Text & Photos: Julie Schwietert Collazo
There’s a reason I wasn’t born Brazilian, I realized last night in my sleep and food-deprived delirium:
I simply do not have the constitution to spend six days partying frenetically without stopping.
Hard-core Carnaval goers (read: Brazilians) would likely scoff that I haven’t had the “true” Carnaval experience, and they’re right. I’m not on the street at 10 AM, dancing non-stop until 4 AM. I just don’t have what it takes.
While “Carnaval lite” is pushing me to my limits, I can’t imagine what it would be like to perform in Carnaval.
Singers and dancers who give it their all atop moving platforms 20 feet above the street for hours on end amaze me. I’d be good for about 30 minutes… then I’d throw the microphone down, pull the platform heels off, collapse in a sweating heap, and declare myself spent.
There are so many other observations to make regarding Carnaval– and I’ll get to them… after I’ve recovered from a week of Carnaval in Recife and Salvador, Brazil.
I’m totally with you on this, Julie. My ONE day enjoying the main Carnaval festivities in Oruro, Bolivia, was plenty for me. And the performers…they dance nonstop for like 4 days in a row. Insane!
Yup, count me in too, Julie and Hal. I think I could go on a major adrenaline rush for about 24 hours and then I would be like, get me a silent, empty room, please!
In Buenos Aires I had to spend a good two days just camped out beneath the hostel fan after living the Argentine life of going out for coffee around 1 a.m., staying out till six, roaming the city all day, and then doing it all again. I don’t know how they do it! Although Carnaval is really on another level.
I’m tired just reading about it. An hour or two and I’d be ready for a nap. Colorful post, Julie.
6 days of partying?? Definitely not for this gal as well!
I felt like this when it came to Pakistani weddings. I was just not motivated to spend three or four evenings (from 8pm to 2am) sitting around in fancy clothes, eating heavy food and gossiping about what everyone else was wearing. It wasn’t physically tiring, but it was mentally tiring due to the constant socializing. As for Carnaval, I don’t even think I could handle more than a few hours…
Ha! You’re just the kind of person I’d like to travel with, then!