"Greatest Show on Earth"

The Carnival in Brazil is a big part of the Brazilian Culture, and it is sometimes referred to by the Brazilians as the "Greatest Show on Earth".


I had of course returned to Rio hoping to watch the parade, when I found out that the parade is held in the Sambodromo, and one has to buy tickets to watch it.  By the time I checked for tickets availability, they were already sold out, with most of the seats exorbitantly priced.  

So on Sunday (the start of the parade), I resent myself to just watching the parade on television.  It started at 9pm, and was suppose to feature 7 schools dancing to samba beats.  I never made it through watching all 7 schools, just because by 1am when the 3rd school just begin marching into Sambodromo, the Zzzzz monster has decided to bug me.  

Toy world

However I was amazed by the numerous huge and extravagant floats as well as the energy exuding from the exodus of people in extremely beautiful costumes (many with colourful huge feathers and some were even body painted), that I made it a point to try my luck, and wait around Sambodromo to hopefully catch a glimpse of some of these floats and the performers in costumes.  And it was more than just a glimpse that I managed to catch.  

Devils

Birthday surprise?

Excited performer waiting
to enter Sambodromo

All dressed up!

Posing for the camera

Due to the size and number of floats each school has, the floats were lined up all the way into the city centre (stretching across more than 3 metro stations!), waiting for their turn to get into Sambodromo.  The performers (some were all geared up, while others were partially dressed) were awaiting near the floats, and happy for passer-bys to be taking photos of them in their outfits.  


I snapped numerous pictures while walking from the city centre towards Sambodromo, and was hoping to still see the floats all lighted up (the floats in the queue were not yet lighted up) with all its magnificent grandeur.  



As I approached Sambodromo, I came across a grandstand, which were packed with people.  Being curious, I tried to approach the grandstand. but found some bouncers at many of the entrances.  As I continued walking along, I came across one without a bouncer and quickly walked up the stairs, and from behind 5 rows of human heads, I managed to see the huge floats going by, separated just by a river about 40m wide!

I tip-toed and peered through empty spaces between human heads and tried to squeeze my way closer to the front as people slowly trickled out.  While watching the floats go by, one guy stood behind me and started speaking a few lines to me in Portuguese.  Not knowing what was said, I just ignored.  


Moments later, he started putting his hands on each side of my hips and turned me to a side while some people tried to squeeze out to the exit.  He left his hands on my hip and started tapping his fingers against my hip to the samba beat.  

Getting annoyed, and yet not knowing how to speak the language to tell him to keep his hands off, I tried to push his hands away, but it returned.  I waited for the moment when people started exiting again, and squeezed my way through.  I got lucky and within a few minutes, I managed to squeeze through to a couple of rows in front, away from the guy, and finally even got to the front row, held just by a metal bar to prevent people from falling into the river.  I had a great spot where one could see see the floats and performers passing by, just moments before they enter Sambodromo.  

Waiting to enter Sambodromo

At times, the performers even turned towards us and sang and dance to us, while they await their turn to enter Sambodromo.  What was even better, was the person standing next to me had a phone where from time to time, he could access the television channel to see the close up of the performers caught on film.  

So I had the best of both worlds, seeing it in person as well as close up on TV for a couple of hours!

While enjoying the show, I came to realise that someone has been continuously budging me from behind.  I turned round and saw a huge big size guy standing behind me.  It seemed strange as even with people squeezing to get in and out of the grandstand, the way the guy was nudging on me seemed unusual.  It was then I realised he was getting a hard-on rubbing against my behind!  

I was disgusted, and tried to turn my body a little, so as to avoid his contact down-under.  It didn´t work as it continued, though with a little more caution as compared from before.  Running out of ideas, I turned slightly more and elbowed him in his stomach and kept my elbow there by angling my arm and resting my palm on my hip.  

That seemed to work, as about 5 minutes later, he went away.  I continued enjoying the parade in peace, mesmerised by the floats, costumes, and energy of the performance, when I came to realise something strange happening again, although perhaps with a little more caution.  I thought, "Not again!", and turned around to find a different guy, with a bug-toothed faced, standing behind me.  


What´s with Brazilian men!  I did the same tactic as before, first by turning a little (which again didn´t work) and later elbowed him again.  This time round, this guy went off extremely quick, up towards another platform.  

Golden Boat

I finally got to enjoy watching the Parade in peace, and stayed till about 3am (after watching 3.5 schools perform, as I only got to the grandstand at about 10pm) and decided to call it a night, as my camera battery has died and my legs were exhausted from standing the whole time.


I slowly dragged myself towards the nearest metro, walking past more floats and costumed performers, and took the metro back home.  


Other than a couple of irritants during the night, I was extremely pleased and satisfied to have caught a piece of the Parade action.  I perhaps even got a better spot than if I had paid for a ticket to Sambodromo, considering that I managed to see the performance and action just about 60m away from where I was standing.  

Indians in Amazonian Green?

Performers all hyped up!

For London Olympics?

I am also in full admiration to the performers for maintaining the high energy throughout the time they were parading, wearing their heavy costumes and some even with high heels, singing and dancing to the samba beat.  


I do however wonder what happens to the costumes and floats once the whole competition is over - does it get re-used for the next year, or do all the hard work and effort by the makers get thrown out into the rubbish dump?