Hiking, Carnaval, Climbing, and no rest - "oh my":
Let's start with Carnaval... Wow. Men as Women; Women as Angels in Glitter and Feathers; Men as Dracula and other gore inspired things, and then people as nothing in particular but just a crazy-fun thing to wear and be for a week: a fantasia...
Blockos are what most Cariocas are fond of around Carnaval time. They are essentially a "block party" that has a published time to start and a place to begin and end. Some start at 9am, some others not until 9pm. There is usually a band on top of a truck with speakers (like Salvador), and there is often a band of drummers on the ground as well. You meet, dance, and follow the truck - and the rest of the thousand people in the street - until you reach that far off ending...
Carnaval's Samba Parade has mostly become a thing for the wealthy middle class or tourists. The Sambodromo (stadium for the parade) has three big nights featuring 6 different samba schools each night. We went on Monday and had a very lovely time. There is less dancing in the stands than I had imagined, but the show on the ground was very bright and active. They must have 1,000 people per samba school and not all of them samba! Really only a few samba and not for the whole time (1:20 minutes) that they are parading. The floats are really what is spectacular - soooo much work has to go into creating those little disposable masterpieces... Well, words can't describe so here are as many pictures as your little heart can desire:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=375603&id=586190520&l=5c14d2ee0b
(new ones at the end)
I also did a hike in the Parke National da Tijuca - about 45 minutes south of Botafogo and the heart of Rio. This hike was brutal... 850 meters straight up hill on a well established trail that had lots of boulders to climb over and up... rewarding and punishing at the same time. Again, I lack the words to describe the beauty at the top (I am in need of Dave Brill's expertise here...). So, see these photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=375603&id=586190520&l=5c14d2ee0b
Climbing has picked up for me as well. I have been to Urca to climb the sugarloaf again and have also climbed the route Passagem dos Olhos in the Parke National da Tijuca. This route was wonderful because it is a 5 pitch traverse on the "face" (literally) of the rock - starting on the left cheek, going up just left of the left eye, and traversing below the left eye, across the nose, and into the right eye (where we had lunch), before departing out the right cheek. Wow! Photos can be found again at above link!
Well, hope that answered some questions. There will be another blog soon about my trip(s) to Vicosa and how much I am going to like it there!
Best,
~Maggie
