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!