Rio Fabulous Carnival

As luck would have it our arrival in South America was also when carnival explodes nationwide across Brazil so it was a no-brainer for us to make Rio De Janeiro our first stop. We had seven crazy days in one of the most famous party cities in the world. Cariocas (Rio locals) love to party and during carnival the entire city comes alive to host the world biggest street party. Rio Carneval is not just about the Sambodrome where the cities best samba schools parade, every Rio neighbourhood hosts a bloco (or five) over the four day carnival weekend too.

What’s a Bloco?

Blocos are the main event of Carnival and they happen all over Brazil not just Rio De Janeiro. Samba beats blare from trucks with a 20 piece live band on its roof, whilst a singing and dancing crowd of thousands surround it to join it on its snail (Samba) paced journey through the streets. From toddlers to grandparents everybody gets involved and adorns a mandatory costume of some sorts. We also noticed that carnival was great excuse for the macho latino men to reveal their feminine sides! All blocos are free and usually last from two to four hours, as a tourist the tricky part is finding out where they are and when. We recommend RioTimesOnline as a good resource for nightlife, events and parties although times are not always accurate. 

We were very excited to be in Rio De Janeiro for Carnival to dust off our dancing shoes and experience this fabulously exotic festival that we see every year on the TV. Below is our day-by-day account of Carnival in Rio...

Day One: Wednesday

We emerged from Rio De Janeiro airport very blurry eyed about 4pm after a painfully long 32 hour journey from Kuala Lumpur which consisted of: six hour flight to Dubai, 8 hour stopover in Dubai, 14 hour flight to Rio plus taxis and airport check in time! Outside the airport we were accosted by two friendly Aussies from our flight and shared a cab down to our apartment right next to the Copacabana - the beach made famous in the 70’s by the er, cool(?) singer Barry Manilow. Our apartment was the perfect size for two and we were happy to have our own place for the week, as it was carnival all hotel and hostel rooms were up to four times their normal rate so it was better value to rent an apartment through Airbnb. If you’re heading to Rio for the world cup expect it to be around six times and get booking asap.

After dumping our bags and a quick shower we headed out in search of food, we’d been in Asia the past 3.5 months so were ravenous for steak. Thankfully we were not disappointed by the generous portion for two at Dantes restaurant and with bellies full we headed back to our new pad for a post steak nap. That evening we headed out for a couple of drinks in Copacabana and joined some cariocas in a pavement bar to watch Flamengo win whilst enjoying a few chopps and two very strong cairpirinhas aka the nations favourite cocktail.

Day Two: Thursday

Jet lag woke us at 5am which gave us the perfect opportunity to beat the crowds and head to Christo Redeemer for opening time. We hopped on a local bus outside our apartment to the little train station at the bottom of Corcovado mountain. There was no queue so we were soon at the foot of the impressive statue of Jesus Christ enjoying the fantastic views over the beautiful city below.

After a few pics we opted for 10am beers with a fantastic view over Rio de Janeiro, the landscape is stunning - miles of golden sandy beach edge the city of white and grey high rise blocks, whilst rocky green mountains pop up sporadically to the coast.

Then jet lag struck again so we headed back for an afternoon nap which lasted into the evening, our body clocks were so confused as we were trying to overcome a 12 hour time difference. Anyway we felt pretty spritely after our long disco nap and decided to head out to neighbouring Botafogo for a few drinks. As it was dark we took the safer option of a taxi and were excited to pass by a small but very lively street party outside a bar near to where we were heading - the official start day for carnival was tomorrow but things were happening already. We had a couple of cocktails at a trendy bar before we headed to a club called Casa Matriz, there was a bit of a queue but it was a great place to make some British, Russian and Brazilian queue friends. 

Once inside it was pretty much a house party, the place was rammed and there were many rooms over a couple of floors playing different music from Indie-Pop to Electronica and Hip-Hop. It was extremely good fun and the crowd were very friendly, the bar system was interesting we basically had a sheet of paper and the barman marked off our drinks and then we paid at the till when you left. We danced until about 4am with our new friends and then grabbed a waiting taxi outside with no need to roam the streets to find one. It was a great night and the perfect carnival warm up party!

Day Three: Friday

The first mission of Friday was to navigate our way to Largo Do Marchado and collect our carnival Sambodrome tickets for Monday evening. We used the metro for the first time and like the buses, we felt very safe using it. We’d booked our carnival tickets a couple of months ago via RioCarniva.net and chose grandstand tickets in sector 8. However when we went to collect there was a 'problem' and we couldn’t have the tickets in sector 8 so had to have sector 7 instead. As there wasn’t a lot we could do it about it we accepted the tickets and wonder how many other people had this problem?

That afternoon we slept again - damn you jet lag! For dinner we chose a busy Brazilian/Italian restaurant but what a mistake to make-a! It was the worst Italian food we’ve ever had.

