CARNAVAL!

These are the lovely ladies in Salvador - the entire town is a massive party and we are bang in the middle of it with big grins on our faces and feeling.... very pale???
We actually had people take pictures of us - two white faces in an all black flock of party people! Great! Everybody is very interested in my golden hair...

The famous parades start every day at about 2 in the afternoon and do not finish until 6 am the next morning. It is madness and thousands of people dance in the street - you cannot help but join in. It is so hot in the crowds that you can see your Caipirinha steaming!! And any beer can that is standing on a surface is bouncing around in the vibrations from the giant speakers - very entertaining to watch after a few Caipirinhas! Honest! I think so anyway ;-)

Thankfully, there is a lot of military police around and the pickpocketing has gone down a bit but still you notice hands in your pockets from time to time. Best not have anything at all on you! Hence the lack of proper bloco pics.

We are having a fantastic time playing popcorn in the crowds and hopping and screaming with the rest of them. We tend to give up after 7 hours but hopefully by Tuesday will be trained up enough to last all night? The constant drumming puts you in some kind of hype, you cannot help bouncing.... Actually, I find sitting in front of the computer quite tricky!! Must go and samba!