Rio de Janeiro
Pop. 10.000.000First European visitor; Gaspar de Lemos, year 1502, January (Janeiro)
Today the Christbastard is proudly looking out over the crowning achievement of his 2000 year reign of terror,
as thousands of Vultures circle in the pretty blue skies of this masterpiece of sin, murder, corruption and chaos.
I love it.
O Rebentor, o maior bandido do maior morro no Rio.
altitude 700 m
The "Cidade maravilhosa" may well be the most beautiful city in the world due to the stunning natural
beauty of the location, even though the Cariocas in the name of "progress" have done their best to bury it
in slums & pollution. So, even though most of the city itself is your typical 3rd world concrete block fest,
many splendid examples of its royal past can still be found around town, if you look hard enough.
Fortunately it is difficult to bury 1000m high towering granite walls, miles of beaches and that
hawaiianlike climate. It is on the same latitude (south) as Hawaii is (north), deliciously sub tropical.
The "marvelous" part of the equation no doubt has to be the hedonistic undercurrent this place is (?in-) famous for.
The people are generally superfriendly and of great spirit, despite poverty, crime, low wages & high taxes.
Another plus is its echo of Southern California "rollerblading along the beach boardwalk/smoothie/surfing"- culture,
albeit with a substantially greater percentage of street scum. If it wasn't for the scum factor you might
be forgiven for thinking you've landed in paradise Baby ! Add to that an obscenely funny and obscure language,
and you have all the ingredients for a smashing good time ! (If you manage to avoid stray bullets & muggers).
Rio (& Brazil in general) being an excellent place to visit doesn't, unfortunately, make it a great place to live,
but that's another story...(bottom of page).
Bottom Line: Rio de Janeiro state is by far the most worthwhile place in all of Latin America to explore/hang out,
both culturally and geographically.
Here's some local music : UPF 1 , UPF 2 , UPF 3 , O Rappa , Marcelo D 2 , BAS , Saci Perere , Jardim
Hip Hop (pronounced "hippie hoppie" :) : Sabotage , Sabotage 2 , Foda-se , Bossa Nova : Frevo mulher , Renato Vargas
Jobim , Elis Regina , Elis & Jobim Funk (pronounced "funky" :) : Marcinho , Marcinho 2 , Marcinho 3 , Marcinho 4
Macumba , Ai Amor , Da Palinha , Experimenta , Lotada , Que Delícia , Quer Trepar , Capoeira : Os Mestres
Adeus Sereia , Sereia , Angola , Negro , Samba de roda
Brazilians do not understand nor do Rock n Roll music very well, in fact it sucks ! (with a few exceptions),
as does most attempts at any modern western music. In fact they suck as bad as their (continental) European counterparts !
Now if THAT doesn't send you shivers then by all means explore, but be advised, one will be best served looking into more
African based genres as it's hardly worth digging for lame attempts at pop punk, and whatever you do, be sure to AVOID "MPB"!!!
(Brazilian pop music) as it is especially rife with people singing off-key as well as nursing a peculiar sense of melody (or lack thereof, shall we say).
Here are a few shots and comments from various parts of town
Zona sul
(The "nice" part of town, 10% of Rio)
Click here to jump to Zona Norte (the hellish part of town)
The view from my window in Botafogo during one of many tropical storms
Botafogo is a somewhat more "intellectual" / chic part of zona sul,
with cafés, bookshops, art cinemas and the highest concentration of old mansions from centuries past.
And the best view in Rio, of course :)
Postcard
Night view from Sugarloaf.
That's 20 lanes of traffic !
Local tagger art
The scoop on Lifestyle !
Coconut on the beach, and Açai !!!, the main reason to be in Rio !
This poorman's food of the Amazon mixed with Guaraná syrup is delicious as hell and became very popular around Rio in the 1990s.
