Axe!

I still have Brazil on my mind.

Carnaval was hot! Both literally and figuratively.

Hanging out in Bahia

We flew from Barcelona to Salvador de Bahia by way of Madrid. Victor (our product manager and star blogger) picked us up at the airport and then drove us to his home, where his parents and his brother had waited up so that they could join us for dinner. The Aloi family was really, really cool and really, really generous. They have a nice duplex penthouse apartment with a swimming pool on the roof and a full-time housekeeper. They made our stay pure joy. I felt like David Beckham! They got hold of a friend’s yacht, and took us island hopping in All Saints Bay (the biggest bay in Brazil). They got us free passes to go to various Carnaval events like the camarote (like a VIP area where you can see Carnaval from a balcony area with open bar and kitchen, but where you don’t have to mix with the rowdy crowd). It definitely was not a backpackers’ trip.

Actually, the rowdy crowd was my favorite part of the Carnaval experience. The camarote was fun, but being in the Carnaval crowd feels like being in a cult, or like being an Obama supporter, like you’re a part of an exciting movement where the communal experience is the most important part. And, of course, everyone is drunk, so it makes socializing a lot easier. Maybe too easy. We entered a kissing challenge, where each night the goal was to kiss as many people as possible. It was something that everyone in Bahia does during Carnaval, apparently. Being from the US (i.e., anti-PDAs — public displays of affection), I couldn’t really get into the game. So Victor’s aunts ridiculed me and called me “Pretty Woman”, in reference to Julia Robert’s statement in the movie that kissing is more intimate than sex. I was like a little old lady in that crowd.

(By the way, Zum Zum Zum Zum Zum Baba — the title of this post — is the chorus to one of the most popular songs that we listened to during Carnaval.)

A few days in Rio

We did escape from Bahia to check out Rio. We bumped into a few friends from Barcelona, which was kind of weird. I can’t escape the Catalans!!!! But it was cool, and we all hung out and got really, really drunk at a bar in a favela (slum), where €8 covered the entrance fee and the open bar (which included Caipirinhas). At one point I was in the middle of a crowd on the dance floor reliving my favorite moments from Footloose. I only have a vague recollection of my antics that night, other than what Victor and Sophi have told me . . . .

On the second night in Rio, we went to a samba school, where we saw all of the samba girls practicing their moves. It was an amazing experience. The dancers know how to shake their junk in the trunk. We even got to dance with some of them.

The only bad thing about Rio was that it was overcast most of the time we were there. But it’s still Rio — amazingly beautiful.

Off to the beach

On the last couple of days of Carnaval (it lasts 6 days and some Brazilian entertainers are pushing to make it 9 days!), we went to a really cool island called Morro de Sao Paulo. We watched futvoley (which is volleyball but played like soccer, so you can only use your body, your head and your feet — but not your hands) and drank caipirihnas made of mango, kiwi, coconut and other tropical fruits.

I’m already planning for Carnaval 2009!