Make Out Party

Yes, that is Carnaval, one big make out party. The actual tradition for singles, and many taken folks alike, is to make out with numerous different people while partying at the famous street parties or blocos as Brazilians call them.

Of course that is not the heart of Carnaval. No, there is much more to it but can you really blame people for making out? If you haven't been just imagine the scene:

Half naked sweaty and slightly drunk people rotating and twisting their hips and gyrating their legs to the rhythm of samba. Of course that is if there is space enough to move as you are not following the music car and thus are not smooshed up so close to numerous people that you might as well be in the middle of a colorful orgy anyway. Can you really blame them? Hell, I'm getting a bit exciting just typing about it.

I will never forget my first Carnaval. I had just landed in Rio de Janeiro for the first time about 2 weeks before the actual holiday. That meant that there were already blocos happening. Actually, I was one of the first members of one of the bigger Laranjeiras blocos, and I know the founders. I am so Rio de Janeiro royalty (totally being sarcastic here although I do personally know one of the nominated muses of Rio's Carnaval blocos this year).

Anyway, when the official Carnaval started and we headed off to the blocos, Mr. Rant gave me one rule. That rule was to NOT turn around if someone tugged on my hair. Say what?!

It seems that it is one of the subtle make out signals at blocos. A tug at the hair, the girl turns, and a big old kiss she receives. Seems innocent enough. I will say that I was complimented by the number of tugs, and the persistence of some of them.

And while I didn't follow the rule of all goes per making out in Carnaval, I still had a damn good time.

How about you? Would you turn to the tug and take the kiss? Have you? And was your significant other making out with someone next to you? 

Rio de Janeiro on Public Urination

Thank you Globo for the fabulous picture!

This weekend 96 people committing the unforgivable act of urinating in the streets of this great city were arrested. 13 were women.

While I would LOVE to be able to say "Thank goodness they arrested those uncivilized folk," I have been to far too many blocos to say it with a straight face. Hell, there is a damn good possibility that I urinated in the street 96 times my first Rio de Janeiro Carnaval. In my defense, that was before the city was kind enough to place 1 port-o-potty per 50 people at the site of a bloco. Actually, when I started the Rio de Janeiro Carnaval bloco scene the city didn't even get involved unless it was one of the ridiculously large traditional ones.

Also, if you haven't ever walked by a bloco and seen the urinals don't worry, I'm sure if you concentrated you can smell them from where you are. Let's not forget the fabulous bloco urinal pictured above. It's all about class. FYI, don't step in the puddle circling the base...

And while it is essentially wrong to pee in the street, disgusting even, imagine how it is for the bloco attendee. Let me look back and retrieve a memory from my wild Carnaval days. Take the big downtown blocos that start at something like 8am. You get there and you start drinking beer. By your 3rd beer you really have to pee, plus your already finding questionable people attractive. You just may be buzzed. Are you going to go search for a public bathroom when it's impossible to find one between 9 to 5 on a normal business day. No, you are going to squat behind a car and just go with the urine flow. Is it right? Not really. Is it a fact of Carnaval life? Very much so.

As for the 13 women arrest, WTF?! Do you know how much of a bitch it is for us to squat and pee in the street with hundreds of strangers around us? For a woman you either have to pee like a Rhino or you are seriously drunk. Either way, it is an emergency situation. That goes double if your friend found a vendor who would sell you 2 beers for R$5.

Regardless of all of this, if the city of Rio de Janeiro isn't going to arrest people for pissing in the streets everyday why the hell are they bothering during Carnaval? 

SOC: Carnaval can be ANNOYING

Carnaval season has arrived in Rio de Janeiro. While this used to be a fun event, I feel that it is a little out of control. Yesterday, 2 weeks or so before the actual start of Carnaval, there were 21 blocos (street parties). 21! And with the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, these blocos are not the small-ish neighborhood parties they used to be.

We are talking full on parties. Traffic stopped, loud music, government installed port-o-potties. It starts the calendar checking phase. During the weekends (and Thursdays and Fridays) I will be checking the Globo bloco calender. I will be checking where and when blocos are happening so that the boys and I don't end up getting stuck somewhere in the city. 

This kind of thing used to be fun. Mr Rant and I would randomly run into a bloco while out and join in. That or, since we were normally on foot or mass transit, work our way around it. Now with two kids in car seats waiting in a hot car, it sucks. Not only that, it's quite freaky to get stuck on foot in a bloco while trying to walk home from the grocery store. You don't understand, these blocos stop time wherever they are happening. 

And while I know it is all in good fun, it's sometimes too much. When living on Rua das Laranjeiras we had blocos every weekend preceding Carnaval and every day during Carnaval. 

Thankfully Mr. Rant will be returning from his snowboarding trip before the real festivities begin and we will be able to escape to the countryside. Until then, I will be spending these husbandless weekends first checking to make sure we can get out of the house and back without having to samba our way home.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
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