The Most Envied Man of Carnival 2009

Betto Almeida, 36, paints the body of (female) dancers, who participate in carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. For many Betto Almeida is a lucky bird. In addition to his daily work as art director of TV soaps, he paints, brushes, drips and sprays paint on some of the finest Brazilian carnival bodies and that already 12 years.
With sweat on his forehead, he says that it is hard work but worth it. A modelling agency pays him BRL 1,000 (€ 335) for about two hours required for painting a model. During the samba parades, he paints two models a night. And throughout the year he paints a minimum of 50 women for various events.
“I started to do it for the …. continue reading and see the video

Blondes, brunettes, mulattos …. Ahh, Muses, What's Carnival Without Them?

São Paulo as the industrial and economic centre of Brazil starts its carnival parades on Friday night with the highlight on Saturday night. Then it is over in São Paulo, the Paulista can not spend valuable working hours with something as frivolous as carnival. Monday is simply back to work.
Rio de Janeiro is different. Cariocas are partying all the time and working a bit in between. Rio is the glamour city, São Paulo is for serious business.
Although in Rio carnival in the streets starts on Friday, the big carnival parades in de Sambódromo are Saturday night with the top on Monday night. The Carioca is slowly cutting-back on his festivities on Tuesday to enable him to quietly sleep on Wednesday, as officially his working day starts at noon. But don’t contact a company in Rio before Thursday morning, better still wait till next Monday.

Anyway, let’s start with:


The Muses of 1st day of carnival parades in São Paulo:

For a full reportage with all the pictures of the carnival queens and beauties visit: “Blondes, brunettes, mulattos …. Ahh, Muses, without them carnival would not be fun” at Anton Steeman Homepage