CARNAVAL!!!!!
friday was my first day of carnaval. it was so exciting from the moment i woke up. rosie came to do everyone's mani/pedi. i went crazy, of course, and put on every single color she had with her. then i refashioned my camarote shirt. for some reason, the most A-list camarote in salvador had the worst looking shirts. they were huge, stiff, felt like a hospital gown, and were covered in (what they call "propaganda") advertisements. the labels had to remain in tact, so i had to be imaginative and work around them. i ended up crocheting the sides to make it smaller all around and braiding the sleeves into a tank top. i was pleased. next came the hair and make up. all morning i had been walking around with my head covered in tiny blue curlers, they made for a great mop of extra curly hair that i transformed into a mohawk, add a dash of lime green eye shadow and some mascara and i was ready to go... oh wait! the glitter! ok now, now im ready.
we drove into salvador in 3 cars to fit everyone. maya's car broke down right before we got there. we were stuck in traffic on a one way street being used as a two way, and sitting at a 78 degree slant. her people packed car overheated and we were forced to abandon it on the side of the road. eventually, and surprisingly quite easily, we got there. the streets teaming with people, vendors, smoke, and trucks. we formed a long line, holding onto the person in front and in back. we walked a few blocks until, there it was. the ocean side avenue filled with more people than i have ever seen in one place. the people were going, the bands were going, and i was ready to get going.
we stood in a very short line to get into the camarote. i pulled out my name tag and had it scanned and was granted the privilege to enter into the VIP obis. we all climbed a flight of wooden stairs and entered into a white room filled with magenta spirally wooden trees and stands for everything; masks, jewelry, shirt accessories, popcorn, ice cream, cachaça, some kind of shrimp food... and everything was free! you could just walk up and take what ever you wanted. there were trunks filled with scarves, water bottles, pins, headbands, perfume, chocolate, bags... everything. now, this was just the entrance room to the camarote. down a long wooden hall lead to another, wider black stone hallway. this was where it started. tables filled with people working on their computers, corners filled with costumes to take pictures in, feather girls in tall stilettos walking by, and beautiful people, everywhere.
through this hallway you entered the first floor. this was filled with round, red velvet couches and bars of food and drinks. toward the front people stood looking down through the open wall at the carnaval below. on either side were smaller booths for the VIP of the VIP. you needed a special red bracelet to get in there, which i didn't have (but it was not that cool anyway). at the back of the room was a large stair case to bring you to the second/main floor. on this floor was the salon where you could get your hair, makeup and mani/pedis for free, there was a night club and the main dining area. past the dining area were another set of VVIP boxes and a viewing area of the pipoca below. they call the outside/street part of carnaval "pipoca", which means "popcorn", because everyone jumps around following the trios like a bunch of popping corn.
this venue was huge. the ceilings the height of 2 floors and so vast you could hardly see from one side to the other, not to mention the thousand people creating a visual obstacle course. it was loud, each floor playing their own kind of music. the carnaval outside was playing all kinds of music and the club inside was playing all kinds of music. i am like a moth to electric music, so i was stuck inside the club for hours, only breaking to grab some chocolate or a cup of ice and give my legs a break.
at one point i went outside to the pipoca with dave and leda to feel what it is like for most people. we jumped around with the rest of the 2 million people dancing to the band playing from the balcony of our camarote. very quickly the band was over and a trio (a giant float/bus for the music artists to sing and dance on) started coming down the street. they move very slowly but in front and behind the trios there are ropes to keep out the street people and keep in the people following the trio. once this rope comes near you, you run. all of sudden people are pushing and shoving and running. i thought a fight was going on the way people were moving, but then i realized it was the giant machine heading toward us. we easily got out of the way, being carried by the crowd and watched from a perpendicular street as the trio crept by.
our night ended around 5am eating the left over ice cream bars and dancing to a drum circle that had been formed by a large group of clowns. at 5am the streets were still going. the party had not slowed down at all. we pressed through the crowds of people and urine smelling streets, back to the car. arriving home, safely and rather quickly to a bag of fresh portuguese rolls that were still warm and lots of water.
we did this all over again the next night, only it was way more subdued. tired, hungover and more of the same, we all found each other sitting on a round, red velvet couch watching the carnaval going on around us. we happily left around midnight feeling enough satisfaction from the night before, and with more free things.
yesterday was time for the kids to have their carnaval. we traveled down town to pelourinho, my favorite part of salvador, and took the elevator up from the lower city. the upper city was full of kids running around in costumes and giant clowns on stilts, bands of people playing drums and dancing, and a lot of string spray... you know that creamy, soapy stuff that comes in a bottle, you spray it and it shoots out like spiderman's web. everywhere you looked, white strings filled the sky and covered peoples hair. i was lucky enough to be handed a full bottle and began a war with my nephew and a random boy dressed as the scream guy. it was a blast until the white melted into soap and every part of my body stuck to itself. the night was fun and innocent, and ended early.
tomorrow is the last night of carnaval and the city of salvador re-opens after a week of indulgence and a handful of the seven deadly sins. it is amazing how a city as large as salvador can survive a week without anything being open. all the stores and restaurants have been closed. only a very few mom and pop type shops remain in business for emergency food runs... oh and of course the chinese restaurant down the street.
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