Carioca Sunshine: Carnaval Sunday

On Sunday Laura and I went to the Hippie Fair (a huge artisan fair) in Ipanema. It had nothing in particular to do with Carnaval, but it was one of my favorite places to spend money last summer, and Laura wanted to see what it was like. I was also hoping to find some sort of Carnaval souvenir, and sure enough, I found a pretty blue Carnaval mask. That came in handy a little while later when we stumbled upon a bloco going through Ipanema. The goal seems to be to cram as many people as possible into a single area until everyone feels like sardines, which makes for a rather interesting and sticky experience when it’s in the 90s and super humid. I’m thankful I’m a girl and I don’t sweat much, but even so I got covered in enough other people’s sweat to make up for it. Ew. All part of the fun, though, I guess. We paraded along the avenue that runs along Ipanema beach, and this bloco was far bigger than the one in Leblon. It was just a sea of people everywhere. The stretch of beach along Ipanema and Leblon is probably my favorite place in all of Rio, so it was cool to get to participate in a bloco there.

I enjoyed the chance to see a bloco in the daytime, and the light was better for taking pictures, as well. This bloco apparently had political leanings, because one of the signs on the truck read “Obama is black, but he went to the White House.” Another sign had something about Bush, but I couldn’t understand what it said. Even so, it just going to show how much more in-tune Brazilians are to the American presidency than Americans are to any foreign presidency. Our presidents are so well known that they even show up in the popular culture of Carnaval. On the other hand, if Lula, the Brazilian president, showed up on a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float, everyone would just be really confused.

Laura and I stopped back home for a few minutes, until we got a text from some friends who said they were in Ipanema. Though we’d just spent the afternoon there, we went back to meet up with our French friends, Mathiu, Vianney, Paul, and Chris. On the way we happened to get on a bus full of very energetic party-goers about our age. They were drumming on the backs of the bus seats and singing at the top of their lungs. At least one person was drinking a can of beer on the bus, as well. As I was walking to an empty seat, I got a drunken kiss on the arm from some Brazilian guy. It was so loud and crazy, and I have never felt so American in my life. Laura and I had no idea what they were singing, so we couldn’t very well join in, and instead just sat awkwardly silent near the back of the bus.

The two of us seem to stick out like sore thumbs wherever we go. Laura has very light blond hair, so I’m sure that doesn’t help matters, but Julieta told us we have “American faces,” so it seems that no matter what we do, we’ll always look American. Apparently one of the Carnaval traditions is that Brazilian guys pay more attention to girls than usual. So often as we were walking along, guys would call out “Hello, American girl!” or “Speak English?” A few of the bolder ones grabbed our arms and tried to get us to talk or dance with them.

After we met up with the French guys, we went and found a pleasant place to sit on Ipanema beach. Carnaval is one of the only times during the year that the beaches are actually safe at night. As usual, there were lots of people everywhere, talking and drinking beer provided by the vendors who wandered around the beach. There was a strange lack of music again, and people didn’t seem particularly animated or festive. It was nice to sit and watch the waves, and my feet appreciated the opportunity to rest since they were covered in blisters and sore from walking for hours on end the previous two nights. It just seemed once again to be strangely unexciting.