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Published: February 24th 2010
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Our last week in Rio did not begin well - Maytal got really sick and we could not go to the carnaval parade in the Sambodromo we were all waiting for. As we did not want to fly to Buenos Aires while she still had a fever, we decided to postpone our flight, leaving us in hot Rio for a few more days. The kids were not too happy about this, but Amit got excited as we realized this enabled us to stay for the Winner's Parade at the Sambodromo - the night when the 6 best samba schools dance again. As this was scheduled for my birth day, we decided there was no better way to celebrate!
We did take the kids to the local health clinic, which was an interesting experience for me and a scary one for them - they had never seen so many sick adults and kids waiting to see a doctor. Some people waited there for 4-5 hours, but as we were with children we only waited 15 minutes! Again and again we have seen this approach in Brazil - wherever you have to wait, any line, if you have children you go first! Anyway,
Maytal and Shakked were diagnosed with ear infections, and got antibiotics and pain medicine - all for free.
So on February 20th, my bday, everybody was healthy and ready to celebrate 😊. Our friends Christy and Andre got me flowers in the morning, then took us to a beautiful place - a fort that overlooks Copacana Beach, breezy and cool, and with wonderful views. After a nice nap we celebrated again with a cake they got me, and off to the Sambodromo! We managed to get the last 2 seats in the first row, so again the kids had perfect views. And here are their accounts:Amit: “The first group we saw at the winner’s parade, Mangueira, was about music. Their song name was Brazilian Beat. I liked the way the first float looked like it was on a tambourine. I also like that it was not only about Brazilian music but also about rock and rap. The third thing I liked was that the bateria (the drumming group that comes at the end of every school) was like it was in jail. The second group we saw, Salgueiro, was about books. The name of their song was Endless Stories. One
thing I liked about it was the first float. I liked it because it was this weird structure made of silver with people hanging on it and doing acrobatics. I also liked that in the second float they had Hermes the God. The third thing I liked about this school was the 5th float because it had a Vietnamese God. The third and last school we saw was about a famous singer of the Villa Isabel district. Their song name was Noel Rosa, that is the name of the singer. I like the fact that there were these men with guitars that transformed into women dancing with them- that was amazing. I don’t know how they did it. I also liked the fact that there was a float which opened up into a favela. A favela is a place where poor people live in Brazil. It has a lot of garbage and it is not a place you would like to find yourself in. The third and last thing I liked about this group was the 4th float. It looked like a pool table, and people were dancing on it so it looked cool. I liked Salgueiro the best and
I think it should have won first prize! See you in Argentina.”
Shakked: “The Winners Parade is a parade of the samba schools that won first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in the carnaval. Unfortunately, due to fatigue, we only managed to see sixth, fifth and fourth. Fifth place amazed me the most, and that is what I will write about. The samba school was called Salgeuro, and their theme was books. The costumes and floats all represented various books and stories. The first float was amazing! It was made of crisscrossing white poles which formed pillars and towers and bridges. There were people swinging around on trapezes, swings and ropes. Occasionally someone would jump of a swing and fly several meters through the air landing on one of the huge banners which hung from the pillars. The other floats and costumes were also beautiful. We saw cockroaches from The Metamorphosis, little Red Riding Hood, costumes representing water around a huge statue of a giant squid wrapped around a submarine from 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. There were two colossal statue of Hermes on a library float. There was even a Harry Potter float! Three kids dressed as
Harry, Ron and Hermione ran around a giant chess board with huge Harry potter chess pieces. I hope we see the carnaval again next year!”
We are off to Buenos Aires then, not before we thank our friends Andre Christy and Maya for the wonderful, generous way they hosted us for 3 long weeks. They are the most giving of peopl- THANK YOU!!!
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Nesya, Amiel, and Selilah
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Wow!
So sorry to hear that Maytal and Shakked were sick. We also have been battling germs here. Nesya has been the only one who has remained healthy! Lucky Nesya. We laughed when we heard that Shakked's favorite float was all about books. How incredibly appropriate for him! The costumes were beautiful. Thanks for sharing this amazing experience.