Oi gente!
Carnaval this year took place in February… and I am writing this post in May. Let’s just say it took that long for the magnitude of the joy of the Sambadromo to wear off enough for me to write this post.
Going to Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval is one of those events that you probably have heard about even if you know nothing else about Brazil. And let it tell you, it lives up to the hype. Usually what you are picturing is the event that takes place in the Sambadromo, but there is also the “street Carnaval” which are the bloco parties on the streets which are just as fun.
This year I had friends who wanted to go to Rio as well, because I didn’t want to do Carnaval alone for safety reasons, so I was hyped to go with Robin and Priya! They are such a fun couple and we really had a good time. I am so happy I was able to go with friends.
We arrived on Saturday night and our first Carnaval activity was the banger- going to the Sambadromo! We bought tickets for the frisas, which is the box right next to the walkway of the parade. There are different ways you can watch the “desfila” or what we might call a parade, and we wanted to be as close to the action as we could get. While the tickets were a little expensive for Brazil standards, it was well worth it.
I could go back to the Sambadromo every year forever and be a happy woman. It was exactly the way I imagined it, and better. It lives up to the hype. I learned a little bit about the desfilas that I didn’t know. The Carnaval Sambadromo event lasts like 5 days, ending with the semifinals and the desfilas of champions. We went during one the “regular” days, and it was still incredible. Each night starts at 9pm and goes until like 2 or 3 am. 5 or 6 samba schools get to perform each night. Each samba school has 45 minutes to go through the entire Sambadromo (or the parade pavilion thing). This is a closed event, and you need a ticket to get in. While our ticket was the front row, you can sit in the grandstand bleachers for a much cheaper price, you just don’t get to see the details as closely. During the 45 minutes, the samba school has hundreds and hundreds of people, from dancers to people in costumes, to the iconic men and women in sparkly bikinis and giant feather pieces. Don’t forget the drummers and the musicians. They also have parade floats and float handlers as well as security. It is a spectacle.
Once one Samba school goes through, there is a 15 minute break in between where a team of sweepers come through and cleans the route of all the feathers and gems that have fallen off so the next school has a clean path. And then it starts all again.
The actual performance is awesome. Each samba school tells a story, whether it’s a specific history of Brazil or something else. Also each samba schools sings and performs the same song for 45 minutes. I didn’t catch on to that part until like the 4th show I saw. The songs change from school to school, but you can really learn the music if you pay attention, like I clearly did not. But it’s not dull because you are watching different segments of the show, the dancers followed by the lines of people in matching costumes, followed by the floats, and then a new batch.
Like the Brazil I know and love, everything is colorful and bright and cheery. The Sambadromo is a must. That being said… it is full of tourists. I mean, for good reason, but we were surrounded by non-Brazilians in our expensive section. The Brazilians would have been up and dancing like Robin, Priya, and myself were because (duh) we are Brazilian now. It’s okay, we brought the party.
We were lucky to be next to a box that were press passes! They had incredible cameras and took all the photos and videos. Sapuquei sat next to us, and I made friends with the young woman (naturally) and now we are instagram friends. Also bonus, I didn’t feel like I needed to record everything that was happening, but rather just enjoying it because they were taking way better footage, and I could just look at their page later. (If you scroll down a little bit to February- that’s when all of their Sambadromo content was posted.)
I’m going to share a few links here of the night we went.
I don’t know how these people didn’t get sick
I think my mom would like this one
Watch the speed at which she Sambas! This is a great example of how fast all the dancers Samba!
If you can’t tell, I absolutely loved it. I would recommend going, but be careful about where you buy your tickets. My group got scammed out of our first batch of tickets- they sent me an email 2 days before saying they couldn’t get the tickets and would refund us… and I have yet to see that money. 😦 But we were able to scramble last minute and still get great seats and tickets, thanks to Robin. I don’t know how we could’ve done it better, because all of the ticket sites look the same, and none are truly official. That’s the worst thing that happened to us during Carnaval, no one was robbed, we drank and had a good time and were overall very safe. We did look out for each other and took some safety precautions, as you should do no matter what country or festival you attend. (I’m trying to erase the stigma that Brazil isn’t safe people. It’s honestly a wonderful place to be.)
A quick aside for my wardrobe malfunction. I had bought a very cute gem-bedazzled bikini top to wear at the Sambadromo. I was ready with my glitter and skin- it’s Brazil baby! Well… it didn’t make it to the Sambadromo. We went to a street bloco party beforehand to get in the mood, and the strap snapped off. A nice clean break. Robin leant me his shirt while we looked for a fix. It’s Rio! There were people selling things everywhere. Except no costumes. So I ended up buying the above blue child-sized skirt and using it as a shirt. Whatever, I made it look like fashion. On this trip is also when I learned the Brazilian-Portuguese expression of “perrengue chique” which essentially is what happened with the top situation, it’s like a glamorous messy chaos event.
The other part of Carnaval is the street bloco parties. The bloco parties are for the young and strong because it is HOT, very crowded with people, and lots of sweaty bodies touching each other. Lots of dancing, lots of people kissing people, and a general rowdy time. I’m glad I went, and I had a lot of fun, but these ones are not for the faint of heart, or the ones who don’t like crowds. The street blocos are where a ton of people show up to walk with a band very slowly down the street. There is lots of drinking involved, and take my advice, beware of the tubes of cachaça. The tubes took my group from 0-100 really quick. It’s just a meter long plastic tube filled with probably the crappiest cachaça and colored a bright neon pink or green. Drinking just a little bit made all of us much more hungover the next day. (Speaking of- if you’re a rookie to Brazil reading this- go to the pharmacy and get ENGOV. It’s a miracle pill that Brazil must be keeping secret from the world, but each little packet has 2 pills. You take one before you start drinking, and the second after you get home, and you wake up with no hangover. It’s essentially like headache, nausea, and stomach settler medicine rolled into one. Trust.) ENGOV didn’t stand a chance against the tubes though.
If you show up to Rio for Carnaval without anything to wear- you’ll be just fine. You can buy all sorts of accessories on the street, Priya and I loved the earrings we were able to buy for 10 reais.
I loved Rio before Carnaval, and I love it afterwards too. Thanks for stopping by!
seekingmygreaterperhaps 
Wow – what a time you had – Woo Hoo!
Dad
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