Daily Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carnaval Break

So I thought I'd give myself a little vacation from the blog and take carnaval off.

This year, Mr. DRL and I participated in the parade at the Sambadromo. We had an absolute ball and can I just say it was such a pleasure to be a teeny tiny part of something so huge and beautiful. What a precious memory.

We paraded with Sao Clemente. One of my favorite moments of the night was when we left our friends' apartment with our costumes to walk the two blocks through the streets to meet up with our ride. Cariocas stopped what they were doing and stared at the gringos dressed in samba gear. To be fair, we were all dressed as different versions of giant pineapples. They cheered, they honked, whooped, they sang the Sao Clemente song. We were given more wishes of luck than I think I've ever been wished before. I was immediately choked up. I'm not a big crier. This was just on the street in Leblon! I wondered how we could possibly get through the entire Sambodromo with this level of emotion blasting at me.

When we went to pick up our costumes the previous week we were shown up a rickety set of stairs deep in Centro to a loft filled end to end with Brazilians frantically but carefully sewing feathers and sequins onto costumes - some as big as cars. What a sight. What dedication!

The amount of effort, blood, sweat and tears that goes into putting together the artistic creative masterpiece is terribly overwhelming.

It was an absolute privelige to be part of it, and it was a night I'll never forget.

The icing on this already-fabulous cake? I was particularly grateful for the cool temperatures!!!!!!!!!! Those costumes are roasting hot.

Carnaval Ads

It's coming.....

I love it when companies align marketing campaigns with Carnaval. A couple of years ago, Febreze put out a line of exotic scents including "Brazilian Carnaval" - lovely. Rio Gringa summed it up perfectly in my opinion - a quote from her blog entry on the subject: "Based on my experience last  year, it smells like sweat, BO, cigarette smoke, beer, grilled meat, and piss."

I doubt the Febreze product replicates this exactly, though...

This year the Carnaval ad that keeps catching my eye is for Gaviscon.

You know, the stuff you use for heartburn and indigestion. Because we can't have that slowing us down at Carnaval time, kids.

I think more companies should jump on the bandwagon for using carnavale to advertise products. Just off the top of my head, some appropriate ones that come to mind include contraception, ear plugs, adult diapers (better than urinating in public, a gente.... and that is all I'll say about that this year, I promise), headache relief products. Do I sounds like a Carnaval grinch?

I Stand Corrected

Sometimes I really don't mind being wrong. Really!

There were a number of citations during Carnivale for public urination. Men, women and even foreigners were arrested (it's mostly fines that were being handed out, but it is punishable by up to 2 years in prison which is obviously crazy, but it's good that there is incentive for people to xixi no banho). This is progress, people!

Here is an article on the subject, from Reuters.

In addition to the various port-o-potties distributed around the city (though it seemed like they were everywhere, the ratio of toilets to people still seemed a bit off. Not that I am saying the public urination is understandable!) they introduced these puppies:

Media Mistakes

When I make an error on this site, readers are quick to point it out. I appreciate this. What's the point of having a blog where nothing is true - this is supposed to be a resource for people. By no means do I consider this blog to be "news" - I mean, come on, it's my point of view only! I do as much fact-checking as I can, but let's face it sometimes sources are wrong. It's getting out of control how wrong the ACTUAL media is, on such a regular basis. It seems as though anytime something is covered that I do personally know about, the media gets some aspect of the story all wrong. Which doesn't give me much hope that the rest of what is reported is accurate, either. And yet I still pay attention. Why is that?

Here are some examples of ridiculous recent goofs:

Terry Fox/Michael J. Fox: This one is crazy. Terry Fox was a Canadian hero, in fact I've written about him before on the blog. I find him incredibly inspiring. Yes, Michael J. Fox is also an inspirational Canadian (though I am pretty sure he now calls himself an American), very accomplished, but I am pretty sure he hasn't run across Canada... or attempted to. I believe they are both even from the lower mainland in BC... but to mix them up? I know it must be confusing that more than one person's last name is Fox... but come on guys... link here.

Samba Parade: It was reported that a seven year old girl performed as a samba queen in one of the parades - in fact she was supposed to but didn't end up doing it. After the fact, CNN reported she had. Was the CNN reporter drunk? Did they actually go to the parade? Or even talk to anyone who did? How does this happen? (In my opinion - lazy journalism!) By the way, in case you missed it, they also reported that Rio is now the capital of Brazil! They are really on a roll over there...

A Beer Company After My Own Heart.

Since having the Canadoca a few of my tastes have changed. I wasn't terribly picky before, but olives and onions were typically food items I'd pick out if they were in something I was eating. I didn't mind the essence of them, but didn't eat them straight up. Times have changed; I now really like both. How strange.

