Do these guys know how to party or what?

Ok, so this post is a little summation of our past week here in Recife. Here's Carnaval in a nutshell. But first, a little vocab.

Trio electrico - huge semi thats hollowed out and filled with speakers. If you pay the right price or know the right people, you ride on top. theres usually a band playing on top as well
These huge trucks go very slowly through the streets playing music insanely loud and people follow them, dancing and drinking.

The family we're staying with always has a party at their house the saturday before official Carnaval starts. Thats the day that trios electricos pass in front of their house so as a result, so does everyone else in town. Heres a trio electrico:


Heres their house:
The dad, Laedson, is known around town for spraying the crowd the day of the party and after walking around for hours in the 100 degree heat, you better believe people were begging for some water.The crowd grew and grew. it was pretty amazing. Everyone kept telling us that this was going to be the smallest party of the week.
From that day on, there was partying every day. People would go to Olinda, which isnt too far away, during the day then go to downtown recife at night.
Downtown Recife

This pics for Tracy. theres your portguese teacher.
One of the nights, we got to ride on one of the trios. It was for Laedsons work, Detran, which is the regional department of transportation and he's the president.
There would be guys wearing huge gloves to push up wires whenever we'd go underneath them. When youre on a trio, youre treated like a king. there are servers walking around with trays of beer, coke, whiskey, and little appetizers.

During Carnaval, all of the gas stations are a huge party too.
Heres us with the parents, Laedson and Elizabete these two are unbelieveable partyers! Brett and i could barely keep up. (We're sortve relieved that Carnaval is over.)
This past saturday marked the official starting day for Carnaval. Here in Recife the name of that party is Galo do Madrugado. Im sure i spelled that wrong. Anyway, about a million people get together for that. Oh, and it starts at 7am. The parents were there bright and early but brett and i got there around 1030.

On sunday we drove about an hour away to a town called Bezerros so we could see a different kind of carnaval. The town is in more of a moutainous area. Made for a nice setting.
These guys reminded us of the good ol kkk
Gay guys here LOVE brett Unfortuntely, we didnt get that many pictures of the festivities because the parents wouldnt let us take the camera very often. they were worried about pickpocketers. Actually Laedsons cell phone got stolen and one of the friends got some money taken too. sucks.

Funny little sidenotes: The crowds sometimes are unbearable. If youre not used to it (like us) you get a bit annoyed. So you try and plow through so that everyone stays together. Well, one day, i was plowing through and i thought, dammit, whats that on my leg? i look down and i had just taken out a toddler. knocked him right on his butt. he was fine but it was pretty funny to think i just kicked a baby.
In olinda, they sell a drink called Pau do Indio, which means Indians dick. gross. well, its really strong and we kinda like it. so the next day, we're out to lunch with the parents, a son, and two of their friends. bretts talking to Laedson and its kinda loud in the restaurant so the dad asks him to speak up. brett just keeps saying, have you heard of pau do indio. its really good. we like it. do you like it? geez, didnt realize til later that he was asking him if he liked indians dick.

we'll be leaving here shortly, but now that the carnaval partying is over, the parents have a few last minute plans for us.