhaps his size reflects a latent guilt in Rios residents. Laura and I decided that the shops beneath him sold the tackiest souvenirs ever and bought loads of them before enjoying an ice cold beer overlooking Copacobana Beach.
On our way down from Christ we passed through St Teresa and were very curious about a few people here and there in bizarre fancy dress. Following this line of stragglers we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the St Teresa Bloc party. A Bloc party is basically a truck laden with loud speakers and an energetic Samba band that drives around a particular area (bloc) with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people lining the roads to watch listen and dance, or following behind the truck dancing like loons. There was lots of fancy dress, lots of strange dress and a particular fashion for hats shaped like beer bottles or condoms. The buzz was instantaneous and profound. All the warnings we had had about how dangerous Rio could be and how careful one should be when visiting suddenly lost all meaning and relevance to us. Everyone was there to party and have a good time. There was no feelings of threat or potential agro, just thousands of people dancing at 2pm like it was the end of the century. And Samba is so addictive. All the locals seem to know the words to all the songs of by heart and sing with real gusto. My two regrets about my carnival is that I didn´t have fancy dress and I didn´t learn any of the words to the Samba songs. We would come across dozens of these bloc parties during our time. Sometimes they would just appear almost spontaneously, and sometimes you would hear them blocks away and be pulled towards them but everytime we found ourselves in one it was great fun. Quite frequently these partys will appear at traffic lights and prevent traffic from moving for 20 minutes until they pass. That twenty minutes is when the waiting drivers get out of their vehicles and have a bit of a boogie until its time to start off again. The whole attitude is to have a great time and sod your other commitments.
Every night was a late night. Friday was the Red and Black ball, organised and in honour of the Flamenco footy team (who play in red and black). It was a small club that crammed in 3000 partygoers all of whom had to dress in red and black. The music was supplied by to Samba bands who rotated every few songs and we soaked ourselves in caiprinhas and beer. It was a very mixed clientele, from tourists and travellers, the locals and vips to some remarkable transvestites who caused a great deal of confusion in some members of our party. I believe I greatly upset one such lady/gentleman by getting a fit of the giggles when I elbowed his/her titanic breasts by accident and was confronted by him/her. I did feel bad afterwards, i really didn´t mean to hurt their feelings but it was like being looked at by a skinhead in a blond wig and a tutu (with titanic breasts).
So we partied our weekend away. Sleeping late, going to bed later and dancing at every opportunity we got. The grand finale of our weekend was the Samba contest which is held at a structure specifically built for that purpose, The Sambadrome. The Samba drome is ariund 1.6 kilometeres long and 150 metres wide. It is an avenue with grandstands on either side down which the local Samba schools parade and compete for the accolade of best in show. It was like being in the middle of a wacky cartoon. Right before your eyes thousands of people dressed as fish would shimy and groove to the huge samba beats, hundreds of sticks of lettuce, crazy monks, candelabras... allsorts. The floats take 8 months to build and it showed. Many had giant animatronic animals or features. Some had spaces for dancing good looking people clad in only glitter and a smile. The glamorous queens of the band wearing small sparkling bikinis and feathers and permatan samba´d and blew kisses in front of each section sucking camera men towards them in swarms. And through all this the locals in the crowd are singing along to the songs and doing the actions for the dances. As a spectacle I have never seen anything like it.
The other highlight was a visit to a football match at the Maracana stadium between Vasco de Gama and Botafago. It was the best game of footbal I have seen in a long time . It was a friendly in honour of the carnival but it had 2 sendings off, a penalty, controversial decisions, a secondhalf comeback and a screamer of a first goal. It ended 3-2 to Botafago. Who were 2-0 up at half time but only won with a dodgy penalty in 83rd minute. The crowd were very passionate. There was the works, giant flags, fireworks, flares and obscene hand gestures. There was even a mounted police charge at the end. Great fun.
Words fail me for how good Rio has been. Even if it hadn´t been carnival it would be a fantastic place. Our last 2 days were marred by rain but you can´t really complain after experiencing what we have in the last few days, it certainly didn´t dampen (no pun intended) the locals spirits. We´ll be coming back here I think.
Chris
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