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[Above: Rolf and friends are decked out for the Beija-Flor samba school parade the night before Fat Tuesday in Rio.]
Carnival is over here in Rio, and soon I will be headed to the United States for a spell — but first I wanted to share a few photos from the past couple weeks. Because Carnival was so participatory for me (and my camera-toting friends) I don’t have a lot of photos. Nonetheless, here’s a sampling of shots from a championship soccer match at Maracana stadium, the Salgueiro samba school parade, the Beija-Flor samba school parade, and a transvestite bloco parade in Ipanema.
As you can see, my friends and I weren’t just watching the Beija-Flor school — we were a part of it (I’ll comment on my dubious samba abilities in a future article). Beija-Flor is a traditional school with an Amazon theme, and the brown and blue halves of our costumes represent the river meeting the sea. Despite the extravagance of our costumes, we were dwarfed by the splendor of the other Beija-Flor floats and dancers. And — in spite of the fact that they let gringos march with them — Beija-Flor won the competition for the second year in a row. For more information about this year’s victory, see the Beija-Flor website.
Photos follow. As usual, each text link pops up into its own picture window.
Rolf and Greg pose with dancers from the Salgueiro samba school.
[Although Salgueiro didn't place in the competition, we were amazed by how extravagant their production was. Ironically, we got a better view of the Salgueiro school than Beija-Flor, since you see less of the parade when you are marching in it.]
One of Salgueiro’s many floats nears the end of the Sambadromo.
[Salgueiro's theme is sugar cane, which is apparently a source of alternative energy. Hence the sheik figure on this float.]
Getting ready for the parade with friends from our section of the Beija-Flor school.
[We were fortunate to have friends in Rio arrange our participation in the Beija-Flor school. Despite the seeming oddness of including gringos in a champion samba school, it is actually a common practice, since -- apparently -- our entry fees help pay for the production.]
Rolf, Eileen, Greg and Paul pose in the street just outside of the Sambadromo.
[Note that here we have our wings on, which made for very precarious dancing. We experienced no major samba-related accidents, though the entire Beija-Flor parade took place in a downpour, which made our wings a bit soggy.]
Greg and Paul pose with a Beija-Flor princess before the parade.
[The remarkable thing about this woman is not that she was gorgeous, or that she had an amazing costume, but that there were so many others like her. Carnival truly is an amazing show of beauty.]
Greg poses with a transvestite at a bloco parade in Ipanema.
[During Carnival, I stayed in an apartment with Paul and Eileen in the Ipanema district of Rio. On the evening of Fat Tuesday (after the official events in the Sambadromo had finished), area transvestites took to the streets of our neighborhood in a very funny and slow-moving parade.]
Rolf looks a tad short next to this towering cat-woman transvestite in Ipanema.
[Fans of Bossa Nova (the Brazilian music that is, not the Pixies album of the same name) will know that the classic song "The Girl From Ipanema" was written on Ipanema beach in Rio. Though, after the transvestite parade, I will always wonder if the "girl" in the song was really a girl.]
[Above: Ipanema-Leblon beach at night.]
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:52 am
when the pinga are you gonna post our pictures on your bloody narcissist site of the heck, you bastard?
best regards,
abel & marcel
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:09 am
Thank you for the greeting, my impatient Cuban friends! Everything in time. I have some Kansas gaita shots to send you as well…
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Hello,
Can we talk further? I would like to contact people who went to Rio’ Carnival.
I would like to know how did they live that experience.
Please, if you can gather some of your friends so you can chat.
Let me know, please!!!
I will wait for your contact and It will be very appreciated.
Cheers,
Hare
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Hello,
Can we talk further? I would like to contact people who went to Rio’ Carnival.
I would like to know how did they live that experience.
Please, if you can gather some of your friends so you can chat.
Let me know, please!!!
I will wait for your contact and It will be very appreciated.
Cheers,
Hare
June 16th, 2009 at 2:06 am
soo cool!
damn Harethuza..u r so creepy
September 1st, 2010 at 5:36 pm
All links here are broken.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:23 am
Greece’s 4th biggest city has just launched a planet-wide internet channel to show off the biggest event of the year – a first for any city in the world!
The Patras Carnival is the largest such event in Greece and one of the biggest carnivals in Europe with more than 160 years of history.
Our carnival is not a single event but a variety of events that includes balls, parades, treasure hunt game, kids’ carnival and more.
The high point is the last weekend (5th and 6th of March) with the Saturday evening parade of carnival groups, the extravagant Sunday parade of floats and groups, and finally the ritual burning of King Carnival at the St. Nikolaos Street wharf in the harbour of Patras.
This year an enlightened organization committee the PCPWME * are pleased to announce a WORLD WIDE FIRST – an initiative that will allow anyone with access to the internet across our whole planet to watch and join in the festivities.
The Patras Carnival web channel http://www.carnivalpatras.tv is already broadcasting extracts of older and more recent Carnival events.
Friends of the carnival will be informed about the activities of the carnival from the Carnival Press news channels on the site, culminating in three internet LIVE broadcasted carnival events:
Don’t miss!!!