RIO DE JANEIRO — A kiss is just a kiss, but at Rio’s carnival, collecting as many pecking partners as possible at one of the 650 massive street parties that hit high gear Saturday is truly a competitive sport.
Wearing a pink bikini top, flower-print miniskirt and a face dabbed with glitter, Taline Pereira was not shy about getting to the heart of what drives the parties — known as “blocos” — that in some cases draw upward of 1 million people.
“I traveled thousands of kilometers to come to my first Rio carnival,” said the 18-year-old student from Brazil’s northeast. “Of course I’m going to kiss as many boys as possible.”
Yet Brazilians don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about the widespread kissing known as “ficar,” which literally means “to stay.” It is an innocent game, they say, in which touching a woman anywhere outside the small of her back draws a red card — if not a slap.
Informal polling found members of both sexes claiming to have kissed more than 10 partners at least once during carnival.
“It starts like this: You look at a guy. Really look at him. He comes over, starts with his talk, and if there is chemistry, then it’s going to roll,” Pereira said. “It doesn’t matter if he is cute or not if there is an energy.”
Still, the widespread public displays of affection surprised some first-time visitors. “I like affection, but when I see this I just say, ‘Get a room,’ ” said Destine Georgio, 33, of Adelaide, Australia.
