Two preliminary observations - over Carnaval anything goes and Brazilians certainly know how to party! Carnaval kicked off at 8am on friday 8th and it soon became apparent that this was the start of a 24/7 5 day knees-up. Revellers stay up all night and then the first blocos which start at 9am the next morning are well attended, often by the same people....
It's interesting how this year we feel more involved than we did for the first Carnaval holiday. We're far more aware of what Carnaval means to Brazilians and has definitely got something to do with where we live now which is right in the centre of Carnaval activity for this part of town - with all that that entails! Just to give you some idea - this includes local roads being impassable due to street parties; many favela families decamping onto the streets round here to sell Carnaval favours & manage their beer-selling activities over the holiday period; shopping at the local supermarket taking ten times longer than usual; noise far into every night; packed beaches and every spare corner stinking of pee!
The weather has improved just at the right time and the beach as well as the streets and public transport are heaving with people in all kinds of fancy dress.
We've also been experiencing a different side of Carnaval vicariously through Hugo who has been meeting up with fellow couch-surfers all round Rio most evenings and returning at 4, 5, 6am, one day after Patrick had got up for work! He's been good about not sleeping in all the next day though.
On saturday he and I went to see the Bola Preta parade in Centro, followed by a quick dip in the sea and in the afternoon he and Patrick went, courtesy of Patrick's student Felipe, to watch Fluminese v Vasco at Engenhao. And I expect he'll be out on the town again this evening - the boundless energy of the young is impressive and he'll have had 4 very typical Rio experiences on the same day!
The Bola Preta parade which started at 9am was a mass of people with live music blaring out from lorries and throngs of Brazilians of all ages joyfully dancing and joining in with the songs. You definitely get the sense that Carnaval is more for Brazilians than it is for tourists which is of course how it should be but nevertheless, good to see with your own eyes.
We went off to Sambadromo on monday which is where the serious competition between the best Samba schools takes place but there are over 490 official blocos or street parties taking place all round Rio over the Carnaval holiday period where anybody and everybody is welcome to join in.
This year K bought tickets at the Sambadromo - going there by the Metro which worked well for us. They suspended the planned closure to our closest metro station at General Osorio until after Carnaval and kept it running 24hrs as well. So we got on the tube with beach party people going into town - together with Samba folk and their (sometimes large) costume bags. How they were going to get on a packed metro with bags of roman equipment - for example - was not clear but they managed it. We arrived smoothly and in good time at Praca Onze and had a beer and sausage on the way to block 4.
We were in with a crowd of Imperatriz Leopoldina supporters. It was one of the schools that we saw along with Beija-Flor, Rio Grande, Mangueira, Sao Clemente, and Vila Isabel. Rio Grande went for a very 'political' float - keep the oil and gas Royalties for Rio (not one geologist on their floats!). I think the judges go for those that stick closest to the traditional themes. Each parade was afflicted by vehicles getting stuck, brake problems, loss of music - but no major issues. No power cuts. Crowd of 90000 and over 20000 performers alll enjoying themselves.
We got the metro home - arriving on General Osorio at 6:00 - as the market was being set up. We'll miss this next year! Hot and noisy Carnaval! Back to work on Thursday - the same day as Hugo has a short term job interview in Sao Paulo - more of which in a new installment.
N.B. Now that we've got a tech wizard living with us, you can now enjoy videos of Rio at Carnaval time!