Carnival in Rio De Janeiro
Sunset in Ipanema, Rio De Janeiro
Met Kate at the Airport in Rio and went straight to our hostel (Che Lagarto Ipanema) to be told that we couldn’t check in til 2pm – I swear all internet sights lie, it was supposed to be 24 hour check in! All in all the hostel was fab though, the only problem with it was the air con was only on from 7pm til 7am – not much use when your out til 6am most nights! So basically only got a couple of hours sleep most nights before waking up with sweat dripping off you!! By the end of the week I was pretty worn out and am hoping the toucan tour we are doing is gonna be a bit less challenging!
The main highlight of Rio for me was Ipanema beach and the fab beach party they had there one night after a bloco (street party) which was unexpected cos we knew nothing about it until we got there and then ended up there til 6am and watched the sunrise and saw in the arrival of Kate’s birthday. Well I did anyway – Kate passed out very drunk on some poor guy’s lap, it was allowed though as it was her birthday. It was a great night but the next day was not so good, felt rough and nackered and couldn’t sleep in our stupid sweat pit of a hostel and still haven’t managed to get rid of the sand from that night yet – it just gets everywhere!
That night was Kate’s birthday meal, about 10 of us went for a fab meal and we organised a suprise dessert and candle – she was so nackered from the night before she actually fell asleep at the table, then we went off to the Sambadrome for some more carnival fever.
It was amazing how much effort was put into all the floats and costumes etc. There were 7 schools each night and each school had about 6 floats and hundreds and hundreds of people all dressed up differently and dancing. Each school took about 75mins to get from one end of the Sambadrome to the other (it is basically like the biggest catwalk in the world) and it goes on until about 6 / 7am in the morning but Kate and I were so knackered we ended up going back to the hostel for 2pm for a few hours decent sleep while the air con was on! It was pretty impressive but I think I would have preferred the carnival in Salvador, Olinda or Recife where it is not so much a spectator thing but you are actually a part of the carnival and there is other stuff going on not just samba. Next Year it will be Olinda for carnival without a doubt!
Other amazing things were the statue of christ at Corcovada and Sugar Loaf Mountain, both had amazing views over all of Rio. The most fun though was getting there with this mad taxi driver who was driving far too fast up all the steep windy cobble roads and overtaking on corners – I think Kate was more worried than me as I have had longer to get used to the terrible driving, but it was pretty scarey!
Decided to treat ourselves towards the end of the week and take a walk along Copacabana beach and to the Copacabana Palace hotel for a Kir Royal and some smoked salmon and parma ham (the cheapest thing on the menu!!)
Tags: carnival, Rio de Janeiro, Travel, Travelling
Aymi
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