Its now day 4 (I think) in Rio and it really has been quite some time since i've posted anything to the site. I had been waiting for a quiet, hangover-free day to sit down and do some writing. However, I now realise that this day will not come, so its time for another entry.

Rio!

It has certainly been a pretty tough few days seen through a haze of Caipirinha. Street Party follows Beach Party follows Drum Procession... and the loop goes on. The best party day so far for me was Saturday/Sunday. Started as a night street party in Lapa leaving there at around 6am heading a few blocks across town to find a Bloco Street Procession dancing through the narrowest of streets in clouds of confetti, everyone in the most bizzare costumes, to a main square where a number of Blocos where converging for another party which was just starting at 8am and so it goes on! Quite a surreal experience! By 11am I simply had to get give up and go to bed (at least for a couple of hours :-))

Spooky!

Tonight i'm heading to the BIG show piece of the Rio Carnaval - The Sambodromo. Tonights Parade has been sold out for some time but I managed to get a ticket from a tout for an inflated price. Still its another 'must' for being in Rio. I'll let you know how it all works out. Not sure if i'm going to take my camera or not.

Still a few tourist sites to fit in between the parties and quality hangover time. I have been to visit J.C up on the hill, but unfortunately he was having quite a cloudy day. Although I think the clouds did add a little to the experience as he mysteriously appeared 'floating' out of the clouds (revealing himself in mysterious ways!). Still on the cards is Sugarloaf Mountain and a football game at Maracana Stadium (I believe they have a game against Venezuela on Wednesday.) I have to admit to not being much of a football fan, but its supposed to be an 'electric' atmosphere at Maracana. Its has an all seated capacity of 95,000!

Moments of Clarity

I`m probably going to leave Rio on the 22nd February and I was originally going to head straight from Rio to Argentina, but I think a few days post-carnaval chill (read `recovery/Caipirinha Rehab`) somewhere could be a very good idea! The small town of Paraty comes highly recommended for such occasions. I am starting to get a little `beached out` so the inland route into Argentina via Iguacu Falls will be a welcome change of scene.

Posted by Russ Jones at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well it was a 'tough' week and I must admit that I am now officially 'all partied out', but the Rio Carnaval will always be a very fond memory (with some rather grey blurry bits :-))

I had high expectations of the parade at the Sambodromo (the most famous of the Carnavals MANY events) and i'm very happy to say that they were exceeded. The Monday show started at 9pm and went on until 6:30 am and that was just 1 of the 4 days featuring only 7 of the many Samba schools. Each Samba school was quite literally a cast of THOUSANDS!. I can't begin to describe the size and complexity of the mechanised floats, but I took stacks of photos and quite a few little videos clips so as soon as I decide on the best way to embed the video, i'll post some up on the site.

Outside of the big Sambadromo event there are parties and street parades (blocos) all over the city. Almost every night the celebrations were finishing around 6:00 - 7:00am (for me that is) and you could always find something else to go on to. I'm glad its only a week long as I couldn't physically manage any more :-)

Sunset Over Rio

I managed to squeeze in a few of the other famous sites including a visit to Sugarloaf Mountain which affords stunning views over the city and the statue of Christ. Also, a visit to the Maracana Football Stadium to watch the local favorite Flamengo versus the Venezuelan team of Maracaibo. Much to my relief, Flamengo won 3-1. The game was reasonable enough (not that I know anything about football), but more dramatic was the home crowd. Large Brasilian drum bands played throughout the game, there seemed to be 2 complete sections dedicated to flag wavers and I'd say some competition for who has the largest flag! Smoke bombs, flares and full grandstand sized banners were dragged out for post goal celebration.

The downside of the game was that I got my pocketpicked. When I returned to my seat after half time, the rear zip pocket was undone and the lining hanging fully outside! The good news was that the pocket they chose was an empty one, the other rear pocket had some cash in it - lucky me!

So, I have now left Rio and made my way 4 hours south to the small peaceful town of Paraty. Basically a place to rest and recover, get rid of the 'party-lag' and transform from nocturnal party person back into regular backpacker.

Its been a very restful 3 days in Paraty and tomorrow i'll be back on the road again. Its a LONG bus marathon that lies ahead: 6 hours to Sao Paulo, 3 hours in the bus station and then another 18-20 hours onwards to Foz do Iguacu (Spectacular Water Falls on the Brasil/Argentine Border). So, by Tuesday I should be in Argentina.

Posted by Russ Jones at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)