Salvador, Carnival

Wow. This is probably the closest to SPRING BREAK I'll ever get. It's insane and widespread. Millions of people for five days are in the streets, parading, dancing, kissing...

I found it difficult to engage with Carnival. It didn't click for me, but that doesn't mean I was bored. There was so much to look at. And by much I mean people.

We walked in a Trio Electrico one day. It's a transport truck with a stage and lights, etc built onto it and people, within a roped off area, walk in front, beside and behind it. Managing to keep paying people inside the rope and street people out is done using hundreds of security people that create a wall along the rope they carry. Security also makes sure that no one rolls under the truck. They really thought of everything.

The parade was intense. Packed, moving, , jumping. It was hours of walking forward, falling back, getting shoved, pressed, pulled. I'm glad I did it. Now I can say that I have. But I really can't describe it as anything other than intense.

The Camarotes were cool. They're like nightclub spaces that people pay to go to. They have a special t-shirt that grants access. Everyone wears them. We were told that if we went unguarded into the street that they would be ripped off of us because they were worth so much.

The 2222 Camarote was apparently the VIP celebrity place to be. There were Brazilian celebrities all over the place, but I didn't know any of them. I only knew they were famous when the photographers and TV people went nuts.

The 2222 had some great food as well as drinks. Free ice cream, sushi. Meat.

We also went to a Camarote (nanna banana) that had a beach behind it. It was great to sit with a capiroska in the sand and take a break for the constant stream of Brazilian hits that seemed to be looped all over the city.

Carnival was an unforgettable experience. Maybe not my thing, but a really interesting five days. I can't say that I've ever seen a crowd like that. I can't say that I've ever seen a population unified by music. Carnival lived up to its reputation as something beyond description. It's truly an experience.