March 14, 2025 • 29 mins
It's party time! Alun's been dancing the days away at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Expect bright colours and elaborate outfits, street parades, all the caipirinhas, and lots of dancing (and kissing).
Alun shares information and advice about Carnival. He also recounts the story of him getting completely lost, with no phone, no money, and no sun cream. Was he able to charm his way out? Tune in to hear what goes on at the biggest party on earth!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I attended the biggest party on earth.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
(00:25):
Ever Carnival Adam. Alan, I've never been to
Carnival, but my goodness would I love to squeeze into one of
those outfits. Oh, they're ever so spangly and
beautiful, aren't they? Yes, of course we're talking
about carnival. I described you as carnival.
A lot of people might not know that carnival can also be used
as an adjective. I didn't know that, but I just
(00:45):
went with it anyway. Thanks for going with it, man,
because I saw people in my mind's eye get in on the website
apologypodcast.com and go, oh, not a great good adjective this
week. You used a noun.
No, I didn't Google it. You got well, I'm sure you have
got an idea of what that means. Am I genuinely am I genuinely
carnival I? Think if you was quite a
(01:06):
carnival. Yeah, I think it just means sort
of bristling with flamboyancy and just being sort of a real
carnival guy, you know, brightlycoloured shoes and all that
jazz. And eating meat.
Nothing to do with eating meat. Sometimes they roast a Turkey
leg that could be considered a carnival activity.
Let me tell you man, Carnival inBrazil, widely regarded as the
(01:28):
greatest party on earth and something that when I first went
travelling, I said, do you know what?
I'm going to be in India for Holy Brazil for carnival.
I'm going to be right up inside Australia for the National
Boomerang Throwing Championships.
I wanted to just go around and see the biggest events on Earth,
but I never got around to it until last week.
(01:48):
Yeah, I'm jealous, mate. I am jealous because I think
even growing up you are exposed to what Carnival is and it just
looks like the most fun time youcould possibly have perhaps on
planet Earth. Yep, exposed to it whilst you're
growing up on National Geographic or those other
Carnival documentary television sites.
But my goodness, I'd honestly, for the whole time in Brazil
(02:12):
I've been weighing up like Anubis or whatever that God is
at the end of Egyptian life on the scales of justice thinking.
Do I go to Carnival or not? Is that somewhere where I want
to be? Because you know me, I do not
much of a party guy. I don't like going to the
nightclubs. I don't like dancing about.
(02:32):
More like cerebral activities. You're solving geometrical
problems that. Sort of thing.
Yeah, well, I think Carnival probably inhabits this sort of
different space, doesn't it? It's not just going to a
nightclub. I mean, it's a cultural thing.
It's it's incredibly significantand I know it's almost like a
destination event, isn't it? People fly in from all over the
world to experience this sort ofstuff.
(02:53):
So you being in Brazil within what was it like a week or two
later when you arming and haringabout whether to actually leave
Brazil? It's a fucking no brainer mate.
Well, that's it, I kept on saying to Brazilian people.
I was like, oh, I ain't sure if I want to go to Carnival.
My party days are behind me. And every single one of them,
without pause for Thor, slapped me about the head and said,
you've got to go to Carnival. It's the greatest party of all
(03:16):
time. You've got to go, you've got to
go, you've got to go. So I thought, you know what,
maybe I will. And you're right, it's colossal.
I went to Rio for Carnival. Salvador in the north is where
Carnival originated, but Rio becomes sort of like the modern
hub of Carnival. 6 million people from all over the world
(03:37):
come to Rio to have a Carnival party.
So I decided to plump for Rio. Yeah, it's interesting what you
just said because my knowledge of Carnival is pretty limited
actually. And it does sound like in in
that respect, it is somewhat similar to holy in that it's
celebrated all across the country in different areas and
and in slightly different ways. But is it also the sort of party
(03:58):
that every Brazilian you speak to will recommend doing it?
Because, you know, you go to some places where maybe as a
tourist or an outsider you say, oh, I've come here for this.
And the locals are like, yeah, we don't really celebrate that,
but sure. Well, when I messaged my good
Brazilian friend to say do you think I should go to Carnival,
he actually said, yeah, if you want to see people mixturating
(04:20):
in the streets having sort of a bacchanalian chaotic time, if
you don't think that's past you as a 30 year old man, then yeah,
you should go. And that hacks made me think,
well, you know, St. mixed duration on my list of things to
do in my old age. But everyone else I spoke to
said you've got to do it. So that was the the way that I
(04:43):
had to do. Yeah.
And and now that it is behind you, would you recommend I do it
because I'm even older than you are?
I know, surprisingly, yeah, I, Ido.
Well, I'm going to talk about Carnival or this episode because
I ultimately do think it was definitely worth going to.
I'm very glad that I did it. I, you know, had a few mornings
with a sore head. And that's just something you've
(05:05):
got to contend with because of course, hangovers are a thing.
Alcohol is a thing. Let's talk a little bit about
what Carnival is. And it's interesting that you
mentioned the holy, because holy, of course, quite anarchic,
isn't it, Adam? Yeah, yeah, absolutely
colourful. I mean, it was chaos in the
streets. It's almost like everything's
put on pause so that people can run around and have a good time.
(05:27):
I actually recently watched somevideos of us at Holy and my, my
goodness, like thinking back, well, that was a year ago now,
wasn't it? What an amazing thing to be a
part of. And hopefully there's another
one in the future. But yeah, yeah, if it's anything
like holy, which I don't supposeit is because is it based on
religion? I don't think it is.
Is it carnival? It ain't, but it's similarly
(05:49):
anarchic. It sort of started in the 16th,
17th century by Portuguese colonizers, and originally it
was sort of a festival of chaos,throwing balloons at each other,
getting out the paintbrushes, going all mad.
And it's just evolved over the years basically.
Right. OK.
Does it seep into any other any other countries in South America
do you know? Yeah, celebrated in bunch of
(06:11):
different places. I mean, even in Europe now Spain
has Carnival and stuff. There's, there's like lots of
little bits and pieces that go on and definitely all over.
But Brazil is very much kind of the hub of Carnival.
It's where most of the lineage and their history kind of comes
in. And of course later the Afro
Brazilian communities had their influence on.
You've got all this Africa Brazilian music that has
(06:34):
permeated the culture. You've got samba parties, you've
got all these beautiful things. Bright, vibrant costumes have
become a mainstay. It's really evolved into this
huge festival, the greatest party on earth.
Yeah, So paint a picture for me then, if I was to be there with
you. I mean, this is obviously your
experience as well, but are there organized events and big
(06:55):
music shows with stages and St. parties and processions?
Or is it sort of restricted to certain times?
