Dealing with the South Americans… (Pt. 2; Blocos & Carnaval)

In Salvador, the concept of Carnaval is for electrico trios (huge trucks with a lot of speakers blaring music) to drive down the parade route with party goers in a roped off area behind them (blocos). We could either pay for entry to these blocos (identified by wearing a special shirt, abada) or party in the general section outside the ropes, the pipoca (popcorn). We opted to alternate our days in blocos and after researching the music of various performers who played in these blocos we settled upon Timbalada, Cherio de Amor (Scent of Love) and Claudie Leitte.

One thing to note is that when you buy tickets/abadas for the blocos, the artists within the blocos change day to day, so it’s the artists that you will need to pick, not the bloco itself. A great resource for both research and also making bookings is http://home.centraldocarnaval.com.br/

Although there are intermediary agents to organise bookings, I find it is best to deal direct, hence, have a look on the site for the blocos, who’s performing and when they are performing (pay special attention to the routes, we opted for only the Barra/Ondina route) then fill out the form on their site and along with a copy of your passport and front and back of your credit card send it through to them. I found their assistance to also be great when I called them and tracked down an English speaker on the other side. The only thing left to do now is pick up our abadas from the shopping centre in Salvador when we get there and then party !

We also booked tickets to the Rio Champions (Winners) Parade. This occurs after the actual Rio Carnaval at the Sambadrome (Sambadromo) and is comprised of the 6 top schools parading one last time. We thought this would be a great way to get a taste of carnival, Rio style. We made bookings for the cheaper Grandstand tickets (no allocated seating) through

Similar to the blocos in Salvador, we need to pick up our tickets from a designated office.