Carnaval - Oh to be back in Rio!

We just got back from a four hour expedition, second time around, to change the last name on Duang's insurance policy. Sometimes things just take longer than you expect or should take. I guess part of the problem is that there is only one computer terminal for the 5 people administering the policies in the upstairs office. Once you have done your or their thing upstairs, you have to go downstairs and wait to deal with an entirely different group. I waited outside because there were so many people. But in the end our mission was accomplished.

The weather here is getting warmer and the humidity is increasing. In the afternoon the conditions are building up towards the daily thunderstorms that we typically have in April to September. With the time I had waiting at the insurance office, and the changing weather conditions, my thoughts returned to my first stay in Brasil - the time I attended Carnaval in Rio.

This year Carnaval is February 16 to the 23. Sunday and Monday nights are the big Samba Parades at the Sambodromo. The Samba Parades are a combination of the Rose Bowl parade and Super Bowl festivities rolled up into one with the addition of the Brasilian joie de vie. Sorry I meant to write "alegria da vida" - Brasilians speak Portugues not French.

My friend and I flew to Rio de Janeiro to attend Carnaval. We discussed what we wanted to do while in Rio and he had his friend, a travel agent, make the arrangements.

Our celebration of Carnaval actually got started Thursday night in Curitiba where we were living and working. We went to our favorite place for drinks, dancing, and karaoke. With this being Brasil, the party didn't really get started until 10:00 PM. But there is no problem - the party does not end until 7:00 in the morning! Many was the night that we partied until 6:00 AM, stopped at a sidewalk cafe for breakfast, and then returned home. However because we had a 9:00 AM flight to Rio on Friday, we left our favorite or rather infamous haunt at 4:00 AM.

We stayed at a beach front suite at the Le Meridien Copacabana, now the Iberostar Copacabana. It was great - first class accommodations. But with a slight problem - there was only a king sized bed in the suite. Unlike a vast majority of the other men traveling together in Rio for Carnaval, we were not going to be sleeping together - no matter how big the bed was! No problem, we decided to take turns as to which one of us slept in the bed while the other one slept on the floor. The first night - I had the bed.

We took a taxi from the airport to Copacabana Beach where the hotel was located. From the cab driver we got our first bit of excitement regarding the festival. He filled us in on the latest gossip and rumors involving the upcoming samba competition.

We spent the remainder of the day on an arranged tour of the city hitting all the highlights of Rio. It was our first time in the city and even though the weather wasn't great, it was very entertaining. My friend and I are both into photography. We took the cog train up to and down from Corcovado & Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). To ensure maximum photographic coverage for this unknown journey we agreed to split up and sit at window seats on opposite sides of the car. The cog train had wide wooden benches that sat three people across with two benches facing each other in a series along each side of the car. Our tour group as well as the other passengers on the cog train were predominately gay. There was a hetrosexual young couple in our group that stood out. They stood out for reasons more obvious than that they were a mixed couple.

They were a young couple in their early twenties most likely not married from New York City or New Jersey. The man was very attentive and falling all over himself in attempts to appease, please, humor, and satisfy his girl friend. She seemed be overwhelmed, afraid and upset regarding just about all aspects of the trip. She was what we refer to as a "High Maintenance Model". My friend and I took an instant aversion to the couple and took our chances socializing with the "other" members of our tour group. Some of the "other" members were very open and amusing to the point of being very entertaining. One person in particular was also pyrotechnic - he was flaming!

Anyhow on the way down the mountain this person and his "mates" (not in the Australian or New Zealand sense of the word) ended up in the seats in section where I was sitting alone. They started talking and in general being friendly. He ended up saying "Look at that b***h, can you believe anyone wanting her?" Not wanting to appear rude I said "I can't believe that she is worth the effort, the way she acts." He then adds "Yeah and her hair, the clothes she wears" As I am nodding my head in agreement, he continues with "and those muscles" Shocked I inquired if he was talking about a boy or girl. The woman that I was looking at did not have any muscles or at least any visible muscles worth mentioning. He clarified and pointed out to me in the booth in front of hers a young "beach boy" - all prim and prissy. I didn't say a thing to him from that point on. But I was laughing inside.

Leaving our afternoon adventures behind us, my friend and I continued with the evening part of our organized tour. Our afternoon compatriots, well actually only mine since they were from the USA and my friend is from New Zealand, had other plans which they had alluded to upon departing the tour bus. Something about party, we were all invited, Room 902, toys and having batteries. Too much info - Thank God, not any more details.

The evening tour consisted of dinner and drinks at a restaurant - a churrascaria. Churrascarias are Brasilian BBQ restaurants with all you can eat meats, salads, and side dishes. Great places! Tremendous values. Ice cold beers. Who could want anything more?

From the restaurant the tour went to the most popular samba nightclub - "Plataforma". Somehow and some way we ended up in the front row. We drank our caipirinhas and thoroughly enjoyed the show. We were having such a good time that we were not even embarrassed when the mulata topless dancers pulled us on the floor to dance with them. It's true and we have the souvenir photo-plates to prove it.

