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If you´re going to spend Carnival in Brazil, there´s only one place to be and that´s Salvador. It beats Rio hands down when it comes to getting involved in the celebrations and participating in the general madness that takes over the city for five days. Everyone in the hostel where I stayed was booked in for the week so not only do you get to know everyone really well, there´s a great atmosphere helped on it´s way each evening with free sangria and copious caipirinhas in our hostel garden before stepping out in to the craziness.
Carnival in Salvador is essentially made up of a huge number of lorries kitted out with speakers and Brazilian pop stars and DJ´s performing on platforms with huge crowds of people dancing behind in a roped off area. This is what is called the ´Bloco´ and to gain entrance you have to buy the specific t-shirt in advance having decided which Bloco you want to be part of for the night. Anyone who chooses to remain on the side street is called ´Popcorn´ and is quite likely to be trampled on, pick-pocketed and, pushed and shoved by anyone including the military who march fiercely up and down the roped of areas on a regular basis. However, Carnival in Salvador is a free for all. Anything goes and whether you are in a bloco or pocorn on the street you will experience some crazy things. I lost count of how many hands tried to find their way into my pockets, how many people I saw battoned out the way of the military as they marched along in single file, how many fights started only to be broken up by the police who made no attempt to refrain from violence if required. The street becomes the local toilets and you have to forget what you´re treading in as you dance along drinking beer. The first night we joined a Bloco with a drummer group called Olodum following them through the cobbled streets of Pelourinho in the old City and meeting up with our lorry further on in the night. Pretty much every night when out partying we were drenched by the tropical rain and also covered in squirty foam by local kids who loved targeting the gringos.
One afternoon after walking back from the beach we got so lost looking for the hostel and ended up in a bloco we weren´t involved in dressed in beach clothes, carrying towels whilst being surrounded by men in drag, men in superhero outfits brandishing blow up weapons and dildos with no idea how to get out. The funniest thing was watching some guy in front of me who was dancing along but not in costume smoking a cigarette. All of a sudden one of the gay superheros comes up behind him and jabs him in the arse with a blow up dildo. I´ve never laughed so much as this poor guy throws his cigarette up in the air in shock, jumps slightly in the air then turns round to see what just happened taking a while to see the funny side!
Carnival really is just one big party. When you´re not sleeping, you´re drinking and dancing and the last night was no different. We headed down to the beach area to the start of our final bloco which was pretty much organised for the gringos in town for Pete Tong, David Guetta and Armen Van Buerren were DJíng. It was HUGE. Never before have I seen so many Aussies and English in one place with the locals probably wondering what all the fuss is about. We followed this bloco for about 8 hours along the coast. I don´t know how I survived because I was being squished and trodden on and pushed and shoved so much being small that I kept getting left behind and lost! The night came to an end watching the sunrise on the beach, a swim in my clothes and then the challenge of finding a taxi home with no money. Five days of carnival and it´s definitely time to head to the beach to relax for a while!
No real photos though I´m afraid as I didn´t take my camera out at night!
Rio Blog to follow.......
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