We arrived Feb. 2nd the first day of Carnaval.
Simply put,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnaval, Carnaval is a huge 5 day party before the beginning of Lent that the entire country takes part in. Rio is where its the best. From the 2nd until the 6th the city is constantly singing and dancing, its like nothing I've ever seen before. Everyone dresses up in costume and usually attends the Bloco's, street parties that go on for hours moving through the city.
At the heart of the celebration is the Sambodromo, a parade-like dance competition between 14 different samba schools, held at the Sambodrome. Each school, easily over 500 participants each, has 90 minutes to dance through the entire course, accompanied by parade floats. As the school makes its way through the course, crowds cheer them on as well as sing and dance along in the stands. And its customary for the audience to dress up in costume when they go to the Sambodromo. Here's Will and I before heading out.
Carnaval was incredible, albeit intense, 5 days of partying with a little sleep thrown in. After Carnaval it was time to see some sights... First thing was to experience the world famous Ipanema and Copcabana beaches. Rio is such a unique city, it has beautiful beaches, a huge metropolitan area, and rugged terrain.
Of course it didn't look like this when I went... It was overcast and a little rainy... but you could imagine what it'd be like...
Next was to see the on-looking Cristo Redentor on Corcavado mountain.
After viewing Cristo in the morning I got back to the hostel, picked up William, and decided to hike halfway up Sugarloaf mountain and take the Tram up the top.
This is a picture taken from the Cristo statue, Botafogo (where I stayed) with Sugarloaf mountain in the foreground.
We hiked up the first hilltop through practically a jungle where we saw a monkey and lots of birds. Once at the top we bought a ticket to take the cable car tram to the very top.
The next day I got to see a true Brazilian soccer game... Home team, Flamengo vs. Villa Redonda Flamengo won 2-1...and yes the fans are crazy... The game was played here at Marcana Stadium
And that has just about conluded my time here in Rio de Janeiro, next stop Chile... still not sure where we're going!
The fans were great, no one sat down the whole game, they screamed and sang songs, played drums, and waved huge flags and banners... They're crazy!
And finally today I visited the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Niteroi done by Brazils famous architect Oscar Niemeyer.
And that has just about conluded my time here in Rio de Janeiro, next stop Chile... still not sure where we're going!
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