stefanotti's mileage: Brazil: Carnaval in Bahia

A last minute business trip landed me in Sao Paulo the week before Carnaval. Although my days of big parties and (this year at least) even alcohol consumption are behind me, I thought it sacrilege to forego the opportunity to experience Carnaval for myself.

We debated Rio vs. Salvador. Rio, apparently, is more of a spectator's sport. You get your tickets for the Sambadome, and watch the floats and costumes below. From what I gathered, many Brazilians will go one, and have a fantastic time, but broadly speaking, Carnaval in Rio is more touristy. Salvador, on the other hand, is a huge party of several million Brazilians. There are three different circuits in the city - essentially 3 mile swaths which huge trucks with bands on top make their way down over a 4-5 hour period. We (my coworker and I) ultimately decided on Salvador.

Our Brazilian colleagues and friends who had been before prepared us. Expect to be groped (I'd been to Mardi Gras ten years ago, so I was familiar with that routine). Do not wear anything valuable, don't even carry a camera. Keep your money in your shoes and expect to be pickpocketed. Stay inside the rope!

"Stay inside the rope" revers to the rope that surrounds these enormous trucks. They literally hire a bunch of people to hold up a rope, probably 200 yards long, to create an exclusive party around the truck, called a "bloco." In order to get inside the bloco, you need to be wearing a special shirt, called an "abada." Abadas can cost as much as an astonishing $300 to $400 dollars. In Brazil, these shirts quite literally separate the haves from the have nots.

And so we came equipped with three abadas, money belts, and all jewelry stowed away.

It was really not that bad at all. The crowds were of course testing, but I was never disrespected, never felt unsafe, and never had a pickpocket attempt (though my friend did). It was fine to get outside of the rope. What I loved was that it was not just a bunch of young kids using the excuse to get hammered and obnoxious. There were people of all ages, and everyone, literally everyone, seemed to know the words to every song and would dance and sing wildly throughout the night. Unfortunately we were not familiar with the music, but by day three, even we started to sing along.