Eat Rio Blog - Page 54 of 106

C-Arnie-val Creep

30/01/2013/6 Comments/in Musings

Have I mentioned recently that carnival is just around the corner? As you may have noticed, I’m finding it hard to think of anything else right now.

Lots of Cariocas love carnival, but there are also quite a few who don’t like it. For both groups, this period between New Year and the carnival is just one long waiting game – either you’re waiting for the party to begin, or you’re waiting for it to finish so you can get on with your life. They say that the year doesn’t really start until after carnival – this can be a problem in the years when carnival starts in March.

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

Dancing, drinking, chatting to strangers and generally having a good time.

Personally I love carnival! I may be in my mid-thirties now, but I still jump at the chance to forget about all the boring stuff and concentrate on having some serious fun for a few days/weeks. And I’m not the only gringo with a taste for Rio’s big party. They say that over 1 million people visit Rio for carnival each year. I read somewhere that they’re expecting closer to 2 million visitors this year.

Most of these carnival visitors are swept up in Rio’s carnival spirit and are very well behaved. But you know what it’s like – there are always a few bad apples aren’t there? Take this creepy guy for example (warning, some readers may find this difficult to watch…)

Carnival Songs: Allah-lá-ô

26/01/2013/7 Comments/in Art and culture

The first place I set foot in South America was Buenos Aires back in 2009. There are many, many reasons to love Argentina’s capital – the food, the vibrant culture, the beautiful architecture to name a few. You can almost feel history – it seems to seep from every bar and street corner you pass. One of the things I particularly enjoyed seeing there was a certain kind of South American gentleman.

As I wandered the streets I would occasionally pass an old guy dressed in 3 piece suit, walking stick and moustache, all of which seemed to hark back to a bygone era. My South American history was (and still is) very patchy, but these old men made me think of the 1930s-1950s. It was a real pleasure to see these guys and I was lucky enough to get chatting to a couple of them one night in a restaurant. They were friendly, interesting and delighted to hear that I had left everything behind to have an adventure. Speaking to them was like stepping back in time.

Well the performer of today’s carnival marchinha reminds me of those old South American gents. Funnily enough it turns out he was born in Buenos Aires, but soon moved to São Paulo and then Rio. Take a look at Carlos Galhardo:

Carlos Galhardo – the suit, the moustache and that pipe! A handsome fellow reminiscent of David Niven, everything speaks of a rather romantic bygone era. I wonder what he would make of today’s carnival.

So that is our singer. Now let’s get to today’s marchinha de carnaval – it’s a fun one!

Carnival Songs: Cabeleira do Zezé

24/01/2013/35 Comments/in Art and culture

Carnival is just a few weeks away people! Time to start thinking about your fantasia, planning which blocos you’re going to attend and of course, learn some more marchinhas de carnaval!

Today’s song is super catchy, but it has also got me feeling a little perplexed. Perhaps I’m being naïve or simply ‘not getting it’ (wouldn’t be the first time!), but there seems to be a bit of a bullying, homophobic aspect to this song.

The title of the song is Cabeleira do Zezé and it was written by João Roberto Kelly (and Roberto Faissal) back in the early 1960s.

João Roberto Kelly, cheeky looking chap, responsible for more than one cheeky carnival tune! I notice his hair wasn’t exactly small…

Kelly was born in Rio in 1938. In 1964, aged just 24, he had huge success with today’s song when it was recorded by Jorge Goulart. We’ll hear Jorge sing the song in a moment, but before that, let’s have a quick look at the lyrics and maybe you’ll get an idea of why I’m a little perplexed.

Brazilian Brands: Bis

22/01/2013/9 Comments/in Food and drink

The British take biscuits (not cookies!) pretty seriously. I put this down to our tea drinking habit – tea and biscuits go together like, well, tea and biscuits!

If you ever find yourself with multiple British people and you feel the need to get the conversation going, just try bringing up the subject of biscuits. For example, you could mention that you heard that the best biscuit in the world is the chocolate digestive (a fine choice). Before long you would have people arguing over the relative merits of Hobnobs, custard creams and ginger nuts. We even had a big court case between the government and the manufacturers of Jaffa Cakes over whether their product was a biscuit or a cake (no seriously).

There are many sub-divisions of biscuit and one close to my heart is the ‘biscuit-bar’. The English biscuit bar of choice would surely be the Penguin. In Scotland they have a chocolate, caramel and wafer affair called simply Tunnock’s. The Australians favour something called the Tim Tam which can be ingeniously employed in something called the Tim Tam Slam (everyone should try this at least once).

The humble Penguin biscuit – two biscuit layers with soft chocolate goodness in the middle, all covered in delicious milk chocolate. Good stuff.

Before I get carried away with all this biscuit talk, let’s come back to Brazil shall we? In Portuguese, the word for biscuit is biscoito. Now I thought I was fairly knowledgeable when it comes to biscuits, but it wasn’t until I arrived here in Brazil that I was told about the origins of the word. Apparently it can be broken down to “bi” (2) + “coito” (coitus) – the er, ‘union’ of two biscuit layers! Can this really be true?

OK, let’s look at Brazil’s favourite biscuit bar and today’s Brazilian Brand:

Rio rain, floods and landslides.

18/01/2013/7 Comments/in Musings

The popular image of Rio (particularly abroad) is of sun, beaches, people relaxing and having a nice time. All those things (and much more) do happen in Rio, but visitors are sometimes surprised (and disappointed) by something else. The rain.

Some friends of mine once came to Rio for 10 days. It rained every single day. I remember seeing them just after they’d been to see the Cristo Redentor. I asked them how the view had been (the iconic statute is the highest point in Rio and on clear days the views of the city are breathtaking). “We could just see his head” they told me.

As well as putting a dampener in people’s holidays and leisure time, the rain here has a more serious side. The sheer intensity of the downpours can be incredible.

This was the view from my window last night – some of the heaviest rain I’ve seen anywhere. After 10 minutes of this, the entire road (which is on a very steep hill) had turned into a river. It rained like this for over an hour.

Here is some footage I took last night – it’s not great quality, but hopefully it gives you an idea of how full-on the rainfall was: