Wow Salvador!!

Party party party!!

Here's a small explanation about what is going on here - on two main roads pass the big trucks with singers on them. The trucks are surrounded by ropes which mark a territory around the truck – to this restricted area, only people who got the right T-shirt could access. For each different truck on each day there's a different shirt, and each costs between a few dozens of Reals to a few hundreds of Reals (1 USD is about 2 Real)! Usually you can find thousands of people surrounding each truck in this restricted zone.
Other than that, in almost every building on those roads, they build these balconies (a type of VIP lounges – called 'Camarote') so people could come and be more relaxed than on the street – and of course, that cost a few hundreds of Reals per night – usually with free food & drinks.

So last night we (Sunny, Itzik & I) decided to go to the old city of Salvador (an area called Pelourinho) and see what is going on there. We took a taxi in that direction (about 20 minutes ride). On the way, we stopped on a traffic jam – just to find out it was created by a big group of gay people wearing pink and harassing every man and woman around them. We were no exception, no matter that we were in a taxi. Was soooooo funny!

After that we got to Pelourinho, to see some colorful groups prepare their shows. We marched around in the beautiful old city – and everywhere we could hear music and see people dancing or singing. When we got to the main square, a few groups were dancing there, making many kids happy.
We went around the area – and saw many more groups, each group is dressed differently, probably according to origin and to neighborhood.
Many of these groups were men dressed in women clothes. some just for laughs but some were probably gay, harassing us with different types of sex-toys and in other ways…
After a few minutes around we met the Mayor of Bat-Yam (which was probably released by the police – if he's here for the carnival).
This type of carnival is very different from the one Salvador is known for, and I have to say I liked it much more!

After a few hours around the center we decided it is time to get back to the apartment and so we did. After a few minutes in there, with all the noise down stairs – we decided to go down and join the crowd so we did that as well. About an hour later (was already around 12:30) it was time to get back up to the appt.
In the lobby of the building we met the owner of the place, who called us three and asked if we want to go to the party in the building's Camarote. Of course we did not refuse. Then he gave us the right T-shirts and access badges.
So there we were at the VIP lounge in our building's Camarote. This was so much fun…… free champagne (well, a type of bubbly) free beer, free food, free caipirinha (which was finished just as I came to the counter… probably he knew what was going to happen…) – and very important: all the singers on the trucks passing by give most of their attention to the people in those balconies…. We had 3 more hours of fun, until all trucks of the evening finished passing and called it a night. We agreed it was a good idea and went back up to the apartment.

In the morning……
After waking up, I heard from the bathroom window loud Israeli music (Come to Rio, by Judith Ravitz) – which reminded me that today there are audition for 'Kochav Nolad' (the Israeli Star Academy, American Idol, etc) – on the roof of our building.

So I went up to the roof to see more than a hundred Israelis gather around and making lots of noise (singing with the loud music), together with the production, the host and the judges. After one audition, one of the big trucks came near (on the road below) and made so much noise they decided to stop the auditions.
I understood they went on later that day.
In any case, when we tried to get out of the building – it was almost impossible. Hundreds of Israelis were standing outside the building's doors – trying to get in.
when we got back from breakfast, we made them let us pass between them, and they just looked at us amazed how we could pass the security of the building without any problem…

In the evening, same as two days ago, huge trucks party….
one of them was Bob Sinclair, which I believe is the only none-brazilian artist performing here… he makes really nice music, and it felt like one of those house-clubs back home (not that I go there J )…

It is about time to finish this day.

Three more party nights ahead, and then 3 more months of endless partying !! J