Our Rio Adventurers have finished up their second week of Portuguese leassons, and are getting to grips with carnival fever, Brazilian style!

The second week of the language phase has been just as eventful as the first! We’ve been to samba parties, practiced in carnival rehearsals, visited the beach, been to the cinema (bad weather) and lots more. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been that great but we’re still keeping up with our Portuguese lessons which is improving slowly but surely!

On Sunday evening we ventured towards Mangueira in order to practice for the Rio Carnival. Initially we had no idea what to expect, we thought it was going to be a simple rehearsal but it was much more than we expected! We arrived in our samba t-shirts and bright white trousers with no clue what was coming our way. After a lot of standing around in lines waiting to move, we finally made our way towards the strip where the Carnival is held. In a group of 2000 dancers we turned the corner to see 10,000 people watching us from the stands. We sung along to a Portuguese song and danced non-stop for an hour; it really opened our eyes as to how seriously the Brazilians take the carnival and we loved it!

The actual event takes place on the 11th of February and we already can’t wait.  More updates and photos are promised very soon, so watch out.