Rio: Romance, party – and a blog of lost lovers

The 2012 versionof the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro again rocked the city and its millions of inhabitants and foreign visitors in Feb. The event is fertile terrain for romance and heartbreak: a five-day-long Bacchanalia where the music blasts, the alcohol flows and millions of barely dressed bodies press together into a pulsing, sweating, beer-guzzling mass of humanity where many have but one goal: To kiss as many partners as possible, Associated Press reports.

It’s the typical tale of doomed Carnival romance: Boy spots girl in the sweaty crush of a street party. Moments later, they’re locked in a passionate embrace. Then the crowd surges, and the human tide wrenches them apart, forever.

But this year, AP reports, a new blog is attempting to change that. The mission of “Little Leopard” is to publish postings describing foiled encounters, giving as many identifying details as possible about the sought-after would-be lover. Each gives the seeker’s email address and ends with a plaintive “Where are you?”

A typical posting goes something like this:

“I wasn’t drunk, but I had a vision at Boitata,” reads one entry, referring to one of Rio’s more than 400 street parties, where as many as 2 million people converge to dance, drink and snog in the streets. “He was gorgeous, with curly hair, dressed as the Little Prince … He was alone, maybe drunk, but his dancing was so joyful that he looked like a miracle. I was so entranced by his beauty that I didn’t even dare get close. In a second, he disappeared, AP reports.