Articles by Beatrice Labonne

Rio February Dispatch

A short pre-carnival dispatch:  Carnival or carnival whatever your preferred spelling, starts next week-end, so I shall be brief.  The pre-carnival period is just as fun as the real thing.  You can call it a warm-up for the revelers, particularly for those too poor to stand in the grand stands and watch the marching of the prestigious samba schools. The samba schools’ extravaganza is under wrap until next Sunday.   


The modest, spontaneous and participatory “Blocos” or groups have already taken to the streets of Rio. People shake and shout around a drum band which is followed by a truck, loudspeakers of which blare popular sambas. Dress code is basic; semi-nudity is de rigueur. You can make a statement and invest in a tee shirt publicizing the bloco irreverent message.  Fancy headgears and masks provide a touch color. The fuel of the bloco members is icy beer which is always available.  When the blocos are out in force, Rio is gridlock.  Better to relax or do something close to home. Only the restless ones should join the fun.  


Strangely enough, carnival is a great period to go to shows and movies. All the Academy Awards hopefuls are on the offering.  Since movies theatres are nicely air conditioned, they have additional appeal.  In Rio, life begins at 60, cultural life that is: everything in the entertainment department goes half price. I am an eager consumer of things cultural.  At least, on this front, I can survive.  For the rest, I am becoming a pauper. The Brazilian currency the Real is going through the roof propped up by the relentless flow of US dollars coming from abroad.  These dollars come here with the main purpose of snapping morsels of the Brazilian national debt. Since 2003, the US dollar has lost 40% of its value in Brazil. The Euro is not faring much better. 


If the dollar continues falling, I may have to join the carioca beggar I spotted in Ipanema the other day.  He was asking pedestrians money to buy his wife an imported car! So much for Brazilian humor.  The strong Real is a bonanza for Brazilian tourists; they are going abroad as never before. Last year, an estimated 5 million of them spent some 6 billion US dollars.  In order to slow the tourist outflow, President Lula’s governmental agencies are falling over themselves to make sure that chaos rules in airports. Busy runways are closed without notice, airlines are pushed into bankruptcy, air controllers launch go slow strikes, and airlines’ landing and take off slots disappear in thin air. Brazilian tourists take it in stride, and tickets in hand, they patiently wait at the departure gate.   


So long my friends, I don’t want you to get side-tracked.  You are certainly eager to find out the results of the newest DNA contest.  Who among the three pretenders is the real father of the $ 470 million baby? You remember the orphaned daughter of this oversized and oversexed blonde bunny? 


I know one father who didn’t get into the fray; he is the recently elected governor of the state of Rio, and a father of five.  He took leave of absence to undergo a vasectomy.

Beatrice Labonne, February 2007