The best things about Rio Carnival 2012

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OK, I don’t want to overdo this whole carnival thing – my last non-carnival related post was more than 10 days ago! But can you stand just one more post on the subject? I’ve been looking over my carnival photos and thinking back over the event as a whole and I thought it might be nice to summarise what made this year’s carnival so great.

The Weather

OK, I’m British and therefore more than a little obsessed with the weather, but for me this made a real difference. Last year it rained quite a bit and although I told myself at the time that it was good because it stopped us all getting overheated, I never really believed it in my heart of hearts. This year we had unbroken sunshine all the way through, and you could really sense the lift it gave everyone.

Dancing, drinking, chatting to strangers and generally getting down. It just works better when the sun is out.

 

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8 line brag

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Anyone object to a little bragging? C’mon, indulge me: those of you who follow the Eat Rio Facebook page will already know that yesterday’s post was picked up by the news! Australian news site, NineMSN, have an article on their World News page which is basically a cut down version of yesterday’s post! As I speak we are the fourth most popular item on the entire site – exciting right?

 

Whatever Gillard – you may “get things done”, but we invaded an airport! Think about it – I know who I’d vote for…

 

Two things stem from all this – firstly I’d like to welcome any new visitors that may have popped over from NineMSN – g’day. Secondly, now that I’m famous (yes, I said ‘famous’ – my name is mentioned four times in the article) I’d appreciate a little more respect from my regular readers – all four of you.

OK, that’s enough bragging for now – a proper post will follow shortly.

My best ever carnival experience.

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Hi everyone! Well, what an extraordinary week. It dawned on me quite early on that trying to combine carnival with blogging would end up in a sub-optimal carnival experience for me, and a sub-optimal blog reading experience for you. Better to just concentrate on having as much fun as possible for a few days and then tell you all about it afterwards. Let’s think of it as intensive research shall we?

Some of the blocos have great names. This one, which started at the top of a steep hill in Catete, was called “Desce Mas Não Sobe” (Goes down but doesn’t go up). Of course WE had to go up to get to the start…

 

This past week flew past in a blur of music, drinking, dancing and general carnival fun. Each carnival day (in fact each bloco) has its own personality – different music and locations, different mixes of friends, chance encounters – all these things contribute different highlights (and the occasional low-point – more on this another day).  Well this year, one specific moment stood out, and I’ve been dying to tell you all about it!

 

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Carnival Songs: Vou Festejar

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One of the things I like most about carnival in Rio, is how inclusive it is. There is no entrance fee for any of the blocos, the beer is cheap, you don’t have to wear a fancy costume and there are no complicated dance moves that you need to learn. In short, even a clueless gringo like me can show up and have a great time.

 

Chapeuzinho Vermelho (Little Red Riding Hood) and friends having fun. A guy on a fire truck was spraying the crowd with water when I took this shot, causing the autofocus on my point-and-click to go AWOL. I quite like the effect.

 

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Top 5 tips for Carnival costume

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Having had a little time to think about it, I realised that the one thing I didn’t do in yesterday’s post is differentiate between blocos and the main procession thing that everyone thinks of when they hear “Carnival in Rio”. The big procession thing is called Desfile das Escolas de Samba (Procession of the Samba Schools). It’s the thing you see on the news each year, held in the Sambadrome – a big long street, lined with masses of tiered seating:

 

The main procession, as seen here in the film Rio

 

I haven’t been to this thing – tickets are really expensive and to be honest, I’m not that keen. Don’t get me wrong, it looks spectacular and I definitely want to see it one day, but just sitting there watching from the side seems a bit passive, you know? Maybe I’ll go in a few years when I’m older and richer.

So if you’re not at the Sambadrome, you should be at a bloco, and if you’re at a bloco then you should have an outfit!

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