We didn't have an opportunity to stay in the place where we stayed before. I asked the Polish/Belgian guy who I met three months ago to host us. He agreed to host us for four days so we were left with three more days to camp outside of Rio. Initially, we were living in a very good standard apartment by the lagoon near Ipanema beach, more or less the same location as three months ago. It was handy to go to the beach and participate in the street events.
At my friends house who gave us the great opportunity to couch surf for few days: Seb https://www.facebook.com/stianski.seba and Bridgette https://www.facebook.com/brigitte.wittmer
We went for the opening of carnival on Saturday evening 27th Feb 2017 to see the Sambadrome. All the tickets were sold out months ago but we managed to get some free tickets from the tickets dealers on the street. We entered the Sambadrome for only by 50B$/15€ each. We were seated in the best spot to watch the whole parade. There were some video cameras all around us for live transmission. The experience was unique and definitely worth being there. I've never seen anything like it. The variety of different samba dance schools (5000) with 100/200 participants, each presenting one of the social themes used for this occasion, was impressive. The costumes and the whole scenography were created for this particular theme just for the carnival. Every year each group changes its theme and accordingly the costumes and scenery as well. The samba schools get some tiny funding from the government, but mostly they are self-funded. From some unofficial resources, it is known that the biggest performances are founded by illegal third parties... The Sambadrome parade goes on for eight hours through the night. We didn't stay till until the end but we enjoyed every second of it. My only concern about Sambadrome is that so little dance was involved. I was expecting to see many more dance performances. The dance theatre performances were quite good and very active. The Samba groups were average in terms of performing skills. The colourful costumes and scenography were outstanding. It was an opening of the Carnival of Rio, I believe the closing was much more vibrant and energetic. We were leaving on the last day of Carnival the 28th of Feb, heading back to London. The other 3 days of Carnival I spent going to street parades and parties, every corner of Rio was busy with different street events, everyone was dressed up freely and dancing. People were drinking some alcohol but I couldn't see any drunken accidents. I met my friend from London - Juliano. He is Brasilian from São Paolo, he just quit a job at a law firm in London and came over to Brazil. We met in Rio for a day. He took us around to see the Santa Theresa area on a hill with a stunning ocean view from one side and the Rio De Janeiro from the other side. It was a very French area like Monte Mart in Paris with very original cafes and restaurants. It was a great place to visit. We drove up by cab (10B$/3€) and walked down on foot. The Carnival parades were all over Santa Theresa. Then to close our Carnival experience in Rio we went to Copacabana beach for the huge beach party. The music was a mixture of Reggae and Afro, overall the vibe was great. We did some gift shopping at the local bazaar by the beach and took the metro to go to our campsite. It was our last night in Rio and Brazil.
Is Rio De Janeiro dangerous?
I forgot to mention that on the previous night on the way back from the huge street party in downtown I was almost robbed. We were walking on the empty street (five of us) on the way to the metro. I had my mobile in my hand in front of me to follow the google map. Suddenly my phone was gone from my hand. I screamed and the phone was dropped. The thief was gone. Everyone froze. In the end, nothing happened but we experienced how easily something like that can happen. Indeed there where hundreds of mobile phones stolen every day in Rio during the Carnival.
Are the hostels and campsites welcoming to foreigners in Rio de Janeiro? On the last day of staying at the Rural Hostel campsite in the Favelas of Rio, I had a big argument with the manager. She fined me because I didn't respect the camping rules such as - I used the cooking facilities which were available online but not in reality. There was a special distinction between people staying at the campsite and at the hostel. Guests from the campsite weren't entitled to use the same facilities as guests from the hostel. When you book this is not the case. When you actually arrive you find such a surprise! Well, I cooked anyway as I had already bought some food and the food in the restaurants in Brazil is not great. Better you make your own meals;) - The second reason for a fine was following: my traveling body used the toilet's facilities which apparently belong to the hostel's guests instead of waiting for hours to get to the only bathroom available for the whole camping of max capacity 100 tents (200 people) with one dripping shower. Basically one couldn't shower at all because of lack of water. If you happen to book the camping in Rio please make sure that you avoid making such a mistake by staying at the Rural Hostel campsite! It will make such a difference to your stay. After the wonderful and very tiring trip around North East Brazil and all adventures involved I was pleased finally to come back to civilisation. I'm sure once I'm back I'll be missing discomfort and heat of tropical Latin America;)
