Parading in the Sambadrome (2/2)

Parading in the Sambadrome (2/2)

Going to the sambadrome with a costume

To foreigners, I´d recommend a tour operator for taking you to the sambadrome with a costume. It is safer and the tour operator would also provide your transfer to the sambadrome, by picking you up in your hotel and taking you to the samba school´s concentration at the scheduled time (see yesterday post). 

Thousands of people concentrate at a street close to the sambadrome, so it is very hard to someone who doesn´t speak portuguese to get there without some guidance. It´s different of going to a specific place at the sambadrome, because the bleachers and places are well signed, and there´s more professional personel to help. 

Samba school´s costumes are very beautiful and detailed, but at the same time very heavy to carry and to dress. That´s a rule with very few exceptions. Taking the metro, a bus or even a taxi can be a hard task with such a costume. Besides, some schools can even forbid you to parade if you arrive with your costume broken, or lacking parts. They may have someone to fix it, but if they don´t, they won´t have any pity on forbidding you to join the parade, and they won´t pay you back. That´s because a broken costume means a smaller grade in the eyes of the jury, and samba schools will take it very seriously. 

Remember, the parade is serious stuff. Arriving drunk? Nope. 

Even going to the bathroom with the costume will be a problem. 

Be aware that you´ll have just 20 minutes, at maximum 30 minutes to cross all the sambadrome. So, it is a lot of effort in exchange of a very small time in the parade.  

So, what´s the big deal? Well, I didn´t, but everybody who parades says it is an unforgettable experience. So, if you have the energy, the money, and the patience, you may try. 

Watching and parading

You can buy the ticket for the sambadrome to watch the parade at the same night, but you also must have in mind you won´t see some other samba schools, while you´re preparing for your parade. 

To have both experiences, the best thing to do would be buying the costume for one night, and the ticket for watching the parade in the other night. 

Parading in the Sambadrome (1/2)

Parading in the Sambadrome (1/2)

OK, you´ve made your mind and you aren´t in Rio just for watch, you´re there also to play! So, you won´t stay just seeing the parede, you wanna JOIN the parade! Is it possible?

Yes, you can.

However....

Most samba schools sells costumes for tourists, and you can buy directly for the responsible of the sector you´ll join in the samba school (diretor de ala), or you can buy from a tour operator. 

And some samba schools may demand you to practice their lyrics. Each year each school has new lyrics, so even brazillians have to learn. People of the samba school must parade singing, otherwise the school will be punished with a smaller grade. It doesn´t mean you´ll have to learn portuguese, but at least you´ll have to pretend you know what you´re singing. At least, at least, try to memorize the chorus. 

More demanding samba schools not only will require you know the lyrics, but also you participate some rehearsals at their barracão, i.e., at their seat, in some community of Rio; eventually, at Cidade do Samba, or the Samba City, in Rio´s Seaport. If in a community, I strongly recommend you hire a tour operator; if in Samba City, it is quite better, because Rio´s Seaport is being refurbished for the Olympics, and it is very close to downtown. Those schools will provide you a more intense experience, but of course you would need a lot of days in Rio, which is not an option for most tourists. 

Tickets and places to see the Samba Schools´Parade in Rio

Tickets and places to see the Parade in Rio

There are two ways of being in the sambadrome: 

1) you can buy tickets to watch the parade, and choose beetween the three main options: the bleachers, the track chairs or friezes, or the camarote, a kind of balcony box; 

2) you buy a costume of a Samba School (see tomorrow´s post).

In the bleachers you stay along with people, and generally you´ll have to stay standing during the parade of each school; they are the less expensive option, and you´ll stay away from the parade. But it´s not bad if you want to have a global view of the show. 

The most popular bleachers, located at the concentration. Generally this sector is dedicated to people from the comunities of the Samba Schools. 

The track chairs (cadeiras de pista) are more expensive but you have a place marked and a good space to stay. You can be very close to the parade and watch the details: costumes, makeups, people dancing the samba. The photos in those posts about Rio´s parade (today, yesterday and tomorrow´s posts) are from my experiece at a track chair. 

And, the most expensive option of all, the camarote, where generally you have open bar and food, DJs beetween one samba school and the other, and maybe the rich and famous. This is also the only option to avoid rain, if it is a rainny carnival....who knows.

Also, ticket´s prices may vary accordingly to the position where you are in the sambadrome. Places in the middle are generally the most expensive, as they are closer to where the bateria makes a stop on its march (but not on playing), know as the recuo da bateria. 

The end of the Sambadrome, close to the Apoteose Square (Praça da Apoteose) is generally the less expensive, but when a Samba School really rocks the sambadrome, it is where the party gets thrilling. But it depends on your luck.

The beggining of the Sambadrome, also known as concentração - concentration - is interesting because it is where the samba schools make their warm up before parading. Before they begin the parade, you can see the school arriving with all its components, while the singers play their most famous songs from previous carnivals, trying to put heat and emotion in the street they are about to fullfil with colors. 

Tickets can be bought in the following sites, and most of them demands you go to some hotel or tourist place in Rio, during carnival, to retrieve them:

http://www.carnivalticketrio.com/

I bought mine in http://www.rio-carnival.net/, and I had no problem or issue. It is already in english and has some other explanations about the party and how to get there.

Another option is buying alongside a tour package to Rio in Carnival. 

What I must add is, if you want to go to Rio in Carnival, you must start thinking of preparing the trip in july the year before. It may be the difference between going or not, because of prices and there´s the risk of everything being sold out, from tickets to hotel rooms. 

