View From The Lagoa

Still getting used to blipfoto - lost my words yesterday.

I'm in Brazil with Matt, who took this photo of the mountains surrounding Rio from Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. It was so peaceful there by the lake - waiting for a cocktail that never materialised - in stark contrast to the rest of the samba crazy city. Carnaval is an experience; it's like being at a festival, only everyone in the city is involved - young, old, obese, skinny, beautiful and not so blessed. It feels quite egalitarian in that regard. The wild excessiveness of the costumes and floats are interesting and in stark contrast to the poverty of the 800 favelas, which according to the guidebook, are home to one fifth of cariocas living on less than £60 per month.