Salvador Carnaval-A Retrospective

I really want to try and explain Salvador carnaval but its pretty difficult, its one of those "you had to be there" moments. I´m going to list a few things below to at least try and get this off my chest, its called blog therapy I think. This list is going to be random and may not make sense, you had to be there you see. BTW as i havent got fotos (yet) of carnaval i have included links to pictures (courtesy of those good people at google images)

good music-once you had had enough to drink and lost your dancing inhibitions, carnavalmusic is totally different to what i know, the beats just didnt make sense

weird music- its like they have their own little world down here in brasil, most of the music is so different to everywhere else, a unique mix of influences, the people here go wild to it and sometimes i was stood watching rather than taking part, thinking to myself "what the f@#$ are you lot doing?"

weird dancing- they have so many dances for the different music, varying from jumping up and down, to remarkably intricate pagode funk dancing

the rock- we adopted a rock one night, it was quite large and became part of our group (myself, Daniel San, Mike, Jesse, Trevor, random Australian girls, random Brasilians). we even bought the rock a beer

the lighthouse (el farol)- our meeting point and a reprieve from the madness of being in the crowd

street food- warm cheese on a stick, meat (cat) on a stick, chicken (piegeon) on a stick, pastels (deep fried cornish pasties filled with chicken and cheese) each roughly 2 reals

street beer- served as cold as possible, preferably skol (2 reals for a large can-bargain)

antarctica guarana- a delicious canned beverage and an excellent mixer with a very cheap random spirit mike and i chose to drink most nights

never ending crowds- its the biggest in the world according to Guiness Book Of Records (RIP Norris McWhirter and Roy Castle) (you can see the lighthouse in the foto at the link as well)

singers who look like pirates- this guy is in a band called chicle do banana or something and they are incredibly popular for some reason

men in drag- alot of them, brasil is quite a gay country

filhos do gandhi- they dress up like this, no idea why

people snogging- the men who arent gay are really aggessive with the girls, its some kind of macho competition to snog as many as possible. yuk, the germs.

the smell of wee- was definitely the smell of carnaval, you just cant provide enough portaloos for that many people

psirico- a band, i actually liked thes guys they were pretty cool

bloco- a roped off area that follows the floats, ropes carried by people and you kind of become part of the procession, dancing your way along. no less manic than on the streets, but alot more expensive. you get a t shirt that is your ticket. expensive

camarote- kind of VIP booths that line the streets where you can watch carnaval without having to worry about the crowds, pickpockets, fights etc. very expensive and looked to be totally boring, no atmosphere

pipoca- "pop corn" what they call the crowds, best place to be, watch your pockets, try not to get punched by coked up favela hoods, have a great time

eric morillo- followed his bloco, occasionally sneaking into it, and then gettting thrown out, cheesy house anthems but enjoyable. the skol float features western house djs each night, fat boy slim had played the last few year but unfortunately not his year

well that´ll do for now. going to the beach now, weather permitting. oh yeh, iticare is cool, nice and quiet with gorgeous beaches. waiting for my mate from ibiza, benja, to get here.

ciao