The other DrC has a Halloween blogpost with a picture of the wild Carnival hat we were given in Rio by a participant. Having worn it in their “samba school” parade, the participant had no further use for it as each year the school wears new costumes.
Our problem was bringing it home on the plane. It looks like it weighs a lot, but doesn’t as it is mostly hollow. To ship it was going to cost hundreds of dollars so we begged for an empty cardboard box, wedged it in surrounded by dirty clothes, and tagged it as excess luggage. It got home with only a little damage, an amazing souvenir.
We actually saw part of the last night’s parade, by the prize winning schools. Brazil is south of the equator so Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) happens in late summer which is warm and humid.
The parade started about 9 pm and we stayed until about 1 am when about half the schools had paraded past our grandstand seats. We had to leave “early” as we had an excursion the next day and needed to get a few hours sleep.
Those who stayed for the whole show probably got home about dawn. The crowd was the biggest group of happy drunks I’ve ever seen, there were police everywhere but I saw no arrests.
This was on the way home from a trip to Antarctica, clearly one of our favorites. Icebergs, penguins, Iguazu Falls and Carnival in Rio, all in one trip … some amazing memories!
