Last week I was able to experience one of the most talked about, written about and sung about aspects of Brazilian culture-- Carnival. Aside from my understanding of Carnival from a purely academic perspective, I had no idea what to expect. Frankly, I was rather nervous. The American version of this celebration-- Mardi Gras-- is far from what I would call a good time. Small people like me tend to get stepped on and shoved (not to mention getting beer spilled on you) in large, rowdy crowds; which is why I generally avoid large crowds in the U.S. So, giving myself over to the euphoria of Carnival was a bit of a conundrum.
I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised. Brazilians were, for the most part, on their best behavior and genuinely in a good mood. The blocos (street parties with live music and dancing) that I attended were very family-oriented. It was common to see whole families dressed up in silly costumes and out partying together all day long (grandparents, parents and kids). It looked a bit like Halloween with beer, dancing and loud music. I only saw a few people who were really drunk. Most looked pleasantly buzzed and totally functional. The streets were very crowded and most people were shoulder-to-shoulder with total strangers but no fights broke out and no one seemed to get hassled.
The samba that I saw people doing was pretty incredible. It was mostly a simple shuffle step/march but there were definitely a few people with serious talent in the crowd. For those unfamiliar with samba, it's the traditional dance for Carnival in Rio. I don't want to bore people with the history of the festival and the dance so, here are some links if anyone feels curious to know more or wants to see what it all looks like:
A Narrated History of Carnival (they're talking about the Caribbean but most holds true for Brazil too; just insert Portuguese instead of Spanish or French people)
After a week of food, drink, merriment and a visit from my husband, I was feeling pretty good. Then, I kinda crashed. I've been on such a sad, lazy kick recently, I can't even explain it. I just don't feel like doing anything. To cheer myself up a bit, I decided to treat myself to a spray tan. As per an earlier post, being as insanely white as I am in this country makes me feel rather self-conscious. I figured that a little (skin healthy) tan would boost my self-esteem at least temporarily.
There's literally one place in the whole city that offers a spray tan. The price was a whopping $120 reais (roughly $70 USD) but I thought I would at least try it once. The ladies at the clinic were very friendly and seemed quite professional. The girl in charge of spray tanning told me to strip down and stand in a little tent they had in the room. She sprayed me...a
lot. I've done spray tanning in the U.S. many times and this was the equivalent of about 2.5 regular tans there. I had flashes of the "Friends" episode where Ross gets spray tanned 3 times on one side of his body but figured they knew what they were doing. I had to stand in the room in front of a big fan for 15 minutes while women came in and out for other procedu
res. Oh, Brazil-- you really are determined to make me REALLY comfortable with my body. I gingerly got dressed and got back on the subway to go home. I excitedly showed my roommate how dark I'd gotten and explained that it would even out after I took a shower in a few hours. I decided to do some work on my laptop and sat in my room for a bit. Only after getting up to go to the bathroom did I notice something was wrong. In the bathroom mirror, I lifted my dress to look at myself....and I had turned green. Yes, green. I'm not entirely sure but, I think the blue cotton dress I was wearing (after entering into contact with my freshly-painted skin) bled dye. I'm literally a drab, military kinda green from my knees up to my shoulders, following the lines of the dress. The rest of me is a strange reddish-brown color. A reaction from...? All in all, I look about as far from "natural" as a person can get. Figures!
So, yes, I'm green. And, yes, I've learned my lesson. Be happy with your natural skin color.....because there's always something weirder. After 5 days, I'll go back to being a super-white American and I'm really okay with that.
Until next time...
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