Carnaval is celebrated differently throughout Brazil. In Salvador, musicians play on top of 18 wheel trucks called trios. The trios slowly make their way through the streets of the city. Hundreds of thousand of people(2 million for the entire week) are gathered along the streets to watch as each band goes by. There are two routes through the city that the trios follow. One trio is followed by another close behind. The first band starts around three in the afternoon and the final band finishes around sunrise.
We were in the bloco, or parade, of a band called Timbalada on Saturday night. The bloco is the area that surrounds each trio. A couple of people we met from the language school were also in this bloco. It was a five hour long party where we danced alongside the huge truck that the band was playing on top of. Slowly, one inch at a time, the trio made it’s way through the crowd. The total distance covered by the trrio was probably a mile or two, but the trip lasted five hours.
The music was great and very loud. Each side of the truck was lined with a wall of speakers. We generally stayed about 50 feet in front of the truck to save our ears from the loud music. The crowds were going crazy, jumping up and down every time the next song started. It was similar to the videos you see of the teenage girls jumping up and down when Elvis was on stage. The crowd at times was so overwhelming that a lot of the time, we had no control in which direction we were moving. Everyone was bunched together so closely that we had to just let go of trying to control our direction and just let the crowd push us there. It was a very fun night.
On Sunday we had tickets for a Camorote, which are stage-like structures that are built along the Carnaval route in the streets. Our Camarote had two floors, which allowed us to be eye-level with each band that passed by on the trio. In addition, the Camarote was connected to a hotel on the street, so we could escape the Carnaval scene and relax in an air-conditioned room with lounge music, or we could walk down a path to the ocean where a band was playing on the beach. They had all sorts of food and drinks available inside the Camarote as well. As each band was passing the Camarote, we either made our way to the front of the stage to see the band eye-to-eye, or we went out onto the street and danced with the people in the bloco. Once the bands passed us, we ran for the air-conditioned lounge inside.
On Tuesday we went to another Camarote. This was also fun and we ran into some friends of friends that we met our first night here in Salvador. Tuesday was the last night of Carnaval and after five hours in the Camarote, we were tired of Carnaval and ready to relax and be away from the enormous crowds and loud music. We came home to our apartment and fell asleep. We awoke to our hosts Marlene and her daughter Marcela arriving home in the morning. They didn´t sleep the night before, instead staying at Carnaval until the last band finished played after sunrise.
Today we move back to the neighborhood of Barra. We’re starting to plan the next portion of our trip which will be a four day hiking trip in Chapada Diamantina National Park.