Carnival 2024

@john8670, I have jotted down my experience on this thread -> https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 7#5859265.

Hope that this helps.

I do not celebrate Carnaval ( It is not Carnival, btw ).

Why????

Try these...

1.The Rio's Parade is bankrolled by organized crime. Your number's game racket, your dope peddlers. it is a well know fact.  In fact, even the TV showings through Globo  are,  IMHO, purse comatose.

2.The ballrooms are a place for adventurous bachelors and a place for rape and misoginy.  I am single, but I won't dare setting foot in those place. If you find a woman there, or you have a woman, there is a good chance you will end up in a knife fight. 

3.The street blocks, are, for most part, a healthy manifestation of celebrating carnaval. They tend to be spontaneuous.

4.The Street Celebrations in the Northeast of the Country ( Bahia,. Pernambuco ), are not the claustrofobic or the faint of  heart.

5.Drug consumption is at all time right. So is petty crime, arrests, violence.

6.,End destination cities for Carnaval , they are invaded by hordes of tourists, and every must have item ( food, beverages, lodging, night out ) is a license to gouge. 

7.When Carnaval breaks, all of the sudden I have my hometown all by myself. Why bother to get in line , sitting on iddling traffic, getting gouged. ?

Southern Brazil barely celebrates the date., They rather take the days off for granted.

@john8670, I think that @sprealestatebroker is kinda right w.r.t what the locals also think of carnaval.

My wife and I were also intrigued by the whole phenomenon.  My journey is reflected in my numerous questions / responses in the forums.

What I have discovered from first hand experience of the event...

Plus

• Carnaval is a spectator sport and Brazilians who are in this activity are proud of their school and love to cheer for their teams.
• Each school is not a samba school per se.  It's is more of a social club.
• The actual carnaval defilé in the sambadrome is quite amazing in terms of size, amount of preparation, colors and sound.
• The amount of effort, skill, and ingenuity expended by the participants - most of them volunteers - is quite amazing.  It must have taken several thousand of man-hours for each school to prepare to traverse the 900 m of the sambadrome in the allotted 60 - 75 mins.

Minus

• As a tourist, you are the "economic grease" of the whole thing.  You will get squeezed for everything.  I purchased the numbered bleachers, wanted the camarotes, but could not get the tickets.  Camarotes are essentially VIP suites with air conditioning, bad food and drinks, and watching from TVs.  The tourist bleachers were the most boring area to be in as everyone was stuck to their location and mixed with other tourists - not locals.  It was definitely not as fun as being with the locals.  Attending carnaval as a tourist is way more expensive and less fun as getting in as a local.
• The food and drinks are really bad and expensive.  Nothing worse than bad vodka.
• The best seats tend to be given rather than sold and, as a tourist, not available to you.
• Transportation to and from the event is a zoo.  Don't expect to have a fixed time to get there or when you will get back.
• You will suffer sensory overload if you want take in the whole carnaval parades the whole night.  There is simply too much activity to focus on everything at the same time.
• You will not be able to even guess which school will win.  The rules are complex and the whole game is probably rigged - probably by the same criminal racket mentioned by @sprealestatebroker.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, carnaval was a bucket list item for me and it is now checked.  If I had to do it again, I would not do carnaval as a tourist.  It is way more fun to participate as a volunteer and mix with the locals - but this would involve joining a school and committing to the preparation for 1 year.  If you can do this, you will probably make the connections within the school and you would possibly get a ground floor up and close view of the participants.

I did attend a few blocos and this is where singles want to meet and greet around really nice free dancing music.  But the drinks are not that great and I was not interested in becoming a target for the organized teams of pick-pocketers - and piranha ladies.

However, Rio is a beautiful city with lots to see and do.  And I spent much of my non-carnaval time exploring the various districts of Rio.  But you should probably do this during non-carnaval time as the city will be 3 times less crowded / crazy / expensive.

In conclusion, now that I have done the carnaval as a tourist, I feel a lot like @sprealestatebroker and long term expats - it's more pomp and circumstance.  Unless you want to participate - in which case, it would be worth your while to do the equivalent of the full monty.  From what I can see, the samba dancers are sure willing to go that far...

Expert locals, I don't think that I am exaggerating - but if I am, please do correct me.

Pablo888.........

I have never gone to carnival in 23 years..........it's just like the Calgary Stampede was..........time to get outta town !!!

We watch the escolas on TV until early morning.

Funny that you can discern the quality of vodkas, as I too have that "skill"..........

02/18/24 @Pablo888.  I read your thread with interest, and think that you captured the essence in your summary above. 

In the '70s I did Carnaval in Salvador and danced behind the Trios Elétricos with the best of them.  Sweaty fun. 

In 2015 I went to the desfiles in the Sambádromo in Manaus, and got rained on all night.  Once is enough. 😂

In 2016 we had a visitor from the US and did Street Carnaval, still my favorite.

Nowadays I mostly sit it out, but still enjoy the energy of the days.  So glad that you had such a good experience.

I am also an observer of Carnaval from the sidelines until I get my old knees rebuilt (crowds on weak knees are difficult). Like AB3 I've done my research in the streets around Brazil, from Fortaleza to Santos and everything in between and my favorite street party for Carnaval is Recife/Olinda...... but I'm open to reconsidering............

A close friend from Fortaleza is a photographer and a champion at capturing the spirit of the Maracatu of Fortaleza. Luiz has an eye for capturing the essence of very popular festivities and has long focused on Fortaleza. Luiz's husband hails from my city and I used to assist in the organization of what used to be the "in person" Encontro da Nova Consciência, an "ecumenical" event that was the most inclusive gathering of diverse thought I have ever witnessed and participated in. Luiz carries on that "eye for diversity" and captures bits and pieces from the Fortaleza region.

As advice before you look at Luiz's pictures, consider that "blackface" does not always mean the same in different parts of the world. In Fortaleza, their use of blackface (since Maracatu Az de Ouro, created in 1936), is not derogatory mimicry, an empty imitation or insult, but is a form of reverence, affirmation, consecration of African origin. See more on Instagram at @luizalvesartefoto.

For those newer to Brazil, you may have wondered what the name "trio elétrico" (those monster music platforms on wheels) comes from. Well, in 1950, three friends (a trio) got together (Salvador) and mounted their band on an old (1929) Ford to play their electric instruments for the fellow partiers. Dodô (radio technician), Osmar (a mechanic) & musician Temístocles started a trend that just keeps growing. I prefer the sinuous streets of old Recife & Olinda where vehicles aren't needed nor practical.

mberigan