MondayMorningMutiny.com

Sao Paulo – Campinas – Rio

Wasting no time after landing, I search out the bus terminal and take the first bus to Campinas, one hours ride north of the huge city of Sao Paulo.

Here I spend one and a half days with some old Brazilian friends sleeping occasionally, drinking tequila regularly and getting ideas for my travels in Brazil and tips for the forthcoming Carnaval.

Sleeping is a rare luxury at the moment but will mean a lot of sunrise shots, like this one in Campinas.

At 4am yesterday morning (17th Feb) I make my way to the bus station and get an overly air conditioned bus to Rio, a 7 hour journey.

This Rio Novo bus terminal is a large, loud, humid, bustling mass of people and vehicles. This is the day before Carnaval and the sea of people is swelling..

Some tips for anyone going to Rio for Carnaval – book accommodation before you go, arrive early and don´t spend all day walking around with all all your baggage in the baking sun!

After 4 long hours of effectively walking the entire length of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and more I eventually find somewhere to stay as night approached. I only book one night for now as I hope to meet up with my friend, Nat and stay with her..

I shower to freshen up, feeling a combination of tired, thirsty and restless. Not sure what to do I decide that if in doubt it´s best to keep walking and soak up some pre party atmosphere. Once again I walk up Copacabana and the surrounding backstreets, talking to as many people as possible.

And what a variety of characters!

Most notably:

The many flamboyant party goers spraying beer and shaving foam.

The 6 foot plus pair of drag queens on roller skates wearing sequin covered lycra.

The artisan hippy types selling their wears (and more).

The working girls looking for rich tourists to be their boyfriend for an hour or more.

The glamorous people queuing for the ball at the grand Copacabana Palace Hotel.

This was no doubt a spectacularly expensive, ticket only event where people go to be seen. The couples of tuxedo-ed men holding the arms of women dressed in altered ball gowns and masks all had at least two things in common with one another – they were all rich and beautiful. Speakers blared out variations on famous classical numbers and the early guests waved from the pillared balcony to the growing number of onlookers below, as though they were royalty addressing their subjects.

Eventually I wearily walk home with a beer at 2am and collapse, only to rise at 6am this morning. This leads right up to now where I sit in an internet cafe just set back from the beach where I am killing time until I hopefully receive a reply from Nat so that we can arrange to meet and hit Rio hard tonight, starting with the samba school parades in the Sambadromo.

But first an hour or two of sleep is needed..

This entry was posted on February 18, 2007 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Brazil. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.