The New York Times-20080127-Carnaval on a Smaller Stage
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CARNAVAL starts Friday in Brazil, so you can bet that tourists have already started to flood into Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife, Brazil's three most famous headquarters for pre-Lenten hedonism.
And just as assuredly, local residents have begun to flood out. Some flee the chaos to quiet beach or mountain retreats, but many head to other navels of navel-baring across the country, less famous to American tourists. Some are small-town versions of the big-city celebrations; others march to the beat of their own cross-dressing drummer.
You could still make it for this year; though with last-minute flights starting at more than $1,000, you may want to spend this weekend dreaming about Carnaval 2009. (That's Feb. 20 to 25.) Whenever you go, BACC Travel, (800) 222-2746 or www.bacctravel.com, an agency specializing in trips to Brazil, is a good place to start planning. Its bilingual agents often have access to cheaper flights to Brazil than Web sites like Expedia and Travelocity and are knowledgeable about travel within Brazil.
Here are a few of the more popular alternative carnivals:
Laguna
About 75 miles south of the state capital of Florianopolis, this town of 50,000 sits on the tip of a peninsula with the Santo Antonio Lagoon on one side and the Atlantic on the other. It plays host to one of the top carnivals in southern Brazil.
The locals like to think they have the best of all worlds here: whereas Rio's carnival is best known for its pay-to-enter parades in the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Sambodromo, and Salvador has a traditional street carnival, Laguna places equal importance on both (albeit on a much smaller scale). The town's samba schools compete in the 8,000-person Sambodromo (where entrance is 10 reais, or $5.70 at about 1.75 reais to the dollar), but the streets also fill with blocos, the dancing masses that follow trucks outfitted with sound systems and platform stages where bands play samba and other Brazilian music. (To join in, you typically must purchase the bloco's uniform, or abada.) One prime attraction is the Bloco da Pracinha, which sets out on Sunday from the neighborhood of Magalhaes and makes its way to the beach, with tens of thousands of followers in tow.
There is also a third, more family-friendly venue: a stage set up at the city's main beach supports bands playing sambas and other traditional carnival rhythms like axe (from Bahia) and frevo (from the northeast) as well as the old-fashioned carnival marches known as marchinhas.
Visitors to Laguna can get there by bus from Florianopolis, and stay in hotels on the beach side of town or in the picturesque colonial town. Both www.lagunabrasil.com.br and www.laguna.sc.gov.br offer information in Portuguese.
Sao Luiz do Paraitinga
This small town in Sao Paulo state's interior is about 115 miles from the capital and only 30 miles down the road from the popular beach resort of Ubatuba. Carnaval went on a 60-year hiatus here starting in the 1920s, when an Italian priest did away with it on moral grounds. But things started up again in 1981, and now the town is known for having one of the best old-fashioned street carnivals around.
An official decree actually prohibits more modern rhythms like samba and axe; the official music genre of the blocos here is the traditional marchinha, or carnival march, which dates back to the 1920s and was a staple of Carnaval through the mid-20th century. Over 1,500 local marchinhas have been composed locally since Carnaval started again, and you'll hear many of them.
The costumes worn by the blocos are similar to carnivals across the country, with bloco-specific themes, which this year include everything from babies to bus drivers.
Visitors can stay at one of the pousadas -- or inns -- in or near town (make reservations five or six months in advance), or rent a house from one of the residents who leave during that time. Information (in Portuguese only; click on pousadas for lodging) is at www.saoluizdoparaitinga.sp.gov.br.
Ouro Preto and Diamantina
Ouro Preto is a stunning former gold-mining town of cobblestone streets and 18th-century colonial churches in the hills of Minas Gerais. But, and this is important come Carnaval time, it's also a huge college town.
Visitors can stay in the hotels and pousadas around town, but another option for the younger set is to stay in student housing (known as republicas), which present their own mini-carnivals. Pay one price and you're in for five days -- with a guarantee of a mattress, bathroom access, and little else. Oh yeah, and free beer, which they call cerveja liberada, as if the beer elsewhere in town was being held for ransom.
You can skip between your own private carnival and the more traditional one on the streets -- complete with blocos playing samba and axe, and plentiful cross-dressers making merry -- as well as a series of more family-oriented nightly outdoor concerts called the Candonguero Project.
Diamantina is a similarly beautiful town, though as its name indicates, its mining industry revolved around diamonds. Here Carnaval has less of a college vibe, with the focus on the street carnival, which includes a popular local samba band called Bat Caverna (as in the place they keep the Batmobile). Many residents rent out their houses for visitors.
Information on Ouro Preto is available (in English) at www.ouropreto.org.br and on Diamantina (Portuguese only) at www.diamantina.com.br and www.karnaval.com.br.
Morro de Sao Paulo
If you do go to Carnaval in Salvador, but it's not quite enough for you, consider tacking on an after-party variously known as a pos-Carnaval or ressaca (Portuguese for hangover). One of the most popular among the country's harder-partying youth takes place in Morro de Sao Paulo, a village (and popular year-round tourist destination) on the island of Tinhare, about 20 minutes from Salvador by air or about two hours by ferry. There are no cars, a few sand roads, four picturesque beaches (creatively named First, Second, Third and Fourth Beach) and a whole bunch of discotheques.
Not much is going on there during Carnaval itself -- everyone is up in Salvador. But come Ash Wednesday, the place speeds right through repopulating and into overpopulating, and the party continues through the weekend. By day, beaches lined with caipirinha stands serve fruity cocktails to crowds, by night the discos with names like Pulsar and Funny in and around town throw blow-out parties -- except Thursday, which is luau night, when you can dance on the beach into Friday morning.
It costs about 170 reais each way to fly from Salvador. Morro de Sao Paulo has a user-friendly, useful Web site in English (and other languages), www.morrodesaopaulo.com.br, with information on getting there and where to stay.
[Illustration]PHOTO: A Carnaval parade in Sao Luiz do Paraitinga. Several smaller Brazilian cities have their own versions of Carnaval, with local variations of music and dress.MAP Map details various cities in Brazil.