Carnaval in Salvador – Blocos Vs. Camarotes

Carnaval in Salvador – Tips For Trio Elétricos & Camarotes

Bands and singers from Bahia spend the entire year dreaming up and composing the songs that will rock the trios elétricos of Salvador during Carnaval. If you don’t know anything yet about Carnaval in Salvador de Bahia, you will greatly benefit by reading this post.

What Is A “Trio Elétrico”? What Is A “Bloco”?

The world famous Carnaval celebration in the Bahian capital city Salvador is centered around a huge parade down the main street of Salvador that anyone can participate in. And the trio elétricos are arguably the most important element of this whole experience. Trio elétricos are slow-moving trucks which the singers and bands (some of the most famous in brazil) perform on top of, and the show lasts from one end of the street to the other end.

If you observe the picture above, you may notice that there is actually order to the chaos. See how there are people wearing green shirts forming a perimeter around the trio elétrico? Well, these people are actually holding hands and essentially working as a human barrier (these are paid workers), to keep some people in to walk with the trio eletrico, and to keep others out.  Basically, you pay to follow the trio elétrico and to stay “inside” the human-chain by purchasing a special shirt. The part inside the human chain around the trio elétrico is called a bloco. And the shirt is your entrance pass to the bloco. These shirts in Portuguese are called “abadás”. So, every trio elétrico, meaning every band, designs a different abadá for carnival every year. And as long as you are wearing the shirt, you can go in and out of the human chain surrounding the trio elétrico as you please. So, as the trio elétrico moves slowly down the street, (it takes about 3 or 4 hours from start to finish) everyone who has purchased the appropriate abadá to gain entrance into the trio elétrico moves slowly down the street with it, dancing to the music of the band that is playing on top. Every day of carnaval in Salvador, there are many different trio elétricos to choose from. So every day, you could buy the abadá for a different one. Or, if you are feeling like being safer and staying relatively clean, you might want to opt for a camarote

Here Are Some Tips for Trios Elétricos:

– Shop around and buy your abadá in advance. You will find people selling them on the street all around the center of Salvador, so ask different people how much they are selling them for to price shop. Or even better, buy the shirt off a friend, or at least find someone who is Brazilian to negotiate for you.

– No girl goes into the trio elétrico wearing their shirt/abadá the way they bought it. Guys, it’s ok to leave your abadá the way you bought it. Girls, on the other hand are known to buy their shirts in advance and have them professionally modified by a tailor to be different from everyone else (in brazil this is very inexpensive). If you are interested, I have written a guide to transforming your abadá (with some great examples) Here. For those of you who buy your abadá shirts last minute, the sellers also try to make some extra money by selling you the use of their scissors (usually R $2), so that you can alter your shirt yourself:

self-ripped abadás of carnaval

– Do not bring your camera or anything valuable.

– Wear tennis shoes. Your feet will get stepped and jumped on…many times.

– While in the bloco, try to stay nearer to the center, close to the trio elétrico truck. Because if you stay on the fringes that are closer to the outside, near the human chain, you will probably get robbed and grabbed at many times by people on the outside.

– Just know that you will probably be offered drugs. The most popular drug in the blocos is called lança perfume, it’s a euphoric drug made from ethyl chloride that people carry around in perfume bottles and spray onto a towel (read more about lança perfume Here). They put their face to the towel and inhale to get high off of it. So, that’s what’s going on when you see people breathing into towels.

– Expect to get very very dirty.

– Expect not to be able to hear anything for a few hours after the trio elétrico is over.

What Is A Camarote?

This is what a camorote looks like:

camarote in salvador

Camarotes are a step up from the trio elétrico in terms of safety and in terms of classiness. In my opinion, everyone should try partaking in the trio elétrico at least once, it’s an intense, raw and wild experience to put it mildly. But camarotes can be a good alternative during carnaval in Salvador when you still want to party, but you don’t want to feel like you could be trampled and groped by people at any moment. To get into a Camarote, you will have to buy the abadá for the Camarote that you want to go to, and they are generally more expensive than the trio elétrico abadás. But price varies by camarote, the ones towards the end of the street tend to be most desirable and most expensive. Camarotes are basically like clubs that look out onto the street and have open bars. So, you get to see the trio elétricos passing by and hear all of the trio elétrico music, but there is also a dj and a dance floor (or multiple dance floors) in the camarote itself. Camarotes give out little promotional gifts and you can get your photo taken inside professionally so that you don’t have to bring your own camera, things like that.

