Paddle Board Rio De Janeiro Brazil for Carnival 2012

On a surf trip to the pacific coast of Colombia a few years back I ran into an American expat. He was teaching English in Cartagena. We remained in touch and he was transferred to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to teach. He told me Rio had great places for standup paddling and a huge festival called Carnival that takes place from Feb 16th – 26th. It’s sounded great so after booking some last minute flights we loaded up the paddle boards and headed south set to arrive the first day of Carnival.

After we touched down and collected the paddle boards I phoned my buddy to tell him we had arrived. He arranged a driver for us and the paddle boards and said if we didn’t make it to his house by 6pm we would never make it as there was a large street festival going on outside his apartment.  I figured we better step on it. As we leave the Rio airport headed towards the coast on the main road we see thousands of small brick houses lining the hillsides stacked atop one another like Legos. And the natural beauty of the landscape is amazing as high cliffs shoot vertically up from the land and bays covered in lush vegetation. After winding through the city and taking in the majestic bays and cliffs we eventually look up to see the large world famous Jesus sitting atop a giant vertical mountain top overlooking the entire city. I’m starting to the like this place and I’ve only been here for 30 minutes. We eventually find our hosts apartment and scurry up to meet him with paddle boards in tow. He lives just across the street from Ipanema beach, one of the most picturesque beaches in Rio or even the world for that matter. After a few high fives and hugs he tells us about the street festival about to start just outside his apartment and to hurry up and shower. After 23 hours of travel all I’m thinking about is getting some rest but rest it turns out rest will be the last thing I do the entire trip. A quick shower and we are lead down the stairs to the street level by our host as places frosty beers in our hands. Once outside I can hardly believe my eyes. There are over 10,000 people of all ages gathered in the street drinking, screaming and waving their hands in the air. This as it turns out is called a “bloco” (block party) and they happen every day during Carnival all over the city usually starting at 9am until 5pm or 5pm until 10pm and consist of all day drinking in the street accompanied by a large bus filled with dancers, speakers , bands, and djs and that moves slowly through the crowd providing entertainment. And when I say speakers I mean the entire thing is one giant loud booming speaker. One beer leads to ten and then the switch is made to vodka. The rest of the night becomes hazy and suddenly its morning!

After little sleep we grab the paddle boards and head down to central Ipanema Beach. Rio consists of 2 large protected bays side by side separated by a rock outcropping. The bays are named Copacabana and Ipanema. Huge long stretches of white sand protected from swells. We are on the Ipanema side and at its high noon and there are already thousands of people at the beach. February is summer in the southern hemisphere so the weather in nothing less than perfect. 85 degrees, sunny, and glassy conditions. Ipanema has got to be one of the coolest places to paddle in the world with amazing 2000 ft. high cliffs shooting straight out from the water and 3 tropical rock islands just offshore covered in palms and vegetation. And lining the waterfront are large high rise apartments and hotels one after the other ranging from 15 to 40 stories. You would think a location like this would have hundreds of people paddle boarding and not one paddle boarder in sight. As the curious onlookers gawk at us with our large boards we make our way down to the shoreline and head out for our first paddle. Once in the water it’s amazing to see the amount of people on the beach. There are hundreds of soccer balls bouncing in the air as people gather in small circles along the shoreline to play the game in which you pass the ball around to each other without letting it touch the ground. Since Brazilians take their soccer serious the ball spends a lot more time in the air than on the ground and its actually really fun to watch. After a long paddle up and down the bay taking in all the scenery we head in to grab a coconut and some food.

The beach is filled with vendors selling everything from fresh sandwiches, coconuts, acai bowl, nuts, fruit, cheese and it’s all delicious. Super fresh and super good. After filling up on some tasty snacks we sit back and relax on the beach taking in the views and people watching. One thing about Rio is everyone seems to be tan and fit. And the bikinis are about as small as you can make them for men and women.

And just as I start to settle in and relax on the beach I begin to see a crowd gather just on the water front. Yep its “bloco” time again! Thousands begin to congregate on the main avenue that runs on the shoreline and just in the distance I can see the tops of not 1 but 2 large rage buses filled with dancers and speakers and a full 50 person marching band with 10 samba dancers in front of the bus beating on drums and marching along the waterfront in our direction. And its only 1pm in the afternoon. Our host again shoves cold beers in our hands and the festivities start all over again and basically do not stop until 10 days later.  An all day and all night party with amazing paddle board sessions in between.

Let’s just end it with this…Rio De Janeiro is one of the coolest cities in the world. Some of the friendliest good looking people, delicious food, amazing natural beauty and if you like to party it’s a city that never sleeps (especially during Carnival). You must make it there once in your life cause if you don’t you really will be missing out on something special.