Or is it just a fucking mess andeverywhere for the whole, you
know, week or two weeks or whatever leading up to it?
It's yeah, as you say, chaos. Surprisingly, my beautiful
friend, it's all three of those options at once.
It's kind of pretty mad and chaotic and it goes on all the
(07:19):
time. Most events sort of end at 2:00
AM and then every morning there's Blockos that start at
7:00 AM, the Block O. So it's sort of an all day
affair. Let me tell you about blockos,
baby blockos. I mean, can you guess what the
loose translation of the word blocko is?
No, no, I can't. And maybe I'm being.
It's very close. To to, to block.
(07:40):
It's very close to block. Is it a block party?
Yeah, it's a block. It just means a block.
Yeah, block is a blocko is just a block, man.
And these blockos are basically events that they used Carnival
as a way to raise the status of a blocko, evade police sort of
interaction with the blocko, make themselves known to the
(08:01):
wider community. So blockos put on these fabulous
parades and huge events and blocko samba schools would try
and drum the best drums and wearthe best outfits and do the best
thing. So these blockos, these block
parties spring up and you can basically wake up at 6:30, take
a taxi to a blocker. You'll see the most amazing
(08:24):
parade, the most amazing thing. Then just keep on going to
different blockers throughout the day, all the way until it's
time to snooze again at night. That's carnival.
Oh my goodness, what? What's the, what the food
options like? Because you've got to try and
keep, you've got to sustain yourself that level of energy.
Are you just drinking and eatingall day or is it kind of like an
English person get absolutely tanked up until you realise you
(08:45):
probably should eat some food atabout 11:00 at night.
Well, there's people with cool boxes that kind of go around and
roam the streets of Carnival andyou can go and just everyone's
got debit card these days. May scan your card and grab a
Kyperina or a beer sort of ASA, anything from the thing you just
get loaded up on all that sort of stuff.
(09:07):
And then of course, you've just the main restaurants and St.
vendors selling food and stuff. That's all going on as usual.
The parades just happen around them.
God, what's the security like? Any policeman there is Or women?
There is Yep, Yep, there's a policemen and women in equal
number Adam, it's carnival. Well, there is, there is high
(09:28):
insecurity during carnival and and I didn't experience any
commotion, violence, anything like that at all.
It seemed like a, a very peaceful event.
Everyone what what was characterized was by the the
beautiful outpouring of love of carnival.
It was very vibrant, very beautiful, people hugging,
(09:49):
kissing in the streets with complete indiscretion.
OK, yeah. Now it would be remiss of me to
to not ask this question becauseI'm sure it's something the
listeners thinking. Is there drug taking going on?
Are there narcotics floating around, do you think?
I imagine so, mate. Yeah, I did see some people who
looked as if maybe they'd taken some of the old drugs and maybe
(10:11):
even I came across some people who are categorically saw
selling and buying drugs. But I wouldn't say it was a
mainstay of the carnival thing. I think it was mostly drinking,
partying and sort of hooking up.There's a lot of people hooking
up with one another through the medium of dance.
Oh, wow, Because I know that, you know, I've not really been
(10:32):
exposed to it, not having been to Brazil, but they're quite an
open people, aren't they? The Brazilians very open.
They're open, fun loving, don't mind a smooch, you know, quite
early on in a date. Let's say if you were to go on a
first date, and this is correct me if I'm wrong, I might be
speaking out of turn, But if youwere to go on a first date with
a Brazilian girl and not not kiss them on the first date,
(10:52):
they might assume that you weren't interested at all that.
Has that happened to you? Well, I'm, I'm, yeah, yeah, it
has. Yes, it has actually.
Yes, that's never happened to me, Adam, because I don't kiss
and tell. So that's just one thing about
me. But yeah, no, they're very open
culture, very vibrant, very. Yeah, there's a, there's a lot
(11:13):
of that, but important to note kind of out a very multicultural
event, right, Because it's not just Brazilians there.
Obviously there's a vast amountsof Brazilians because we're in
Brazil. But you know, you look to your
right, see a European, look to your left see a Brazilian.
That's just the nature of Carnival are.
You expected to dress up what you're wearing.
So I was staying with some friends from around the world.
(11:36):
A Spanish person, an Irish person, even a Peruvian friend
came into the mix. There was a bunch of people all
hanging around. We stayed in an Airbnb because.
Sounds like the beginning of a joke.
Exactly mate accommodation very expensive during a carnival and
those girls that are with they all dressed up glitter on the
face, vibrant colours and everyone else in carnival also
(11:58):
dressed up nice vibrant colours.Me very much wearing a similar
outfit to what you see now. Some glitter from one of my
friends faces may have strained my way as we high fived and
hugged, but other than that I was basically dressed as is and
that was also acceptable. OK, fair enough.
So you're not expected to dress up, but most people do.
I'm imagining lots of people wearing headdresses and
(12:19):
incredibly like elaborate outfits with big sort of tails
and stuff. And they're also floats that go
through the street as well, yeah.
There's all that, mate. What you're imagining is like
people, the samba schools putting on the block hose will
be wearing vibrant colour. Maybe they'll be on stilts,
maybe they'll be all dressed up.There's a huge parade that
centres in this place called theSamba drone, right?
(12:40):
We'll talk about more. Maybe because it's the central
bit of Carnival in Rio, you haveto buy tickets and all the best
samba schools in the city compete and put on these huge
floats and there's dancing and everyone goes, they go round a
purpose built St. and obviously they get judged and someone wins
a prize and all that jazz. So you can go and see that.
It's quite exceptional. But even at the boccos people
(13:03):
are wearing crazy outfits. It's very, very beautiful and
it's just a, a massive party, man.
It's just the biggest party ever.
Everyone's talking to each other, making you friends,
staying in touch. Big deal.
So, so you went with the people that you were with, right?
Were you there? How long is Carnival and how
long did you go for? It's like a week long.
I did four days days. Wow.
(13:25):
OK. And you were, sort of.
That was enough for me. You were moving around as a
little crew. Did the did the group fracture
at all or did you stay as like athree or four?
How does that work? Well, you've correctly
identified that there is a storyabout a fractured group, because
if I tell one story from my carnival experience, it would be
the time where my group became fractured.
(13:45):
And we'll probably do that afterthe meditation break because it
was probably the highlight of mycarnival in the end.
But yeah, just speaking briefly more on the outfits.
There's some funny stuff there because people do dress up.
A lot of people you'll see in like non outfits going around
dressed as a non. Yeah, okay.
(14:05):
And that's because because basically once during one of the
one of the blockos there was went past a nunnery and I was
told this story. So it's not verified, but
basically one of the nuns saw the blocko going round and she
thought fucking hell this seems so amazing I want to be part of
it as she ran out of the nunneryand joined the blocko dance
(14:27):
around getting involved. So now to honour her people will
wear a nuns outfit. It just.
