Rio de Janeiro
February 21 - I slept very well on the night plane from Quito to Sao Paolo. We arrived on time, around 8:30 A.M. G and I groggily gathered our packs, deplaned, and made our way through customs and security. The Sao Paolo airport was crammed full of people, and our lounge was sadly closed due to a recent storm, so we found our gate that was standing room only. We waited for about half an hour when we realized our gate changed, so we went to the new gate and boarded shortly after to head toward our destination, Rio de Janeiro. I fell asleep again before the plane took off and didn't wake up until we were landing. G wasn't as fortunate, but still slept some.
As we were landing, I observed Rio did not look as glamorous as I had imagined. Sure, the cloudy weather didn't help, but the water was brown and I could tell from the plane. Once we arrived, we drank some coffee at Starbucks, then found the Uber pick up area. Since we were staying when Carnival was going on, the best hotel we could find was about 30 minutes away located in Niteroi, across the bay from Rio proper.
During our Uber ride, G and I both noticed how everywhere we were driving looked run down, even the areas with beautiful architecture. Most buildings had at least some graffiti on them, and not the pretty kind. Our Uber driver seemed nice. He gave us some helpful tips on places he liked to go and how to stay safe. He also offered to drive us again if we wanted a familiar face and he would offer us a good price, so we saved each other's phone numbers in WhatsApp and we told him we may take him up on it.
We made it to our hotel, H Niteroi, which was very nice, though the area around it seemed as sketchy as everywhere else we saw. So, we decided to explore the hotel and stay there for the rest of the day. We were also still very tired. You can only sleep so well on airplanes, so a long nap was in order. After we woke up, we ate dinner at the hotel, which was really good. We opted for the buffet over the menu, and the buffet had anything you could want. After dinner, we worked on updating social media some, and then went back to sleep.
- T
February 22 - We woke late and having finally caught up on our sleep descended from our room on the 13th floor to the restaurant for breakfast. Once again the food was excellent. The complimentary buffet breakfast was extensive with every variety of breakfast food one could reasonably ask for. After breakfast, we kicked around ideas for what we wished to accomplish during our time in Rio. High on my list was seeing the Samba dancers at the Sambodromo where they perform for Carnaval.
Now, if you are unaware of exactly what Carnaval is, allow me to clarify. The word Carnaval itself is the combination of two base Latin words (carne vale) which meant "farewell to meat". This farewell was due to the beginning of the Catholic tradition of Lent. Over time, the meat part didn't matter so much and it became more strongly associated with any sort of "sinful desire". Much like Mardi Gras in the United States, the people of Brazil have made an art of exercising all of their "sinful" desires before the period of lent begins. However, instead of a singular day like Fat Tuesday to extinguish these desires, Brazilians must have felt they needed a bit more time. Therefore, Carnaval begins with a pre-Carnaval the Friday before the Wednesday which begins Lent.
How exactly all of that translated into the amazing artistic performances which occur during this period, you'll have to research on your own. We set out to determine the best way to attend the performances. T kicked into high gear analyzer mode, a definite step below crisis mode, but none the less she began tearing through information search for our best option. A short time later we had purchased a pair of reasonable tickets unfortunately in separate sections of the Sambodromo. These tickets needed to be claimed in person at the Israeli Brazilian Society in Copacabana, a significant distance away. So, once again we called upon Uber.
The way to the Society afforded us a brief glimpse of the floats for the Sambodromo and our driver happily slowed down enough for us to capture some video of them going by. The rest of the drive was a maze of loops and still more views of buildings that seemed tired at best and downright dangerously ominous at worst. Though buildings are not all telling, they are often a reflection of the state of affairs in a location. At the beginning of our drive a group of six to eight children in an age range of 7-13 years old, made their way in between the cars of stopped traffic at a light. Immediately, our driver locked the doors of the car.