Tips for Going to A Camorote:

– Arrive at your camarote early, ideally before the trio elétricos begin to make their way down the street. Remember that the more the street begins to fill with people, the more dangerous and impossible it will be for you to navigate your way to the camarote.

– Once you are in the camarote, don’t leave the camarote. Very dangerous idea.

– Everything about re-designing your abadá for the blocos also applies to the camarote abadás.

– Provided you get there early, it is OK to secretly bring your camera into a camarote. But i will say this, and this is very important: have a super secret, strategic and secure location for your camera transportation. People on your way there will be putting their hands into your pockets, and they will be trying to rip things off of you (like purses – never bring a purse to carnaval). So just remember that. Only take your camera out when you are inside the camarote and when you are about to use it.

Adriana Lima rocking out during carnaval in Bahia

So, that’s my summary of trio elétricos, blocos and camarotes: the three most important things to know about if you are a gringo planning on spending carnaval in salvador. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! 🙂

Science News: New Monkey Species Discovered in the Amazon

New Monkey Species Discovered in the Amazon

Wow, a lot of new species from Brazil have been in the news recently. Here’s an article from Guardian about the discovery of a new type of titi monkey, found in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil.

Monkey belonging to the Callicebus genus found in Mato Grosso on an expedition backed by WWF-Brazil

Via GuardianUK…

“A monkey sporting a ginger beard and matching fiery red tail, discovered in a threatened region of the Brazilian Amazon, is believed to be a species new to science.

The primate was found in relatively untouched pockets of forest in Mato Grosso, the region that has been worst-affected by illegal deforestation and land conflicts…

The expedition, backed by conservation group WWF, also found probable new fish and plant species, all of which are now being studied.”

Handyman in Brazil Discovers a New Flower Species That Plants Its Own Seeds

Amateur Botanists in Brazil Discover a Flower That Plants Its Own Seeds

This is very cool….One more awesome thing that someone discovered in Bahia. Via ScienceDaily…

The newly discovered Spigelia genuflexa has pink and white star-shaped blossoms...it was identified as a new species after this picture was uploaded to flickr

A new plant species that buries its seeds – the first in its family – was discovered in the Atlantic forest of Bahia, Brazil, by an international team of amateur and professional scientists.

José Carlos Mendes Santos (a.k.a. Louro) is a handyman in rural northeastern Bahia, Brazil – one of the areas of the world with the highest biodiversity. Two years ago, he found a tiny, inch-high plant with white-and-pink flowers in the backyards of the off-the-grid house of amateur botanist and local plant collector Alex Popovkin.

Thanks to solar power and a satellite connection, Popovkin had access to the Internet, and as was his habit, he uploaded some photographs of the plant to Flickr and contacted several taxonomic experts around the globe. The family (strychnine family, or Loganiaceae) and genus (Spigelia) of the plant were soon established, with a suggestion from a Brazilian botanist that it might be a new species.

A Guide To “Comida Baiana” – The Food of Bahia & The Brazilian Northeast

Traditional Food of Bahia & The Brazilian Northeast

First of all…

Thanks Lani Brown!

This is a post about Bahian food. Bahia is the state that is most known for having the best carnaval celebration…ever….which is centered in the capital city Salvador. But it is also known for its food. Bahia is perhaps the most well known state in the northeast region of Brazil, which is known throughout Brazil and the world for its distinctive culture and palate.

The graphic below was done by Flavia Marinho, a graphic designer at Bahia’s newspaper “A Tarde.”

 

Here is a Description of Some of the Bahian Foods Mentioned Above:

Bolinho de Estudante – called “bolinhos de chuva” in the southwest part of the country (no sudeste). These are little fried dough balls, eaten as breakfast or snack food.

Caruru – is essentailly like vatapá, except without the bread.  So, it’s essentially a mixture of coconut milk, shrimp, onion, pepper, dendê, crushed nuts, and okra.

Abará – instead of eating acarajé on a delicious, fried bolinho de feijão, the healthier option is is made of the same ingredients (namely mashed beans), except it is wrapped in banana leaf and boiled.

Camarão – shrimp.

Vatapá – an accompaniment to many dishes, it’s a pasty mixture of coconut milk, shrimp, bread, ground nuts and dendê.

Salada – salad, but for acarajé, it’s usually green and red tomatoes chopped up with cilantro.

Passarinha – it’s like processed meat…but made to taste like liver (figado)…or it’s this meat thats usually cooked like carne de panela and served in cubes with sauce and it tastes like liver but i don’t think it is….