It is normally found at one of the hundreds of juice bars scattered around Rio, often with about 30 different kinds of other S American fruits
to choose from but beware when ordering your smoothie as you must remember to request that they don't dump a handful of sugar in it ! (it's the default)
Juice bars are as common as gyms and are found on every block as are scummy and crowded supermarkets selling reasonably cheap meats, fruits and vegetables,
the latter always dirty and of poor quality which is hardly surprising as Brazilian cuisine is bland and heavy (does NOT rank very high on any culinary scale but is a fair bit
better than the food in the rest of Latin America) and uses greens mainly as garnish or as condiments, so vegetarians et others beware, you won't find an advanced
food culture here but you can make up for it by indulging in the above mentioned plenitude of south American fruits instead ; )
Your best bet for tasty food are the "pay per kilo", "comida a kilo" eateries as you can choose & pick what looks the tastiest.
An excellent but expensive place is the "Porcão" on the bay shore in Flamengo which has an awesome and extensive buffet of world class food.
In most of Brazil salt seems to be the only known "spice" and is used in excess for lack of other options. One will even find the
(in the western world) ubiquitous salt n pepper team on your table missing a member as even pepper is an exotic substance in Brazil.
Quality bread is a challenge to find and cereal is a rarely used luxury product, real yogurt does not exist (only sugary kids' versions).
Fish there is lots of but unfortunately is rarely worth buying as is it often old or stored incorrectly and even when
fresh enough and stored on ice it is always sold with guts n all still inside !.?..
Wine is the most exotic substance of all (beer is king) and trying to ingest Brazilian wine can be as shocking
an experience as paying for an imported bottle would be. Quality tea is also hard to find (coffee is king).
Cars, electronics et other "luxury" items are 100-300% more expensive in Brazil than in the 1st world.
The high Tax burden coupled with low income means that Brazil is a country of expensive low quality goods.
Cigarette smoke wise Brazil is far more advanced than its stinking neighbours, or Europe.
Almost nobody smokes ! and it's prohibited in public places ....Awesome !
Surfing is mainstream, windsurfing is exotic and diving is unusual.
Beach volleyball is everywhere (especially the "footvolley" version).
Women's swim wear fashion has evolved to minimalist perfection,
while men's swimmers are poignantly stuck in the 1950s.
In the USA the poor people are fat and the rich are slim.
In Brazil the rich people are fat and the poor are 6-pack.
In the US "suburbia" refers to the prosperous safe part of town,
in Rio "suburbia" refers to the fucked up poor part of town.
In the rest of the world rich people live in the hills with
awesome views, while poor bassstds are stuck the flatlands.
In Brazil the slums are in the hills with amazing views while the
rich for some strange reason prefer to live in the boring flatlands.
Don't ask me why, as all I'd have to say about THAT is that in Brazil
a LOT of things are upside down. Makes it a funny place to visit, I guess...
Factoid :You get 10% more beautiful for every 30 days spent in RIO !
...and 10% dumber for every year.
Praia Vermelha is our local beach.
This pleasant seaside walk next to the beach is the the safest and most relaxing and excellent place in Rio.
A great place to jog surrounded by monkeys, native jungle and crashing waves...even some jungle trails.
Atlantic rainforest with some introduced species like Jackfruit.
Monkeys
Rock climbers are always hard at work in this rock climbing mecca.
Sunsets can be intense affairs among these granite walls.
Urca is the safest and one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Rio.
Choppers in the Botafogo sunset. At morro da Urca (Sugarloaf).
Eu
Carine
The Rio Yacht club area, Urca
More Urca neighbourhood shots
One sunny Sunday morning we wake up to a few thousand slum dwellers from this state and beyond,
shipped in by some Christian evangelist cult on several hundred buses, clogging the normally empty beach.
The poor lost souls take to the disgustingly polluted smelly bay (which I would be afraid to dip my toe in),
as if it´s holy water...!?, while the band played on.... (hardcore J.C. tunes at hell raising volume).
