*RIO DE JANEIRO DETONATION
By Carolina Hernandez
Photography by Alexandre Dos Santos
Traveling and skating are both such sick experiences; I encourage everyone to try them. Unlike a regular trip, most of the time you’ll engage with a local through skating. The fact that you can find people of all backgrounds in one small space where your job, degrees, or age doesn’t matter is awesome. I started solo traveling when I was 19, but to be honest, I was really never on my own. I always found a hand in a local skater to either know where to go, crash in their place, get to see the city, and of course, to skate. Now, about 10 years later, I’m eager to see more each time and understand how people interact with skating in their local areas. Through it, I’ve also learned to appreciate my local community and how to support it.
I’m not gonna lie, I postponed my visit to Brazil for a long time, and I regret not doing it earlier. I don’t know if you have noticed, but the Instagram algorithm has gotten intense, and once you lock in on some content, it shows you 100 times the same thing over and over. Well, that led me to be way too hyped about visiting Rio de Janeiro: the constant videos of the views, the food, the music, and the vibes caught me. At some point, I was worried my expectations would be too high, and the place could be overrated: it was not. It indeed lives up to its name.
My good friend Manuela Calle, a.k.a. ‘Marea Revuelta,’ a.k.a. ‘Manu,’ moved to Brazil a while ago, and we chatted on and off about bringing Hell on Quads there and putting on an event together. Around November 2025, Moon told me she had a roller derby tournament with Bone Breakers. At this point, I’m an ex-derby team groupie and somehow end up going to their tournaments to watch them play. Their next destination would be Rio de Janeiro, say less! I just needed an excuse to go, and this was it. I told her to definitely host a park event the weekend after. Long story short, I reached Manu and told her to save the date for the weekend of April 10-12.
With skate trips, there’s lots of planning (or not). At least you need to make sure of two things: how to get there, and where to sleep. This was supposed to be a team trip, but life happens, and many of the HOQ skaters couldn’t make it. Traveling is hella expensive, and we had just hosted “Vamos a la Playa” just two months prior. What sucks the most is that my two friends, Juanes Chiwi and Celes Zapata, had everything sorted out and paid for, and had to cancel due to an appendix surgery. What are the fucking odds? Juanes was too optimistic and willing to take the flight after the surgery (that was never an option, but I loved the commitment). So, unfortunately, it was again a small crew trip with Moon. [Reading it like that sounds terrible, it wasn’t bad at
all. [Laughs]
April 10th was our first encounter. We went to Praça XV, a kind of DIY street plaza. The locals take good care of it and have recently painted it. Even Bliss on Wheels, a local roller skater, pulled up a day earlier and made graffiti for the meetup. The weather in Rio is dreamy, but not exempt from rain. As soon as we got to the spot, there were some heavy showers, so we went to the skateshop a block away and got some beers while we were handing cash for tricks at a miniramp they had set up right in front. Our photographer even spoke with the shop to let us play A FUEGO!, our crew video, on their huge TV while the weather improved. We were stoked on a successful first day.
People left the video screening wanting to skate, they got enough money for some beers, and we surprisingly gathered a big group of skaters! Not to say I didn’t think it was possible, but it was such a good surprise to see more and more people pull up.
Once I got to talk to some of them, I realized many weren’t even from Rio de Janeiro. We had people coming from São Paulo, Porto Alegre, the interior of the country, and even Argentina. When I tell you Brazil’s size is no joke, it’s the biggest country in South America, and the distances between cities are ridiculous. I was sending memes to the Chuffed team about our Australia trip because it’s so huge, you can watch three movies and still be inside it. Well, the same thing goes for Brazil. This is an enormous country with 213.5 million people, and Rio and São Paulo are the most populous. You’ll see buildings, on top of buildings, tall apartment complexes, and crowded streets. This kinda explains why many locals don’t get to skate together often; even moving inside the cities is difficult. You would think the bigger the place, the easier it would be to get people in, but in my experience, it’s hard not to have a hub that gathers people in the city. So having all of them come from all over, to share a skate weekend was meaningful to all of us.
When welcoming the skaters on Saturday, Manu recalled the first time we met in Colombia, also at a Hell on Quads meetup, and it brought me to tears. I would love to keep track of all the people and places I’ve been, but my memory is so terrible that I need to see a picture or video to kinda get me there. When she mentioned it, I came back to that day. What’s curious about this story is that we met at one of the first gatherings I ever hosted, in Pereira, Colombia. Back then, there were fewer than 30 roller skaters in the country, we all knew each other, and Manu was already killing it (she has always been crazy good at skating and so dedicated). She traveled a few hours by bus to make it there. I also ended up taking a bus from Medellín to Pereira (seven infernal hours up and down hills), and we got together for some meet up/skate lessons. There were six of us, just gathered under the pretense of sharing a good time. Sometimes I can’t fathom what those small moments represent in others’ lives, and it’s the best feeling to look back and see how our life-paths forged through those memories, and who we got to do the same for others at this event.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE PROJECTS AND SKATERS DOING THE WORK; CHECK THEM OUT!