The Samba Schools´ Parade in Rio

The Samba Schools´ Parade in Rio

The biggest spectacle on Earth

No, it isn´t an exaggeration: the samba schools´ parade in Rio is, in fact, the biggest spectacle on Earth. One samba school can have up to 6 thousand people parading, and 6 samba schools parades each night. 2016 schedule can be seen here:

http://www.rio-carnival.net/samba_parade/2016-samba-parade-order-schedule-time-table.php

It is also the biggest party in Carnival, normally held in February or March, starting on a saturday untill the "ash" wednesday, giving four days and half-a-day holliday for all brazillians. 

And, among all samba schools´parade in Brazil, the one in Rio is the biggest and most luxurious. 

Though for an unadvised tourist it can be all about fun and party, nowadays the samba schools´parade is a serious business: it is broadcasted nationally, tickets for the sambadrome are sold for gold price, lots of sponsors put their money on it and even city hall sponsors the party, as it attracts tourists from everywhere. 

Many other cities in the country have the samba parades too, but in many states the Carnival has other rythims than samba and other ways of celebration than a parade. Samba schools are more of Rio and São Paulo, ideed. 

Rio and São Paulo have the two biggest sambadromes in the country, which can be explained by a street with bleachers on everyside. Their main samba schools make their parade during carnival, divided by TV brodcasters this way: friday and saturday, São Paulo´s major samba schools, sunday and monday, Rio´s.

The broadcasted ones are called as the "Speacial" group. 

And don´t think the other days the sambadrome is empty: the "smaller" or "weaker" samba schools are parading those days, fighting to be, next year, among the best, to have the honour of being broadcasted nationwild.  

So, the parade is serious competition, and samba schools are evaluated by their rythim, their lyrics, their evolution in the street, their orchestra (the bateria, the guys who play the samba instruments), their costumes, the couple who carries their flag (the mestre sala e porta bandeira), among other points which are observed by a specialized jury. 

They have a total time of 80 minutes each to do their parade, and expiring this time, or going too fast means loosing points. So, time is taken seriously and, on the contrary of the old days, now the event´s schedule is strictly observed.

Getting to the sambadrome

If you´re just going to watch the parade, the metro is the best option. If you bought a costume, see tomorrow´s post. 

There are at least two metro stations close to the sambadrome, and you´d better get off the subway in the station closer to your ticket´s sector at the sambadrome. When you buy the ticket, this information will be acknowledged. 

Arriving there, just follow the people and the signs. The sambadrome will be easily found as it is very enlighted and distiguished from the rest of the city. 

In the sambadrome there´s a fair structure with bathrooms, snackbars and restaurants. But you can carry something to eat and to drink; rules are exposed by ticket sellers. 

Santa Teresa and Lapa

Santa Teresa and Lapa

Santa Teresa is a central neighbourhood in Rio, over a hill with the same name. Lapa is on its side, very close to the financial district in Rio. Both are linked by a historic tram and by sinous streets wich come down the hill of Santa Teresa untill the Arches of Lapa. 

The tram was closed due to an accident in 2011, but city hall recently annouced its reopenning before the Olimpic Games.

Nevertheless, if you are in good shape, you can climb up Santa Teresa Hill in the Selaron stair.  Selaron stair, fulfilled with colourful tiles, leads you to the Carmelitas´monastery, uphill. 

Rio´s Cathedral,Petrobras building and the financial distric seen from Carmelita´s monastery

Turning right in the monastery, you can get down to Lapa, walking the streets untill the arches. 

Santa Teresa became in the last few years a cool place for staying in Rio. It has lots of hostels, bead-and-breakfasts and boutique hotels, generally installed in old big homes. However, be mindful in Carnival and by the end of the year taxi drivers don´t like going over there, because of samba groups playing in the streets. They can be fun for tourists, but taxi drivers don´t like getting stuck over there. 

Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro

Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro

Rio´s Botanical Garden

Rio´s Botanical Garden is part of Brazillian history.

Dom João VI, the portuguese king who fled from Napoleon in 1806 to Rio, decided to build a luxorious garden in the new capital of his Empire.

The imperial palms wellcome visitors through the main gate. Above the top of the trees, Christ the Redeemer seems to be floating among the clouds, always embracing the city. 

The Botanical Garden gave its name for the neighbourhood surrounding it. As remarked before, I recommend doing this visit along with the nearby Parque Lage (see yesterday´s post) and the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon. 

  

PARQUE LAGE

A castle and a garden close to the Botanical Garden, in Rio

Full history of this place, both in portuguese and english

Out of mainstream touristic attractions in Rio, this supperb palace located in Jardim Botânico district, is a must-see. 

Originally a sugar mill during colonial times, it now hosts the "Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage" (School of Visual Arts), belonging to Rio de Janeiro State Department of Culture. 

It has a very special garden, with caves and lagoons, where plants are luxurious. A trail leading to Christ the Redeemer begins here, as it is located exactly under the Corcovado mountain. 

Parque Lage is this small castle in the middle of the jungle, just under the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.
Photo taken from Corccovado.

The palace has a swimming pool inside, where a café serves drinks and snacks for tourists. 

Eventually arts expositions can be held there.

It is possible to combine a visit to Parque Lage with Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas and the Botanical Garden too. This lagoon, surrounded by Ipanema, Leblon and Jardim Botanico districts has bikes and peasant paths surrounding it. 

For more information in portuguese: http://eavparquelage.rj.gov.br/