Day 281
Rio de Janeiro Brasil.
We heard the Carnaval in Rio is a MUST!
But it~s a must, ONLY if you have a guide or a carioca (local) with you! We heard everywhere...DO NOT GO OUT IN RIO AT NIGHT!!!!!! The crime here is pretty high...
BUT! We really wanted to go...
The Carnaval is held in February but we knew there were rehearsals going on..our dilemma...Should we just go by ourselves..?
THEN...
There was a notice on the notice board that we enquired about.
There was the opportunity to go to a Carnaval REHEARSAl and we said YES!!! ABSOLUTELY we would go!
It started at midnight and finished at 6am and was as close to the real thing as you could get. The Samba schools here in Rio put these events on for the carioca~s (locals) as well as for the gringo~s (Ss! the tourists!) and they start about 3 months before the event!
Carnaval is is a wild event. It~s like a massive mardi gras. And in fact the mardi gras around the world are based on the Carnavals in South America.
And it~s celebrated every year throughout Brazil. It~s held on the four days before Ash Wednesday which precedes the forty days of Lent. And we were told the word means carne = meat and vale = goodbye and because the carnaval is the end of lent, it is the end of eating no meat! And the whole country, being catholic, abstain from meat during lent..so imagine how exciting it is to celebrate the Carnaval...and be able to eat meat, dance, sing and just go mad!!
Apparently there is a lot of riavlry thoughtout Brasil, as to who has the best ^Carnaval^...with Salvadore coming to Rio just before the event to say there~s is better! It~s funny to hear the local~s talk about Carnaval.
Here in Rio it~s a huge spectacle! And the Samba schools are very proud of their rehearsals..and advertise widely for people to go along and watch the colour, the costumes, the singing, the dancing...and just to be in the excitement!
And we heard that the whole country just STOPS STILL for the whole time it~s on...and the next one is on the 1st to the 4th Feb! We~ll watch it on tv knowing what they~re talking about now!!!
Anyway..about the rehearsals...
At first we didn~t know if we were actually going to be going or not..because we had our names up to go...but we were the only one~s with our names up on the board (at the hostel). The guy, Leon, at the hostel said don~t worry, people will decide whether they will go after they come back from the clubs.
Greg checked with him about 10pm when we got back from dinner (went back to the R22Frango place!) and we were still the only one~s there...so Leon started rounding people up. At 11pm we checked again with him..and he said the guide, or the carioca would go with four people...and we told him we were really KEEN to go!!! (the next one was on the following Sat night and we wouldn~t be there!) He said...he~d try rounding up more people!
We checked with him again at 11.30pm and he gave us the thumbs up. We were set to go! Yay. We were off to Carnaval. Or at least that~s what it felt like. And it felt exciting to be going out in Rio..at midnight!!!
At midnight...we met downstairs...and 8 of us loaded into the bus! Amazing how people come out of the woodwork. We were thinking the price may have put some of the young one~s off because it was R40 each. But we thought that was a small price to pay for one of Rio~s hightlights!
As we drove through Rio we noticed it was electic...the place was so alive. People and colours everwhere. It really is the party city. We were going to join them....
The black girl that came with the carioca was just gorgeous...she was the girlfriend of one of the guys who works for the hostel and she said that the Carnaval music was SOUL music to her. She also brought a friend of hers from university who also loved the music and knew all the songs. She ended up doing the english translation for us..because her english was so good.
We sped through the city of Rio... the driver had no sense of red lights or speed...we just hung on like mad and hoped we made it to our destination! No seat belts in the van either!
And we passed the lagoon where there was a massive floating Christmas tree! It was lit up and looked quite spectacular..it really is starting to feel like Christmas has decended on us here in Rio with all the trees and lights!
We passed through the tunnel to the Rochina Favela, the largest shantytown in Rio. It~s so weird, because once you go through the tunnel....and to the other side where the Favela is the city becomes very slum like and poor. There were market stalls on the streets and people everywhere..kids playing a soccer game at one of the parks..and of course looming above was Christ the Redeemer..the massive 38 metre statue! It was 12.30am!
We arrived at Rochina Samba Dance School just after this..about 12.45am..and the car park was packed. Behind the carpark was a huge shed and this is where the rehearsals took place. We were all guided in there by our guide, the guy from the hostel and his girlfriend...with the driver staying behind.
And the music and dancing had already started.
It was quite magical...there were butterflies everywhere. This is their logo and all the guys were wearing colourful shirts with butterflies and loud colours..advertising the Carnaval event in 2008. Greg and i bought a shirt each! We got caught up in the moment. We can wear them at the Mardi Gras in Perth.....i can~t imagine where else Greg will wear his without gettng hit on! hehe
We left ourselves with a grand total of 3 Reais and wondered if we could buy agua with this!! (water!) We didn~t want to drink any alcohol because we knew we were there until 6am!
There was a main guy singing and a girl and a guy dancing..and the whole shed was rocking with black soul music...everyone dancing..or shimmering really. They were literally wobbling their tuat large butts off!
The costumes were amazing...they came out around 2am.
And then about 3am the drummers started drumming which deafened us! It was SO loud and everyone seemed to be getting into a frenzy! The music, the dancing..the whole atmosphere was just zany, wild and colourful!
Two of the girls that came with us caught a taxi home when this started..they couldnt handle the noise! And even though we found it loud...every hour something new appeared...like just after that there was a very beautiful girl, their butterfly mascot, that appeared on stage (and enthralled all the men!)...so we decided we would stay till the end!
When this girl came out...even the photographer got excited!!! And most shots we got of her..were with him in it! But i thought that was a good photo in itself! ha!
There were a lot of different acts..and another band came out...with all sorts of different instruments....drums that squeaked and rattles and wooden stringed instruments. I was thinking Shameem would be in heaven!
I also thought..no wonder the likes of Peter Allen and Paul Simon loved South America and were so influenced by the rhythms and sound here..it is so alluring and catchy and puts everyone who listens and watches into an amazing space. It was also late..and people were drinking..and dancing..and singing along.
We took some great photos!
Here are the two carioca~s we went with!!!
It seemed to me to be very much a male domain. Mostly men in the audience just watching. And the women that were there were dancing. But on stage, it was mostly women! There were gays singing and dancing with no one battering an eyelid. People were dressed in wild colours and no one battered an eyelid. People were just enjoying the music!
There was a reverance when people were playing or singing...no one talked. That~s one thing i did notice. And at one point a guy in the band took his fingers to his lips and ushered a shhh to a member of the audience! (Ok, it was Greg!!) All he did was ask me, ~what~because i wanted him to take a pic of the drummer!!! (who had a huge cheesy mesmerised smile on his dial!)
It was an event worth going to!
We ended up leaving about 4am..and got home at 4.30am...
And after we got to bed, we couldn~t sleep..it was such a celebration of a culture that really entered our being.
And that was our experience of Carnaval!
In one word,
