Of Rio de Janeiro, A Cidade Maravilhosa and the Carneval

CARNEVAL!!!!!

So I've arrived amongst the lush vegetation framed by montains and ocean that is the wonderful Rio de Janeiro and I couldn't have chosen a better time, because the Carneval has just started.
The fattest kid in town has been named king of the Carnival, and together with two godesses who are elected the Queen and Princess of the Carneval they have received the keys of the city and the party has begun.

Just to prove I was actually there :D

The city is vibrating to the sound of samba, but to more degrees than just meets the eyes. There is an electricity in the Air, an underground vibration that seems to go unobserved by many people who have travelled here just for the party.

I cannot expect to understand it but I have started to think of myself as an adopted child of this city. There is a pride in the voice of the cariocas when they talk about the Carnival.

On Sunday we decided to go search for a ticket for the monday night and whilst we were at it we met up with some friends of Achille's.Two of these had been judges of the Carnival at some stage, so they were experts in all that was Carneval.

So we roamed the streets outside the Sambodromo and scored every detail of each float whilst chewing on Grilled Cheese, Hot Dogs and sipping cokes and beers.It was a great night, at the end we found a Stage 1 ticket and I was psychologically ready to attack the Carneval the next day.

But first let me explain how the Carnival works, because I imagine many (as didi I), just think of it of a state-promoted attraction for tourists and alike. Boy is this off the mark!

The carnival is a competition amongst the schools of Samba, and its not for the faint hearted either. Each school prepares a theme and a song (samba naturally). Then the school creates the floats, the Fantasias (costumes), prepares the Batteria (the band) and sends out offers to famous and beautiful samba-loving women to act as Madrine (godmothers) to the various sections of the parade.

The parade of the Scuola de la Samba de los Trees Huggeros

The parade lasts 2 nights, each night 6 samba schools parade, they have 50 minutes from when the parade starts to when it ends for all of its people and floats to be on the Avenida, which is the road that runs through the Sambodromo, the immense concrete structure that was designed and built specifically for the Rio Carneval and which accomodates some 200,000+ people.

Each samba school has somewhere between 6 and 8 of the most spectacular floats in the world, with people dancing from top to bottom. Between the floats there are Alas (wings), which consist of people dressed with a particular costume and which all dance to the rythm of the Batteria; but don't think that this is the Moskow ballet, the paraders must move at a specific speed, to make sure that no time is wasted, but that the 50 minute time limit is not overtaken; but apart from that it's wonderfully original and democratic, with everyone dancing in their own style and fashion.

Not the kind of place you want to be if you've been substance abusing...

It sounds chaotic but it's not, its amazing, everyone has a favourite school, but everyone cheers for everyone. At the end of each school huge handfuls of flags of the following school are handed out and people wave with eagerness as if they were born and bred there.

Schools are massive things, the costs of the floats is recovered by selling the Fantasias to people that want to parade, and also by selling places on the floats. In fact it is a social symbol to be on a float as it is an indication of wealth. The only people that do not have to pay for the pleasure of parading are the women that during the year make the Fantasias, and they have a place of honour in the parade with some of the most beautiful and colorful costumes.

So, the Batteria plays on, half the floats and parade walk by, then the Batteria, with the Godmother, move out and start walking down the Avenida, then the other half of the parade follows suit and they parade until the last float closes the line and the Avenida is cleaned up in prepartion for the next school.

But is it all so simple? Of course not, the Floats, for majestic and wonderful such that they are are mechanical, built in pretty much a rush (they have about 6 months to make them and many can be seen getting a finishing touch just as they enter the Avenida), and well, they're made in Brasil... So the result is that they are the huge, friendly, living giants of parade and just like living creatures they move too quickly, too slowly, they stop and break down. All this made more interesting by the fact that the driver cannot actually see where he is going.

The first float of Grande Rio, and one of the most amazing!

Some of the floats are so massive that they cannot turn into the Sambodromo, so they are brought onto the Avenida in two pieces and then assembled on the fly. Others we saw broke down entering the and had to be pushed by hand, one other's steering broke and they had to perform a Austin Powers-like manouvre back and forth to get a 10 ton behemoth into the Avenida with limited steering. Whilst this is going on, the parade cannot wait so there is an increasing gap between the parade and the problematic float. This is one of the best moments of the parade because no float is quite as good as a problematic one.

Just like a problem child, everyone loves the float that breaks down

People cheer their hearts out when a damaged or delayed float finally starts moving and catches up with the parade, its a wonderful sight.

So what about the people watching? One could say that they are faithful to Samba and to the previous winners. They or should I say we, danced all night, from 9 pm when Padre Miguel entered the Avenida till 5 am when the last float from Beija-Flor streamed by.

Amazingly there is not a single person of the 200,000+ smoking joints or cigarrets, or drunk, people just drink a couple of cokes, a beer or two, a few bottles of water and then dance and dance and sing. Sing? Yeah, because the schools publish the songs and play them on the radio weeks before the show, moreover they print a booklet with the songs of all of the schools, so you can just read the straight off the page and sing with everyone else, even with a limited knowledge of the Portuguese :P Each song lasts about 3-4 minutes and loops for the entire hour or so of the school's parade.

She turned around as I was taking the pic, so she deserves a mention

By the end you have the sounds of samba in your head and you leave the Sambodromo exausted but thrilled, surrounded by people who head for omnibuses, trains and taxis, still singing the tunes of their favourite schools. So, which was the best school of the ones I saw?

Here's my list
Best Batteria: Padre Miguel

Best Women: Grande Rio
Best Theme: Villa Isabel
Best Song: Imperatriz
Best Broken Float: Villa Isabel
Best Float: 1st float of Grande Rio

Best Over All: Beija-Flor
Most Crowd Inspiring: Beija-Flor

Lets see who wins (Go Beija-Flor or Grande Rio!!)