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Published: February 22nd 2010
Participating in the parade of this unique carnival was one of our ambitions.
On the Saturday we briefly joined the bloco of the Banda de Ipanema as we were close by.
It was fun to join others and follow the group dancing on the samba rhythm as played by the band. We really enjoyed this, being part of this hugely popular feast. I started understanding what Carnival means for Brazilians. After a while though, given the heat, we went to the beach in search of some fresh air.
Once back to our hotel,we got very excited when our 'fantasias' (costumes) were delivered and quickly realised we had to forget about going to the Sambódromo by metro and order a taxi given the volume of our costumes (see pictures).
We could not join the Sambódromo dressed in our 'fantasia', so we just had a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a pair of 'flip-flops'.
On arrival, we joined many others in an avenue close to the Sambódromo. The avenue was closed to traffic and packed with floats, ready for the parade and participants like us.
About three to four thousand people join each samba school for the parade, all
dressed in a 'fantasia'!
We arrived early, around 7 PM, our timing for the parade was around 10:30 as our school was the second one to enter. As time passed by, more and more people arrived, some started getting half dressed, keeping the heavy headgear for the last moment, it was around 32 Celsius! We met Brazilians from all over Brazil, but also tourists like us coming from Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the UK, etc...
Everybody helped each other putting on their costume, it was already a feast, all were excited and happy. Some adrenaline started kicking in.
Very close to us, fireworks started suddenly illuminating the sky. The first school entered the Sambódromo! All of us expressed our excitement with a huge ovation. It was carnival, we were part of it!
And then it happened, a second set of fireworks was the signal that now it was our time to go! Entering in the Sambódromo with a Samba school, dressed in our magnificent 'fantasia', singing the samba especially written by the school for this carnival is a unique and indescribable experience. Spirits are lifted, joy is part of life!
The theme of our samba school
was “Brazil of all the Gods”. Most religions were represented with a special focus on the indigenous divinity Tupa. All this was illustrated with 6 floats and 37 different groups one for each type of 'fantasia', these groups are called alas.
We were all asked to sing the samba of the school. I managed to sing the 2 refrains and did some 'lip singing' for the rest.
Spectators were waving at us, some even signing with us. The all Sambódromo was animated with the spirit of carnival.
After about 50 minutes, we reached the end of the Sambódromo, happy but also relieved as we suddenly realised how hot is was. My t-shirt that I managed to hide under my 'fantasia' was totally wet!
We took our fantasia off. A boy came and asked for our hats. He had already several other ones. We gave him ours, he was happy as he will be able to make some money out of it. A woman then passed by asking if she could have the rest. I gave it to her, her smile was the best price I could ever imagine. They are the poor who try to make sense of
this luxury. Further some vans belonging to local charities were also collecting 'fatansias'. Initially we were going to keep it all and bring it back to London. But this is an impossible thing to do. So Robson just kept some of his to show his family. They were surprised by the quality of it and the quantity of hours needed to make them. This is another aspect of carnival in Rio, it is part of the local economy. I just read that the local government is creating 5,000 places for young students to learn the different skills needed to build the floats or make the costumes for carnival.
I would like to add that the organisation was excellent in and around the Sambódromo. For example, queues for taxis were strictly monitored and a fixed price of sixty reals was charged to bring you back to your hotel. The metro was functioning all night.
On the Monday we took the metro and joined again the Sambódromo.
We thought we were early, but not enough to have a place on the fist row. We did with a very good place on the second raw.
The galleries filled quickly, there
was so much to look at and time flew by. The fireworks again announced the first school. The whole 'stadium' got uplifted and people next to us, mainly Brazilians started dancing. What a feast! All you have to do is to let yourself go, let the music 'posses' you and join the crowd. All were happy and quickly we started chatting with our neighbours who became our friends for the next 7 hours to come. Soon we were all sharing our provisions, including fried chicken or cookies.
Each school chose a different theme. We were given a booklet explaining, float by float and ala by ala the symbolic significance of it.
Among the themes presented by the schools, we had fashion, new technologies, paradises, etc...
It is the greatest show on earth and all are participating, including the public.
As said earlier the organisation was excellent. Some ushers were monitoring constantly the galleries making sure any potential trouble makers were kept under control.
After the fifth school we realised how tired we were. It was 4 in the morning. Most of the spectators were still there, about 70,000 people. We decided to leave not to be caught
in an impossible challenge to exit the Sambódromo and find our way back to the hotel.
There was already a queue for taxis but well organised and by five in the morning we were in our bed!
It is over now, the memories however will never die and this carnival where no masks are worn and where 'allegria' is the key word will stay with us for ever.
Benoit& Robson
P.S. Should you wish to know more about the Samba school we joined, please see:
www.imperatrizleopoldinense.com.br
or for general info, see: www.liesa.com.br
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