Shows if you got rhythm, it doesn't matter what you believe.
Exactly. And with that fucking bombshell,
let's blast off on a meditation break.
This meditation break is broughtto you by our very own Patreon.
(14:48):
Oh, it's a hell of a time over there.
We have the lost and found section.
That's a little 15 minute section after the podcast where
we get a little bit naughty. In last week's episode, I jumped
into the Brazilian sea absolutely nude, inciting what
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(15:09):
It's patreon.com/topology podcast link in the description.
Thanks ever so much for the support.
We love you. Ciao.
Like a scantily clad Brazilian on stilts going down the block.
Oh, allow your conscious mind toreturn into your brain as we
talk about carnivore. The word block.
Oh so funny. Like just a little spoiler for
(15:31):
you guys. I'm now in New Zealand.
I'm sure you could tell that from the lovely background, but
the word blocko just makes me think like an Australian was
involved in naming it. Oh crocky mate, got a got a
little blocko going on down the street you crazy?
Yeah, just got in a local blockomate.
Yeah, I did see someone wearing a cork hat, so it was almost
(15:53):
exactly the same. For a moment there I thought I
was in Australia. So we get a beautiful Airbnb for
carnival, right. I was very grateful because I
didn't have accommodation sortedand I basically left it up to my
Irish friend to organize everything and she did.
And that was great. That was very thankful.
Thank you. Yes.
So we establish that because Carnival has a reputation for
(16:15):
being a little bit dangerous sometimes.
I'm talking phones might get pickpocketed, that sort of
thing, right? Oh, OK, now we're getting to the
juicy stuff. You do have to, you know, be
aware. OK, you've got to be very aware,
mate. So I decided, do you know what?
Because of the nature of Tripology, I can't have my phone
(16:36):
stolen. If my phone's stolen, the
podcast is over, the website gets taken down, you cease to
exist. A lot of problems happen if my
phone disappears. So I thought, don't even risk
it, I'm going to leave my phone at home.
OK, yeah, that seems like a sound plan.
I mean, if your phone got or stolen, I know you're sort of
joking there, but it would be catastrophic to the.
(16:58):
Podcast. Yeah.
So like ET in reverse. The phone was at home and that
was just it, right? Oh God.
Quick, continue, because that's hilarious.
Yeah, OK, So mate, I basically rely on my Irish friend.
I say I'm going to order my UberUber Moto so you can get through
(17:19):
the carnival traffic and I'm going to go to the blocker in
Santa Teresa. That's the place.
What, where the nuns are. So.
And I said no problem. We'll meet.
We'll put our same location in. We'll all go to Santa Teresa.
We'll meet there. And then we'll have a hell of a
time blocker wise. And then whatever I spend, you
know that I would have used the card.
(17:40):
I'll, you know, you can, I'll get you back and I'll just have
you to Take Me Home and all thatstuff.
Because she was trying to take her phone with her.
Yeah. OK, that sounds like a sound
plan. All above board.
Nice of it. Very nice of you.
Thank you again for the accommodation and for the phone
help. So we go.
I go first in the motor taxi. I arrive at the destination, the
(18:00):
motorbike can't get through the final crowd.
So I sort of get to the outskirts of this blocker and I
go perfect. I'm going to wait for my friend
and I'll wait for sort of 10 minutes and I wait for 15
minutes and it kind of starts toget into my head.
I'm like, I don't think my friend's fucking coming to this
blocker anymore. Oh really?
(18:20):
How long would have been acceptable?
Did you even sort of overstep that mark?
What were you expecting? Like a 5 or 10 minute?
The blocker started to encompassthe space that I'd been dropped
off. OK.
The the drop off point started to become swallowed by a throng
of people. And I thought, you know, even if
she got a bike to the exact samespot, she ain't, she ain't going
(18:42):
to like see me or get in. So I thought, at this point I'm
absolutely phoneless, cashless, uberless, and basically scarcely
5 minutes into my carnival experience I was already kind of
in a bit of a hopeless situation.
I had no way of getting home even.
Yeah, well, tell me the distanceagain, the journey time.
(19:03):
About 14 and 35 minutes on a on a motor.
Oh yeah, it's not close, is it? The other side of town.
My goodness. Yeah, yeah, you can't.
I couldn't walk back home or anything.
I didn't even know where home is.
I'm mapless. Yeah.
Oh dear. OK, so I mean, you're at
Carnival though. There are worse places to be
lost, surely? There's there's less dangerous
(19:24):
places to be lost. Also, I'll say that, and it's
funny because I tried to do the experienced traveller thing if I
ain't even going to take a phone.
But you quickly realise how hopeless you are without a phone
in the modern age, especially when a city has transformed
itself into one huge, colossal party.
Yeah, I imagine. Was it not liberating or or were
(19:44):
you just you really wanted to meet up with your friend?
Obviously that goes without saying, but at which point did
you sort of think maybe I could just do this entire day on my
own? I'll just see what I can pull
out the bag. Well, yeah, that was ultimately
my only choice. My friend had all the resources,
the cash, the sunscreen, oh shit.
Everything. So that was a problem.
(20:05):
But I basically thought, my friend's gone.
What am I going to do? Am I going to mope around?
Maybe try and find a hostel somewhere that will allow me to
call? So this was my resolve.
I'm just going to enjoy this blocker, enjoy carnival, and
then whenever I sort of create avibe with someone, instead of
kissing them, I would just ask them to go on Instagram and send
(20:29):
a message to my friend. Or borrow their sun cream, yeah.
So I thought this is great because most people they try and
like create a vibe with people that carnival entice them with
their Peacock esque outfits and then that might result in a kiss
or some other activity. But for me I thought now this is
great. I'll use my vibe and connection
(20:49):
as an actual means to get in contact.
So I did just that mate. I started dancing about, I
started approaching people and going like, hey, you're very
beautiful, can I have your phoneto text my friend?
And that was perfect. It actually was a great start to
carnival because it put me in this really open, friendly
mindset. The men that I'd met, a bunch of
(21:11):
core people. Yeah, I guess the only option
then you're sort of your hand isforced, isn't it?
You've got to go and talk to strangers and build a rapport
with them and how with the way there are a couple of times when
you approach people and tried to, you know, get their phone
off them that that where maybe you weren't successful and you
had to end up, you had to end upkissing them for Christ.
Yeah, I went, come on, give me aphone.
(21:33):
I'm desperate. And people go, oh, I, you know,
when people say a lie, that's obviously a lie.
They go, oh I my phones not got data on it, hasn't it?