As we headed back to our apartment to get ready for that evenings shenanigans with Fatboy Slim there were lots of carnival revellers in fancy dress on their way to some mysterious party, it turned out there was a bloco happening not too far away in neighbouring Leme. We didn’t have time to go and as Leme is also a Favela we weren’t too disappointed. Besides we already had a party in our sights! The Rio Music Conference was in town and a few big name International DJ’s were in attendance so we made plans to see Fatboy Slim. 

We arrived at the Marina De Gloria around 11.30pm so were early by Brazilian standards and the only drinks on offer were Skol (yep the beer that alchoholics drink in the UK, weirdly its the favoured beer in Brazil) and vodka straight or with an energy drink. Let's just say the music was pretty terrible. We left about 3.30am very disappointed with Fatboy Slim and as we queued for our taxi we were glad to hear that the music wasn’t improving so we didn't feel bad about going home early.

Day Four: Saturday

We were ready to get involved in our first bloco and decided to start big, we left our apartment about 11am with plans to attend a bloco in the Centro neighbourhood where 1 million people were expected to attend. As soon as we were outside our apartment on Princess Isabel we got sidetracked by a brightly dressed crowd of about 50 people and noticed that the road was closed, naturally we were curious and perched on a barrier to see what was going on. By chance we got chatting to an English speaking local lady which was extremely lucky for us as not many people speak English in Rio, she explained that there was about to be a bloco called Dois Pra Lá, Dois Pra Cá. 

A truck from a local samba school was on its way through the tunnel from Botafogo and we could just make it out in the distance. Obviously we decided to get involved and purchased a couple of wigs to blend in with the growing carnival crowd.. 

The build up was very exciting, we could hear the samba music from the truck as it inched its way closer to us through the tunnel, finally it was in front of us and everybody was dancing, singing and shouting along with band on top of the truck. It was amazing! Within minutes the truck was surrounded and continued on its merry way to Copacabana beach with two pale Brits in tow. 

The next two hours were great fun as we samba’d down the road in our unbrushed wigs with huge smiles on our faces with the liveliest, happiest crowd we’ve ever been in. It was so nice to see people of all ages in the crowd and it was an authentic Brazilian experience for us as we saw only a handful of foreigners. We were really sad when it ended and were on a real high ready for more! The lady before had mentioned that there was another bloco starting at 4pm in Botafago and that this one involved water. How intriguing!? After lunch we headed back to base to brush our wigs and then jumped on a bus straight there.

The Bloco De Barbas was very easy to find as the buses were full of people in costume so we just followed them. The party had already started and there were thousands of wet people in the street behind a big red water tank truck with a man holding a huge water gun on the top of it. He was taking a short break when we arrived so we grabbed a couple of drinks and waited to see what would happen next, music started to play and the truck edged closer to the corner we were standing on stopping about 10 metres away. About half of the crowd moved as close to they could to the truck and then water was sprayed everywhere with us catching just a little spray not quite ready for a full soaking. 

"Cheeky."

It was hilarious seeing how wet people were getting and as you can imagine this party attracts a younger and more eccentric crowd, we saw some brilliant costumes in the crowd and were impressed by the friendliness of everybody. People even came with their own drums and would start playing their own music getting the crowd involved for a singalong. 

"Cheeky bunny!"

"The cheeky boys."

It didn’t take long for us to brave the water cannon and get drenched! After an hour or so the water cannon truck disappeared and the samba truck turned up with a live band on top to entertain the demanding crowd, it was so much fun and was still in full swing when we left around sunset. As we hadn’t had our afternoon disco nap we were tired when we got back to our apartment and ended up sleeping through until early Sunday morning.

Day Five: Sunday

"This is what the tram used to look like."

We woke with our calves pretty sore from the hours of samba yesterday plus we missed dinner yesterday so were in need of a big breakfast and decided to venture across town to Santa Teresa which is Rio’s most bohemian neighbourhood. Santa Teresa sits on top of a hill and its tram is no longer in use so it was a tiring walk to the top in the heat. We found a table at the quaint Cafe Cito and ordered some brunch of sandwiches and coffee which took an agonising 50 minutes to arrive when it finally did we inhaled the small portions and set off back down the hill to buy some outfit props for that afternoon’s bloco in Ipanema (EE-PA-NEE-MA).

"And this is where the tram used to stop."

Ipanema beach is a bus ride away from Copacabana and it took us a while to squeeze on one as they were so full of singing revellers with the same idea as us. Once we were on a bus it was entertaining to try and identify the songs the rest of the bus were singing in Portugese, we think they sang Black Eyed Peas Good Night on repeat for a good chunk of the journey. A lot of the roads were closed due to blocos so we all got kicked off the bus somewhere in the Ipanema neighbourhood, we applied our failsafe logic and followed the crowds in search of the samba truck. 

We ended up on the promenade of Ipanena Beach with thousands of others, something was about to happen soon so we sat it out with beer, caipirinhas and a yummy churro each. It was great spot to people watch, the men were ‘peacocking’ and proudly displaying their ripped torsos, everybody works out in Rio. By 3pm nothing had appeared so we decided to head to a bar for a better toilet - the portaloos were as gross as day four at Glastonbury!

