The Story Tales: Carnaval, part 1

Holy Moly, I think we've lived a few months in the last few weeks. I really - REALLY - need to tell you about Carnaval in Rio. I have never seen anything like it, nor have I seen a collective body of people maintain the stamina required to celebrate Carnaval for weeks on end. (And when I say weeks, I am not exaggerating.)

Our dear friends, the Mathiasens, flew in from Bogota on February 6. The Mathiasens were our traveling partners in crime when we went to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks a few summers ago. We had the best time with these guys - and we were camping so if I can say I had the best time while camping, then you know it was truly the best time humanly possible. We knew we were in for an amazing Carnaval week with them in town.

We hit the ground running on the afternoon of their arrival with a traditional Carnavalesca feijoada lunch at the Caesar Park Hotel. Feijoada is the classic Brazilian dish of beans and meat (sort of a stew) served with rice, farofa, collards and orange slices. I love feijoada - rice and beans are what I grew up on - but during these very hot months of the Rio summer, feijoada does not appeal to me as much because it's such a heavy dish. But we were told these feijoadas were traditional during Carnaval so off we went to the hotel.

As part of the whole experience, they had make-up artists set up to doll-up anyone who wanted it, and they distributed t-shirts, which you could customize. The Mathiasen girls took advantage of both and looked stunning with their make-up and bedazzled shirts!

Sofie and Pernille instructing the t-shirt "bedazzlers" on what they wanted done to their shirts.

The food was excellent, but the most fun part was the presence of a dancer and drummers from the Beija Flor samba school. Beija Flor was the champion of the 2015 Carnaval, and they did not disappoint at the feijoada. They had everyone up and dancing, even those of us (me) who don't know how to dance samba.