After deciding to take the plunge alone and heeding the advice of rio-carnival.net on safe and accessible places to stay I booked my hostel in Copacabana (& spent my remaining days in England with Barry Manilow playing repetitvely in my head). Copacabana did not dissappoint. Turning the corner & seeing the fine sands and azul waters of Ipanema, it was easy to see why the majority of travellers preferred it to Copa. However it had a charm that fixated me. Copacabana is a people watchers beach - all backgrounds of people parade themselves along the (3km?) of sand. Strolling in the warm breeze you pass a flurry of favela kids, mothers meetings and the bronzed and beautiful refining their pecs. You can sense the era's of magnificence that the playa has seen when looking up at the Copacabana Palace Hotel which offers a sense of nostalgia mixed in with the ever more modern rich and beautiful faces of Rio!
After dreaming of Rio Carnaval for what seemed like an age, having Barry Manilow's Copacabana be the soundtrack to my travel planning and feeling bubbles of joy when I felt others jealousy of my adventure it was probably fair to say my expectations of Carnaval were pretty high.
Sambadromo (the main carnaval parade) was such a spectacular, each float gettin bigger and better as the hours ensued. The women glistened with jewels and the floats moved and shook as the beats pushed them down the parade route. The event itself however was not what I expected, with hot dogs and beer on sale and Brazilian families bringing picnics with them, the whole thing felt much more like a football game than a party. The programme provided lyrics to the songs which I tried and failed to follow and as each samba school passed, different sections of the crowd supported their favourites. I expected couples to be dancing together, however with so many people this was obviously impossible and so instead a lot of fist pumping anf flag waving was the way to go. With a break of about half an hour in between each samba school this killed the party mood somewhat, however did allow for much needed toilet and beer breaks. If anything just for the feeling of being sat in the sambadrome with what seemed to be the entire population of Brazil was quite an overwhelming feeling, and I was there until 6am, so I was obviously having a pretty good time... and apparently J-Lo and Fergie where there!! Gutted I didnt spot them! My favourite part of each march was by far the drumming section, intense! The real spirit of Carnaval however is in the Bloca's, street parties that are programmed to occur all over the city, some parading and moving (similarly to Notting Hill) and some simple parties in squares with trumpets, drums or soundsystems. I think it helps if you know the band or soundsystem playing as to whether or not its worth going but the general atmosphere is certainly uplifting! Link to Facebook Photos After arriving in Rio and sorting out the financial woes of having all of my bank cards cancelled I settled in to my hostel dorm and made a mental list of thethings I had to check of the bucket list. My first inclination was to get the tourist hotspots done so that I could enjoy my time in Rio and try to settle in to the travelling lifestyle. CHRIST THE REDEEMER & SUGARLOAF At approximately the same price for each it would be fair to see why some people only choose to do one of these two biggies. Personally however I would disagree. Cristo was my least favourite of the two, however there was no way I was going to miss it. Swarming with tourists (probably more so than usual because of Carnaval) it was almost impossible to get the obligatory Christ shot and the view, though amazing from such a height was more of an overview than a sit back, relax and enjoy affair. That said I just had to go and do it. Sugarloaf on the other hand was much more pleasant, and you could sit for as long as you wished taking in the view and relaxing in the sunshine. CENTRO - A cultural stop at Museo del Arte. Centro is a great commercial area housing some beautiful and historical buildings the Art Museum was a nice chance to get out of the heat and soak up some culture. They had a large collection of Brazilian and South American art ranging from the 17th century to modern art. SANTA THERESA & LAPA By far my favourite area of the city, Santa Theresa is a series of cobbled streets covered in art, with a charming mix of mismatched houses and ageing mansions. Myself and my new friend Gudrun decided to walk from Lapa Arches to the top, which we later found out was a journey most people did by bus. After finding ourselves at almost the same height as Cristo (I promise I only exaggerate slightly!) and having not seen a tourist for about 30 minutes we decided to head back. Gasping for agua we desperately tried to communicate "bus?" to an elderly shop keeper to no avail when a delightful lady named Sylvia came to our rescue. A Brazilian married to a Brit she wrote everything we needed to know in my handy notebook and began to talk with joy about the british countryside before giving me her address, email and phone number and inviting me to stay at her house any time. Similarly to a few days before in Banco de Brasil (when I first realised my bank card dilemma) a charming lady had practically pinned me down to tell me about the year she'd spent in the UK studying at the age of 18. With perhaps 0.1% of Rio's inhabitants able to speak english (or at least admitting so!) it was nice to try and communicate with some lovely locals. Making our way down we headed to the Lapa steps, a beautiful stairway covered in mosaic tiles which was used by Snoop Dogg and Pharrel in their music video 'Beautiful'. After sitting on the steps, posing and taking in the chilled out favela style vibe in the middle of the city we had a cocktail down a sidestreet. In the day Lapa looks like an abandoned city, with burnt out doorways and graffiti covered walls. However at night, and on Fridays especially, Lapa is the place to party! Thousands of locals & tourists alike spill under the arches for a crazy party. TOP TIP Dont take your valuables to Lapa at night - just a stash of cash in your shoe! It gets pretty crazy! | ArchivesFebruary 2013 CategoriesAll |
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