Carnaval

I have no idea where to even start with this blog or how on earth to do justice to the madness that is carnaval in Rio. We’ll just have to take it step by step and hope the creative juices start flowing…

Ceca and I were the first to arrive in the flat. Soon after the others arrived and we had a chance to settle in to our Copacabana apartment. Ceca was feeling a bit poorly so she stayed at home the first night while Monika, Alex and I left for our first taster of carnaval life. The blocos hadn’t begun yet so we decided to head to Lapa/Santa Teresa for a quick drink.

The blocos are basically the main events at Brazil’s carnavals (that and the Sambódromo). They are like mini street parties that happen at various locations in the city throughout the day. This usually involves a big bus or stand with either a band, or a famous singer with a massive sound system blasting music onto the street. The bus then moves around the area while people gather round and dance down the street behind the bus. There is obviously a lot of alcohol involved and the whole thing soon becomes one big party that often continues long after the band has finished.

Blocos vary in style and music. There are many classic blocos with famous Brazilian singers that all cariocas love. These usually play samba music. There are also modern twists on blocos as well. My three favourite blocos were the “Dois pra lá, dois pra cá” bloco in Botafogo, the “Sargento Pimemnta” bloco and the “Cordão do Boitata” bloco in Praça XV.

The Botafogo bloco was a traditional bloco with samba music and a famous singer but the bloco actually passed under the tunnel between Botafogo and Copacabana. At one point the whole tunnel was full of people singing and dancing and the acoustics of the tunnel made the music sound amazing. It was one of our first blocos and a lot of fun.

The Boitata bloco is famous because almost everyone comes to the bloco wearing a costume and there are so many original costumes on show. Favourites included Van Gogh sporting a bloody head and fake ear, grapes covered in purple balloons and even Miley Cyrus complete with her own giant wrecking ball (older readers may have to Google this pop cultural reference…cough mama cough…)

And finally my personal favourite bloco was the Sargento Pimemnta (Sgt. Pepper ‘s) bloco in Flamengo, where a massive brass band played sambafied versions of Beatles tunes. Obviously knowing the songs helps you get into the party spirit and there was also what felt like a million people there, so the atmosphere was electric.

Back to the story…we headed out on our first night during carnaval not knowing what to expect. Even though carnaval hadn’t fully started, there were loads of people partying on the streets everywhere. Surprisingly, lots of people were wearing costumes. Luckily, Sonia had prepared us that we would need costumes so we had bought some great costumes in advance. We came across them purely by accident one day when we found ourselves in the kids section of a Brazilian pound shop. There were a lot of kids costumes and amongst them a bee costume for 12-14 year olds. Maja the bee was always my favourite cartoon character and it wasn’t the first time I had bought kids clothes (in my student days I would often be found rummaging around H&M’s kids section where the clothes were cheaper than adults and the 14 year olds were big). Anyway, it was a match made in heaven and even though the knee-length costume barely covered my lady bits, I was determined to make it work. I found Ceca a matching ladybird costume and we were ready for carnaval.

Funnily enough, even with costumes about four sizes too small, we were still some of the most clothed people in carnaval. Although there were a lot of original costumes, many people, especially the boys, basically used it as an excuse to get their kit off. The basic concept of wearing nothing but a pair of Speedos seemed to form the foundations of 90% of male costumes. Add some horns: sexy devil, add some wings: sexy angel…you get the message. To be honest though, with the talent on show, I don’t think anyone gave a crap about their costumes.

So this leads me nicely back to my story…again…We were out for the first time and there were basically incredibly fit naked men everywhere. It was a shock to the system. I can write about the dancing and fun times we had but basically the strongest memory is how in shock I was at the amount of gorgeous naked people. When I reported this back to Ceca the next day she was very cynical, claiming she just didn’t believe it was that crazy. Then she left the flat.

This time Monika stayed at home and Alex and I came out with Ceca. It was the Ipanema bloco so it was very busy and at one point we realised we had lost her. We turned around to find a gobsmacked ladybird talking to one of the semi-naked Brazilian gods who had grabbed her as she walked down the street (they tend to do that). Her facial expression of something between “I’m in love” and “I just shat my pants” led me to believe she finally understood what I was trying to tell her.

The rest of carnaval was spent running between blocos and street parties, dancing, socialising, drinking and eating whenever we remembered (in that order of importance). The whole city had basically become one big party so even walking down the street or travelling in the metro often turned out to be noisier and crazier then some actual blocos. The week went by way too fast and soon enough it was time to leave Brazil 🙁

NB. For those of you that made it to the end of this crazy, long and confusing blog I would like to thank you for your patience and apologise for the incoherence of this blog. I can only hope it serves as a reflection of my state of mind during this carnaval week.