Updated: I finally have some time to give some background on these photos…

On the Saturday of Carnaval, we woke up suuuper early (for us – 7AM) so that we could make it to our favorite “bloco” (neighborhood band/parade), Céu na Terra (Heaven on Earth), up in Santa Teresa. Every year, the word spreads a little more about how great this bloco is, which plays in the more traditional “marchinha” style of songs for Carnaval, goes through one of the most scenic places in Rio, and is itself one of the most scenic parades, since it’s frequented by the more “artistic” Carnaval-goers, and the band itself occasionally even plays while riding the famous yellow cable car of Santa Teresa. About 4 years ago, the crowd started getting unbearable, so they moved their first parade to earlier in the morning, and then started an hour earlier than people were reporting in the papers – you had to know someone to really know what time they started. This year, they didn’t lie, but they chose to go at the same time as Bola Preta, the traditional bloco that more or less marks the official beginning of Carnaval. By doing so, they guanteed that at least 500,000 people would be somewhere else during the parade.

Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t enough. Getting crammed in with thousands of people on narrow streets on a hot summer morning in an even hotter costume is great when you’re drinking, whooping it up and haven’t a care in the world, but having to watch out for a princess (in this case, an Indian princess) changes everything. We got close enough to the band the see and hear them playing and sing along, and then soon regretted it. An hour or so of compulsory revelry later, we were finally able to slip out a side street and head back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed home and went straight for the pool (sorry, no pix!). In the evening, we decided to go for something a little tamer, and went to a little samba fest for kids at an open mall called “Downtown” (far from downtown Rio, of course). A samba troupe made up of pre-teen kids was playing there, and they let all the visitors come and bang on their different drums. We met our friends Lina and Daniel there, with their daughter Helena, and we all hung out through dinner.

 

 

 

 

And, as a final treat, here’s a quick video of Carolina learning to samba from the experts: