My Week In Lapa for Carnival
Many people know about Carnival in Rio and it is considered one of the biggest parties in the world and is on most people’s lifetime bucket list. I personally spent my time in Carnival in Lapa which is considered the biggest party region in Rio for any tourist. When I arrived in Lapa I noticed it was a beautiful place with fantastic arches, views of the bay ,parks and where my nice hostel was based, on some very famous colorful tiled stairs named Selarón's Staircase . I got to appreciate this beauty for the crowds of people rushed in. Within a day the 1000s of people flooded the streets and the party vibe was out. Throughout the entire time everyone was dressed up in all sorts of costumes, but the main one was men here loved to dress in drag.
The first night in Carnival and what do I do, I visit an Irish Bar for a taste of home. The Irish bar was lovely; they played English music, served nice beer and Bloody Marys ;) and Best yet NACHOS! After the Irish bar we then took to the streets. Honestly the street parties are not all what it’s cracked up to be, actually the opposite. There was never any consistent performance’s and the samba music was just one guy usually with a bad speaker or tapping on a drum. This quickly became the dominating problem with Carnival; it was crowds of people with not a lot really ever going on.
The second night we decided to visit a nightclub named 00, this was a beautiful venue, but once the party started, it felt like someone dropped me into a 90s club in which they were mainly serving what looked like 16 year olds. Most people in nightclubs here are on the pull and it seems women will put out for any person who will dance with you. Quite frankly I find it quite disgusting.
By midweek in Carnival, I’d had enough, the streets were no longer beautiful to look at inside they smelt so strongly of Urine that it was unbearable to walk through. Men were consistently just urinating everywhere. Worried that every puddle surrounding you was 90% piss, which has been in 38 degrees heat for days. With this in mind we visited the Ipanima beach. I don’t know why people love Copacabana beach when this beach is much nicer and the sea is more much cleaner and nicer to cool off in.
On one night we decided to book tickets to a paint party with a DJ named ShowTek at a local music festival. The Venue was incredible big clear dome and well definitely better than the streets. It was not bad considering I really dislike electronic music. But well being sprayed from head to toe in paint was very fun. During our week in Lapa we visited a few restaurants with the main one being one in a posh hotel venue. The foods was nice but was quite expensive, and never order Palm heart as it just looks like chips and your friend may eat your meal thinking it’s a side order of chips. Very British of us!
Finally my last night was my best night. I hadn’t been impressed by Carnival so far, but luckily one good night can make it up. With this in mind I will try and remember what I did. We went to a bar which has live samba on! Finally some actually decent samba not the crap playing on the streets. I bet some nice local girls who were teaching me how to Samba all night. Samba doesn’t look like much but it’s actually really difficult. The last night is what I actually expected what Carnival would be like. I can tell I had a great night when my poor friend had to get the bill, carry me home and sit with me by a toilet for 2 hours.
So much has occurred in the past couple of days and I have attempted to sum up as much as possible and keep it short. Carnival was an experience, but not entirely a good one either. My advice is, if you’re already in Brazil, and then why not check it out. But otherwise if I came all the way from England for this event I would have been highly disappointed. Carnival seems like an event local Brazilians have hyped up, partly because it’s one of the only holidays they celebrate. It brings in tourist for the economy and finally because it’s such a fast developing country, people here are trying to keep a grasp onto their naturally history and identity. Honestly it all felt a bit fake.
Struggled to keep this blog entry short as so much went on, and well I could bore you to death with every detail. So ive tried to keep it short and sweet. Plus anyone looking at visiting Rio during Carnival. Beware of pick pockets and fake tickets.