By midnight they had all vanished ! ...a surreal experience. Thanks J.C. !
The beach is packed again.
This time it's Red Bull putting on the show !
There are one million people on the beach and coastline surrounding the bay.
The Red Bull air race was a cool event.
The Flamengo/Catete beach area next door.
Flamengo. Night & day.
There are miles of walking / running tracks along these relatively safe middle class beach suburbs.
The main one is an 8km round trip with fantastic scenery.
One thing that sets Brazil apart from developed nations is the complete and mystifying
absence of marinas on such a marvelous coast with superb sheltered bays and no lack of millionaires.
I am somewhat puzzled as to where they park these things...?
Even the Rio Yacht Club does not have a marina, despite having about half a mile of perfect bay frontage !!!???
In fact it's more like a Country club full of posers than a yacht club, sporting restaurants, tennis courts and
swimming pools. Brazilian priorities, I guess...
The only Marina in Rio is the small and strange Marina da Gloria downtown.
The Volvo round the world ocean race just blew into town.
Copacabana !
Tourist central, has few redeeming qualities and is not exactly a safe place due to a
torrid assortment of rough urchins of urban squalor crawling down from the many favelas (slums) surrounding Copacabana
to feed off the poor tourists (and locals). Here foreigners are likely to be approached by everything from hardened criminals
to beggars to a vivid variety of sex for sale, everything from stunning creatures of the opposite sex to diseasridden
cumguzzling gutterwhores and creepy halfbreed transsexuals and transvestites, all seeking $$$ £££ and euros.
All said, it is the best place in the world to be for new years eve when over 2 million people fill the beach
for the most stunning spectacle on earth ! with 24 tonnes of fireworks exploding off of half a dozen huge purpose
built barges positioned at intervals 300m offshore along the 4 km long beach. An awesome deafening show, probably
not even outdone by the allies in Berlin in 1945 ! After 15 minutes of constant bombardment the entire
city of Copa is covered in a cloud of smoke akin to a warzone ! Cool...hehehe
Update; The Rolling Stones drew in about half as many for a half assed free show on the sand last week,
plus a flotilla of boats.
The Upper class Ipanema next door is the home of Bossa Nova.
Here's some more, Elis Regina , Elis & Jobim , Renato Vargas , Frevo mulher
It's a relaxing if expensive place to hang out.
em Vinicius de Morais
It has better water quality than Copacabana.
Jardim Botanico, Rio botanical gardens is even more relaxing.
Founded by the king of Portugal/Brazil, Dom João in the early 1800s
as he fled Napoleon and set up shop here in paradise. Understandably he did not want to return to Portugal !
Parque Lage, next door, is a remnant from the mansion days.
That's Jesus up on the hill there, in the background.
Sun sets on Botafogo and Parque national da Tijuca, the 1000m high granite walled
rain forest covered mountain massif in the middle of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Driving around there is very reminiscent of the Hana hwy on Maui.
With lookouts like Vista Chinesa over Lagoa.
Within the park are lots of trails and waterfalls.
And weirdest of all,
this all is smack in the middle of a city of 10 million people !!!
Driving into Barra da Tijuca.
These monstrosities are actually what people around here aspire to live in !??
A great way to wreck otherwise beautiful scenery.
A few do live in real houses in this most desirable of Rio neighborhoods.
Barra shopping mall
There is no shortage of enormous shiny modern malls in Brazil ,
the contents of which provide stunning contrast to the surrounding slums ,
with half of the shops bearing English names that nobody understands,
and T-shirts sporting tragically miswritten meaningless slogans in "English".
All this would be almost as funny as China if it wasn't for this ridiculous subtly omnipresent,
misplaced admiration for the USA that permeates the already "valley girlish" atmosphere.
You CAN find an occasional refreshing "Foda-se USA" (Fuck the USA) T-shirt, so I guess it's a love/hate relationship.
Huge tasteless malls are a curious 3rd world phenomenon. Same thing in Asia. They love building giant malls for some reason ?