I watched his eyes quickly take note of the locations of the children and he remained somewhat tense until the light turned green and we were on our way again. The children had used limes to perform juggling acts in front of cars so I asked him why he had reacted in the manner in which he did. His reply was that the area we had been forced to stop in was not altogether very safe (which I had gathered) and that the children could not be trusted. Later that evening I looked further into this and found an article titled Where children rule with guns the article went on to express the tragic state of violence in Rio de Janeiro which while written in 2017 and there has been some "improvement" in the situation since its writing seemed to remain still accurate enough for our Uber driver to react in the manner he did.
The rest of the drive to Copacabana was without incident, and arriving at the Israeli Brazilian Society we quickly found our way to claim our tickets. The way was a little confusing, but fortunately, the society had posted individuals to guide us. When claiming our tickets the young woman helping us took note of the fact that we were in different sections and stated that she may be able to fix that for us. Miraculously, she was able to change our seating location and we left happy that we would be able to stick together.
Our return journey to the hotel was made in a bumpy little fiat which had been fitted with natural gas power. Our driver, a plump Brazilian man with braces was cheerful enough and in spite of heavy rain and the twisting double backs of the Rio roads saw us safely back to our hotel. We spent a little while eating dinner and preparing for the night's festivities. We called upon the services of our original Uber driver and at 7:23 PM he arrived to take us.
It took nearly two hours to find an area close to our section of the Sambodromo. We were dropped very near a temporary catwalk which took us into the festival area. Once there we made our way via the posted signs to our section of the Sambodromo. Once through the security metal detector checkpoint, we breathed a sigh of relief. We had made it past more than a few shady characters and muggings at knifepoint we were told are common. So, the relative safety from such an occurrence was a welcomed change. Hearts lightened we found our way to our seats. Less than an hour later the parades began!
As we waited for the performances to begin, people bearing every bizarre outfit imaginable came filing in. One particular favorite of ours was a group wearing off white outfits that had colorful pineapples printed at random directions all over them. Some of them also had bedazzled faces and glitter on them. One particular character of note was an older Brazilian man with blue glittered hair, tall and lanky with a low pouch of a tummy. As the Samba music began (well before the performers started their entrance) our blue-haired character began to dance. Gyrating in ways I was not aware the human body capable of he quickly drew the attention of most, if not all, the people surrounding him. Amid, gleeful cheers he commanded the audience and even earned a free beer from the VIP section above him. It seemed he loved every minute of it and indeed earned every drop of admiration and beer which he received. As the announcer began to introduce the first Samba school to perform he rejoined the rest of the pineapple brigade to enjoy the show.
The sheer splendor and magnificence of the costumes, performers, music, and the floats can't be overstated. Beginning at 10:15ish PM it held us in rapture from then until 1:30 AM. I cannot through the medium of writing even attempted to describe all of the marvelous colors and designs. Therefore I will simply refer you to photographs included. At 1:30 AM only the 3rd of 6 schools to perform had completed its performance. It was at this time that we decided to call it a night as the rain, which had been ever-present in one form or another since our arrival in Rio began to return in a heavier manner.
So, left the dazzling world of performance and light behind us to re-enter the night. After exiting the security area, we passed as quickly and quietly as possible to our prearranged pick up spot by the base of the catwalk we had entered and waited. We waited for much longer than desired or expected but after a half an hour we entered once more the black car by which we had arrived. At this point, the excitement began to slip away and we found ourselves happy to find our hotel bed waiting for us upon our return.
- G
February 23 - We awoke quite late, but still in time to catch the tail end of breakfast. After once again consuming a marvelous meal we slipped back to our room for another nap. When we awoke we found the rain still present.
We had considered taking some time to visit Christ the Redeemer (The Iconic statue of Christ which overlooks Rio de Janeiro) but with the driving rain, we decided it would be unlikely we would be able to see it clearly even standing at its base. Demotivated by the rain, we opted to spend the remaining portion of the day writing and working in our room.
- G