Dancing in the streets

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07/12
The three of us woke up this morning with the specific intention of making some plans. Until now we'd just kind've bumbled along with the plans we made before leaving the UK but now we really had to decide what to do before heading to Rio. So we booked hostels for Praia do forte, Chapada diamantina, Morro de Sao Paolo and Ihla Grande. We then went to the shopping centre, got Amy's glasses fixed, and booked flights from Salvador back to Rio to avoid another 30 hour bus journey which was more expensive anyway! This was done through a lovely travel agent who managed to understand the new language I appear to have created, henceforth known as Sportuguese. We then wandered down the coast and bought exciting ice cream and headed back to get ready for the famous Pelhourino street party.

Going to the street party we knew would either be amazing or a bit disappointing. We had a couple of Caprinhas at the hostel (they're free... it'd be rude not to), got a bit dressed up and driven into town by the hostel driver, Wilson. A fair number of people were coming to the party from the hostel so we agreed to all wait in the same square so we could all hang together, there were about 20 of us in total. This was mainly for banter reasons although the town can be dangerous at night with pickpockets and stuff so it was also for that - which is the reason I have no photos which i am gutted about).
So we waited in the first square and were pretty sure it was going to be a good night from that moment on - we all got a beer and sat around listening to some amazing drumming from a young group of guys with another guy MCing over the top - this I had never witnessed before! Almost immediately we were bopping in our plastic seats. We got harassed by a fair number of beggars but it was all done with good humour, the kids were laughing and joking although this of course made their situation just a bit sadder. The drumming continued and various people were sambaing. One of the girls from the hostel, Rachel, who is studying in Rio - tried to teach me the basic move of the Samba, which felt like a cross between Salsa and sprinting - more work on these moves is definitely required!

Eventually more and more péople from the hostel arrived and we wandered around town a bit. Whilst walking to the main concert we passeds and watched an all female drum group who were also incredible, talk about girl power - we were once again bopping about the streets of Pelhourino. We went up to the main concert in the top square, got chatted up by random Brazilian men clearly loving a bit of European action (Tasha got proposed to... TWICE) and got caught up in a mad rush. It was all a bit claustrophobic up at the main concert and it felt like there was the potential for a Hillsbrough disaster style crush so we quickly made our way back up the hill to where we'd been previously. We at this point saw a very oddly dressed man who looked like predator... we weren't really sure what to make of him, whether to be absolutely petrified or to laugh... we still don't know what he was doing, we just put this down to a random sighting we seem to be experiencing.

We had almost made it back to the first square when we came across a different drumming band, who were just incredible, and 2 hours later, we were still there! Behind the band there were 3 men doing choreographed dancing, one of them was an absolute doppelganger for Vanilla Ice. Their routines were pretty cool... so we decided to join in! This was no Jane Fonda workout. It was amazing - we were jumping, grapevining, boxstepping and sliding our way around Pelhourino, following the random 3 men at the front. Most of the hostel people were taking part, although the girls were definitely easier to encourage than the boys, but almost everyone joined in. We thoroughly enjoyed doing the equivalent of the brazilian macarena and shook our inadequate-by-comparison booties along to the rhythm. It. Was. Incredible. Then the drummers started to move downhill to the middle square... so we followed them - boogieing all the way down with more and more people joining in as we went, we fanced across the square then back up the hill. Needless to say that there were some people who were more coordinated than others and Tasha's shoes fell victim to this.

We were all very hot and sweaty but the endorphins were definitely coursing through the veins at this point. We carried on uphill, in spite of the awkward flip-flop-cobbled street combination. By that point there were too many people and a lot of pushing and shoving ensued to get a place in the awesome dance troupe aka Barra Guest Hostel Massive, so we decided to leave. We got back to the hostel and were dancing about reception recreating the macarena and throwing some serious, even dangerous shapes even without music. This was such an amazing experience, we were absolutely buzzing. You definitely don't get those kind of nights out at Leadmill!

Please note... no mention of hot brazilian men although this is a recurring theme so take this as taken.

Rxxxxx

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