Why have you got it then? Why is it with you if it's not
for data? There were no pockets in my
nun's outfit, so I left it. Yeah, exactly.
The number of people I approached, you didn't have a
(21:54):
phone. Remarkably.
You don't look the type. You don't look the type.
I'd let you borrow my phone, Yeah.
Well, a lot of people did. By the end of the day, my friend
had eight sort of message requests on Instagram and.
All from different phones. Yeah, I was sunburned to a
crisp, but eventually I just found him in a little shaded
(22:17):
spot. I go, hello.
And we all met up and she went, she's Irish.
She went, oh, she goes, I wasn'tworried about you at all.
She just goes, I knew you'd be having a fine time.
So I was like, yeah, cool. She wasn't looking for me.
Yeah, but hang on, weren't you like, Yeah, but hold on a
(22:37):
minute. Why weren't you at the meeting
point? Her bike dropped off in a
completely different area because there was no access to
the blocker, so I wasn't even. I knew that that wasn't even a
possibility for her. There wasn't.
The meeting point had been destroyed my party.
Right. OK, yeah, fair enough.
I mean, were they not like actively searching for your
whereabouts? That seemed like a very loose
(22:58):
search by they basically sort ofglanced around the street party
and sort of saw if they could see a guy that wasn't dressed in
carnival gear. But beyond that?
That's so funny. Got How long was the time
between when you when you realized you weren't gonna meet
them again and then when you finally found them?
(23:19):
I reckon I was doing a solo carnival experience for about
two. Hours.
No, not, not in time. And kisses.
Ohh well it was 8 message requests I said on my friends
phone. And you don't kiss and tell.
So what we can deduce from that is that, you know, there was
maybe a couple in there. I like that.
I'll tell you what my phone message to kiss conversion rate
is a very sorry percentage indeed, but make carnival.
(23:44):
You know what, I really thought maybe I wasn't going to do it
because I thought just seems toohectic and crazy.
But my big take away is really very like wild, but not crazy in
in the worst possible ways, crazy in the best possible ways.
People were really kind and sweet.
There's a community of people who they're incentivized to
(24:08):
collect all the trash because they can sell the the cans and
stuff for, for like decent money.
They can make like 150 hairs a day.
So the streets are actually likerelatively clean compared to
that, you know, for six million more people in the city or
partying, it's actually like organized really, really well.
That's so amazing. And yeah, it sounds it's sort of
(24:31):
very respectful and positive andthere's no, not really many
people there trying to cause trouble or I just, I just don't
know what to expect or I didn't know what your experience was
going to be like, but I'm so glad that it seems sort of
overwhelmingly positive. And yeah, sort of, I mean,
innocence the wrong word, isn't it?
But. Certainly the wrong word.
(24:52):
Yes, there's one my favorite blocker.
The cool thing about it is that it's not just a stereotypical
nightlife party. Obviously there is that if you
want it, but it's kind of inbuilt that everyone goes to
sleep at 2, sleeps for a few hours and then gets up early and
in the morning there's these beach blockers.
(25:13):
My favorite 1 was Ipanema at 7:00 AM when we all just
gathered there and it was a crazy throng of people with,
well, cool music playing, peopledancing, and it's like a real
crowd. There was someone hanging from
the treetops and we're all on the beach just having this
thing, and that's cool for that level of debauchery to be
(25:34):
happening in at the very, very start of a day.
Yeah, Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, the only thing that I
can maybe relate sort of it sounds a little bit like my
times in Ibiza when I was a bit younger, because there, you
know, it's sort of if you wantedto be, it's no holds barred.
People are on it all the time, all day, in every capacity
(25:54):
imaginable. And like I said, if you search
for it, you will find it. But there is also the beach
aspect, There is also the pool parties and this kind of stuff.
The music, what sort of music isplaying for the most part, if
someone like me who likes electronic music and say like
techno and that sort of stuff, can you find that there?
Yeah. I mean, it's mostly like
Brazilian funk, Brazilian music,samba, obviously the big thing.
(26:19):
There's like a lot of that, but there's techno parties and
things that go on and you know, there's ticketed events that you
can go to as well, all differenttypes.
It's just one big party. I'll say say this as well.
Obviously the drinking and the drugs, the caipirinias and the
MDMA are a huge part of carnival, no one's denying that.
But I went to one blocker like a7:00 AM thing and just didn't
(26:40):
drink. I just like vibed and enjoyed
it. I obviously drank my fair share
of caipirinias as well, but it was seemed totally valid to just
be out in a parade sober. OK cool.
And just I mean I should know this.
A caipirinha is is it rum and lime?
Juice. Yes.
A specific rum that's like kashasa.
Yeah, like white rum. It's like the Brazilian national
(27:02):
alcoholic drink that goes muddled with a lime and a lot of
ice. It's just smashed up.
There's no added liquid. Just the cat shasa, the limes
and the ice all muddled together.
That's it, Katharina. And no salt rim, you're not sort
of getting your your electrolytes in.
Oh, there's a. Bit of sugar in there.
Sugar as well. Couple of spoons of sugar.
(27:23):
OK. Yeah.
All right. Well, yeah, that's sounds good.
I mean, I have had them before and I mean, it's, it probably
sits in that category of alcoholic drinks that you can
you can knock back quite a few. I mean, it's, yeah.
Depending on the content they can be quite crazy.
We actually just got a bottle ofkeshasa for 12 Heis which is
like no money at all that. I think that 12 Heis is like 2
(27:45):
lbs or something and we were just making our own caporinas at
home. That was definitely the best way
to go about it. So you can do your own dosage.
What you doing double S triples?Depends on how many.
It depends if you left your phone on.
Free pouring. Free pouring.
I was going to say it depends ifyou've left your phone at home.
(28:05):
Yeah, it does. Yeah, of course.
Yeah, absolutely mad. So Carnival recommend it.
Definitely go if you can. If you're in the area, check it
out. If you're not in the area, get
on a plane. Make sure you put your
accommodation well in advance and just have a proverbial bore,
my friends. Adam, you've concluded your
European adventure. You've blasted all the way to
(28:26):
literally the thirdest possible country from your origin.
Yeah. And I want to hear about that.
Yeah, well, that's all going to have to be on the weeks that
come. I think, mate, there's so much
to tell you. And I mean the, the European
trip as well, because in quick succession I went through so, so
many different cities that were all like sort of slightly
(28:47):
different versions of each other.
And I'd quite like to talk aboutthat on an episode.
And then of course, my big move to New Zealand, which I am
thoroughly enjoying and I'm a less than a week in.
So let's talk about that maybe next week or the week after.
The Adam fans will be excited tohear it on the next week.
Right now, we're going to get a Lost and Found section in
Patreon. Baby, we'll see you next week.
