Off we go to the samba school which is VERY local. No tourists in sight–except us. Since I have ink, I have immediate street credibility. I am starting to panic because people are loving my work. Those people that can speak English approach me. I am not happy about this at all and am worried about getting busted.

Samba School

Dancers

Samba All Night

The Band

Samba All Night

The samba school looks like a big hockey arena and they are practicing and it is packed. We are dancing, drinking beer and watching amazing dancers, great costumes, awesome musicians and lively drummers providing the beats. We are thrilled.

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

Samba All Night

We don’t leave until dawn. We are coming back for Carnival.

We are looking for authentic things to do. We have heard good things about the Rio Scenarium. A samba club. We get dressed and when we were in China, I had purchased a bunch of temporary tattoos. If you know me, you know that I am not a proponent nor a fan of ink in any form. For some reason, I had been saving these temporary ones for months–and waiting for just the occasion.

Ready for the Night

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Well, out they came. Not one, but two packages and I created a sleeve of flowers. The moment they were on, I went badass. I kept saying to Marc–don’t worry, I’ve got your back. I’ll look after you this evening.

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

Rio Scenarium

So off we go to the Scenarium. There are a bunch of ladies singing and I feel like we are at a Portuguese wedding. I start falling asleep in my chair while we are waiting for things to really get going. The place is crawling with tourists and after two hours, me fighting to stay awake (not all that successfully), Marc claims that this place sucks and we are going to the Samba School.

We decide that we need to go to the top of Sugarloaf. Sporting my new tiger T-shirt, we go.

Base Station

Going Up

Going Up

View of Cristos

View of Copa Cabana

Sugarloaf

Frame

This Way

This Way

It is actually fantastic and I would recommend doing both, Corcovado and Sugar Loaf. All about different perspectives.