I guess nobody told them big malls are no longer fashionable. They seem awfully proud of them ghastly monstrosities though.
The canyon between rich & poor in Brazil is one of the deepest on our pretty blue planet.
In Brazil all roads lead to a slum ( favela ).
This road in the richest part of Rio flanked by the apartments of millionaires conveniently leads to the largest favela in Rio.
After all, masters must have slaves, that's why the slave quarters are right next to the masters'.
Even though slavery was abolished here a whole 120 years ago (the last major nation to do so)
you can still buy a slave (maid) here for a 100 bucks a month, the minimum wage in Brasil (many make less).
That's why here in "the land of tomorrow" even middle class folk have one ; )
In Brazil the top 10% of the population make 50% of the national income and the bottom 10% make 1%.
40% of the land is owned by 1% of the population and the indigenous population is still being massacred by rotten ranchers.
There are still tens of thousands of slaves in Brazil, mainly in Amazonia (Pará) but also in the cane fields and
even farther south. While this macabre show carries on the elite (Judges, lawyers, businessmen, estate owners etc.)
are, to use a local expression, "viajando na maionese" (traveling in the mayonnaise) trying to convince themselves that
they are living a first world existence by watching the nightly 8 pm soap opera that often lends support to such delusions.
Recreio, the last (most westerly) of the Rio beaches is the best of the lot.
Barring the beach beyond the mountains, Grumari.
The hideaway called Barra de Guaratiba, at "the end of the road" going west.
View of Zona Sul, Gloria to Lagoa, from the perch of Jesus up on the hill.
Zona norte
( The "bad" part of town, 95% of Rio )
Mercadão de Madureira is packed with Macumba cult artifacts & supplies, including live animals.
Macumba (or Candomblé) is an Afro-Brazilian slave cult incorporating catholic saints into a hilarious nutfest
carnaval of silly characters (Orixás) reminiscent of Hindu mythology, with a good dose of Voodoo thrown in.
One popular orixá is the mermaid goddess Yemanja. Here's another song about her.
Brazil has a much more vibrant and alive element of African cultures than the US mainly because
the region imported about 10 x as many African slaves during a much longer period than north America.
This is a Capoeira song born of that culture. Here is one more.
They sing of their longing for Africa, their arduous journey and their marshal art Capoeira.
Deep in zona norte.
In Brazil as anywhere in the world, the poorest people are usually the friendliest.
In the neighborhood in which Marcia grew up...
...a few of her childhood friends are actually still alive !
Regrettably, many of them met a violent and early death. Everything from being set on fire alive,
dragged to death behind a car, tortured to death, chopped into pieces and laid on mom's doorstep,
or just plain shot. The anecdotes are as endless as is the creativity of the local bandit assholes
on how to kill their real or imagined enemies.
Walking to school in the morning was never dull, kinda like walking through the set of the "Texas chainsaw massacre",
nor was coming home from school, as it was occasionally delayed because of gun battles between police & thieves.
Sometimes at night it was even a pretty show with all the tracer bullets flying between the hills...
August 2007 update; These days during the civil war in the Alemão favela in zona norte I see one news report after
another about how kids can't concentrate on homework because of the constant sound of heavy gunfire.
Many die in bed once they manage to fall asleep because of stray bullets coming through the walls.
If they do manage to get to school safely they often have a hard time concentrating on the lesson
because of frequent gunfire outside. Parts of the government have even suggested teachers go through
training in how to take care of the students when heavy gunfire breaks out in the neighborhood. This
has met resistance among more politically correct persons in government who refuse to accept the reality
that 90% of the city of Rio de Janeiro is a War Zone.
When we called this victim in they asked "how many are there ? ......only one ! "
"Well that's gonna have to wait...click" In all fairness, it was a Saturday night.
Here's the aftermath of a gunfight outside my apartment in Zona Zul today (dec 2006 update).
