When The Last Thing I Wanted To Hear Was ‘Alegria’(Happiness)

Summary

The author recounts a challenging experience during Carnaval in Brazil, where despite the festive atmosphere, they suffered from a painful rib injury and giardia infection, making the typically joyous celebration a difficult ordeal.

Abstract

The article describes the author's personal account of spending Carnaval in Brazil, a country known for its vibrant celebrations, friendly locals, and rich culture. While the author generally enjoys the festivities, including singing, dancing, and partaking in caipirinhas, one particular year was marred by adversity. After a bike accident in Morro de São Paulo, the author sustained a rib injury and contracted giardia, leading to a period of illness and discomfort amidst the lively sounds of 'Alegria!' (Happiness). The experience was made more challenging by the solo nature of their travel, with the festive spirit serving as a stark contrast to their own physical and emotional state. Reflecting on the ordeal, the author reveals that a recent x-ray in Spain confirmed the old rib injury, twenty years after the incident.

Opinions

The author holds Brazil in high regard, emphasizing its appeal throughout the year with its friendly people, diverse foods, and beautiful landscapes.
Despite usually enjoying the festivities, the author expresses that the joy of Carnaval can be overwhelming, describing it as an exhausting experience due to the constant music and communal euphoria.
The author's opinion of Carnaval becomes complicated due to their personal health struggles during the celebration, contrasting their own suffering with the surrounding festivities.
The author appreciates the care received from new acquaintances during their illness, indicating a positive experience with the people they met, despite the circumstances.
The author's reflection on the solo travel decision during this period is tinged with regret, suggesting that company might have made the experience more bearable.
The revelation about the cracked rib from the recent x-ray brings a sense of closure to the author's narrative, resolving a long-standing mystery about their past injury.

If you visit Brazil during Carnaval, go happy or stay home.

Brazil is a wonderful country at any time of year — friendly people, wonderful fruits and foods to try, gorgeous scenery, and such a variety of landscapes. It’s a place to feel happy.

There is no space for unhappiness at this time. This would usually be fine for me. I enjoy a party, singing at the top of my voice, enjoying a few caipirinhas and dancing through the streets.

Except for one year, when the sound of people singing out ‘Alegria!’ was the most painful sound to my ears.

It was not the year I spent all night in Rio’s Sambrodromo singing the songs of samba school Beija-Flor and others for hours with 70,000 other spectators until my voice went hoarse. 70,000 people! That’s not counting the number of participants in each parade, which number up to 2,000.

To try and explain how it feels to have music all around you for that long, so infectious, so loud and with so many people — it’s like all parts of your body are singing and the bass is passing through you as it drones. The joy is exhausting.

However, another year I decided to spend Carnaval in Brazil’s northeast, in Salvador de Bahia, an energetic city steeped in a deep Afro-Brazilian heritage. This is the home of the famous samba-reggae band and cultural group Olodum, who perform every year in Salvador’s Carnaval and have performed with Michael Jackson, Paul Simon and Jimmy Cliff.

Before Carnaval began, I spent some time around Morro de São Paulo, on an island not far from Salvador, and rented a mountain bike. I didn’t check the brakes on that mountain bike and the first time I found myself going down a steep hill was when I discovered they did not work.

I went over the handlebars at the bottom and landed in a big heap. The pain in my chest was excruciating.

The village doctor checked me out but did not have access to an x-ray; that would be a painful boat ride away. Anyway, he determined I had either cracked or bruised a rib, and whichever it was, I should rest and let my body recover.

It was around this time that I also discovered I had contracted the nasty giardia intestinal infection, caused by a parasite that lives in water. I remembered the local river I had swum in a few days earlier.

Thus began a painful few days of vomiting and diarrhea, while suffering a bruised or cracked rib, in the middle of Salvador’s famous Carnaval.

My memories of this time are rather blurry, except for long nights spent in the bathroom of an apartment I had rented with some British guys I met on my travels.

They were very kind and looked after me when home, but most of the time they were out partying on the street. I could hear the word ‘Alegria!’ sung over and over again in the distance, while hovering over the toilet of the bathroom where I spent a few painful and rather lonesome days.

At times like these, the decision to travel solo did not seem the best.

Oh, and the damaged rib? Just last month, twenty years on, I had an x-ray in Spain for bronchial issues, and my doctor mentioned he could see I had cracked a rib at some point. He was the first doctor in 20 years to examine my x-ray and mention that. Mystery solved!

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