Top 10 of Samba Recife

Double your pleasure. Well... they actually had three stages

Two days, thirty bands, and God-knows-how-many cans of Schin Pilsner beer played part in one of Brazil's largest Samba Festivals. I dusted off my Danskos and jeans for a high class, sophisticated evening and checked it out for myself this weekend. The spectacle was exactly as they headlined it- their 10th year would be bigger than ever, calling for more dancing, singing, and sass. So I did just that and more- until the wee hours of 9:45pm. Because well, I'm 90. Here is why next time you are in Brazil, you should go to a Samba Festival:

10. Snacks in sacks abound! You can buy sacks of nuts. Or maybe a sack of quail eggs for quick energy.

9. Giant waist high beverage coolers all within five paces of anywhere. Need a sugar lime vodka drink? Schin beer? Juice? Don't mind if I do.

Ignore the Schin trash and focus on the Schin cooler.

8. Schin balls floating around everywhere. Fun to see and more fun to say. They even had orange Schin can characters looming the stage accompanied by orange clad Schin girls tossing out Schin t-shirts. Or bags of peanuts. I couldn't really tell. I was pretty far away.

Fascinating advertising- in fact most politicians for the upcoming election
have their faces all over balloons like these. 

7. Forget expansive band shirts, go for the glittery hot pink fedora instead. I really wanted to buy one. I should've.

6. Freshly made potato chips in a glass container big enough to take a bath in. 

5. You can dance all you want! Elbows and thumbs out and no one cares. 

4. Seriously. Everyone already dances better than you. Just own it. There's no reason not to. The tell tale triple step, booty shaking samba moves were almost in unison amongst the thousands of concert goers.

3. Double stages. Double. Fused to together with a red carpet runway enviable of Fashion Week. And 50,000 square meters of space.

2. Who cares if you have no idea what they are singing on stage! The infectious samba energy seeps into your bones. Plus loads of couples were making out- next to me, behind me, on the giant screens. That certainly meant the lyrics were awesome.

1. From dreadlocked heart-wrenching soloists, to skinny jeaned boy-band heartthrobs, to bigger than life guayabera'd samba kings, the variety of talent entertained the crowd all night long. It was inspiring and energizing to be small part of a bigger musical picture. I look forward to next year- only next time I might need a few extra shots of espresso and a few extra dance lessons. 

Hot fresh eggs and nuts.