Feb 26, 2004
brazilian passion
ola all - how is everyone going....
well things are rockin along nicely over here.
been immersing myself in brazilian culture starting with the footy match that i told you that i was going to ------ M A D, M A D, BRAZILIANS
i have never seen such passion about sport before. ppl were blessing themselves and praying as they entered the ground (crossing their chest/down on one knee), and this set the scene for what we were confronted with once in the ground.....
200, 000 screaming/chanting/crying/yelling/laughing/singing brazilians filled the ground and mix this with the colour of the supporters and you can try and get an understanding of what was going on. the ground was split in two - with one end in black/red for flamengo and the other end in green/white/orange for fluminense. the game was brilliant - a cracking 3-2 victory for flamengo (sorry dan!) and this was an added bonus as i think riots would have begun in our end (flamengo end) if they had of gone down. truely one of the most amazing events that i have ever witnessed.
next dose of brazilia was our trip to the sumbadromo for the carnaval. basically the way that canaval works is there are about 10ish sumba schools and each of these compete to win the canval. so the pics that you see on tv etc are the sumba parades that take place in the sambadromo. each school gets about 1 hour to shake their thangs down a stretch of road about 1km long. road is lines with seats for as far as the eye can see and rammed with more MAD brazilians.
the floats themselves are something else. they are about 50 foot long and about 30 foot high and are in the most amazing colours. highlights would have to be the float that actually had go carts driving around it - oh and the one that had basically naked women dancing in these big glass tubes. each of the schools have their supportes in the cround also - so the place erupts when a new school starts - nuts.
another brazilian passion that we have been endulging in is street parties. the streets along copacobana/ipanema have been lined with these massive street parties for the past week. so much fun. massive speakers (live notting hill canival) pumping out samba while all the brazilians move and grove into the wee hours of the nite.
went and saw christ the redemer today (the big jesus statue at the top of the mountain). unfortunately the weather didnt really coopperate and there were loads of clouds and a little rain. still - and amazing view from the top and wicked to actually be standing at the bottom of one of the most recognisable statues in the world.
few more days in rio, then heading to illea granda (sorry spelling...) to soak up more sun....
and then after that - who knows.
thanks for all the replies. sorry for lack of reply on my behalf.
dad - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! tried to call your work. think i gave the guy a bit of a shock when i told him that i was calling from rio. will speak to you tonite your time.
dan - obrigado for the info. really appreciate all your tips. thinking that i will head to paratai after illea granda. will hit you back if i need more details. send through some details for bunoes aires. will DEFINATELY be hitting there for a few days (about 5?). head too many good things about it....
lauren - will try and call you later - sorry for waking you - bit of an error in time calculations x
thats about all for now
as always
miC
