The Best Blocos this Week at Rio de Janeiro’s 2019 Carnival

By Jack Arnhold, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Carnival 2019 is very much in full-swing. With tons of blocos happening over the weekend and spilling out into next week and beyond. Here are the best of the rest of the blocos coming up over the following days.

The weekend may be over, but Carnival in Rio most certainly is not. This Monday evening sees the final installment of the Carnival Parade at the city’s iconic ‘Sambódromo’ (Sambadrome), featuring big names such as Portela and Vila Isabel, as well as plenty of blocos from Bukowski Bar and Casa da Matriz in Botafogo, among others.

Tuesday, March 5th, is another day which is packed with blocos all over the city. For those early-birds, the famous Carmelitas bloco will be hitting the streets of Largo do Curvelo, in Santa Teresa at 8AM. For something a little different, Tom Ashe of Favela Brass is hosting his Amigos da Cacilda bloco at Mississippi Delta Blues Bar in Gamboa at 10AM.

“The two blocos I’m going to attend, apart from my own of course, are going to be Orquestra Voadora and Me Enterra na Quarta.” He comments. For those stuck for something to do after the madness of the Carmelitas bloco has worn off, the classic samba bloco Cheiro na Testa will be arriving at Largo dos Guimarães, in Santa Teresa at 11AM on Tuesday.

Orquestra Voadora will be bringing their flying circus to Aterro do Flamengo, near Praça Luis de Camões, at 1PM. This bloco is famous for its wild theatrics, brightly-coloured costumes and circus-like energy that attracts everything from stilt-walkers to giant puppets.

Marcello dos Santos, professor of Portuguese, recommends keeping track of the blocos using local websites. “My favorite blocos this year have been Simpatia é quase amor, Cacique de ramos and Bafo da Onça.” He comments, “I would suggest going on the websites like sebastiana.org.br where they give you a list of all the blocos, including where and when they are happening.”

On the evening of Tuesday, Saymos do Egyto will be taking over the Largo do Boi Tolo in Rio’s city center at around 5PM. As the name suggests, this bloco attracts an ancient Egyptian theme, with plenty of gold paint and fancy headgear.

Wednesday through to Friday are fairly quiet days for blocos, but at 3:30PM on Wednesday, March 6th, Me Enterra na Quarta will hit Rua Áurea in Santa Teresa. This is a noisy bloco featuring a lot of live music and an interesting mixture of gothic and tropical themes.

Those looking for a bloco this Thursday, March 7th, should head to Largo do Machado in Catete, where at 3PM Batuque das Meninas will bring the party to the street. Founded in 2009, the Batuque das Meninas bloco is made up of women from the percussion workshops of Monobloco, Quizomba and Bangalafumenga.

For Friday, there is Só Tamborins bloco at Travessa Mosquera, in Lapa. This bloco will start at 6PM, and as the name suggests, it features a lot of drums! For the most up to date online list of blocos, click here.