01 - Império Da Tijuca    02 - Viradouro    03 - Imperio. Serrano    04 - Estácio    05 - Rocinha    06 - Caprichosos    07 - Padre Miguel    08 - Renascer    09 - Porto Da Pedra    10 - Santa Cruz    11 - Cubango    12 - Curicica    13 - Tuiuti    15 - U. Jacarepaguá    14 - Alegria Zona Suls    16 - Tradição    17 - Sereno    18 - Jacarezinho    19 - Vila Santa Tereza

I've posted up a schedule of the Rio samba schools technical rehearsals in the sambodromo in 2011.

Carnaval is really late this year, at the start of March, so the rehearsals start late too, in January. They are taking place every saturday and sunday night. Entrance to the sambadromo is free, and the rehearsals are always very popular so get there early to get a good seat. Usually theree is one samba school from Grupo A and two from Grupo Especial per night, followed by a show in front of sector 3. The samba schools parade without their carnival costumes or spectacular floats, but they usually have some treats for the crowd, and its actually easier to see the dancing and choreography without the visual overload of carnival itself.

The list of rehearsals is here: http://www.tdsounds.co.uk/rio-carnival/rio-carnival-2011/rio-samba-school-technical-rehearsals-2011.

Rio's little samba schools

A few months ago I posted up a link to video of some of the samba schools in Rio carnival's lower leagues. Some much better quality video is now beginning to appear on youtube.

These schools are parading in Intendente Margalhes, a street miles away from the Sambodromo. They have very few resources and little cash to stage their desfile but I find these Samba school parades extremely impressive, and also rather moving.  Also certainly not little by any normal standards, just small compared to the super - escolas of the top leagues. They parade on the same night as the big, famous samba schools over in the Sambodromo, but I think I prefer these.

One day I hope to be able to go to Intendente Margalhes and watch these unsung jewels of carnival, live.

Yesterday  the order in which the top samba schols of the special group will be parading in Rio carnival 2011 wa announced by LIESA (the league of samba schools of Rio de Janeiro).

The school that was promoted up from Grupo do Acesso A always parades first on Sunday night, the worst spot.  This year this dubious honour falls to Sao Clemente. Uniao da Ilha was already prearranged to be the first to parade on Monday. The other samba school positions were chosen by lottery, at an event held in the Cidade do Samba.

Sunday, March 6th 2011

1 - São Clemente
2 - Imperatriz
3 - Mocidade
4 - Tijuca
5 - Vila Isabel
6 - Mangueira

Monday, March 7th 2011

1 - União da Ilha
2 - Salgueiro
3 - Portela
4 - Grande Rio
5 - Porto da Pedra
6 - Beija-Flor

Official tourist ticket prices for Rio carnival 2011

Riotur (the Rio de Janeiro state tourist office) has announced the prices of tourist tickets for Rio carnival 2011. These are the tickets for sector 9, which is reserved for tourists. However, you need to bear in mind that the prices below are face value prices, and to get them you would have to be in Brazil on the precise day that the tickets are released. In practice this is very unlikely to happen. These tickets are bought by tourist agency and tour organisers, who have to make a living. Expect to pay well above these prices if buying from an agency, whether online or in person in Rio.

Saturday - Grupo de Acesso - Arquibancadas (stands or bleachers) R$30. Frisas (private boxes) will R$800 per seat.

Sunday and Monday - Grupo Especial (the top group) tickets will cost between R$550 for the arquibancadas and R$5,800 for the frisas.

On the following Saturday, in the parade of Champions, tickets will cost R$350 for the arquibancadas and R$3,400 for the frisas.

Extreme floods in Rio

Rio has just experienced its heaviest rain on record, and its still raining. There have been some serious lanslides on the steep hills of the morros in Rio and Niteroi, and the latest news is of almost a hundred deaths. The lake of Lagoa overflowed, and as the water receeds, everything is covered in a thick layer of mud and rubbish.

The Mayor of Rio has advised people in areas at risk of mudslides to move out, and as part of the response to this Mangueira has opened up its quadra to displaced families - theres around 90 local families there at the moment.

Heading back to London tomorrow. Its been strange staying so long after carnival - past the post carnaval blues stage and well into the normal swing of life here.

After weeks of unbroken skies and sweltering heat of 40+ degrees, a cold front swung in a week ago and temperatures have plummeted by 20 degrees or so. Suddenly everyone is wearing long trousers, boots, cardigans. The beach has been rained off for over a week.

Rio is changing fast. I´ve seen things that I wouldnt have believed possible after first visiting this amazing city 13 years ago.