(29:08):
See you there. Bye.
Can you show me what is true in my heart?
(29:35):
What is true in my heart?
I attended the biggest party on earth.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
(00:25):
Ever Carnival Adam. Alan, I've never been to
Carnival, but my goodness would I love to squeeze into one of
those outfits. Oh, they're ever so spangly and
beautiful, aren't they? Yes, of course we're talking
about carnival. I described you as carnival.
A lot of people might not know that carnival can also be used
as an adjective. I didn't know that, but I just
(00:45):
went with it anyway. Thanks for going with it, man,
because I saw people in my mind's eye get in on the website
apologypodcast.com and go, oh, not a great good adjective this
week. You used a noun.
No, I didn't Google it. You got well, I'm sure you have
got an idea of what that means. Am I genuinely am I genuinely
carnival I? Think if you was quite a
(01:06):
carnival. Yeah, I think it just means sort
of bristling with flamboyancy and just being sort of a real
carnival guy, you know, brightlycoloured shoes and all that
jazz. And eating meat.
Nothing to do with eating meat. Sometimes they roast a Turkey
leg that could be considered a carnival activity.
Let me tell you man, Carnival inBrazil, widely regarded as the
(01:28):
greatest party on earth and something that when I first went
travelling, I said, do you know what?
I'm going to be in India for Holy Brazil for carnival.
I'm going to be right up inside Australia for the National
Boomerang Throwing Championships.
I wanted to just go around and see the biggest events on Earth,
but I never got around to it until last week.
(01:48):
Yeah, I'm jealous, mate. I am jealous because I think
even growing up you are exposed to what Carnival is and it just
looks like the most fun time youcould possibly have perhaps on
planet Earth. Yep, exposed to it whilst you're
growing up on National Geographic or those other
Carnival documentary television sites.
But my goodness, I'd honestly, for the whole time in Brazil
(02:12):
I've been weighing up like Anubis or whatever that God is
at the end of Egyptian life on the scales of justice thinking.
Do I go to Carnival or not? Is that somewhere where I want
to be? Because you know me, I do not
much of a party guy. I don't like going to the
nightclubs. I don't like dancing about.
(02:32):
More like cerebral activities. You're solving geometrical
problems that. Sort of thing.
Yeah, well, I think Carnival probably inhabits this sort of
different space, doesn't it? It's not just going to a
nightclub. I mean, it's a cultural thing.
It's it's incredibly significantand I know it's almost like a
destination event, isn't it? People fly in from all over the
world to experience this sort ofstuff.
(02:53):
So you being in Brazil within what was it like a week or two
later when you arming and haringabout whether to actually leave
Brazil? It's a fucking no brainer mate.
Well, that's it, I kept on saying to Brazilian people.
I was like, oh, I ain't sure if I want to go to Carnival.
My party days are behind me. And every single one of them,
without pause for Thor, slapped me about the head and said,
you've got to go to Carnival. It's the greatest party of all
(03:16):
time. You've got to go, you've got to
go, you've got to go. So I thought, you know what,
maybe I will. And you're right, it's colossal.
I went to Rio for Carnival. Salvador in the north is where
Carnival originated, but Rio becomes sort of like the modern
hub of Carnival. 6 million people from all over the world
(03:37):
come to Rio to have a Carnival party.
So I decided to plump for Rio. Yeah, it's interesting what you
just said because my knowledge of Carnival is pretty limited
actually. And it does sound like in in
that respect, it is somewhat similar to holy in that it's
celebrated all across the country in different areas and
and in slightly different ways. But is it also the sort of party
(03:58):
that every Brazilian you speak to will recommend doing it?
Because, you know, you go to some places where maybe as a
tourist or an outsider you say, oh, I've come here for this.
And the locals are like, yeah, we don't really celebrate that,
but sure. Well, when I messaged my good
Brazilian friend to say do you think I should go to Carnival,
he actually said, yeah, if you want to see people mixturating
(04:20):
in the streets having sort of a bacchanalian chaotic time, if
you don't think that's past you as a 30 year old man, then yeah,
you should go. And that hacks made me think,
well, you know, St. mixed duration on my list of things to
do in my old age. But everyone else I spoke to
said you've got to do it. So that was the the way that I
(04:43):
had to do. Yeah.
And and now that it is behind you, would you recommend I do it
because I'm even older than you are?
I know, surprisingly, yeah, I, Ido.
Well, I'm going to talk about Carnival or this episode because
I ultimately do think it was definitely worth going to.
I'm very glad that I did it. I, you know, had a few mornings
with a sore head. And that's just something you've
(05:05):
got to contend with because of course, hangovers are a thing.
Alcohol is a thing. Let's talk a little bit about
what Carnival is. And it's interesting that you
mentioned the holy, because holy, of course, quite anarchic,
isn't it, Adam? Yeah, yeah, absolutely
colourful. I mean, it was chaos in the
streets. It's almost like everything's
put on pause so that people can run around and have a good time.
(05:27):
I actually recently watched somevideos of us at Holy and my, my
goodness, like thinking back, well, that was a year ago now,
wasn't it? What an amazing thing to be a
part of. And hopefully there's another
one in the future. But yeah, yeah, if it's anything
like holy, which I don't supposeit is because is it based on
religion? I don't think it is.
Is it carnival? It ain't, but it's similarly
(05:49):
anarchic. It sort of started in the 16th,
17th century by Portuguese colonizers, and originally it
was sort of a festival of chaos,throwing balloons at each other,
getting out the paintbrushes, going all mad.
And it's just evolved over the years basically.
Right. OK.
Does it seep into any other any other countries in South America
do you know? Yeah, celebrated in bunch of
(06:11):
different places. I mean, even in Europe now Spain
has Carnival and stuff. There's, there's like lots of
little bits and pieces that go on and definitely all over.
But Brazil is very much kind of the hub of Carnival.
It's where most of the lineage and their history kind of comes
in. And of course later the Afro
Brazilian communities had their influence on.
You've got all this Africa Brazilian music that has
(06:34):
permeated the culture. You've got samba parties, you've
got all these beautiful things. Bright, vibrant costumes have
become a mainstay. It's really evolved into this
huge festival, the greatest party on earth.
Yeah, So paint a picture for me then, if I was to be there with
you. I mean, this is obviously your
experience as well, but are there organized events and big
(06:55):
music shows with stages and St. parties and processions?
Or is it sort of restricted to certain times?
Or is it just a fucking mess andeverywhere for the whole, you
know, week or two weeks or whatever leading up to it?
It's yeah, as you say, chaos. Surprisingly, my beautiful
friend, it's all three of those options at once.