Pimenta – pepper.

Cocada – shaved coconut patty: essentially grated coconut cooked with water and sugar and made into patties and left to harden, sometimes baked.

And Here Are Some Descriptions of Other Foods From the Northeast of Brazil:
Carne de Sol – it’s salted, not quite cured meat..pork or beef, and you can fry it up easily and just add onions..it’s good but not quite healthy.

Feijão Andu – andu beans. They’re green and brown, they look sort of like This…In the northeast they eat this a lot, cooked in a pressure cooker with tomatoes, onion, garlic, sazon..it’s..alright…

Feijão Tropeiro – feijão tropeiro is fatty, doughy, bean goodness with chunks of bacon and ham and crunchy torresmo, mixed with fresh collared greens and topped with a gooey fried egg…in the northeast, they use: feijão andu, onions, peppers, tomatoes, sausage to make feijão tropeiro…it sucks. The feijão tropeiro from Minas is the best.

Cuscuz – made and eaten in the same spirit as a middle eastern cous cous, except it is typically made from corn (flakes) – milho em flocos, tapioca (polvilho azedo), salt, and water. Then they put it in a cuscuzeira or just like a round tupperware container and steam it essentially to make this glutinous loaf which is commonly eaten with butter or cheese…to make it sweet, add sugar and coconut milk or shaved coconut.

Beiju –  sort of like a crepe made from tapioca…the tapioca flour is put into a pan with lots of butter, it starts to take crepe form, then different fillings are added (chicken with catupiry, carne de sol, sometimes banana and condensed milk, coconut and cheese), once melted, the beiju is wrapped up and served like a crepe.

Arroz Vermelho –  delicious.  Arroz vermelho is red rice – sort of ilke a black rice, it’s a nutricious, grainy rice, cooked in a broth until the broth dissolves, usually cooked with onion, garlic, pepper, beef stock, soemtimes ground beef as well. Served with lime and hot sauce. Good with fried pork ribs.

Brevidade – i’m not sure if this is a northeastern thing, or maybe just an “interior” thing, but i’ve only heard of it when I was in Bahia. A delicious, simple breakfast/coffee time cake made with eggs, sugar and polvilho, mixed with cravo (clove), the cake is light, sweet and the top is almost merenguish

Temperos da Chapada –  in Minas, we’re used to beans simply made with bacon, garlic, onion, green pepper, bay leaf and some sausage — it can go as simple as bacon, garlic and bay leaf…in the northeast in general, beans are a lot heavier, and usually have meat already cooked into them – my boyfriend starts a meal by putting just beans on his plate and showering farinha or farofa on top…Beans in Bahia are cooked with the same seasonings that most things there are cooked in (for example, meat is also rubbed in these spices) – powdered saffron, powdered cumin, and urucum…which is mainly used for coloring and is salty–i’d rather use paprika…these 3 spices are added to everything, rub your meat in them to fry, put it in feijão or feijão andu….

Brazilian Woman Selling Acaraje

Thank you Lani Brown for all of your help. 🙂

 

Protests Over Belo Monte Power Plant Construction

Sao Paulo Protests Against Belo Monte Dam

Global Voices reports that protests against Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam took place on Avenida Paulista in Sao Paulo from August 19th thru August 22nd. While construction is already underway, the protesters sought to advocate for the rights of the indigenous Xingu population.

Police say about 800 people attended, which, in my opinion, isn’t particularly impressive. I don’t mean to belittle the cause, by any means, but it will be interesting to see if this grows into any sort of movement or if it is simply isolated protest events.

The protests did occur in numerous other cities as well, though Global Voices didn’t report any numbers. Some good pictures and videos on their site, though:

What is a Capixaba?…Plus, Some Vocabulary From The Brazilian State Espírito Santo

What is a Capixaba?…Plus, Some Vocabulary From The Brazilian State Espírito Santo

Espírito Santo (literally means “Holy Spirit”) is a small state on the coast, squished between Bahia, Rio de Janeiro & Minas Gerais. It’s a state a lot of people say has no accent really, because each part of the state borders another state with such strong cultural and linguistic traits that it makes it difficult to have it’s own identity.

Capixabas is the name for Brazilians who come from the state of Espírito Santo. Like every other state in Brazil, Espírito Santo has its own sayings and expressions (capixabês)! Below are some popular words and expressions from Espírito Santo (first is the word in capixabês, and then the mainstream Portuguese word, and then the English translation). Please comment on this post if you can think of more!

