MEINL at Carnaval de Salvador, Brazil
It has been a while since I’ve written. I have been so blessed with so many beautiful adventures and experiences that it’s hand to remember what I did just one week ago. I am currently in Rio, and although I would love to tell you all about it, I feel it would be best to bring you all up to date with Carnaval in Salvador first. I know I teased you all with a Cuban movie too. I think all that “fancy-shmancy” computer stuff will have to wait until I reach Europe.
Anyway… I have pondered over many words any ways to describe my latest adventures to you. So much has happened since Cuba. Puerto Rico was gorgeous and Ricky Martin was HOT…he he he . But all of that seems like a distant memory since I landed in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil for Carnaval. No words can ever describe this spectacle, the smells, the people, the madness, the music and dancing. I hope you can all hang in there until the end to hear all about it ;) I arrived the night before Carnaval started. I met my sweet friend Bec (another brissie gal) who stayed at the same hostel as me, “Hostel Laranjeiras”, which seemed like Grand Central Station for travellers!
Wasting no time, we headed off first thing in the morning to try and get the much talked about Carnaval T-Shirts for blocos and camarotes, a concept we didn’t even really understand. I could write a book based just on this experience alone, but let me keep it short for you.
Basically this mission took a full day. In the end we successfully had two t-shirts in our hands, one of them being for a bloco that started at 5pm that same afternoon. So having made it back to the hostel just before five o’clock, we rushed off in a cab to make it to our bloco. Here we sat, eagerly waiting for our bloco “Afrodisiace” to appear… seven hours later! We were sardined into our bloco!!!
I would also love to describe a bloco and camarote to you in detail, but that’s another book again!
Basically –
BLOCO
= a moving moshpit following a gigantic truck with a band on top!
CAMAROTE
= a corporate box where you can view all the blocos go by
Well anyway, Bec and I did not last long although our band was probably one of the most popular ones there! Little did we know that one can experience all the blocos without the T-Shirt and for free by simply walking along the outside of the bloco! Ah! Retrospect is a cheeky teacher!!! Oh dear I haven’t even got through the first night yet!...OK resorting to bullet point form now. ;)
DAY 2
- ended up following a gay bloco… he he (definitely my highlight)
- was plucked out of the crowd and interviewed on TV
- invited up on top of the truck where the musos play… was a very lucky gal ;)
- danced danced danced
DAY 3
- danced danced danced
DAY 4
- CAMAROTE DAY (T-shirt #2) Bec and I were pretty exhausted by now so we
gathered up some energy to boogy as the blocos went by, settled down for a rest in between, them dug up some more energy to dance as the next one went by about thirty minutes later… and so on and so on. We surprisingly lasted about 10 hours :)
DAY 5
- danced danced danced
DAY 6
- Final night of Carnaval. Bec and I were determined to go all the way and see the sunrise this time. Headed off sometime around 7pm. Somehow collected a personal guide and bodyguard on the way (Marco a “Baiano” = chappy from Bahia (Salvador) ) Danced and walked like crazy, saw the sunrise and tucked myself into bed finally at about 10am!!!!
TIPS FOR CARNAVAL
- Be prepared to be a random target for kissing!!! Apparently during Carnaval it’s normal for complete strangers to lay a great big kiss on you and then to just keep on walking without saying anything!!! No “Hello, how are you?” !! Nothing!! Thankfully my reflexes were in tact and I could ward off the crazy kissing monsters!!
- Be prepared to be hit with the smell of pee and rubbish!
- Try not to drink too much, especially you ladies
- Wear shoes not sandals! Be prepared to throw them out after Carnaval as they will be trashed!!!
- Be fit before you go to Carnaval, you will walk and dance until you literally drop
- Be prepared to not sleep!!!
Anyway this doesn’t even scratch the surface and I’ve
probably lost most of you a while ago.
Coming up in next week’s episode…ZOUK dancing in
Rio…mmmmmmmmmm ;)
Love ya’s lots
Muitos beijos xxx
Love Tanja ;) mwa mwa mwa
UPLOAD & WIN
Shoot a short film playing YOUR Meinl Frame Drum and get the chance to win a new Meinl Tar!
MEMBER LOGIN
NOT A MEMBER?
Join the MEINL COMMUNITY and share your experiences with other percussionists. Or get some inspiration for your own percussion instrument.
