Today Ilene set out a very nice breakfast with good fruit and breads and cheeses and yogurts. Today was to be our main beach day. We walked over to Posto 9 in Ipanema Beach and settled on our spectating spot.
We called over the dude to set up our umbrella and chairs (first amazing thing about beaching in Rio). They also brought us water and beer.
We decided to hit up a pre-Carnival block party or "bloco" and discovered one was coming down the street so we went to explore. It was called the Simpatia e Quase Amor Bloco.
It was total insanity with the entire street covered with people in costume, with drinks in their hand, throwing confetti, music blaring from the large decorated buses that were carrying the bands.
The people in this town know how party.
We slowly wandered back to the apartment and Ilene told us she was going to invite us to dinner with a few of her friends. They came over for drinks and then we went out to a place right by the apartment. We decided to split from the group and take another pass by the night market where Swapna purchased a nice art piece with bahían dancers.
After we returned to the apartment to drop off the art, we encountered the group again and took cabs to the Salgueiro Samba School practice. It ended up being to expensive for the locals but we tourists went right in! It was basically a big room filled with Salgueiro neighborhood residents and supporters ready to cheer on their samba team. The event started off with a great local band and then in started a parade of very flashy costumed dancers. The Salgueiro band also chimed in with their Carnaval song (each year each of the samba schools develop a new song). The entire crowd seemed to already know the lyrics and sang them energetically at the top of their lungs. MAJOR Salgueiro pride!! At one point, the room got so crowded that we had to take a breather and decided it was time to head back even though we could tell this crew was headed for an all night party!
We called over the dude to set up our umbrella and chairs (first amazing thing about beaching in Rio). They also brought us water and beer.
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| Swapna and her acaí!! |
Throughout the few hours that we were there we saw vendors come across selling - wraps, fresh watermelon, empanadas, fried cheese, swimsuits, carnival masks, acaí, jewelry, sunscreen, shrimp and more. We sampled a few and looked out at the waves and the beautiful beachgoers.
We decided to hit up a pre-Carnival block party or "bloco" and discovered one was coming down the street so we went to explore. It was called the Simpatia e Quase Amor Bloco.It was total insanity with the entire street covered with people in costume, with drinks in their hand, throwing confetti, music blaring from the large decorated buses that were carrying the bands.
The people in this town know how party.
We slowly wandered back to the apartment and Ilene told us she was going to invite us to dinner with a few of her friends. They came over for drinks and then we went out to a place right by the apartment. We decided to split from the group and take another pass by the night market where Swapna purchased a nice art piece with bahían dancers.
After we returned to the apartment to drop off the art, we encountered the group again and took cabs to the Salgueiro Samba School practice. It ended up being to expensive for the locals but we tourists went right in! It was basically a big room filled with Salgueiro neighborhood residents and supporters ready to cheer on their samba team. The event started off with a great local band and then in started a parade of very flashy costumed dancers. The Salgueiro band also chimed in with their Carnaval song (each year each of the samba schools develop a new song). The entire crowd seemed to already know the lyrics and sang them energetically at the top of their lungs. MAJOR Salgueiro pride!! At one point, the room got so crowded that we had to take a breather and decided it was time to head back even though we could tell this crew was headed for an all night party!
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