Rio Carnival

We’re now in Rio, our final stop in South America. We are here for carnival, so the streets are busy and there’s lots happening.

We’d been warned about safety in the city while the carnival is on, making sure not to take your belongings to busy spaces, especially at night. That does mean we don’t have photos of everything, but I’d rather that than have no phone. One of our group did have their phone pickpocketed on our last night, so I’m glad I took the warnings seriously. 

On being dropped off in Rio, our first challenge was to find a taxi to the apartment we were staying in. This proved tricky as drivers deemed it too dangerous to drive there. Once we finally got a taxi, we could see that we were situated on the edge of the favelas. It was actually fine though, we never had any trouble. 

That evening we headed to a blocco, a scheduled event that’s part of the carnival celebrations. There’s dozens all over the city, where people gather with big sound systems and just party. 

The next day we did some sightseeing, going up to the world wonder that is the Christ the Redeemer statue. 

We headed down to the beach for sunset, which was absolutely buzzing with people. 

We then headed to the Sambadrome, a stadium where the local schools show off their floats in a parade. No photos of this one, but the parade was very spectacular. 

The next day we headed to Sugar Loaf mountain (not the one in Wales), watching a stunning sunset at the top. 

For our final day in Rio, we attended a couple of bloccos, one being a Beatles themed one. 

After one final party in the streets, it was time to depart Rio, Brazil and South America.