We scored some pretty sweet tickets (in a box) for Monday night. Which was the ideal way to watch the show for this "gestante" (prego). The only drunk sweaty person I had to worry about rubbing up against me, well I'm married to him... haha!
The service was pretty good - we had a fridge fully stocked with beer, wine, champagne, agua de coco, water, carbonated water, various soft drinks, etc. The food kept coming all night long - sushi, fruit platters, salgados, pizza... kept us going, that's for sure!
We also had our own private bartender who would make drinks, etc. Mr. DRL enjoyed many a caipiabacaxi... (pinapple caipi).
My favorite performance on Monday night by far was Portela. That said, we missed the first parade. Not only for this reason, but partially because the driver (who had been waiting outside our door for THREE hours before our scheduled pick-up time) had no idea how to get to the Sambodromo. Is it just me or if a person had three hours to kill before their one task they needed to complete for the night, might it occur to them to take 5 minutes to ensure they would be able to execute that task correctly? Like, I don't know, glance at a map? Unreal! haha....
Here are some photos from the shows.
One of my girlfriends described it as a "feast for the senses" and I can't think of a better way to put it. I swear that my eyes were sore yesterday (more likely from sheer exhaustion but...) from looking at all the beautiful colors.
Below is a photo to keep the men coming back to the blog - some good old Brazilian T&A for you. Hopefully this makes up for all the baby posts?
More eye candy... I hope I am scoring some good bonus points here for all of this Brazilian booty!
Loved the mermaids!
This wolf was a BIG HIT with our crowd
Loved these birds! They were very well-choreographed!
Shout out to Canada! Check out the maple leaves...
I don't know who this girl is (above) but she is a big deal, judging by how many paparazzi were on her while she was dancing!
Portela had a focus on technology - as seen above & below
Hope you enjoyed it!
Wow those photos are awesome! It looks like it must have been a blast!
Posted by: Typ0 | February 26, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Great pictures! It looks amazing. I've never really felt the desire to go to Rio for Carnaval - I've thought that all the chaos and jacked-up prices might be better avoided - but now I'm thinking it may just be something to look at for next year.
Posted by: Emily | February 26, 2009 at 03:29 PM
The parades at the Sambodromo are definitely a must see. I did it in the bleachers - looks SO much better in the box seats!! One of these days I will parade. Oh, the woman is Luma de Oliveira. She is the madrinha of the Portela bateria and apparently she was really upset at the grade the bateria of Portela got (knocking them out of contention and giving the title to Salgueiro). She is in and out of the news, especially after she divorced her multi-millionaire husband a few years back.
Posted by: Corinne | February 26, 2009 at 04:29 PM
All of the costumes and the RICHNESS of the colors are amazing! I loved looking at them! Thank you!
Posted by: Mrs S | February 28, 2009 at 01:53 AM
I highly recommend it!
Posted by: Daily Rio Life | February 28, 2009 at 04:31 PM
The "girl above" is Luma de Oliveira, a famous model (she holds the record number of brazilian Playboy Magazine... 5 covers in total).
She is not really a "girl" anymore. She is 43 years old.
Posted by: AcesHigh | March 03, 2009 at 12:34 AM
Well she looks great for 43! Wow
Posted by: Daily Rio Life | March 03, 2009 at 08:48 AM
Your photos bring me right back there..I was at Sambodrome for Sunday night, 2/22/09, from around 8pm-5am and had a blast! But your photos are 100times better than mine were. I enjoyed Rio and want to return to Brazil. Thanks much for your blog...i've read about 25 items in this first sitting!!
Posted by: Fritz | March 21, 2009 at 02:12 AM