Rio during Carnaval!

Expensive! Colorful! Crazy!

I was utterly confused before Carnival, because I did not understand what happened nor know anyone that could provide recommendations/clarity. What I found was an excited city that was somehow tamer than I expected. I had been warned that traffic is terrible, ATMs run out of cash, everything is closed, you cannot walk around and everything is very expensive. What I discovered is that traffic is fine, ATMs have plenty of cash, most things are open, it is only super busy at the street parties and the only things that are really expensive are housing [extremely] and the normal tourist traps.

The street parties are simply that, parties in the street. They are exclusive to a specific block and people dress up, drink and sometimes dance. The street parties can get crazy; however, they only last a few hours at most. Then they move to a new location and start again. Finding these parties is more challenging without insider knowledge and there is very little inter-nationality mingling. Everyone finds someone speaking his/her language and sticks with them.

Sambadrome is the collective parade of Carnival. This costume extravaganza is what most people envision when thinking about Carnival. While everyone thinks of the girls in virtually no clothes dancing, ironically, they are the minority. I would guess for every one “famous” barely-clothed dancer there are 50 other full-costume dancers. All night the samba schools dance (they do not walk) in the parade—thousands upon thousands upon thousands. Sambadrome is BY FAR the greatest parade I have ever experienced or seen (and I viewed the Rose Parade from the grandstands last year). Sambadrome is also the only reason I would recommend visiting Rio during Carnival—it is that spectacular!

Went to another soccer match--this time in Brazil.