I first thought that must be fireworks as new years eve is just a couple of days away,
but Marcia could tell the difference right away.
What made it appear to be fireworks was the extremely heavy fire. A mix of machine guns and small arms fire.
This lasted for only 30 seconds. Marcia remembers many gun battles going on for hours !
Looking out the window what really convinced me it ain't fireworks was people running all over the place and one dropping dead.
They peppered this police booth and nearby cars thoroughly in one of those " kill as many Cops as possible in 24 hrs " - games
that the trafficker scumbags like so much. But these cowardly morons kill any bystanders indiscriminately, like terrorists.
This time a "camelô" (a street vendor) and her son kick the bucket, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That's mostly their blood on the street there, not the cop's, although he was shot up severely these bungling
morons didn't even manage to kill him at almost point blank range but they put 55 holes in the booth !
Reinforcements who showed up all of a sudden took off burning rubber as info came on the radio.
They managed to kill over half a dozen bandits.
In this organized attack dozens of targets were hit around Rio. 25 Dead, twice as many in the hospitals.
11 buses burned, some with people still inside, "carbonized ", as they say.
Here's the somewhat erroneous BBC version of last night's events.
A sign of the times: Today (a couple of days after the above) Marcia went to visit mom in zona norte.
We are now having evening tea and she says , " Oh, by the way, while I was waiting for the bus a bullet fell from the sky,
landed between me and the guy standing next to me, and mom said someone machine gunned the local Carrefour supermarket yesterday."
Such relatively minor indiscretions don't even make the local news ! Not exactly Mr Roger's neighborhood, is it.
Over 100 people per day are murdered in Brazil and about 50.000 people per year are reported missing
with ~ 10% of those remaining unresolved every year (probably the ones nabbed by organ traffickers).
Rio now has the dubious distinction of being the most violent city in South America and the world,
as Medellin and Cali in Colombia have become considerably safer.
Here´s a couple more links , link 2 , link 3 , link 4 , from the BBC for your reading pleasure.
And here´s a sobering quote from the BBC,
"About 40,000 people are shot dead each year in Brazil.
The UN and disarmament groups are using shocking statistics
to put pressure on Brazil's parliamentarians.
The report's headline figure is that more than half a million Brazilians died
from gun-inflicted injuries in the past 24 years.
That is more than four times the number of deaths recorded
in the Arab-Israeli conflict during the past 50 years."
Quick math = 10 x more violent than the middle east !!!
In case you care, on this site you can keep track of what's goin on in da hood.
"Mortos" means dead, "feridos" means wounded. This site counts dead police.
Counting since february 2007 (violent "unnatural" deaths only, of course).
Keep in mind that those are only the "official" ones. Most in fact never make it to officialdom.
Some are chopped up by bandits and vanish in the favelas and others are clandestinely executed by corrupt vigilante police.
A friend of ours who was tortured and shot 12 times in the face last week did not add to the above statistics,
nor did her friend who was shot at that same time.
Official statistics for Rio for the month of march are 640 murders, 4.861 street muggings,
815 muggings on public transport and 3.381 cars stolen.
Here's a new story on the BBC today (aug 2007 update)
and here's one more false hope inspiring one.
Here the army and special forces are playing cat & mouse with the drugfuck assholes
Unfortunately, on this day a 16 year old kid bites the dust thanks to a "bala perdida" (stray bullet).
A common cause of death in Rio.
The main force on the front line of this civil war is called BOPE "tropa de elite".
This elite force has the toughest job in "Cidade maravilhosa"
having to duck not only bullets but socio-political attacks as well.
This is their emblem
This is their vehicle, the "caveirão" (the big skull).
So called because this armored vehicle resembles a skull ("caveira" = skull) seen from above.
The caveirão is the subject of heated controversy as you can see in This article which reflects a typical attitude
put forward by Amnesty International and others with PC blindfolds on who do not accept
that policing favelas without the "caveirão" would be fatal.
