Carnaval in Caiobá

For Carnaval, Brazil sort of shuts down. Many people go to the beach for the week and students get the week off of school if they have started already. I ended up going to the beach with Isis, my Rotary Club President and stayed a week with Rosangela, another Rotarian from my club.

The week at the beach was great! It was really nice to relax and get away from the city and the heat there. Rosangela, her husband, Marcos, her daughter, Amanda, and son, Marcos Antonio were all very sweet and welcoming. we spoke only Portuguese the whole week so it was a great learning opportunity. Amanda especially was very kind and patient in explaining  everything in a way I could understand and teaching me more in Portuguese. 

Unfortunately, it rained all week and we didn't end up spending much time at the beach. With my tendency to get sunburned, maybe this is a good thing. With the cool weather I went running on the beach most mornings and read a lot. I finished a Spanish book I pick up in Chile, as well as Tuesdays with Morrie which my brother, Manolo, gave me in Chile. 

The one day there was a sliver of sun in Caiobá

It rained so much that the streets flooded in the downtown area and to cross the street at some places the water cam up to mid thigh. This however did not stop the Carnaval celebration in Caiobá- Caiobanda -- one of the most interesting celebrations I have ever been to. For this event there were several trio eletrico (large double decker busses where the lower level is all speakers and on the upper level are performers sing and dancing) driving very slowly (slower than for a parade) in the street. Loads of people then followed the trios eletricos dancing and partying and drinking in the streets. There were also loads of people kissing each other in the middle of the party. Some strangers would come up to each other, kiss for about 20 seconds and then walk away and continue dancing with their friends. It was quite an interesting thing to see. Some people dressed up in costumes, especially men in dresses, I think as a way to prevent girls from hitting on them. 

Ready for Caiobanda!

Caiobanda with the trio eletrico

Carnaval is a very interesting event in general. During the weekend the biggest samba (typical Brazilian dance) schools in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro compete in parades. Each school has a theme and tells a story through the lyrics and costumes and dancing. They each have about an hour to make it down the block and are scored on their performances. Wow the costumes and floats and everything are spectacular. I have never seen anything like it, and I only saw it on the television. Female sexuality is also a huge part of it, many woman wore costumes that were very small and often showed the dancers entire butt and a lot of cleavage. there were even several schools that had women completely topless. Additionally the symbol for Carnaval this year was a woman dancing completely naked with only sort of ribbons of colored makeup covering her personal areas.

see a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcDbCHynVhY