NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Travel

Rio de Janeiro: Samba some more

By Josie Dale
NZ Herald·
21 Aug, 2012 02:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rio de Janeiro brings out the hedonist in tourists during Carnival. Photo / Josie Dale

Rio de Janeiro brings out the hedonist in tourists during Carnival. Photo / Josie Dale

London's Games are done, now all eyes are on Rio, writes Josie Dale.

Travel warning: visitors to this country leave their inhibitions at the border.

My normally conservative husband did. We're waiting to order dinner at a streetside restaurant. To my amazement, he volunteers to partner a young woman at an adjacent table. The onlookers are transfixed, not by the ensuing quasi-samba shuffle, but the precarious position of her jiggling bra-less breasts in, or almost in, a skimpy singlet top.

Eventually, gravity wins. Unfazed, she attempts to equalise matters by removing her partner's shirt. His bravado disintegrates and he scuttles back to his seat. The spectators enthusiastically applaud. Table service resumes.

The highly successful London Olympic Games will be hard to top, but Rio will grasp the baton for 2016 with fervour and pride.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro), like most Brazilians, are passionate about sport and partying. They're so crazy about soccer nearly everyone skips work on big game days, and from the Friday to the Tuesday before Lent, the notoriously hedonistic Carnival in Rio brings the city to a near standstill.

Transferring from Galeao Airport to the city, Alistair and I witness life in the fast lane. Children risk their lives darting between lanes of speeding freeway traffic.

"They're from favela [slum]," says our driver, Marco.

"Sell drinks, sweets and drugs."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He points to basic shacks packed tight on the hillside. They may live in squalor without running water but they enjoy the views millionaires covet.

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro is a stunning sight. White beaches and eye-wateringly azure sea. Craggy jungle-clad peaks jut haphazardly forming a rain-forested backdrop to the buzzing metropolis.

Surprisingly, given its population of more than 6.3 million, it's blessed with extensive green parklands - surely a top contender for the world's most beautiful city.

Our beachfront Copacabana hotel is perfect for people watching. Three lanes of the six-lane thoroughfare separating hotels from the beach are closed for Carnival. Even the dogs are dressed for the occasion.

Discover more

Travel

Brazil: Life on the other side of Rio's streets

28 Sep 11:00 PM
Travel

Brazil: Discovering the contrasts of Rio

05 Apr 05:30 PM
Travel

Brazil: Rio's pre-World Cup facelift

16 Nov 03:15 AM
Travel

Brazil: Best things in Rio are free

20 Sep 02:00 AM

We're captivated by the exotic rhythms of samba and the popular samba/jazz fusion, bossa nova. This is the best jetlag cure yet. Noisy flamboyant parades jam the streets, dancing and winding around stalls, buskers and pavement restaurants. So many perfectly toned, scantily clad bodies - gyms in Rio must do a roaring trade.

We have tickets for one of the main samba parades. Friends back home wouldn't recognise us in trendy carnival masks topped off with long blue and silver tinsel wigs.

Our Sambadrome bus is two hours late because of the gridlocked roads. A vociferous passenger harangues the poor driver.

Finally, a young European tourist stands: "Driver cannot go faster. We wanting to enjoy but you spoil for us. Sit down. Shut up."

Red-faced, the whinger sits. We clap, feeling a little shamefaced that we hadn't taken the initiative.

The Sambadrome is a strip approximately 700m, or five rugby fields end-to-end, long. The stadiums and bleachers (high, open, concrete-stepped stands) on each side hold 90,000 people -officially. Sadly, ticket prices are now out of reach of many locals.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Thousands mill around outside the fenced parade area creating a logistical nightmare for those of us trying to reach the complex. They seem good-natured, but the crush of people is intimidating. I grasp Alistair's arm tightly, afraid of being consumed by the crowd.

Inside the Sambadrome, we discover we're not in the seated tourist section, but in a bleacher packed with locals. They cheerfully make way for us to climb to the top row. "Obrigada" we repeat ("thank you" is the extent of our Portuguese).

We've a perfect view along the length of the parade strip, and there's a welcome cooling breeze.

Seven of Rio's best samba schools are parading in their allotted 50 minutes. The pageant will run all night, and a spectacular fireworks display opens each show.

The locals barrack loudly for their favourites. Singing the appropriate theme song, they sway from side to side with arms raised, like an odd Mexican wave. Elaborately costumed dancers and beautiful ethereally colourful floats are unforgettable. Farmers' Santa Parade will never be the same again.

Alistair hands his tinsel wig and mask to a boy below us. He promptly dons them, thanking us with a delighted grin. For us, he's the spirit of Carnival. His father and sister turn, smiling broadly, and clasp our hands. The language barrier is seldom an issue for travellers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Early morning brings bad weather. There's no shelter and warm rain pours down in eye-closing torrents.

The parade continues. I wonder just how the judges can fairly rate the drenched participants against the more fortunate schools preceding them.

We push through the crush and flag down a taxi. We're unsure if the driver understands our destination. It's a terrifying ride because many of the roads are flooded.

The car bounces alarmingly across the median strip and turns into oncoming traffic to escape the water. Surprisingly, the cabby delivers us to the correct hotel.

We head for the bar and a strong drink to celebrate our survival.

Look forward to the next Olympic Games because it's sure to be an excitingly vibrant event. Not interested in sport? Go for the party then. You'll never forget it.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: LAN flies daily from Auckland to Santiago and on to Rio.

Further information: Rio's four-day Carnival celebration traditionally starts around 40 days before Easter. In 2013 it begins on February 8.

Josie Dale paid for her own travel in Brazil.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Travel

Travel

Nervous to visit Egypt as a solo female traveller? Here's a worry-free way to do it

Travel

A visit with the grizzly bears of British Columbia

Travel

Why Raiatea, an ancestral homeland of Māori, is a must-visit for Kiwis


Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Travel

Nervous to visit Egypt as a solo female traveller? Here's a worry-free way to do it
Travel

Nervous to visit Egypt as a solo female traveller? Here's a worry-free way to do it

Travelling Egypt is not for the faint-hearted but this approach may be one of the easiest.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
A visit with the grizzly bears of British Columbia
Travel

A visit with the grizzly bears of British Columbia

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Why Raiatea, an ancestral homeland of Māori, is a must-visit for Kiwis
Travel

Why Raiatea, an ancestral homeland of Māori, is a must-visit for Kiwis

14 Jul 06:00 PM


Your Fiordland experience, levelled up
Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

25 May 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP