You have to give that to Rio—the city offers the most scenic backdrops for blocos. Alright, maybe not gritty centro, but definitely Ipanema and Leblon.

The morning megabloco of the day was in Leblon, the far end of Ipanema, right below the Morro Dois Irmãos and the favela of Vidigal.

Ipanema is posh and glamorous, Leblon is posher and wealthier.

I rarely walk all the way to Leblon—exclusive neighbourhoods always make me feel very excluded. Clearly, I don’t belong. I don’t have the natural self-confidence and carelessness of people born into wealth, and I’m unable to not care about the actual world the rest of us live in. It’s like they know nothing serious will ever happen to them, while the rest of us are just too aware that anything can happen. I don’t envy rich people (although I wouldn’t mind some of their real estate…). It’s just hard to connect when the dice are loaded.

The megabloco areia wasn’t going to be an exclusive event, though. I’m not even sure you can find that many wealthy people in Rio de Janeiro, anyway. Oh, there would be police, a lot more than in centro where the name of the game seems to be “Go for it, guys, there’s nothing to steal and it’s already broken.” But it would be fun with us, the non-Leblon people.

Plus, the Two Brother Hill as the backdrop and the chance to party on the sand, where the bloco would inevitably spill.

There were apparently 120,000 of us, a lot more than on any normal day in Leblon, for sure.

We walked back to Copacabana to shower, get rid of some glitter, and apply some more for the afternoon bloco—Simpatia é Quase Amor in Ipanema.

It was already starting when Bloco Areia ended and, of course, it was still going strong several hours later.

We watched the sunset in the middle of the crowd, then attempted to take the subway. I didn’t have the patience to line up; I just walked back through crowded Ipanema and Copacabana—I can’t complain, it’s a pretty nice walk!