Rio Carnaval

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The day had finally arrived, after a year of saving, 9 long & hard months in Liverpool and many occasions where we thought the trip wouldn't be possible; we had said our goodbyes and were catching the train from fairlop to Heathrow, where we had our last taste of British cuisine with a pie & gravy and fish & chips, both with mushy peas! We also, thanks to Kev, got to be flashpackers for a couple of hours with our free VIP airport lounge passes. Several beers & a bottle of rose later, we had shoved as much free food into our bags as possible and boarded our flight. Our flight was 12 hours at 21.30. TAM airlines was ok, we had quite a bit of turbulence but landed with no issues & a few cheers. We walked out into the stifling heat & hustle bustle of Rio de Janeiro and boarded an airport bus into the city. We arrived looking like rabbits caught in headlights when we got off the bus at the end of the road where our hostel was on the Copacabana Beach. It was all very surreal and very apparent already that little or no one spoke any english, this would be a challenge.

We went to the hostel & was feeling very tired & just wanted a rest, clearly that would not happen in Rio in a 15 bed dorm.... a taste of things to come. Within a few hours we had met loads of lovely people. Nicky & Mark from Dublin on a year RTW trip, who you'll probably hear a lot about as they just won't leave us alone now! We also met these aussies who have done the 4 day cargo boat down the amazon which we are doing at the end of our trip. It has been the one thing that has terrified us the most when planning but they really reassured us & gave us some tips so we feel a bit better about that now. Already a few hours in and we were realising just how expensive Rio was. We have a daily budget of £20 each, so when Tony bought a pack of tobacco for £16 we had a mild panic. Thankfully George at our hostel pointed out it was imported and showed Tony the local stuff, only 3 real, which is about £1.10 for the same size.... phew, won't be doing that again.

Carnaval fever was well and truly underway with lots of people out and about and drinking all hours. We had a bit of a relax our first night as we'd travelled so much. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great when we arrived so the first few days it rained a bit. We weren’t going to do the big tourist trips this time around like Christ & sugarloaf as we can do that when it’s less busy in June. We did go to the Botanical Gardens, which good old George from the hostel (Tony's new best friend) recommended. It was this giant rainforest within the city. So peaceful and pretty, you forgot where you were. Tony was nearly attacked by a rabid monkey, but he was provoking it! Later that day we met with everyone from the hostel & started our attack on the carnaval. We started with a beach party & then went to a silent disco. For those not familiar with the concept, it’s a disco where everyone has headphones and you can chose from 3 different stations therefore the room is silent apart from everyone singing and dancing to various music. Absolutely hilarious. We went to Copacabana for sunrise and then spent a very uncomfortable day in the hostel the following day. Perdy was severely suffering from delhi belly (among a hangover) and was continuously vomiting. She had until 10pm to pull herself together as it was kick off night for the carnaval. We went to a place called Lapa where all the opening parties were, it was chucking it down but we didn't let that dampen our spirits, or the beers! But even with that much alcohol & samba music, Tony's dancing was still appalling! It was a great way to kick start the carnaval.

We had heard that the carnaval was full of free street parties but the official carnaval was in the Sambadrome which was an expensive ticketed event. Disappointingly we didn't have tickets as they just cost too much but we thought the street parties would be fine. However, on the saturday we were extremely lucky to be offered cheap Sambadrome tickets from Rafa who worked at our hostel. We were extremely excited and took his arm off for them. We don't think anything prepared us for what we saw that night - oh and it only took 4 days for Perdy to fall arse over, as she fell right on her arm outside the sambadrome...oops! Anyway, even though still being a bit pukey, she drank enough rum for it not to hurt anymore (until the morning)! We had great tickets, right amongst the thick of it and great views of the parade. Each samba school did a parade for 45 mins and had approx 4000 dancers all in ridiculously outrageous outfits with sequins, feathers & tassels. So many colours, crazy carnaval floats & fireworks. Something neither of us had ever seen before or likely to see again. We were very lucky to have experienced this and i think we would have felt very left out if we had just left our experience to the street parties.

The rest of our time in Rio was like Groundhog Day. Get up, eat, spend a bit of time in the toilet if your Perdy, find a party, start drinking, dance with the street parades and stagger back to bed to do it all over again. We did try to do a bit of sightseeing on one day but it felt far too unsafe, so i think organised tours may be the way to go when we get back in June. So instead we found another party and danced all day. There was a beach near ours called Ipanema. We joined a carnval float that took up the whole road and people were spilling out onto the beach and having the time of their lives in the Rio sunshine (yes it did come out at last). It was hard to miss a party and there was always something happening day or night. We were both having the most amazing time but unfortunately like with all good things, it must come to an end.

Rio felt like a very different place post carnaval. Tony's best friend George got sacked from the hostel, Perdy's luck was following her and she was attacked by a pigeon in a cafe. No sign of rabies yet so we think she'll be fine & not a samba drum, mask or silly wig in sight. We went to the beach on our last day and Perdy watched Nicky, Mark & Tony body surfing in the 8ft high waves, obviously not very safe at all but a real rush. Not much fun at all in this heat with an arm in plaster. Our last night we splashed out and the 4 of us went for an all you can eat Brazilian buffet where they bring the meat around to your table and carve it fresh. A couple of hours later and we all had meat sweats so we tried to grab an early night as we were up early to get on the move. We had the most inconsiderate room mates who Tony shouted at frequently throughout the night. We probably had the worst night’s sleep ever and have reminded Perdy of just how much she hates carrier bags & zips!! Up at 6am to reluctantly say goodbye to Rio and the carnaval (although our livers would thank us). Next stop Ilha Grande...........

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