Rio de Janeiro Carnival

On February 27th, I arrived in Rio de Janeiro early in the morning. I took an Uber to the hostel and hoped to get some sleep. Suddenly, I realized that I had only booked the hostel from February 27th to March 3rd and not from February 26th, so I couldn't go to my room at 5:00am. So I laid down in the common area and slept a little. After taking a shower and buying something for breakfast, I took the metro to the city center for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by the metro, as it was clean and air-conditioned. In Rio, the climate is particularly hot due to the high temperature and the tropical humidity. I walked around the downtown area and visited streets that I hadn't been to before. I also went to the cathedral, which is not really beautiful from the outside, but quite impressive from the inside. I went to bed relatively early in the evening, as I was still incredibly tired from the flight. On Thursday, I joined a three-hour free walking tour. I thought I had already seen all the important neighborhoods and sights, but I still saw new things.

In the evening, I took an Uber to another hostel, where Emerique (Canada), who had worked with me in Imbassai, was staying. With three other Germans and a Colombian, we went to the pre-carnival party. At first, I found it quite interesting, as I was very surprised by how Brazilians celebrate carnival and how they dress up. However, I didn't really like the fact that it was just a big field without music, where about half a million people walked around half-naked. Everyone was stuck to each other because it was so crowded and hot. In Rio de Janeiro, 40% of the population is homosexual. During Carnival, many homosexuals come to Rio de Janeiro, as it is still very frowned upon to be homosexual in the countryside. Also at the party, about 80% of the men were homosexual and walked through the crowd in super tight bathing suits.

At around 4:00am, a Brazilian guy opened his hotspot for me because my internet data was used up, so that I could call an Uber.

The next day, I took the metro to Santa Teresa to see a "Bloco". I had imagined a street parade with costumes for a "Bloco", but instead a street in a certain neighborhood is blocked off, a car with music drives ahead, and all the visitors follow behind. That's it. Although it was really interesting and fun, as this "Bloco" was quite big, I was a little disappointed. Back at the hostel, I took a one-hour nap because I had a ticket for the Sambadrome in the evening. At the hostel, I randomly met a German girl who also had a ticket, so we went to the show together.

Admission was between 7:00pm and 9:00pm. We went at 8:00pm and it started pouring rain. I actually walked through 30cm deep puddles with my closed shoes, so my shoes are still wet three days later. When the show still didn't start at 11:00pm and I was starting to get cold because I only had shorts and was soaking wet, I thought the show would be cancelled. But everyone stayed outside in the rain, eagerly waiting. Finally, at around 11:30pm, the show started and it was magnificent. Despite the rain, the costumes looked incredible. The main characters moved incredibly gracefully and elegantly. I was amazed. I took the train back to the hostel around 2:00am.

On Saturday afternoon, I went to another "Bloco" on Copacabana. Earlier, I had been chatting with a Dutch and an Australian girl, whom I had met in Lençóis National Park about two weeks ago, on WhatsApp. They told me that they still had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to go with them. Since I really didn't want to go to another party like the pre-carnival party on my last night, I decided to go to the show with the two of them and I didn't regret it for a second. This time it didn't really rain, just a little drizzle. The show started on Brazilian time at 10:30pm and ended at 5:00am in the morning. This time it was even more pompous and fantastic, since better samba schools performed. I was so excited that I took about 100 pictures and videos in one night.

On Sunday, I briefly visited the Bloco in Botafogo, where my hostel was located.

Whether carnival is a must, I don't know. Carnival itself definitely not, but the show is definitely worth it!

In the evening, I was supposed to go to the airport. Since the bus still hadn't come after waiting for an hour, I had to take an Uber, which cost me a staggering €40, due to heavy traffic because of the carnival. There was a huge thunderstorm at one point, and I thought my flight would be canceled.

When I arrived at the airport, the next disaster awaited me. Even though I had arrived at the airport 3 hours earlier, it was almost impossible to catch my flight because the line for passport control was so long. I had to wait about 15-20 minutes to move three rows forward. I still had about 12 more rows in front of me. Eventually, my flight was called, so I could go to the front of the line and run to the gate.

During the wait, there were rounds of applause to make everyone move forward, but it was futile.

My flight to Atlanta (USA) was quite relaxed and I slept a lot. I had secretly booked my return flight in September, as I hadn't planned to come home for Christmas and wanted to surprise my parents. However, it turned out that my parents are on vacation this week, so I had to tell them that I was coming home. September 2018 - I thought it would be funny to be on the road for 30 hours just to fly cheaply and save money. Actually, it's not funny and completely idiotic. Now I have just finished the first 15 hours. But it's not that bad, as I slept well, found a sofa at the Atlanta airport, and now I can review my whole trip.