Brazilian Leisure Time on Weekend
Weekends are held precious for most Brazilians, specially in Rio de Janeiro.Friday nights are usually some of the busiest nights for bars, restaurants and nightclubs all over town. Since most of these establishments don’t have a closing time, Rio de Janeiro upper middle class crowds keep on taking over throughout the night until the sun rises. Saturday mornings start early with some of the bars and restaurants closing while Cariocas fleet to the beaches for an early dive. The same happens with the lower class folks who still enjoy bars and good fun drinking their beer and caipirinhas but in more modest establishments.
Lunch and breakfast get mixed up on days like Saturdays since everyone wakes up late. Weekends are important for the middle class carioca because it’s his time for his family and closer friends. Backyards and get full of people barbecuing while they talk about soccer and how their week went. This is true for any social class. Poor or Rich enjoy the Saturday afternoons for these togetherness with their loved ones.
The evening comes and it’s filled with Theaters all over the Wonderful City packed with great plays and avid upper middle class spectators. The cultural life scene in Rio de Janeiro is always boiling with different plays, shows and movies. The great soccer arenas usually hold big concerts where thousands of people attend to for a great time spent with friends and music. Again, it never ends early. The large concerts are mainly enjoyed by the wealthiest youngsters who can afford the high prices major international and popular bands ask for to play. Funk Carioca (funk that was born in Rio) concerts in the poorest areas are great places for those who cannot affor the great concerts.
Many Brazilians enjoy going out for a movie. Some opt to support the local movie scene, which has been increasing its production immensely making Brazil one of the most promising countries regarding their film industry. Others enjoy the North American and European movies best. Entertainment in Rio is something easy to find. There’s always something that fits your taste. In the great favelas (slums), there are many open theaters where entire communities come together to watch a movie that is projected on improvised open theaters in a drive-in style, but without the luxury of attending to your movie inside a car.
After a play, a concert or a movie, no matter what class you belong to, it’s time to hit the nightclubs if you enjoy hard partying or the laid back bars and restaurants if all you want to do is to have a good talk and a good caipirinha (Brazilian alcoholic drink made with cachaça). Rio’s bars are famous for their bohemian touch. There are always scattered tables by the sidewalk or the beach where the locals drink, talk, read and play their guitars while they watch the sun rise. Guitars and pandeiros (tambourine) are always present providing a background music for these great moments. Drinking in the streets, differently from US is absolutely common and not illegal in Rio.
After another night out, Rio’s poorer inhabitants enjoy their Sundays with a late lunch that usually involves the traditional Sunday afternoon ‘feijoada’ (mix of beans, pork and other items) and cold beer. The wealthiest families tend to have the very traditional Italian late lunch. Sundays are also those days where entire families sit down together eating feijoada or spaghetti while watching soccer. Family is a main priority for all of Brazilians and home parties are not particularly popular in Rio. A Brazilian will rather go out with their friends and go back to their families for dinner and more intimate moments.
The games go on for a long time and by the time they’re over it’s already time to go inside and get ready for the early concerts or dances that most of the poorest Brazilians attend to in early Sunday evenings. Samba and Carioca Funk (a type of funk music that was born in Rio) dances are very popular on Sunday early evenings before everyone goes back home to sleep early. After all, Monday is a working day everywhere.
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