One would last about as long as a virgin in a whore house....or a disarmed Israel.
Here´s a local news clip about it. And here's a BBC story.
Take a drive in a caveirão on You Tube.
Their website
oct 2007 update : A new film about BOPE "tropa de elite" just came out.
It is causing quite a stir in Brazil right now dramatizing the realities discussed above.
Here's a NY times article about it.
I haven't seen it yet but it sounds like it will be another counter terrorism
tool in the psy-ops arsenal in addition to the "BOPE funk" mentioned below.
Cabral (the new governor) will need all the tools he can muster now that the city
seems to be falling into the hands of organized crime in the form of private militias
who are fighting the traffickers for control of the less prosperous parts of town while
pretending to provide the "protection" that the government seems unable to provide.
Good luck to him, he needs it !
While he's at it He should consider legalizing weed in order to take
some revenue away from the traffickers, among other things.
Psy-ops play a part in modern favela warfare. To counter the illegal but popular gangster funk which glorifies the killing of police,
and brags of the bravery and invincibility of the traffickers and their "soldiers", some underground crew has produced an equally
offensive set of tunes informing what will happen to gangster types when the Caveirão shows up.
The BOPE funk is a lot closer to reality and may do a good job of re-educating some of the trafficker brainwashed kids.
Music after all is a very powerful force.
They apparently play it through the loudspeakers on some missions, surely to the great horror of Amnesty international & co.
This , This , This and This clip has the aforementioned music.
Here are a few more glimpses of BOPE & others in action, Chaos , Macacos , TV news , TV Espanhol.
Here's some clips showing Rio life with local music soundtracks : Zerovinteum a , Zerovinteum b
Premonição. Scenes to a Hip Hop sound track, and last but not least Gun's n Roses.
Que pais e este ???!!!
Solutions to this violent civil war are difficult to envision as the underlying socioeconomic,
political and cultural dysfunctions are too profound to fix in even a decade or two.
OF COURSE prevention would be better than cure but it's about 50 yrs too late now.
So for now "BOPE" is the antibiotic of choice and in fact the only realistic solution to fight
the plethora of vermin that plague the "marvelous" city. They are regrettably an essential
tool in preventing Rio from becoming soul mates with Lagos, Nairobi or Mogadishu.
This never ending civil war is especially lamentable considering that Brazil,
foreign policy wise, must be one of the most peaceful countries on earth as they haven't
had a war for a century and haven't really had any major wars in their entire history.
This is quite impressive as they have more neighbors (borders) than just about any country
in the world. This "peace n love" attitude may explain why half of the equipment of the armed forces
is said to be antiquated and in a state of disrepair or broken. I guess there is a lack of political
will to provide enough maintenance or funds ? (although corruption is a more likely reason)
CARNAVAL !
In a land where extreme wealth is counterbalanced by extreme poverty, extreme violenceis counterbalanced by one of the worlds more vibrant cultures of love, dance & music.
Even though they share the same sexually repressive and guilt-addicted disease popularly
known as Christianity, there is a general lack of the infantile feminist drivel that tends to
patronize the minds of some Anglo women into a permanent state of paranoid delusional insecurity
and a mortal fear of appearing remotely sensual or feminine, not to mention SEXY...(god forbid).
This is why I sometimes find myself having to explain to foreigners that the scantily dressed local women
really aren't prostitutes, but that it's just the local dress code especially among the lower classes,
and to locals that some of the women tourists they see in Rio really aren´t lesbians, but that their
masculine appearance is simply a result of them having been bombarded and brainwashed
for decades by misdirected if well meaning feminism and political correctness.
Most find this either hilarious and/or lamentable, as they are used to men being men (obnoxious assholes)
and women being (and looking like) women, except in Copacabana of course, where men might be women,
women might be men, and transvestites may be either or.......a land of extremes.
SEX & VIOLENCE !!! YEAHH !
