carnival has arrived
... and I wasn't referring specifically to the freaks that showed up (i.e., me) a few months ago. This is the Brazilian carnival you hear about going on most often in Rio. But Brazilians and others in the know (such as astute travelers like myself) that the best carnival is in Salvador. And it really is, like the biggest party in the world. More on that later.
Last night was the first night and my neighborhood, which happens to be the center of everything, was packed. People had camped out earlier in the day to get a spot to sell things like food and beer, and when my brother and I arrived from the beach last night around 8 there were crowds of people, mostly younger folks, swarming towards Farol da Barra, which is the lighthouse that's across the street from where I live and is one of the centers of carnival activity.
U2 was also here, I should mention. When I went to pick up my brother at the airport (he's staying for the week) on Wednesday, there were about 20 teenagers waiting to welcome Bono & Co. here (20 people? that's the best you people can do?) along with a bunch of TV cameras. I don't have time to explain now, unfortunately, but the whole superfan / TV promotion combo, complete with the guy who was apparently appointed to rev up the crowd, was humilitating.
One of the few intelligent things I did before carnival started was to buy a plastic stool which my brother and I were sharing to stand up on and look out the tiny ventilation window of my bathroom which faces the street where all of the carnival floats go by. This was pretty cool, because we were able to see what was making the *incredibly* loud music coming from the street and take some mildly lame pictures of people dancing in the streets around the floats.
We were exhausted from the inanely long bus ride to and from the beach (which was almost worth the trip) so we actually went to bed kind of early, despite all the really loud music. I had previously been a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to sleep through it, but you can always count on laziness to pull through - I slept like a baby. And this morning, surprisingly, everything was dead quiet - only the occasional rustling of people sleeping on cardboard on the sidewalk changing position. My brother and I will be participating in one of the blocos tonight, which promises to be *awesome*. There is much, much more to write about, but with him here and all of the other stuff to do, it's hard to keep up with the writing. Much more later.
Last night was the first night and my neighborhood, which happens to be the center of everything, was packed. People had camped out earlier in the day to get a spot to sell things like food and beer, and when my brother and I arrived from the beach last night around 8 there were crowds of people, mostly younger folks, swarming towards Farol da Barra, which is the lighthouse that's across the street from where I live and is one of the centers of carnival activity.
U2 was also here, I should mention. When I went to pick up my brother at the airport (he's staying for the week) on Wednesday, there were about 20 teenagers waiting to welcome Bono & Co. here (20 people? that's the best you people can do?) along with a bunch of TV cameras. I don't have time to explain now, unfortunately, but the whole superfan / TV promotion combo, complete with the guy who was apparently appointed to rev up the crowd, was humilitating.
One of the few intelligent things I did before carnival started was to buy a plastic stool which my brother and I were sharing to stand up on and look out the tiny ventilation window of my bathroom which faces the street where all of the carnival floats go by. This was pretty cool, because we were able to see what was making the *incredibly* loud music coming from the street and take some mildly lame pictures of people dancing in the streets around the floats.
We were exhausted from the inanely long bus ride to and from the beach (which was almost worth the trip) so we actually went to bed kind of early, despite all the really loud music. I had previously been a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to sleep through it, but you can always count on laziness to pull through - I slept like a baby. And this morning, surprisingly, everything was dead quiet - only the occasional rustling of people sleeping on cardboard on the sidewalk changing position. My brother and I will be participating in one of the blocos tonight, which promises to be *awesome*. There is much, much more to write about, but with him here and all of the other stuff to do, it's hard to keep up with the writing. Much more later.
posted by n10471 at 9:46 AM
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