CARNIVAL!

so it has been a long time since i`ve written in any sort of computer compatible form, meaning that everything i have written has been for my eyes only. not necessarily because of the content but because of the lack of cut and paste... it makes it more difficult to write on the computer when the time i feel like i have the most of is on the bus and whatnot. god i just realized that i am really really thirsty. i am going to plow through this for a bit more and then go get some water and go to bed.

nevermind i got up and found water already.

so rio... i think i already mentioned that rio was the most awesome and also most filthy time of my life. alena thinks these two things are contradictory or at least have a tenous relationship. i disagree. day in and day out were the blocos... morning noon and night. when i arrived cc (oh cc, the best thing that ever happened to anyone is knowing her: she made everyones carnival) told me two things: 1. you can sleep when you are dead. 2. forget about day and night during carnival, it is going constantly and you just rest when you absolutely cannot go on.

so these blocos... dancing in the street, following a band. the largest ones are listed on a website, locations and times but some of the most fun were impromptu people with instruments that transformed into blocos and took over streets, closing them down in true carnival spirit. traffic really had no place in carnival.

i danced more in one week than i had the previous 4 months... hell, the whole year, combined. i danced until my feet were sore, my head was sore, my ribs were sore. and drank just enough so that i wasn`t quite drunk but only felt sore upon waking up... never after more than a few hours of sleep.

i could write about carnival for days... the sights the sounds... the sweat. living off of adrenaline, beer, a rare pizza slice or bowl of acai... the bloco in santa theresa... we arrived exhausted, partied in the every increasing and inescapable heat through narrow streets surrounded by colors, sweating and smiling and moving and loving the music and the man with the too long dreadlocks that kept sticking to me... oh how awful. people coming out with houses to apease the begging dehydrated masses that sambaed past their homes.

the bloco in the botanical garden where i went to the bank and somehow miraculously found my friends again amidst a gigantic crowd. oh and the story of the impromptu bathroom... three girls between a car and a ruined cell phone that turned into a line around the block which we should have charged for.

the superbowl during carnival... filthy and hooliganizing at the marriot. ridiculously amazing.

cc and her endless parade of costumes. thor who actually participated in the sambodromo. going to the sambodromo and watching the parade... just like on TV. (cheap tickets!) elina who was to become my travel partner in the time to come.

okay... that was carnival in a nutshell. i mean, i dont know. you should go.