The harmonious street carnival draws far more crowds than Rio’s samba schools are known for

Megacities are home to a growing part of the world’s population. How do people live there? Correspondents report weekly from their megacities. This week: Wies Ubags in Rio.

One of the first things I learned in Rio de Janeiro: When you ask for a bill, you ask for one Sadiralast drink, one for the road. There is usually another one after that Sadira command, then another. The same goes for Carnival. It was officially the weekend of February 18th, but it started a week earlier and continued through the weekend of February 25th. hundredsblockscarnival groups on a theme marching through the streets in unison, populating the city.

This street carnival attracts a lot more people than the samba schools carnival that Rio is famous for. You have to buy a ticket for those beautiful parades, and the average Rio resident doesn’t have the money for that at all. Therefore, it is often made fun of that parades are for tourists and foreign television.

No, the majority of Rio hosts dance to street harmonies, and after three years of covid drought, now we’re even more excited. There are so many combinations that it takes that long to cover them all.

Some can’t leave carnival behind and add another tail to it – saideiras So. This past weekend, for example, we had a dolphin block. Leave that in the morning with the 7 o’clock boat to Paquita Island in Guanabara Bay, an hour boat ride from Rio. seven in the morning? Yes, at seven in the morning. of mine roadblock, Prata Preta (black silver, named after a port porter of African descent who advocated for the poor), also had to get up early on February 18th. Driving had to make us come at 8am on a Saturday morning.

The advantage is that you are still on time in Rio if you arrive at ten in the morning, because before the parade leaves from the meeting point Praca da Harmonia (Harmonia Square) we will be a few hours and drink a lot of beer. With the flag bearer and musicians at the fore, we zip from the field through the narrow streets of the neighboring favela Providencia, the oldest in Rio.

This year you had to be more prepared than other years. Stories circulate about people who had to hand over their entire belongings with a knife in their stomach. the biggest blockswhich attracts thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people, has devised a system of entry gates and metal detectors to prevent people with weapons or knives from mingling with the Carnival festivities.

As a precaution, I hid my credit card, keys, and phone in a pocket under my clothes, my money, a fan, and a sweat-wiping tissue in a bag on top of everything. I thought: “If you put a knife to my stomach, I will hand over the bag.” Fortunately that was not necessary.

I prefer Sadira Do roadblock Teimosos do Porto, the Stubborn port area, which again is sort of a subdivision of the big Prata Prata and only attracts a few dozen people. We leave from one of the participants’ homes, then head towards the café on the corner of Sacadura Cabral and Camarino, then climb the hill again through the alleys of Valongo Park, to finish at Geraldinho, our most popular bar. There is no pocket under your clothes with a phone, bank card and keys. Just carefree fun between each other.