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Published: March 26th 2011
Carnaval in Salvador, where do I start? It was a week full of drinking, dancing, and that's about it. The first day we arrived we found our hostel and quickly made friends with everyone in our hostel. We figured we are going to need a strong group of friends to survive the week. That day we went to pick up our "shirts" or tickets for a bloco. The blocos are moving stages packed with enough amplification equipment for a large rock concert. On top of the blocos are the most popular bands in Brazil. Behind the bloco's there is a gated off area or I should say roped off area where if you have a shirt you can have the protection from the people. On every side of the blocos for as far as the street goes there are thousands of people. We got two shirts for two different nights and two different blocos.
That night was our first night out in Carnaval. In the area we were staying, there were about five different stages all in five blocks, plus over ten blocos moving down the street at any given time. We started by going to all the different stages and
danced and drank, then headed to the crazy blocos. We ended up staying there for the rest of the night, following the moving blocos and before we knew it the sun was coming up and it was time to head home.
The next night was our bloco night. We were going to be behind one of the most popular bands in Brazil and it was crowded. Even with our shirts it was packed. We were back to back the whole time getting pushed around. We had a little room to dance but were hapṕy when our bloco finally ended. We slowly made our way back to the hostel, again by sunrise. The next couple of nights were a repeat of the first two. Lots of dancing and drinking and watching live bands. We have seen more live bands in the past few days than we would have seen in a year back at home. The days and nights quickly went by as we were having the time of our lives with our new friends. The last day was our favorite. We again had shirts and danced the night away. David Guetta was playing at a bloco so we ended up
staying by his the whole night. Once again came home when the sun came up and had a great night.
Carnaval was a success!!!! No one we were with got robbed, punched, hurt or lost the entire week, which is a lot to say in dangerous Salvador. We had one of the best weeks of our lives but I don't think we could ever manage the craziness again.
The last day in Salvador we figured we should make something of the day so we headed out to the beach for one last day with our friends from the hostel. We enjoyed laying in the sun and catching up on our sleep. We went to a sea turtle refugee and at the end of the day let out baby sea turtles to return to the sea. It was a great sight.
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Jim Hughes
non-member comment
Could you help me
My name is Jim Hughes and i am a journalism major at St. Michaels College in Vermont. I am doing a project for my Global Communication and Culture class. The project is a country profile and i need human sources that have experienced the culture first hand. and i was wondering if i could get you to answer some questions about brazil for me? I would really appreciate it if you could help. These are the q's, if you think there is anything else i should know please feel free to include it; 1. How do you see Brazil, financially, as a tourist?(i.e exchange rates) 2. IS there much of a "culture shock" when visiting brazil? 3. How has brazil changed since the last time you visited? 4. What, in your opinion is the most recognizable figure in brazil?