We found a bar and decided to stop for drink as they were charging to use the facilities, we decided against lunch as we were only stopping for one drink... However, we soon made friends with a local Carioca who spoke pretty good English and ended up staying for another, then another etc etc. We never made it to the bloco although we did hear it pass in the distance, we ended up drinking on empty stomachs all afternoon and had a very fun afternoon/evening with our new friends. At one point Steve was talking to a Brazilian bloke through the google translate app on his phone as neither could speak each others language. Very funny! It wasn’t a late night but we definitely felt sorry for ourselves the next day and Vicky was sworn of Caipirinhas.

Day Six: Monday

Five days of parties were definitely catching up with us and we hadn’t had a proper meal in a couple of days so we decided to treat ourselves to an infamous Brazilian barbecue at Churrascaria Palace in our Copacabana neighbourhood. It’s expensive at 100 Real(£28) each but its all you can eat, the waiters bring around cooked racks of meat and carve it with a sword on to your plate. A heaven for carnivores! There is also a salad bar, and oddly sushi which unsurprisingly wasn’t great. The meat was delicious and the service was great but unless you have a stomach the size of Adam Richman of Man Vs Food then you’re probably better going out for your favourite kind of steak.

Monday night was our big finale for carnival as we were headed to the Sambodrome to see the specials group do their thing down the samba runway. We were both really excited as we’d seen so many insane floats and costumes on the Internet from previous years and we couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for us that night. It’s on the opposite side of town so we took a taxi and paid the reasonable double fair. 

We had grandstand tickets for Sector 7 and arrived about 10.30pm, once we were emerged on to the grandstand we were blown away by the sheer volume of the crowd, the height of our stand and the length of the runway. We tentatively worked our way through our packed grandstand to find a good spot, we couldn’t have timed it more perfectly as a new school had just started to make their way down the runway. It was so exciting - in the distance we could make out giants babies and a rainbow of colours! We were intrigued what the story approaching us was...

Once the parade was up close we were in total awe of the detail on the costumes and the scale of the parade, there are thousands of people in each one and they are broken down in to sections of floats, blocks of 100 dancers to a theme, duet dancing, the solo dancer aka samba queen and drummers.

"Wedding dress inspiration!"

The first school we saw parade was Vila Isabel and they had the runway for about an hour, each section of their parade was a character or story from our childhood and teenage years. It was very clever and our favourite of the night. 

The only down point is that we weren’t in the stand we booked and could see that a jack in the box had opened up and people were flying out of it in front of where we were meant to be. 

By midnight hunger struck but there was only one thing on the menu: Bobs Burgers aka Brazil's answer to MacDonalds. There was literally no other option around the grandstands which we found a bit odd, we guess Bob has a lot of cash to splash on carnival. 

We saw another two samba schools parade. The first had some kind of Africana theme which also contained some nudity and some awkward looking tourists who'd paid to be part of the parade, the second was of course the World Cup and their opening scene showed off some amazing ball skills and then it was split into sections celebrating each of Brazil’s main football teams. 

The atmosphere in the grandstand was quite fun but not as raucous as we’d imagined and it had nothing on the blocos, it was also a bit strict on where you could and couldn’t stand which was a bit rigid for us. 

We left about 3am after three samba schools and hundreds of photos, annoyingly we had to pay four times the usual taxi rate as we took a white cab within the perimeter of the sambadrome. The sambadrone is a very touristy place and they do everything they can to scaremonger tourists into paying extortianate prices to 'feel safe’ - a return transfer from a Copacabana hotel through RioCarnival.net costs $104 (£63) despite it being less than 5 miles away. Just use a yellow cab off the street for 45 Real (£12) and you will be fine!

Day Seven: Tuesday

Our day of rest had finally arrived and we decided to spend the afternoon at the Copacabana beach which we hadn’t actually set foot on so far. It was exactly as you imagine although the beach was much wider with plenty of space behind the rows and rows of parasols and sunloungers. All the women wear thongs no matter what their size and don’t worry if you forgot to wear yours as there is a man strolling the sand selling bikinis! You can also by delicious fresh grilled prawns, chilled beer, soft drinks etc It’s a fun place to hang out but we’re not sure about leaving your stuff unattended whilst you take a dip in the sea.

After paying out for quite a few disappointing meals in Rio we decided to cook our own steak at home that evening, its crazy that you can buy 500g of sirloin for just 7 Real (£1.50). Despite the lack of decent cooking equipment in our kitchen we managed to rustle up a very tasty steak dinner before an early night. The next morning we had an early flight down to Foz De Iguazu with Azul airlines and were happy to be avoiding a 24 hour bus ride. 

FYI. Its impossible to book any travel ticket yourself online in Brazil you need to go the bus station, a travel agency or make a phone call on Skype. Bus travel is very expensive and we were amazed to book last minute flights for a few quid cheaper.

"Tchau Brazil!"

Getting to experience Carnival in Rio De Janeiro was incredible for us, we arrived with little knowledge of what to expect and loved it. The people and parties blew us away so we definitely recommend carnival in Brazil, good times are guaranteed!