Beer was something else that wasn't my favorite. I'd have about one if ever in a pinch (if I were handed one and there was nothing else to drink) but it wasn't my drink of choice. I have been thinking that I should try one again now, since some of my other dislikes have disappeared, but now that has proven itself redundant, because whether or not my tastes have changed, I LOVE ANTARCTICA. Love it love it love it. Better pick some up tomorrow at the store. Is it publicly traded? I'll buy shares. 

Why my sudden enthusiasm for this beer?

I'll give you a hint - it's not the fedoras that they keep handing out to partygoers at blocos, though they are pretty cute for freebies. It is, however, the little ad campaign they have going. There are currently signs like this everywhere in our neighbourhood:

 

And I mean everywhere.

And I like them.

For those who have commented on my disgust for public urination (xixi) in the past and said that Rio is no different than every other city, well, after the launch of this campaign (and the apparent need for it!) I don't think there's much more to say on this point.

Xixi (she shee - also known as pee pee) times three

So... I wasn't going to post about any of these, er... events individually, but now that they have all happened within about a week, I think it's a sign...

STORY 1: It's no secret that a lot of public urination goes on in Rio.  During Carnaval it takes place even more.  You know, it's normal -  the drinking, the outdoors-ness. No, sorry I don't understand it.  Oh you really really just "had to go"? Yes, I am familiar with the concept being that I am now more than 30 weeks pregnant... trust me if I can hold it, so can you. Yes, I realize that there are a lack of public washrooms, but frankly, no one wants to see or smell you do it... Can you tell I saw a few too many people partaking in this over Carnavale? According to this little piece in OGlobo, the city of Rio is using 120 thousand litres of disinfectant to combat this... situation.

STORY 2: Continuing on the topic... then, at Carnaval, I was handed a little envelope as I entered the premises. After we got settled in, I checked it out.  See the photos below:
Understand the directions? It's a device for women to direct their urine (so they can pee standing up). How nice for the Sambodromo to provide us with this technology!

Back home, thanks to a girlfriend's stagette (bachelorette party) ... I am familiar with such devices.  The brand of choice is called the "Freshette" and at my friend's last celebration of singledom, which had an out in the bush theme since we were in rural BC, a freshette was purchased for her as a gift/dare.

After reviewing the Freshette website I see there are many benefits to using such devices... check it out here. 

STORY 3: This surely falls in the TMI (Too Much Information!) category and also in the completely mortifying and pretty disgusting categories... but like I said - I didn't intend to post about any of these incidents individually but now that they've all come together it does make for an interesting blog post... and also a head's up to anyone who's pregnant in Brazil.  And posts like this also make me happy that this blog is fairly anonymous ;)  Okay, so consider yourself warned.

Being pregnant, I frequently go for blood and urine testing.  I noticed that the directions for the urine testing are much more "thorough" (meaning diagrams and everything) when it comes to the pre-urine cleansing or wipe-down that is to take place, as opposed to back home where they sometimes just give you a wet nap type thing or something to use beforehand.  Ok, so no big deal.  However, last time I went for testing, when it came time for the urine test, the nurse had me lay down on the table, get into the stirrups (so that she could ensure the "pre-urine cleansing" was done properly - yikes!) and then after that MADE me pee in a cup she was holding WHILE I was still in the stirrups at the lab.  I was SURE that it was a language barrier issue at first until she showed me some MORE detailed instructions with drawings and everything. Yes, I had some major stage fright.

It should be noted that I have talked to a few people about this and NO ONE back home has ever heard of anything like this, and people here who have been pregnant in Brazil have not necessarily gone through this either, depending on which lab they used. So I'm not saying this is a procedure that is followed in every Brazilian lab, I'm just stating the facts of what happened to me!

Monday Night at the Sambodromo

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!

Popular Carnaval Costumes I've Noticed Around

In no particular order..

• Fairies
• Pirates
• Disney characters
• Brides
• Obama (likely a this-year trend!)
• Men as babies, in diapers (see photo below)
• 

Other popular Dress-up items:

• Boas
• Fedoras
• Oversize goofy sunglasses
• Wigs of every color
• Glitter everything, including ties and headpieces
• Anything feathered

Bloco in Ipanema

Some photos...

Carnaval in RIo

So Carnaval madness has begun! By madness I mostly mean even worse noise and traffic than usual :)
I went to Centro earlier this week to buy a few Carnaval items - the store was a madhouse. I am pretty excited about my first Carnaval, especially since we scored some extremely sweet tickets... I'll of course update throughout the week but first here's my little headpiece: