Everybody Dance Now

Saturday 13 February
Salvador

A big hangover this morning. I take some pills but they cure the symptom, not the cause. And the cause is CARNAVAL!!! And you can’t turn back time. So I take it easy today.

We sort out a bloco for the night as we haven’t done one yet. And more importantly, Bob Sinclair is in the house. Or on top of a lorry, or bus, depending on how you describe it. Yes despite the music being overwhelmingly axé, euro-cheese-techno-DJ Bob Sinclair is playing on one of the trios, so we decide to go for that bloco.

We get to the streets a little late and then spend ages trying to find if it’s already started yet or not. After spending a good while walking through the crowds we eventually discover that everything’s running late and we get to join it more or less at the start.

We jump in and get in the mood. The blocos are pretty chaotic, there are loads of people pushing people around to ensure everything keeps moving. We eventually work out that to stand in the middle of the bloco is the calmest area and hang out there for most of the time.

It works out pretty much like a walking disco. Bob plays his tunes along with other euro-cheese and everyone dances for a bit and then walks for a bit. I drink hardly any booze for obvious reasons. Apparently the whole route should take about three hours or so but five hours in we’re about two thirds of the way through and at about 2 in the morning we head home. Alain and Ryan have an early flight to Rio in the morning.