The Heart of the Rio de Janeiro Sambodromo

I've done Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro many times.  The street parties, drinking before noon, and pressed up against other sweaty bodies. All you would expect in a Catholic country.

But this was my first year at the Sambodromo. My first year seeing the big parade put on by the samba schools. And I know what you are all waiting for. You are expecting my impressions to be full of the champagne and chic food in the camarote (box).

That isn't what stuck at all.  You arrive to a place that is a container of energy. Thank goodness it's open air or I think any commoner, such as myself, would implode upon entry.  People are there to cheer, see, and enjoy.

The epitome of it all was one woman. She was in the seats below our box.  Of course, you could not tell where this woman was actually supposed to sit because she did not sit at all. She was samba-ing up and down the entire area. Not only that, she was entering into the other little seating area and encouraging everyone else to dance.  And they did, down to the security personnel.

Excuse the blur as I was trying to catch the ever moving woman in white

She was not a traditional perky-tooshed samba dancer, nor was she some exotic picture of a Brazilian woman that we see overseas. She was a real Brazilian woman, with a real Brazilian ass, shaking it up and down wherever it would take her.

I loved her! For me, she was the heart of what this entire holiday is about. It is a countrywide celebration in a way that only Brazilians can do it.  And in the face of the fires 3 of the schools experienced, the heart of Carnaval was really shown.

Yes, they put on a good show down here. The women are beautiful, the music intoxicating, and the colors seizure inducing.  Then you look deeper.

This is the heart of Brazil. Not Carnaval, but the joy. Brazilians can take a lot of what life throws at them and turn it into a barbecue, street party, and world-renowned parade.

They will smile, shake their ass, and drink a beer.  Who's life isn't hard sometimes? Why not enjoy the things you can. Carnaval is just putting that frame of mind under a microscope for the entire world to see.

And that energy carried me through a night of samba dancing in a boot. Of course, the champagne did help. 

A First

Election day completed, more or less, and the first woman president of Brazil has been voted in!  Many are celebrating, and quite potentially, just as many are drowning their sorrow in some chopps.  It happens.

It brings me back to Obama.  I celebrated.  I wanted him in.  Regardless of the happiness and the disappointments I feel in him, it was a needed first.  He was our first black president, and for that I am damn proud! And he has not accomplished everything he promised, and we hoped, but he is merely a man working against a machine.

While that is not excuse, it is something to keep in mind when you bitch. There is a limit to what one person can do.  If we really want to change things, we need to Spanish style protest those bastards.  Sit in the middle of NYC and close the city down for an entire day.  No one go to work in São Paulo and that kind of thing.

But we are also a part of the machine and there is never a day where there's not too much work to be done.  Or you really don't want to miss pilates... wait a minute, is that me?  No, I'd never say that...

So Dilma is our new president.  She is a first and that is something to celebrate. Any breaking down of stereotypes is a reason to celebrate!  And now, what's done is done.  Let's all hope, for the sake of the country we may or may not call home, she does an exemplary job.  Because people, seriously, it doesn't matter if you didn't vote for her. She's there. It's a fact. Her success is ours.

That being said, I have no personal opinion about the matter. I have enough stress thinking about the crap in my country. If I start worrying about corruption here I'm going to die of a heart attack!  Yeah, I know, not even my glass of red wine a day will save me from stressing about politics in both the US and Brazil! I could be a freakin' vegan yoga meditation master and I'd still keel over like a that 4000lb man who asks for the diet coke with his super sized McDonalds.

Rio loves your Toosh

I'm loving that more and more bathrooms in Rio de Janeiro are sporting the please take a seat, disposable seat covers. It just makes my toosh blush with pleasure.

And when you take them out you really feel the Brazilian love...

Leave it to the Brazilians to put a heart around what really matters in life.

Gold star for creative toilet decor!