It's kind of pretty mad and chaotic and it goes on all the
(07:19):
time. Most events sort of end at 2:00
AM and then every morning there's Blockos that start at
7:00 AM, the Block O. So it's sort of an all day
affair. Let me tell you about blockos,
baby blockos. I mean, can you guess what the
loose translation of the word blocko is?
No, no, I can't. And maybe I'm being.
It's very close. To to, to block.
(07:40):
It's very close to block. Is it a block party?
Yeah, it's a block. It just means a block.
Yeah, block is a blocko is just a block, man.
And these blockos are basically events that they used Carnival
as a way to raise the status of a blocko, evade police sort of
interaction with the blocko, make themselves known to the
(08:01):
wider community. So blockos put on these fabulous
parades and huge events and blocko samba schools would try
and drum the best drums and wearthe best outfits and do the best
thing. So these blockos, these block
parties spring up and you can basically wake up at 6:30, take
a taxi to a blocker. You'll see the most amazing
(08:24):
parade, the most amazing thing. Then just keep on going to
different blockers throughout the day, all the way until it's
time to snooze again at night. That's carnival.
Oh my goodness, what? What's the, what the food
options like? Because you've got to try and
keep, you've got to sustain yourself that level of energy.
Are you just drinking and eatingall day or is it kind of like an
English person get absolutely tanked up until you realise you
(08:45):
probably should eat some food atabout 11:00 at night.
Well, there's people with cool boxes that kind of go around and
roam the streets of Carnival andyou can go and just everyone's
got debit card these days. May scan your card and grab a
Kyperina or a beer sort of ASA, anything from the thing you just
get loaded up on all that sort of stuff.
(09:07):
And then of course, you've just the main restaurants and St.
vendors selling food and stuff. That's all going on as usual.
The parades just happen around them.
God, what's the security like? Any policeman there is Or women?
There is Yep, Yep, there's a policemen and women in equal
number Adam, it's carnival. Well, there is, there is high
(09:28):
insecurity during carnival and and I didn't experience any
commotion, violence, anything like that at all.
It seemed like a, a very peaceful event.
Everyone what what was characterized was by the the
beautiful outpouring of love of carnival.
It was very vibrant, very beautiful, people hugging,
(09:49):
kissing in the streets with complete indiscretion.
OK, yeah. Now it would be remiss of me to
to not ask this question becauseI'm sure it's something the
listeners thinking. Is there drug taking going on?
Are there narcotics floating around, do you think?
I imagine so, mate. Yeah, I did see some people who
looked as if maybe they'd taken some of the old drugs and maybe
(10:11):
even I came across some people who are categorically saw
selling and buying drugs. But I wouldn't say it was a
mainstay of the carnival thing. I think it was mostly drinking,
partying and sort of hooking up.There's a lot of people hooking
up with one another through the medium of dance.
Oh, wow, Because I know that, you know, I've not really been
(10:32):
exposed to it, not having been to Brazil, but they're quite an
open people, aren't they? The Brazilians very open.
They're open, fun loving, don't mind a smooch, you know, quite
early on in a date. Let's say if you were to go on a
first date, and this is correct me if I'm wrong, I might be
speaking out of turn, But if youwere to go on a first date with
a Brazilian girl and not not kiss them on the first date,
(10:52):
they might assume that you weren't interested at all that.
Has that happened to you? Well, I'm, I'm, yeah, yeah, it
has. Yes, it has actually.
Yes, that's never happened to me, Adam, because I don't kiss
and tell. So that's just one thing about
me. But yeah, no, they're very open
culture, very vibrant, very. Yeah, there's a, there's a lot
(11:13):
of that, but important to note kind of out a very multicultural
event, right, Because it's not just Brazilians there.
Obviously there's a vast amountsof Brazilians because we're in
Brazil. But you know, you look to your
right, see a European, look to your left see a Brazilian.
That's just the nature of Carnival are.
You expected to dress up what you're wearing.
So I was staying with some friends from around the world.
(11:36):
A Spanish person, an Irish person, even a Peruvian friend
came into the mix. There was a bunch of people all
hanging around. We stayed in an Airbnb because.
Sounds like the beginning of a joke.
Exactly mate accommodation very expensive during a carnival and
those girls that are with they all dressed up glitter on the
face, vibrant colours and everyone else in carnival also
(11:58):
dressed up nice vibrant colours.Me very much wearing a similar
outfit to what you see now. Some glitter from one of my
friends faces may have strained my way as we high fived and
hugged, but other than that I was basically dressed as is and
that was also acceptable. OK, fair enough.
So you're not expected to dress up, but most people do.
I'm imagining lots of people wearing headdresses and
(12:19):
incredibly like elaborate outfits with big sort of tails
and stuff. And they're also floats that go
through the street as well, yeah.
There's all that, mate. What you're imagining is like
people, the samba schools putting on the block hose will
be wearing vibrant colour. Maybe they'll be on stilts,
maybe they'll be all dressed up.There's a huge parade that
centres in this place called theSamba drone, right?
(12:40):
We'll talk about more. Maybe because it's the central
bit of Carnival in Rio, you haveto buy tickets and all the best
samba schools in the city compete and put on these huge
floats and there's dancing and everyone goes, they go round a
purpose built St. and obviously they get judged and someone wins
a prize and all that jazz. So you can go and see that.
It's quite exceptional. But even at the boccos people
(13:03):
are wearing crazy outfits. It's very, very beautiful and
it's just a, a massive party, man.
It's just the biggest party ever.
Everyone's talking to each other, making you friends,
staying in touch. Big deal.
So, so you went with the people that you were with, right?
Were you there? How long is Carnival and how
long did you go for? It's like a week long.
I did four days days. Wow.
(13:25):
OK. And you were, sort of.
That was enough for me. You were moving around as a
little crew. Did the did the group fracture
at all or did you stay as like athree or four?
How does that work? Well, you've correctly
identified that there is a storyabout a fractured group, because
if I tell one story from my carnival experience, it would be
the time where my group became fractured.
(13:45):
And we'll probably do that afterthe meditation break because it
was probably the highlight of mycarnival in the end.
But yeah, just speaking briefly more on the outfits.
There's some funny stuff there because people do dress up.
A lot of people you'll see in like non outfits going around
dressed as a non. Yeah, okay.
(14:05):
And that's because because basically once during one of the
one of the blockos there was went past a nunnery and I was
told this story. So it's not verified, but
basically one of the nuns saw the blocko going round and she
thought fucking hell this seems so amazing I want to be part of
it as she ran out of the nunneryand joined the blocko dance
(14:27):
around getting involved. So now to honour her people will
wear a nuns outfit. It just.
Shows if you got rhythm, it doesn't matter what you believe.
Exactly. And with that fucking bombshell,
let's blast off on a meditation break.