Web-Photos
Factoid: Carnaval has its roots in pagan spring festivals that the cunning Catholic church over millennia incorporated
into that religion in the form of a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting and suffering of Lent.
Good Christians are supposed to finish off any remaining meats, eggs etc. that are forbidden during lent,
feasting in a civilized manner of course. Hence the name "Carneval" or "farewell to the flesh".
There are countless other roots and expressions of this most human condition, expressed in Carnivals around the world.
Over millennia this ancient spring tradition has seen many forms, changing, adapting evolving and adopting.
The Rio version, at least a couple of decades ago, probably came closest to the ancient spirit of bacchanalian revelry,
characterized by unbridled freedom and temporary subversion of civil order, the "dangerous occasions of sin" that it was meant to be.
It´s also celebrated as the "big bang end" of summer instead of the beginning of spring, due to the hemispheral swap.
Extra insight; In Rio "Carnaval" doesn´t mean "farewell to the flesh", it means "HELLOOO to the flesh".
Christians....
i.e. The Christcorpse death cult.
"Noooo, our christbastard is deead !
Let´s pretend to drink his blood and eat his flesh
every Sunday for the next 2000 years !"
Unfortunately these fucking cannibals are still busy trying to chip away at Brazil's centuries old culture of debauchery.
An uphill battle, let's hope. Even with the aid of Brazil's new PC brigade they are likely to eventually admit defeat,
as did the bishop of Pará 300 years ago.
Quote ;
"The wretched state of manners in this country makes me
think that I am living in the suburbs of Gomorrah,
very close indeed, and in the vicinity of Sodom".
Sadly though, a minority of locals these days even express some sort of perverse pride in
that it is now illegal to go topless on the beaches, though contrary to popular stereotypes Brazilians are actually,
despite being a sensual and open society, more prudish about full nudity than most Europeans !
Yes, it's true ! believe it.........or not.
organic conditions for women to be women were it not for the two cultural extremes imported from primitive southern Europe.
1: Machismo, 2: Catholicism. - The Machistas want to leash her while trying to rip her clothes off and beady eyed
Catholics want to slap the clothes back on (with superglue), while being perfectly happy to retain the leash.
The women of Brazil are surely trying hard not to become schizophrenic !
There are over a dozen samba schools in Rio, each from a certain suburb with thousands of members, all dancing
down the Sambodromo in "blocos" with dozens of floats (carros alegoricos) each with a certain theme, til the sun rises.
This goes on for several days until a winner is crowned.
This year Vila Isabel, sponsored by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela ??? took the crown.
Smaller party blocos are found throughout the city´s suburbs.
The craziest ones normally far from the tourist areas in the south.
The south has the most popular clubs though (such as Scala).
Wikipedia = The Rio "crazy dress" aspect of carnaval has its roots in the city’s bourgeoisie importing the practice of holding balls
and masquerade parties from Paris. It originally mimicked the European form of the festival, over time acquiring elements
derived from African and Amerindian cultures. These days it´s a freeforall of imagination.
Quinta da boa vista, the old royal palace area.
The Palace itself of course lingers in a state of dilapidated neglect, as the government of this town
(in the name of progress, while busy shaking hands with corruption)
has far more important things to tend to than maintaining pesky things such as historical heritage sites.
This state of mind though, is quite representative of the peoples´as private antique properties throughout town fare no better,
in favor of the hideous concrete apartment block housing favored by the population (even by the upper classes !?).
Centro etc.
There are a few traditional feeling areas downtown.
That's not the local Disneyland !
That's what all the fire departments in Brazil look like !
The historical hill getaway for the rich 100 yrs ago, Santa Teresa, is still one of Rio´s most interesting.
View towards sugarloaf from Santa Teresa.
Niterói, on the east side of the bay.
As seen from Catete.
And from the sugarloaf, with the entrance from the sea into the bay.
Postcard
The ocean beaches beyond Niterói are relaxing and empty.