The first night of of the samba parade was Sunday. On that night, 6 or was it 7 of the top escholas da samba compete. The competition is held at the sambodromo a tiered concrete street structure designed for samba parades. The year that we went the first school marched starting at 7:30 PM. Each of the groups had 85 minutes to complete their parade or points would be deleted from their score. Prior to the start of each group there was a 7 minute long fireworks display to announce their start.

After the fireworks, a man, the puxador, would commence singing the song created for the group specifically for this year's competition. Points are awarded for the song as well as performance of the song. Songs are released in November. By the time of Carnaval in February or March, it seems everyone knows the words to the songs and is fully prepared to sing them at the competition.

The puxador starts out alone singing in almost a lament. He is then joined by a single stringed guitar type instrument that starts building the rhythm. They are quickly joined by other singers and stringed instruments followed by an explosion of the batteria - 200 to 400 drummers. It is absolutely awesome!

Prior to the start of the school's parade their followers had passed through the stands giving people plastic flags of their school's colors and emblem. The audience waves them like fanatics along with singing of the song. They also break out into dancing in the stands. Everyone is out for a good time and determined to enjoy themselves - all night long.

The drumming, music, and singing of the school's song continue over and over for the 85 minutes. It becomes hypnotic and maintains the frenzy for the full length of the allotted time for the parade.

Each escola da samba procession is comprised of the following elements:

Abre Alas - opening wing - the name of the school, the school's theme for this year's carnaval, a truck or float with the puxador and other singers and musicians.

Commissao de Frente - these are the senior citizens of the school. The school is honoring the contributions over the years of its senior members.

Carros Allegoricos - the huge mechanized floats that represent or interpret the theme of the school. These are on a par if not superior to the Rose Bowl parade floats in the USA. They are not possibly superior just because they have semi-nude beautiful women atop them. These floats are large, exotic, sophisticated, and complicated mechanical works of art.

Children's Wing - groups of children in extravagant costumes dancing in unison along the route.

Batteria - 200-400 drummers pounding out a frenzied samba beat. This group is lead by the Raina da Batteria (Queen of the Drummers). She is typically the schools leading lady - the most sexy and beautiful female representative of the escola. The rainha da batteria is the physical representation of the neighborhood's vitality and pride. She is honored and respected throughout the year. Some rainhas have represented their school for 15 years and they are only 32 years old! One rainha, my secret love (Luma), was married to the richest man in Brasil.

Photographs of her "sem calcinhas" (without panties) ala Mrs. Pierre Trudeau (former PM of Canada) during an interview with a newspaper reporter were published in national newspapers. She was upset and said that she would no longer give interviews. The papers said that they would no longer write about her or put her picture in the paper. Her picture and stories about here were rampant in the press. Even in Brasil it is true - any publicity is good publicity. I tried to send word back to here through some Cariocas (residents of Rio) that although I was not the richest man in Brasil or the USA, I could afford and I would buy her panties. I never heard back and have since moved on with my life.

Another wing of the parade is the celebrities. Each school strives to enhance their status by recruiting celebrities to march or dance in their parade. The year we went, super model, Naomi Campbell danced for one of the schools. She was not the best looking woman or dancer of that school - believe it or not! Trust me - I was there.

My next to favorite wing after the batteria is the mestre-sala and porta-bandeira. The mestre-sala is the dance master and he escorts the woman (porta-bandeira) carrying the school's flag. They are very elaborately dressed - sort of like out of a King's court. He looks like a footman from King Louis XIV's court (I know Louis XIV "The Sun King" is a French King and Brasil was a Portuguese colony but I don't know a comparable Portuguese King, am too lazy to look one up, and you most likely wouldn't have an image anyhow). The mestre-sala prances and bows to the crowd as he introduces and presents the porta-bandeira. She resembles a Brasilian interpretation of Marie Antoinette as she twirls and swirls around in a huge hooped skirt elegantly waving the escola flag. The crowd goes crazy over the pair. The flag and the duo represent the pride and dignity of the neighborhood. The inhabitants of the neighborhoods are poor people with limited opportunities. The carnaval is a chance for their neighborhood to earn respect and admiration from all of society.

Alas Baianas - These are women wearing elegant hoop skirts and typically turbans on their heads reminiscent of Aunt Jemima on the pancake mix box. This group honors the origins in the state of Bahia for Brasil's Carnaval. They do not samba - they spin and twirl along the route.

After a school has completed their parade, municipal workers in orange jump suits, sweep up the street to prepare for the next escola. This is Brasil. This is Carnaval. To write that they "sweep" up the litter from the street does not come anywhere near accurate to describe their performance. They dance. They gracefully sweep. They glide effortlessly. They catch debris thrown from the stands. They perform. They bow to the ovations that they get from the appreciative spectators.

The parades started at 7:30 PM, we left after the last escola completed their parade - around 8:00 AM - the next morning. After breakfast we slept to around 2:00 PM made arrangements to attend the second night of parades and did it all over again!

We vowed to return some day with our wives. We have yet to do it.

Oh to be back in Rio at Carnaval!



Maybe next year.