This meditation break is broughtto you by our very own Patreon.
(14:48):
Oh, it's a hell of a time over there.
We have the lost and found section.
That's a little 15 minute section after the podcast where
we get a little bit naughty. In last week's episode, I jumped
into the Brazilian sea absolutely nude, inciting what
can only be described as a riot.For as little as $1.00 a month
you can get access to all this bonus content and you might even
get a message or two from us as.Well Oh my God, go there now.
(15:09):
It's patreon.com/topology podcast link in the description.
Thanks ever so much for the support.
We love you. Ciao.
Like a scantily clad Brazilian on stilts going down the block.
Oh, allow your conscious mind toreturn into your brain as we
talk about carnivore. The word block.
Oh so funny. Like just a little spoiler for
(15:31):
you guys. I'm now in New Zealand.
I'm sure you could tell that from the lovely background, but
the word blocko just makes me think like an Australian was
involved in naming it. Oh crocky mate, got a got a
little blocko going on down the street you crazy?
Yeah, just got in a local blockomate.
Yeah, I did see someone wearing a cork hat, so it was almost
(15:53):
exactly the same. For a moment there I thought I
was in Australia. So we get a beautiful Airbnb for
carnival, right. I was very grateful because I
didn't have accommodation sortedand I basically left it up to my
Irish friend to organize everything and she did.
And that was great. That was very thankful.
Thank you. Yes.
So we establish that because Carnival has a reputation for
(16:15):
being a little bit dangerous sometimes.
I'm talking phones might get pickpocketed, that sort of
thing, right? Oh, OK, now we're getting to the
juicy stuff. You do have to, you know, be
aware. OK, you've got to be very aware,
mate. So I decided, do you know what?
Because of the nature of Tripology, I can't have my phone
(16:36):
stolen. If my phone's stolen, the
podcast is over, the website gets taken down, you cease to
exist. A lot of problems happen if my
phone disappears. So I thought, don't even risk
it, I'm going to leave my phone at home.
OK, yeah, that seems like a sound plan.
I mean, if your phone got or stolen, I know you're sort of
joking there, but it would be catastrophic to the.
(16:58):
Podcast. Yeah.
So like ET in reverse. The phone was at home and that
was just it, right? Oh God.
Quick, continue, because that's hilarious.
Yeah, OK, So mate, I basically rely on my Irish friend.
I say I'm going to order my UberUber Moto so you can get through
(17:19):
the carnival traffic and I'm going to go to the blocker in
Santa Teresa. That's the place.
What, where the nuns are. So.
And I said no problem. We'll meet.
We'll put our same location in. We'll all go to Santa Teresa.
We'll meet there. And then we'll have a hell of a
time blocker wise. And then whatever I spend, you
know that I would have used the card.
(17:40):
I'll, you know, you can, I'll get you back and I'll just have
you to Take Me Home and all thatstuff.
Because she was trying to take her phone with her.
Yeah. OK, that sounds like a sound
plan. All above board.
Nice of it. Very nice of you.
Thank you again for the accommodation and for the phone
help. So we go.
I go first in the motor taxi. I arrive at the destination, the
(18:00):
motorbike can't get through the final crowd.
So I sort of get to the outskirts of this blocker and I
go perfect. I'm going to wait for my friend
and I'll wait for sort of 10 minutes and I wait for 15
minutes and it kind of starts toget into my head.
I'm like, I don't think my friend's fucking coming to this
blocker anymore. Oh really?
(18:20):
How long would have been acceptable?
Did you even sort of overstep that mark?
What were you expecting? Like a 5 or 10 minute?
The blocker started to encompassthe space that I'd been dropped
off. OK.
The the drop off point started to become swallowed by a throng
of people. And I thought, you know, even if
she got a bike to the exact samespot, she ain't, she ain't going
(18:42):
to like see me or get in. So I thought, at this point I'm
absolutely phoneless, cashless, uberless, and basically scarcely
5 minutes into my carnival experience I was already kind of
in a bit of a hopeless situation.
I had no way of getting home even.
Yeah, well, tell me the distanceagain, the journey time.
(19:03):
About 14 and 35 minutes on a on a motor.
Oh yeah, it's not close, is it? The other side of town.
My goodness. Yeah, yeah, you can't.
I couldn't walk back home or anything.
I didn't even know where home is.
I'm mapless. Yeah.
Oh dear. OK, so I mean, you're at
Carnival though. There are worse places to be
lost, surely? There's there's less dangerous
(19:24):
places to be lost. Also, I'll say that, and it's
funny because I tried to do the experienced traveller thing if I
ain't even going to take a phone.
But you quickly realise how hopeless you are without a phone
in the modern age, especially when a city has transformed
itself into one huge, colossal party.
Yeah, I imagine. Was it not liberating or or were
(19:44):
you just you really wanted to meet up with your friend?
Obviously that goes without saying, but at which point did
you sort of think maybe I could just do this entire day on my
own? I'll just see what I can pull
out the bag. Well, yeah, that was ultimately
my only choice. My friend had all the resources,
the cash, the sunscreen, oh shit.
Everything. So that was a problem.
(20:05):
But I basically thought, my friend's gone.
What am I going to do? Am I going to mope around?
Maybe try and find a hostel somewhere that will allow me to
call? So this was my resolve.
I'm just going to enjoy this blocker, enjoy carnival, and
then whenever I sort of create avibe with someone, instead of
kissing them, I would just ask them to go on Instagram and send
(20:29):
a message to my friend. Or borrow their sun cream, yeah.
So I thought this is great because most people they try and
like create a vibe with people that carnival entice them with
their Peacock esque outfits and then that might result in a kiss
or some other activity. But for me I thought now this is
great. I'll use my vibe and connection
(20:49):
as an actual means to get in contact.
So I did just that mate. I started dancing about, I
started approaching people and going like, hey, you're very
beautiful, can I have your phoneto text my friend?
And that was perfect. It actually was a great start to
carnival because it put me in this really open, friendly
mindset. The men that I'd met, a bunch of
(21:11):
core people. Yeah, I guess the only option
then you're sort of your hand isforced, isn't it?
You've got to go and talk to strangers and build a rapport
with them and how with the way there are a couple of times when
you approach people and tried to, you know, get their phone
off them that that where maybe you weren't successful and you
had to end up, you had to end upkissing them for Christ.
Yeah, I went, come on, give me aphone.
(21:33):
I'm desperate. And people go, oh, I, you know,
when people say a lie, that's obviously a lie.
They go, oh I my phones not got data on it, hasn't it?
Why have you got it then? Why is it with you if it's not
for data? There were no pockets in my
nun's outfit, so I left it. Yeah, exactly.
