Tuesday 28 February 2017

Favela day... and post-Carnaval hangover


Monday 27th February 2017

Back to the hotel for breakfast and a kip before Jeep tour of the favelas.   Ended up as more of a walking tour and various warnings not to photograph/video in certain areas.  As ever, the majority of residents are hard-working and decent people. Very small minority of hardened drugs dealers.  Each Favela is different and the one we went to on the south side prefer the word ‘community’ rather than ‘favela’ (slum).  Of course we tried the local Cachaças brew in a back-street bar, which somewhat blew my head off and reminded me of neat Poitín. Think it’s better with lime….

Then a nibble of some tasty street food – samosa-style thingys. Space cadet today. Don’t know if it’s the continuing cold, the lack of sleep or the cachacas.  Think I’ll have a glass of wine and decide….

Sunday 26 February (evening)

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval




This blew our minds. Bit of background - on the Friday before Shrove Tuesday, the mayor of Rio hands over the keys of the city to Rei Momo, the Lord of Misrule and a 5x day party ensues.


The Carnaval has Six Samba schools competing, each taking all year to complete their many floats, costumes and dance routines.  Some of these come from the poorest areas of Rio, especially the Favelas.  





Each school has at least 3,000x participants which makes for a massive logistical nightmare.
The best six – Tuiuti, Grande Rio, Imperatriz, Vila Isabel, Salgueiro and Beija-Flor – have been awarded chance to compete tonight on ’Domingo’ i.e. Sunday night considered to be the best night.  The Sambadrome seems to be purpose-built for just the Carnaval and dwarfs Southampton Football Club (mind you, lot of prima donnas here as well), with the numbers it holds (about 82,000 for you stattoes).

We were allocated concrete steps in zone 9, and given a little mat to sit on.  Arrived by 7.30, then found that didn’t start until about 10pm.  Yes, in the evening. It started when normally I’d be considering Horlicks. Then slowly, very slowly, the procession made its way down the runway. The Judges were opposite us, so they tended to stop and show off even more which was fab. They are marked on components such as costume, music and design; deductions for lack of discipline and energy.  Each procession takes between 65 to 80 mins, points are lost if it’s longer.  

Unfortunately during the first parade, it started to rain! Luckily it was still high 20s, so the pack-a-macs were gathering more condensation on the inside.  Also it passed after an hour or so, so we were able to dry off, overnight. Not like UK at all. However, my birthday present came into its own and my treasured possessions (Roberto the Teddy Bear), remained dry.







Talk about the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’!   Each school had a team of about 100x dressed in a theme (not clever enough to work it out), doing their level best to samba their way to victory. Noise level was deafening and my ears are still ringing now from the sounds of the bateria (percussion wing). Attach a few short clips to give an idea of the enormity of it all. After about the third school had gone through (about 2-3am) then some of our party disappeared, and we thought we’d wait for ‘just one more’ (heard that before!). Usual ending resulted with us having a few extra rum and cokes, then trying to cram into some coaches at the finale.  Fairly organised considering the volume of people exiting together. Helped of course by the fact that it was now fully light at 7am. Didn’t think I would be doing any more overnighters – life in the old geezers yet!



















Sunday 26th February 2017 (morning)

Roberto (the South American version of Robert Peel)
- in search of his long-lost cousin Paddington.
Believed lost somewhere in Peru.
Watch his exploits in his sub-blog......

Pau de Acucar (Sugar Loaf), reached by cable car via Morra da Urca. A massive volcanic cone at the entrance to Guanabara Bay – this is what we see each day off to the left of Copacabana Beach.  This made up for yesterday’s tour. Fabulous James Bond-style cable cars with panoramic views across all of Rio. Weather warm (circa 30 deg) but overcast today. Saw a Marmoset and first of many lizards. Also a beautiful red-backed bird (unfortunately that’s the extent of my ornithological prowess, so I’d better find out a bit more during this trip for you twitchers). 

































Saturday 25th February 2017

My birthday!

Birthday present of a rucksack rain cover – let’s see when it is needed first. Rousing chorus when I arrived at breakfast from the various Pommy, Aussie, Kiwi and Canadian entourage.

City Tour – bit of a wash-out really. Drove around in a nice bus to find that the Cathedral was closed due to Carnivale season, as were many of the shops ‘downtown’. Everything boarded up.  Loads of remnants of all-night street parties going on, and not sure whether some were just starting to party or were still going from the night before. Luckily due to my blocked nasal passages I was spared the other street party aftermath. Visited the Lapa staircase (Escadaria) where Gorge Selaron, a Chilean Artist, spent his life collecting tiles, then laid them up, along, and around the previously dilapidated 215 Lapa steps.  Sadly he died on his steps in 2013 (told you that step exercise was dangerous).  Iain was happy taking photos of the outside of the Praca Maua (Museum of the Future) which demonstrated some of the fabulous architecture which was variously on show around the city.

What was shocking though was some beautiful old buildings just being left abandoned and rotting.  
Also our inability to visit the Olympic stadium and buildings which have been left deserted. Probably some government initiative/austerity measures somewhere down the line….



Friday 24th February 2017

All of our travelling team started to arrive from various parts around the globe, in various states of knackered.  So another walk across to Ipanema and found an Arabic eatery to take over and catch up.  Still not getting it, are we?

Sooo…. A day of walking around Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach, soaking up the sun and ogling the various sights on the beach. Wondered why most people were sunning/posing on the beach and not in the sea until we tried a brave paddle – bloody cold! Think Hamble River is warmer.

Met up with Julie Brewster and her mate Rachel – picked up some good tips from their trip in the opposite direction finishing at Rio. Take two Hampshire cops, transport them to Rio and give them the pick of where to eat/drink – and where do we find?  Shennanigans Irish Bar!  One big fat burger and some beers later and felt that we’d managed to get into the right time-zone.

Friday 24 February 2017





Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and not a single game of beach volleyball in site! Linda can be seen groping the guitar man from Ipanema Beach. . The sand was boiling hot (air temperature 35 degrees C) and the sea was the same temperature as Hamble River! Linda is still in the middle of a heavy cold and the remedy was more cocktails in Shenanigan's Irish Bar in the middle of Rio de Janeiro.









Here we are flying to Rio de Janeiro, complete with Roberto, the police bear and Linda's cold.