Carnival in Rio culminates in a final grand Samba Parade at the Samba Drome. It is a huge street stadium, which seats thousands. The Parade takes place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with the best teams going a second time on Monday, and that is the showing I went to. The teams are really samba schools, they make tons of amazing costumes, all around a central theme (ex. ancient Egypt, sports/activities), and then dance down the street. The school gets 80 minutes to perform. So this process takes a while. The parade starts at 6pm and goes until 6 am each day -- but most people do not stay for the whole thing. We arrived at 11:30 pm and left around 4, having watched 3 schools.
It was amazing, the costumes and floats were absolutely fantastic. It is truely awesome the amount of work that goes into this event every year. I was not able to bring my camera, but a few of my friends brought their's, so I will post pics as soon as I get some.
We were in the cheapest stand, which meant a lot of pushing and shoving to find a spot to stand and watch. But we did find a spot and had a good time. On the way out, fighting the crowd was also interesting. Most of the walk out was fine, but one part was particularly busy with people just standing around, and the only way to describe walking through there is: hands, hands and more hands. Not so much trying to pick pocket you (like in Lapa), just trying to touch, or even grabing you face for a kiss! Thankfully the guys we were walking with kept a very good eye out for all the girls, and we all made it through that gontlet without too much trouble.
That was my last big event in Rio, and today I head to Iguacu.
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