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March 02, 2004

A brief report from Carnival in Rio

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[Above: Rolf is 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.

Flamengo fans cheer as their team takes the lead in the first half of the league final against Fluminense.
[This was the first time in nine years that both teams in the final were Rio-based, and there was an incredible amount of energy in the stadium as Flamengo went on to win a close one, 3-2.]

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.]

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[Above: Ipanema-Leblon beach at night.]


Posted by Rolf on March 2, 2004 08:27 AM
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