The number of people I approached, you didn't have a
(21:54):
phone. Remarkably.
You don't look the type. You don't look the type.
I'd let you borrow my phone, Yeah.
Well, a lot of people did. By the end of the day, my friend
had eight sort of message requests on Instagram and.
All from different phones. Yeah, I was sunburned to a
crisp, but eventually I just found him in a little shaded
(22:17):
spot. I go, hello.
And we all met up and she went, she's Irish.
She went, oh, she goes, I wasn'tworried about you at all.
She just goes, I knew you'd be having a fine time.
So I was like, yeah, cool. She wasn't looking for me.
Yeah, but hang on, weren't you like, Yeah, but hold on a
(22:37):
minute. Why weren't you at the meeting
point? Her bike dropped off in a
completely different area because there was no access to
the blocker, so I wasn't even. I knew that that wasn't even a
possibility for her. There wasn't.
The meeting point had been destroyed my party.
Right. OK, yeah, fair enough.
I mean, were they not like actively searching for your
whereabouts? That seemed like a very loose
(22:58):
search by they basically sort ofglanced around the street party
and sort of saw if they could see a guy that wasn't dressed in
carnival gear. But beyond that?
That's so funny. Got How long was the time
between when you when you realized you weren't gonna meet
them again and then when you finally found them?
(23:19):
I reckon I was doing a solo carnival experience for about
two. Hours.
No, not, not in time. And kisses.
Ohh well it was 8 message requests I said on my friends
phone. And you don't kiss and tell.
So what we can deduce from that is that, you know, there was
maybe a couple in there. I like that.
I'll tell you what my phone message to kiss conversion rate
is a very sorry percentage indeed, but make carnival.
(23:44):
You know what, I really thought maybe I wasn't going to do it
because I thought just seems toohectic and crazy.
But my big take away is really very like wild, but not crazy in
in the worst possible ways, crazy in the best possible ways.
People were really kind and sweet.
There's a community of people who they're incentivized to
(24:08):
collect all the trash because they can sell the the cans and
stuff for, for like decent money.
They can make like 150 hairs a day.
So the streets are actually likerelatively clean compared to
that, you know, for six million more people in the city or
partying, it's actually like organized really, really well.
That's so amazing. And yeah, it sounds it's sort of
(24:31):
very respectful and positive andthere's no, not really many
people there trying to cause trouble or I just, I just don't
know what to expect or I didn't know what your experience was
going to be like, but I'm so glad that it seems sort of
overwhelmingly positive. And yeah, sort of, I mean,
innocence the wrong word, isn't it?
But. Certainly the wrong word.
(24:52):
Yes, there's one my favorite blocker.
The cool thing about it is that it's not just a stereotypical
nightlife party. Obviously there is that if you
want it, but it's kind of inbuilt that everyone goes to
sleep at 2, sleeps for a few hours and then gets up early and
in the morning there's these beach blockers.
(25:13):
My favorite 1 was Ipanema at 7:00 AM when we all just
gathered there and it was a crazy throng of people with,
well, cool music playing, peopledancing, and it's like a real
crowd. There was someone hanging from
the treetops and we're all on the beach just having this
thing, and that's cool for that level of debauchery to be
(25:34):
happening in at the very, very start of a day.
Yeah, Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, the only thing that I
can maybe relate sort of it sounds a little bit like my
times in Ibiza when I was a bit younger, because there, you
know, it's sort of if you wantedto be, it's no holds barred.
People are on it all the time, all day, in every capacity
(25:54):
imaginable. And like I said, if you search
for it, you will find it. But there is also the beach
aspect, There is also the pool parties and this kind of stuff.
The music, what sort of music isplaying for the most part, if
someone like me who likes electronic music and say like
techno and that sort of stuff, can you find that there?
Yeah. I mean, it's mostly like
Brazilian funk, Brazilian music,samba, obviously the big thing.
(26:19):
There's like a lot of that, but there's techno parties and
things that go on and you know, there's ticketed events that you
can go to as well, all differenttypes.
It's just one big party. I'll say say this as well.
Obviously the drinking and the drugs, the caipirinias and the
MDMA are a huge part of carnival, no one's denying that.
But I went to one blocker like a7:00 AM thing and just didn't
(26:40):
drink. I just like vibed and enjoyed
it. I obviously drank my fair share
of caipirinias as well, but it was seemed totally valid to just
be out in a parade sober. OK cool.
And just I mean I should know this.
A caipirinha is is it rum and lime?
Juice. Yes.
A specific rum that's like kashasa.
Yeah, like white rum. It's like the Brazilian national
(27:02):
alcoholic drink that goes muddled with a lime and a lot of
ice. It's just smashed up.
There's no added liquid. Just the cat shasa, the limes
and the ice all muddled together.
That's it, Katharina. And no salt rim, you're not sort
of getting your your electrolytes in.
Oh, there's a. Bit of sugar in there.
Sugar as well. Couple of spoons of sugar.
(27:23):
OK. Yeah.
All right. Well, yeah, that's sounds good.
I mean, I have had them before and I mean, it's, it probably
sits in that category of alcoholic drinks that you can
you can knock back quite a few. I mean, it's, yeah.
Depending on the content they can be quite crazy.
We actually just got a bottle ofkeshasa for 12 Heis which is
like no money at all that. I think that 12 Heis is like 2
(27:45):
lbs or something and we were just making our own caporinas at
home. That was definitely the best way
to go about it. So you can do your own dosage.
What you doing double S triples?Depends on how many.
It depends if you left your phone on.
Free pouring. Free pouring.
I was going to say it depends ifyou've left your phone at home.
(28:05):
Yeah, it does. Yeah, of course.
Yeah, absolutely mad. So Carnival recommend it.
Definitely go if you can. If you're in the area, check it
out. If you're not in the area, get
on a plane. Make sure you put your
accommodation well in advance and just have a proverbial bore,
my friends. Adam, you've concluded your
European adventure. You've blasted all the way to
(28:26):
literally the thirdest possible country from your origin.
Yeah. And I want to hear about that.
Yeah, well, that's all going to have to be on the weeks that
come. I think, mate, there's so much
to tell you. And I mean the, the European
trip as well, because in quick succession I went through so, so
many different cities that were all like sort of slightly
(28:47):
different versions of each other.
And I'd quite like to talk aboutthat on an episode.
And then of course, my big move to New Zealand, which I am
thoroughly enjoying and I'm a less than a week in.
So let's talk about that maybe next week or the week after.
The Adam fans will be excited tohear it on the next week.
Right now, we're going to get a Lost and Found section in
Patreon. Baby, we'll see you next week.
(29:08):
See you there. Bye.
Can you show me what is true in my heart?
(29:35):
What is true in my heart?
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