Things were starting to come together around the end of January. I had started exercising and working out more. I explored the sites around Copacabana. From the hikes, to the restaurants museums, beaches, and parties I was started to feel at home. The best part was yet to come as Carnival was just right around the corner. From the beginning of January until middle of February the anticipation begins to build as everyone begins to get into the festive mood. Samba music is played on the street corners, where you have small crowds of people gathering around dancing and singing old and new classic classic. For me, I spend my first carnival mainly in the main central spot where many people gather at night called Lapa. There you have the famous Lapa steps where some of the worlds most famous artist have done videos, such as Snoop Dogg and John Legend. There at night, people gather on the steps, talk and sing music and drink beer. That is one of the hot spots but to discover the true madness and craziness that transpires at night in Lapa you have to go to the orcolos do Lapa where you have a people gathered around in crowds dancing and having a festive time. Along the way, there are bars and trendy restaurants where you can eat some enjoy yourself.
Carnival was an amazing, exceptionally great experience for me. It was something I dreamed about and wanted to experience my entire life, and here I was in the most beautiful city in the world about to have my chance. It was a so real experience Around mid February Carnival officially get off. It was everything and more that I had hope for, Large crowds of people behaving like children for seven days without any rules or restrictions. You can basically say, anything goes. Many people I spoke to told me, that Carnival was the heart and soul of Brazil.Carnival is apart of the culture that goes deeper than having loads of beers or vodkas or locking lips with total strangers but the idea that for one week, the people are enjoying the music and the company of others and the joy and being free and alive. I had the great chance to spend carnival with a friend of mine Jorge Andres whom was working at the Bellas Artes Hostel, where I was staying at the time. He and I would get up everyday, during the start of carnival and buy liquors and beers and hit all the local blocos, which were block parties in Brazil, on the street depending on the time and place you were in Rio. There were different block parties throughout the day and each location. There would be blocos on the beach during the day and during the night, most of the blocos were situated downtown or in the main areas of the city. Everyday children, adults, young people, old people, locals, foreigners, and so on come together to show off their customs. Many of the men,would wear women dresses as a way to celebrate the festivities and poke fun of the idea. Also many of the woman would come dress as men. The atmosphere is nothing like you would believe and the people and the magnitude was on a scale like no other places I have ever been. The school of Samba was the best part for me, a room full of musicians playing every instrument you can name dancing to old classic Samba music. The woman and men would dance and the whole room would be clap and cheer enjoying themselves.
After a week, the streets slowly began to sweep away, the crowds were slowly disappearing and everything was getting back to normal. The kids return to school and adults returned to work. Just before the carnival had arrived I had met someone at the hostel named Wana Oliveira. She was from the Northwest of Brazil Belem next to the Amazons. She and I had become friends, and she told me a lot about her home down and how she grew up. She like me ha big inspirations to travel the world and find herself and so something meaningful with her life. She and I spent a week getting to know each other. In the time we spend together I found out she loved reggae music, she loved to travel, and she has a special love for animals. We talked would talk a lot about the possibility of meeting in New York one day which she was heading at the time, but for me I didn't want to go back, I needed more time to find myself, finish my book and look for the answers I was searching for. Its sad, because we were both the same kind of people but at the time we were both headed in different directions in our lives. I wanted to head out of the US and she wanted to head in. We made the most of our times together. In the week she stated at the hostel, we talked about hopefully meeting up in New York, because there is were she wanted to study and gain her English certificate. I knew for some reason in the back of my mind it wasn't going to happen, but I was still optimistic, but for me we were just two spirits passing by in each others lives. To this day we sill keep in touch and she lives in New York.