Guarapari, Espirito Santo - Where all the Mineiros go on vacation

Portuguese Vocabulary And Slang From Espírito Santo

pocar – quebrar/estourar/pipocar – to break, explode

pocar fora – sair correndo, picar a mula – run away, peace out

sentir gastura – estar agoniado/a – to feel weasy

iá – estar supreso/a com algo – to be surprised, receive interesting news.

pão de sal – pão francês (para os paulistas), cacetinho (para os sulistas) – small loaf of bread, popular all throughout Brazil, but with different names in different states!

esburrar  – estar cheio – to be full of/filled with

chapoletada – acidente de carro – car accident

saltar – desembarcar, descer (do onibus) – to get off at, from a bus/train

se injuriar – se estressar – to become stressed/annoyed

Why are “capixabas” called something so different from the state’s name?

Capixaba is a word from the indigenous language, Tupi, which means “clean land for growing”, and the indians who lived in what is today Espírito Santo, called the land they planted their milho & mandioca on, capixaba. With this, the settlers in Vitória (the state’s capital), started to call these indians as such and the name passed on to those who live in the region today!

Espirito Santo on the map - home of the Capixabas

The “Peaceful Favelas” Are Attracting More Tourists in Rio – Are Favela Tours Like A Human Zoo??

Increased Tourism In Rio’s “Pacified” Favelas: Encouraged by The Brazilian Government, But Is it Ultimately Fair to Inhabitants?

The traditional conception of a favela is being subverted in Rio. Every day, dozens of tourists are led through some of Rio’s most dangerous slums to witness the conditions of the favela.

I got this picture off of the website for "Rio Tour," one of the many favela tour agencies i found on google

In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Rio de Janeiro, which included a tour through the notorious City of God slum, questions have been raised regarding the fate of Brazil’s hill-draped favelas. Brazilian and foreign officials have expressed concern related to the crime-infested favelas, especially in light of the upcoming Brazil-hosted 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

In an effort to calm international and domestic anxiety, municipal and federal forces are acting together to combat drug lords and rid favelas of potentially spoiling transgressors who could have a devastating impact on the country’s image. However, law enforcement agencies are not the only factions trying to bring about severely needed change. Favela tourism is also playing a role, with tourists acting alongside government officials to revise global attitudes toward these impoverished communities.

"Michael Jackson's Space" - Now a popular tourist attraction, this is the spot where Michael Jackson made a music video in the Rio favela "Morro Santa Maria"

Favela tour guide Vitor Lira Adão, 30, says that he was already bringing tourists on tours through the favelas before they were “pacified.” He is one of the monitors of Rio Top Tour, a project created a year ago by the state government in order to incentivize favela-dwellers to bring in tourism.

“Foreigners have always been curious, even though they are aware of how dangerous it used to be,” says Vitor, who says that he never had serious problems while giving tours, except for one time when he quickly had to hide from gunfire…

Read More, Via Folha…

And here is the video from that recent Folha article:

…And Below is another video of a Brazilian Favela tour from Current TV.

In this video, Current TV producer Dre Urhahn follows a group of tourists on a favela tour to examine whether they exploiting the communities or helping them…

And lastly,

Here’s a decent article that touches upon the discomforting nature of the concept of a tour through a human-filled ghetto: Globalization or Zoo-Like Exploitation? Slum Tours on the Rise

So, what’s Portuguese Blogger’s take on all of this? Well, gringos obviously have a natural curiosity for what third world poverty looks like in a country so fun and “cultural” as brazil, they also clearly get an adrenaline rush from the possibility of witnessing violence. So, all in all i’d say that these favela inhabitants could make a good business out of this, just as long as the potential for the tour to be dangerous still lingers, in order to preserve that element of brag-worthy excitement. But it is slightly bothersome to me that the government wants to turn the favelas into some sort of “reality” Disneyland, it does seem disturbingly like a zoo, but i guess we’ll see what happens by 2016…

Also, watch this music video….

obama's visit to the favela

What do you think?

Brazil’s ‘Mr. Elderly’ Annual Contest Chooses Most Handsome Grandpa

 Weird News: Brazil’s Hottest Grandpa Crowned in Sao Paulo

First it was prison inmates, now it’s grandpas. What’s going on Sao Paulo?

Via HuffPost…

“They want to see people who are dynamic…who are good speakers who also have good looks and a young soul…how is able to somehow pass this energy to the public.”

