A taste of Carnival

Yesterday was manic. Rio never fails to deliver :-)


I woke up just after 7.30 (early by Rio standards) and had a lot of pent-up energy. Decided to expend that on the tarmac, so put on my running shoes and headed out. Ended up dashing traffic like mad - Tijuca is not an exercise friendly area, but managed to find a nice little park/square nearby which I circumnavigated x10 times.

Got home absolutely drenched. The subtropic climate here (humidity level) is high, so by the time I got back it looked like I had been for a swim. Gross :-( And then I was totally disorientated and went to the wrong floor, trying forever to unlock the door. Became so desperate after ringing the bell forever, that I started kicking the door to get attention (thought Elzi was still sleeping). Then I started praying (had visions of myself dehydrating right there, realising that if there was no-one to open up for me, I would have no access to water (and after losing so much, that was a pressing concern).

City Centre (Centrum) getting ready for Carnival

St Anthony came to my rescue (again) and urged me to look up at the no above the flat. I saw the error of my ways and breathed a great sigh of relief and apologized to the not-at-home Brazilian family for kicking their door & screaming like a coogal for attention.

Anyways, after that experience Elzi and I went to the City Centre, walked around a bit and then had a bite to eat at a buffet style restaurant. I paid R$10 for x5 pieces of sushi and some green salad. Not bad, and the sushi was DIVINE!! Then off to Mark´s hostel in Ipanema, where we hung around with the other travellers until bloco time.

Caption for video: Taste of Bloco at Lagoa, not so many people but awesome Samba band.
My first bloco was in Lagoa - which is on the big river in Rio, in Ipanema. Just a quick definition. A ´bloco´ (pronounced ´bloca´) is a street carnival party, where people dress up, dance like crazy, and you have an energetic Samba band begging you to move your feet as fast as possible. I went right infront of the band to dance, and was swept up up and away by the fury of the beat, the energy and people. Can´t quite describe it, but it must be the best high on the planet. The high of losing yourself in music, in rhythm and just jiving until you can´t anymore.

Needless to say I need new feet. Didn´t help that I went in slip-slops either. Today I will be making an investment in party-friendly shoes, as well as a snackpack extrodinare. Being vegetarian after a late night of partying is not fun, cos one struggles to find stuff to consume. So now I´ll be clever and load my backpack full of goodies which will see me through the early morning hours.


We ended up walking miles last night - one always does here, so my am run was totally unecessary, prior to a night of dancing and walking km´s. We got home after 1.30am, deciding that we needed to save ourselves for tonight and tomorrow - when the action really starts.

Elzi, Greydon, Mark and I - soaked to the bone at Lagoa´s Bloco

Forgot to mention that it rained non-stop last night - we were drenched! Got home with mud caked legs and feet. Luckily I had packed a hat and pullover ´just-in-case´. The weather forecast is grey & overcast for the next few days, apart from Fri & Sat. Hopefully tonight is a dry one.


Tonight we will be going to the City Centre for their boco, and tomorrow to St Theresa - where there are thousands of people! St Theresa overlooks Rio, and is BEAUTIFUL!


Plans for today:
Going shopping for Carnival outfits or atleast accessories, as well as regular shopping. Rio has an AWESOME selection of shoes and bags, which makes maxing out my credit card seem like a good idea. Have to have serious convo with myself that reminding J9 that she´s here to travel & experience - not shop :-/
6pm the City Centre bloco kicks off and then so do we.


Hope I get a surge of new energy soon. The next week is going to be the craziest one of my life.
And I´m learning to adapt in the process :-)