Tiara in Transit

5th March 2011

I spent the next 24 pre-carnival hours boasting and gloating to all of my friends through all the social networking media’s.

I felt this behavior was justified, after all, how many people can say they were actually in the Rio carnival parade??! And wasn’t this the very essence of what Rio Carnival was all about??!

At 3.30pm, I met Kylie, Orla, Pip, Joe, and about 12 other tourists, who had paid handsomely for this amazing experience, at the apartment of our carnival orchestrator.

From 3.30pm to 5.30pm, each participant had been given a ‘We were in the Rio Carnival 2011’ T-shirt.

From 5.30 to 7pm we were shifted to a street parallel to the Sambadrome (where the parade is held), and there we sat on the street curb, in the heavy rains, with nothing but plastic bags over our heads wondering what the hell our 265USD had paid for?! ‘Bloody Karma! Serves me right for gloating to everyone on Facebook!’

Finally in the fourth hour, when spirits had reached the deliriously skeptical, someone yells out ‘The costumes are here!’

Seeing our costumes for the first time made me realise how ridiculous it was to worry about being made to wear too little, when in reality the costumes covered the body from head to toe in baggy whites, complete with a bulky gladiator style gold chest plate with green leafy scarf’s flowing from the shoulders, and a large yellow head-piece with tall bright yellow, orange and green feathers sticking out of it.

Yes, I represented a pineapple.