That’s how the winner of Brazil’s “Mr. Elderly” contest describes the geriatric beauty contest’s criteria. You can’t fault 60-year-old electrician Sergio Cardoso too much for sounding immodest: he was selected out of 65 other respectable elderly men, and reportedly drew gasps from a crowd of nearly 300 women as he stepped forward to take the coveted title.

As the BBC is reporting, the annual pageant is hosted by Sao Paulo-based clinic with the intention of promoting healthy aging among men and women over 60.

 

Watch the video by Reuters HERE…

Uncontacted Brazilian Tribe Apparently Slayed By Peruvian Drug Gang

Really? This is so sad. I was shocked when I heard in the video that “the Peruvian government suggests that these tribes don’t exist at all.” Umm…well, here’s the proof, Peru. The fact that this tribe may have just been wiped out so inconsequentially makes me really worry for humanity.

‘Uncontacted’ Tribe May be Lost Forever

The video footage of an “uncontacted” tribe in the Amazon shows scenes that look as if they're from a long-lost world. Sadly, this may be all too true, as suspected Peruvian drug-smugglers are thought to have scared this tribe away, if not killed them outright.

Via Daily Maverick…

In January the BBC broadcast footage of an “uncontacted” Brazilian tribe as part of its “Human Planet” documentary series. The first photos of this tribe, which lives in the Javari Valley in the Amazon, about 20km from the Peruvian border, had been released in 2008, and a video clip is also available on the website of NGO Survival International.

José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles, who works for Brazil’s Indian affairs department, has been studying the tribe for the last 20 years. The decision to allow the pictures and footage to be shot, and released to the wider public, was a strategic one. “Without proof they exist, the outside world won’t support them,” Meirelles said. “One image of them has more impact than 1,000 reports.”

The pictures were taken from 1km away, with powerful zoom lenses, so as not to intrude unduly. The tribe has been increasingly exposed to the danger of unwanted contact. “If illegal loggers or miners contact these people, they won’t shoot images … they’ll shoot guns,” said Meirelles. However, one threat he didn’t specifically mention was that of drug dealers…

Brazil’s ‘Uncontacted’ Amazon Tribe Attacked by Drug Gang

In what authorities in Brazil have deemed a “massacre,” a remote tribe in the Amazon jungle was reportedly attacked by Peruvian drug traffickers last month. The tribe was thought to never have made contact with the outside world.

The Brazilian indigenous protection service had been guarding the tribe, but their outpost was attacked by a heavily armed group from Peru. Since the raid, which was allegedly perpetrated by cocaine smugglers, there have been no sightings of the tribespeople anywhere.

The tribal village sat in the jungle near the Peruvian border on the western edge of Brazil. State agencies, who initially left the indigenous people alone, are now searching for any survivors.

“We decided to come back here because we believed that these guys may be massacring the isolated [tribe],” Carlos Travassos, the head of Brazil’s department for isolated indigenous peoples, told the Brazilian news Web site IG.

“We are more worried than ever,” he said. “The situation could be one of the greatest blows we have seen to the work to protect isolated Indians in decades. A catastrophe … genocide!”

Guards reportedly found a backpack punctured with broken arrows on the tribe’s now-empty land. The bag is assumed to have belonged to one of the armed men who stormed the area with rifles and machine guns. Police have detained a Portuguese man with a criminal record in connection with the event.

“Arrows are like the identity card of uncontacted Indians. We think the Peruvians made the Indians flee. Now we have good proof,” Travassos added.

According to some accounts coming from Brazil, the Peruvian gang may still be present in the area, protecting the land with machine guns. It is assumed that the gang wants to use the territory to establish a trafficking route to Acre, Brazil, or to harvest the coca plant, used to make cocaine.

Read More Via IBTimes…

Areal Footage of Uncontacted Tribe in Brazil

Here Are Two Videos Showing Areal Footage of The Uncontacted Community in Brazil, One From The Website UncontactedTribes.Org and The Other From BBC One…VERY INTERESTING!

‘City of God, Guns & Gangs’ Episode From Current TV, Depicts Brazilian Favela

The Brazilian Favela – the media infatuation du jour, reporters just can’t get enough of it….

“Vanguard” is a no-limits documentary series by Current TV whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. This time they’ve gone to the Brazilian favela….

In this sneak peek at an upcoming episode of Vanguard, correspondent Mariana van Zeller follows a preacher into a Rio de Janeiro favela, where he performs powerful rituals — exorcisms — in the midst of drug addicts…

In this clip, Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller investigates Brazil’s bold new initiative to transform Rio de Janeiro’s dangerous favelas before the country hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.