 April 20 - May 8
I hadn't planned to leave Buenos Aires until Megan and Ademir suggested to visit Brazil for Carnival, I'm so glad they did! The timing was great to get me starting the next nomad section of this year! It was an amazing 20 days traveling through Sāu Paulo, Rio, and Ilha Grande what an experience! We were all hesitant to travel to Brazil alone based on what friends and articles had said about the poverty and crime but (knock on wood) we didn't have any issues! Highly recommend a visit! This was also the start of what I'm calling my "tango vacation" (haha)! In Buenos Aires I would dance nearly every night for hours on end. Now that I'm traveling again, not every city has this opportunity so I can spend more time and effort into exploring the cities, having deeper connections with old and new friends, and have tango be the cherry on top. I don't have that urge to dance every night or get every tanda, I'm here to enjoy and soak it all in. I'm extremely thankful to my travel friends Megan, Ademir, and Fiona for being willing to share their photos with me! I had the unfortunate luck to have lost my phone in a taxi in Buenos Aires right before I left so I was without a phone for 20 days. It's really thanks to them that I get to share my experiences of Brazil, THANK YOU THANK YOU! (Here's a sampling of one of my favorite Samba songs from the Championship but be sure to pause it to enjoy the videos below) Our little travel family!A nomad walks into Brazil with a German-American, Mexican from Sweden, German from Sweden, Russian from Switzerland, and a Denver gal to have ~10 days of craziness in Sāo Paulo and Rio for Carnival! Sāo PauloWe were here for 2 nights. It was our introduction to Carnival by going to a "Blocko" which is basically a walking street party. The crowd was great with so many colors and the energy was high while we were walking to a live band playing samba music. Needless to say our group got into it with the makeup and glitter! We also made it out for a night of Farro dancing and we were lucky enough to go on a night with a band, how cool is that! Lastly, Batman Alley. I was so impressed with the wall art in both Sāo Paulo and Rio but the Alley was a nice little neighborhood with a few vendors and with a focus on the caped crusader. Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona Rio de JaneiroWe were in Rio 9 days. Only made it it 2 blockos, one was more of a college bar crawl and the other started at 7 am with 1000's of people spanning multiple blocks in costume, folks dancing on stilts and we had a live samba band. We were lucky enough to celebrate Fiona's birthday so we did a day of tour that hit Christ the Redeemer, the Metropolitan cathedral, the Escadaria Selarón, Sambadrome, football stadium and we rounded out the night with a Brazilian Rodizio dinner at Carretao. Of course I needed some adventure so Megan and I went paragliding! What an experience to float over Rio! Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona The SambadromoThis is what brings the city together, Samba! The Samba schools The schools practice for months on end to compete in the championship. Each school is made up of dancers, singers, a percussion group and other performers and usually belong to a particular neighborhood or in some cases to a ‘favela’, the name given to a shanty town in Brazil. The schools mainly consist of volunteers from the local neighborhood and money is raised from the sales of their school’s tickets for the Samba parade or by sponsorship. Each school usually has a particular political, commercial or social interest as well, and often plays an important role in the development of the particular locality. These schools are pivotal in creating a sense of belonging and purpose to the neighborhoods. The Championship The overall theme of the championship this year was Racism and African heritage and it starts off with two nights of parades by 12 samba groups, each featuring up to 6,000 dancers. The following Sunday is the championship with the top 6 schools. It takes each school ~45 minutes to come down the 700m (0.43mile) long runway. Each school is judged on their design and technical functioning, costumes, drum section, theme and lyrics, and the overall execution. It officially started at 8 and went until 4am.
Word, pictures, and even video don't do it justice! It was amazing to see the energy that each school brought along with their colors, dancing, and themes all of which were incredibly powerful! To be in the stands of the Sambadromo with the crowd singing, dancing, and getting excited about each school shows how integral song and dance is to Rio and Brazil in general! Plus the fact that this was the first Carnival after the pandemic made it even more special. To watch all of these amazing performers all night and then to end it with the best sunrise on Copacabana beach makes for quite the memory. Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona
Ilha GrandeA little slice of heaven. Had the pleasure to hike and explore with Megan for 8 days! It was nice to really take a break after Carnival with all of the energy and partying! Photos: Megan
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