Rio de Janeiro Carnaval
in the Sambadrome

IT IS PARTY TIME AT RIO

Rio's Carnival is frothed with the parade of the samba schools that is held in the $24 million Sambadrome, a stretch of grandstand some 800 meters long. There are fourteen major samba schools that compete during the carnival for two consecutive nights from 9 pm to 8 am. Each school has some 3 to 5 thousand students who are given a one hour parade sked during the carnival night.  With each school displaying some 10 floats each, you are in for a real treat. Get ready. The 68,000 spectators at the Passarella do Samba (sambadrome) will rock the night away.

The dance Samba is the heart and soul of Brazilians and is revered with so many samba schools. A school is a congregation of so many working people mostly in the favelas and residential areas of Rio.  They exist not like the school we know but an association of those working citizens who meet and rehearse on a regular weekly basis prior to the Carnival. A lot of people earn their livelihood from these from the seamstress, the painters, the electricians and the carpenter who prepare the floats, the fashion designers, the models, the dancers, the choreographers, the musicians all walks of life in Rio benefit from this festival.

While the tickets vary from US$80 to US$400 for each night depending on where you wanna sit, it is damn worth it as the parade unfolds in your eyes. When the samba notes start to beat and the dancers gyrate in mini steps as the onlookers do the same, you will be immersed in a joyous celebration. A thrill of a lifetime, one moment in time when you are all by yourself and yet part of the big party.

It is inconceivable to think of Rio without thinking of the Carnival. Both seems to coexist with each other.  BE THERE.

Wanna join the parade? Some Samba schools will charge 200 Brazilian reals (US$75) for those who would want to join the parade. Normally the volunteers will get the costume of their choice and be at the tail end of the school's parade. They are basically taught some samba steps first, but with thousands of people doing the same, it is not difficult to make a few missteps. When your doing the samba, you forget about your pride. Just beat it.

To get to the Sambadrome, Bruno, the one who picked me up at the airport to my apartment drove me there. He was very nice  indeed to walk me to the gate, wait until I got in before he left. He doesn't have special pass to get his car closer to the Sambadrome gate so he has to park his car far away then walked me there. I got the ticket from him for section 3 for R$240 including his drive to the Sambadrome. Section 3 is the second stadium that is located at the initial start of the parade. There are fireworks in between 2 schools presentation and the cleaning team cleans the runway before the next school parades. That just takes a very short break in between. It is safe in the stadium and the security is very rigid. Two incidents have occurred during the show I attended when the fellow seating next to me left his place to go to the toilet, one guy and his girl friend tried to sneak in but people around me and myself told him the place has been taken. He ignored and took his girlfriend in. I just raised my hand and the security came right away and they tried to asked him out and show him another vacant place which is at the back where he came from. He didn't want to so the security make signs to me that just wait and he call the police down to take him out. (view incident video). The second incident was similar to the first one when a girl who would like to take a place and pull another girl's hair while the securities tried to remove her out. The police came and took her out. I give 10 points on 10 to the securities for their very good jobs.

Lights, camera, action! Yes the whole world watches as the parade unfolds for 12 hours up to the wee hours of the morning. The parade was broadcast in TV but the ambiance is not similar to being there live. The costumes, fascinating! The beautiful dancers, unbelievable! For the floats I just let the pictures or the video tell you how splendid and elaborate they are. (view parade video ) - (view photo gallery )

Unfortunately for security purpose during my pre-trip preparation I decided not to bring my camera that I use during my taping for the festival in Montreal but I bought a smaller camera that I can easily hold it in my palm, it still 3 CCD but the resolution specially in the dark doesn't give a solid black image as the other but all my carnival parade footage are splendid. Another thing is when I zoomed in to far it came to be very shaky since I don't have the stabilizer with me.

To get back to Copacabana I walked from the Sambadrome to the subway station "Central". When the parade finished it was already sunlight (8:30 am) so it is safe to walk with the flow of people getting out of the Sambadrome looking for the transportation home.

You also can have the carnival bus service. Transportation on special bus, with air conditioner. Departure from your hotel and arrival at Sambodromo on the authorized parking at sections 7 & 9 at the odd side. Two schedule hours on departures at your choice: 7 pm & 8:30 pm. Returns to your hotel at the end of each Samba School presentation, beginning at 11:59 pm.  Price per person round trip: R$ 120,00.  (Carnival Shuttle/Transport Services Schedule)

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	2006 Rio's Carnival Video
Rio Samba e Carnaval    Play >       The Carnival glistens with international participation and still retains the cultural magic Brazil can offer for the world.   Play Video :: go to top

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	2005 Rio's Carnival Video
Rio Samba e Carnaval    Play >       The harmony of colors and the musical theme songs complement the excellent choreography displayed by each samba school for 60 - 90 minutes.   Play Video :: go to top

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	2005 Rio's Carnival Photo Gallery
Rio Samba e Carnaval    View >       Rio’s Carnival is inspired by various events in world history, the splendor of the Egyptian Pharaoh, the Dragon from China, the Passion of the Christ, Food and Technology, Biblical events etc.. all interpreted amidst the noise and pounding beat of the samba school participants. View Photo Galleries :: go to top

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