THE BIGGEST PARTY ON EARTH
CARNIVAL > COLOMBIA
Since I could dream up trips and dream about travelling there has been one thing constantly at the top of my travel bucketlist. CARNIVAL - the biggest party on earth!
The colours, the music, the dancing. The idea of being amongst the loud energetic street parties, parades, samba, and like the countries themselves bright colours, costumes, music fills the street and sipping on some rum in the warmth of the South American sunset. The annual cultural festival celebrated largely throughout South America which pre-sets off lent the Christian time period of forty days and forty nights of fasting. So before we fast lets party one last time.
As mentioned Carnaval is celebrated across South America, and when a friend of mine mentioned he was planning on hitting it up for 2019, I signed my name up immediately. We choose Rio de Janeiro - the biggest and central place to party, namely to go to the Rio carnaval parade in the specific built SAMBADROME arena. Friend, Paolo ended up creating a group of six for our trip. It would begin in Rio for carnaval, swiftly moving on to Colombia in Santa marta and ending in Cartagena.
Rio, an already boisterous city, becomes enigmatic and mental for Carnaval. As people from all over the world descend upon Rio to partake in the weeks festivities, of basically - partying. All day, all night, for a solid week. Between the carnival activities we still made a point to lap up the sights - albeit slightly hungover from time to time.
Christ the redeemer: WOAH. Admittedly we were there mid-afternoon, otherwise ‘peak tourist time’, and it was crowded - packed - max capacity (but not actually) and in Aussie speak ‘Chockas’. To a point where you could hardly take a step without bumping into someone, or getting into their photo. A lot like the top of the empire state building or Madame Tussauds London, there is not a lot of room to begin with, especially with that many people. It is not easy to take a great photo with the statue even if you had room, with the statue being so large and tall at such close proximity the angle you need requires the photographer the lay on the ground. So when there you’ll find tens of people laying on the ground trying to get that insta angle just right. It’s quite hilarious really.
Escardaria Selaron: WOAH. Once again probably our own fault being there at a peak volume time of day, there are so many people here. But the staircase stretches such a long way up the hill you can find a spot to take a photo. But taking a photo can be a challenge due to people actually using the staircase and traversing up and down the hill. But we spent a decent amount of time hanging out here, and attempting to recreate Pharrell and Snoop dogs beautiful music video.
Sugar loaf mountain - WOAH. This time though because of the view of Rio is great from this vantage point, and seeing the city light up at night is mesmerising. When it comes to places with a view over some kind of landscape I always recommend hitting up at the hour of power - dusk. For one main reason, the lighting. 1 if you time it right you get the afternoon daylight, you also get hour of power and sunset and if you stay long enough then also get the night time view.
Another spot inspired from the Pharrell - Snoop Dog Beautiful film clip, was Parque Lage. A botanical garden with a colonial building that now has a cafe. We decided to brunch here one morning, walking the gardens and sipping on coffee.
SAMBADROME: Now the highlight the samba parade. Where the country’s best Samba schools compete for the years honour as best samba school of carnaval. The parade / show / competition is held over two nights, starting at around 10pm and partying on until 4am the following morning. Where five or so schools perform each for an hour at a time hence the need for two nights. With tickets for an individual nights parade.
Getting to and from the Sambadrome for the samba parade is a little chaotic, as is with any large scale event. if you aren’t going with a tour company or have some kind of organised transfer. Be prepared to walk a decent amount even if you take a taxi, they generally can only get you so close. The night of the parade it was raining, not that bad but a constant watering. From our Airbnb in Copacobana, we walked down the main strip for nearly a km in the rain splashing in puddles with a beer in hand of course until we could hail a taxi.
Once there it was easy enough to get to our spot. We choose section 10 and as advised brought some poncho, some drink, dressed comfortably but with come flair and were ready to dance the night away. We regrettably did not rest enough during the day and were drinking too hard in the beginning that we tapped out earlier than we would of liked due to our lack of energy that we didn’t even see the last school perform. Then came the challenge of getting back to our AirBnb, which was even harder than getting there in the beginning. But maybe drunken exhaustion wasn’t helping.
During out stint in Rio we did loose 3 out for 7 phones in Rio alone. Admittedly 1 of those was due to our own fault (but that comes with its own sorted adventure) 2 were out right stolen, 1 right out of a girls hand. And we may have seen a gun being pulled out on a car. But I maintain these things are just as easily experienced in any city from London to California. Whilst my drink of choice became Caprihina’s, as you may have guessed. Generally I chose to be drinking rum the entire time we were there. But particularly with the caprihina, as with many rum drinks tend to be became a favourite due to its simplicity and refreshing taste. And when in Brazil drink a caprihina, how could one not order the country’s national cocktail.
In need of some downtime we left Rio and head to Colombia. Firstly checking out Santa Marta a small coastal city to sea de Baru where we rented out a private villa. Tasting my first sips of Colombian coffee. A gorgeous respite from the crowds to enjoy some down time. The villa was dotted with hammocks and outdoor areas to hang out and included a pool with a in built bar - within the pool. An absolute necessity in my life from this point on. And finally to what has a become a favourite of mine Cartagena, famed for its old city. Beautiful bougainvillea adorn the brightly painted classic colonial building of the old city in large blooms. Whilst calmer, I’d describe it as a more leisurely city with a great restaurant and bar scene along with a decent tourist population filling the streets. It’s a more easy going and charming city to savor the Colombian coast, its coffee, ceviche, rum and tropical energy.
