Rio Baby!!!

We arrived in Rio early Friday afternoon just in time to kick off Carnaval with a block party in Lapa. It was insanely crowded and public urination appeared to be the norm. Eww. There was no live music but we had fun meeting people from the various Drago trucks. We had a late night and had to be up bright and early to see the Christ the Redeemer. You know the one on the hill that you always see in pictures of Rio. After that we went to a soccer game at the Maracana stadium and roasted in the sun (with non-alcoholic beer, damn). We went out to dinner and called it an early night to save up for the Sambadrome the next night.

Sunday morning we headed down to Copacabana beach, where there were so many people you could barely see the sand. After about 20 min. trying to get down to the water we turned back to hang out on a bench in the shade. With some beer. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the parade at the Sambadrome. The parade started at 10pm and ended about 7am. With 6 samba schools in the parade. Definitely the most elaborate parade we´ve ever seen. And the crowd was going crazy for 9 hrs straight. We were exhausted and got back to the hotel just in time for breakfast.

After a little bit of sleep we went on a tour of Sugar Loaf Mountain. Also very crowded. There were gorgeous views of the city but we left early to go take a much needed nap. Later we went to a smaller block party near the hotel and went to bed relatively early.

We spent Tuesday morning trying to find costumes for the Gay Ball. However, because it was Carnaval most places were closed, but luckily we found one lady at a stand that had some fun feather head dresses. After chilling a the beach we returned to the hotel for the boat cruise with all the Drago people. The evening boat cruise had nice views and fun dancing. After that we went to dinner and got ready for the Gay Ball!

So we arrived at the Gay Ball and walked down the red carpet which was teeming with travestites and media! How fun. Once inside we saw some very scantily clad men-women. Wow! And 6´7¨ black man with boobs, who could shake it. We spent the night dancing, sweating profusely, and watching the spectacle. We all got separated and when we found each other at 4am we decided to call it a night.

The next morning we moved to a hostel in Copacabana and said our goodbyes to our fellow Drago travelers. Since then we´ve been chilling at the beach. And right now we need to go catch our taxi to the airport. buh bye, farewell, thank you for reading. You know you love us XOXO

C & H