Marea Revuelta w Cuidado
Roller Skate (Florianópolis)
Juliana Patinaju (Rio de Janeiro)
Conexão Quad (São Paulo)
Patina e Brisa Poa (Porto Alegre)
Defronte Crew (Rio Grande do Sul)
Clara Downey a.k.a. ‘Miss Ratazanaa’ / Audio Visual Project
Our second day started with some physiotherapy hosted by Giovana Perin, a local roller skater from Florianopolis. We got all warmed up, hosted some skate lessons for about an hour, and got to the fun part: gifting prizes, cash for tricks, and bringing the mayhem! It was an extenuating five hours where we got to hang out and vibe with skaters from all levels. Manu hid stickers for prices, we even handed new wheels and protective gear to those who had to replace their own because these were thrashed. The chill structure of the event made it approachable for all levels; they all were challenging each other in different spots, celebrating every trick as its own, and overall having the best time. Easily, every place I’ve been in Latin America feels familiar; we share a bunch of values and see the world in similar ways. It was no surprise when visiting Brazil, I felt like hanging with cousins.
On the last day, we ended up meeting far south in the city around Barra da Tijuca beach. There was a skatepark on the other side of the street. Some of us were cooked and just wanted to have some caipirinhas by the beach, roll some maconha, and get a tan, but the energy was still there. Some skaters made the most out of it and ended up in the skatepark all afternoon, seeing everyone still holding up and sharing the cherry on top.
These moments just hit differently. You must think, “It isn’t all like that, it’s not that great” I tend to try and see the good in everything, because otherwise life feels like a half-empty cup. But this is not me trying to overhype it. The truth is, Latinxs are the warmest, most joyful, and most grateful people you might encounter. And I am writing these articles and experiences just to shed light on how you (our reader) can live it yourself, fall in love with skating in a different way, and appreciate other perspectives.
While we were wrapping up Detonação Carioca, the São Paulo skaters somehow convinced me to hop on a bus for six hours to head to “Desbloqueio das minas”, an event hosted by Conexão Quad the very next weekend. This was a free encounter thought to offer a safe space for women in the skateparks and to learn tricks together. We started at a local skatepark and then cruised all together to a downtown plaza where everyone was hanging out. It was pretty enjoyable. We stopped by for some Açaí on the way, then my friends showed us some local landmarks and recommendations.
First of all, thanks to Henrique Caporal and Gabriel Do Vale for being so persistent and getting me to go. I loved the city’s chaos; it reminded me of home. I always heard how big São Paulo would be through others, but nothing could’ve prepared me for that monster. They call it: concrete city. It’s literally grids of giant buildings. The best feeling was pulling up and finally seeing some pixação (a local graffiti style that goes vertically on tall buildings’ facades). A completely different vibe from Rio, this is a metropolis where people come to work. The thing I love about big cities is that you hardly feel like an outsider; the country’s diversity is everywhere. Brazil is known to be the most ethnically diverse country in the world, hosting the largest population of African descent outside of Africa, the largest Japanese community outside Japan, and more Lebanese citizens than in Lebanon. This is the melting pot of Latin America. We even went to the Japanese town, flooded by street vendors and long-ass lines, just to get a small bite.
I really fell in love with the country; the way they embrace their music, heritage, diversity, and uniqueness is exciting. Their size is both a pro and a con; their local politics favor local businesses, which is why they tax imported goods so high, and have proved they can sustain their economy and culture without changing who they are at their core. If you’re thinking of visiting, check out the local crews and hit up Manu. Brazil is pretty touristy and friendly (not gonna lie, you gotta be street smart sometimes, so don’t get yourself in shitty situations). But overall, it is worth it: 10/10, would do again. While you are at it, try to support local businesses and hang out with them.
Caro: What did this event mean to you?
Manuela Calle: It was a dream. The roller skate community in Brazil has been my family since I moved here a few years ago, and sharing a bit of my Colombian roots with them was something I had always dreamed of. Hell On Quads is part of my family and my story, a community that welcomed me 10 years ago when everything started. This event felt like gathering with your family at the end of the year. We celebrated skating and the connection between our cultures with skaters from many parts of Brazil and Latin America, breaking down barriers of distance and language. It was simply beautiful. I feel very proud to continue connecting people and contributing our small part to something we love so much.
Caro: How would you describe the roller skate scene in Brazil?
Manu: It’s very unique. It reminds me of Colombia around six years ago, when it was still in its early stages, with communities and projects emerging in every city and many people finding each other through these spaces. Brazil is a huge country, so it’s harder to come together and find a community close to you, which makes us value every gathering, every experience, and every space we create to share even more. We learn to improvise, share information, help those who are just starting, and warmly welcome anyone who arrives. I think that precisely because of the difficulties, the community ends up becoming much stronger and more connected. Over these years here, I’ve seen the scene grow stronger and stronger. Something very powerful is being built, united by passion, mutual support, and the desire to take skating much further.
Brazil, like every other Latin American country, has difficulty acquiring skate gear. Their local shops see no value in aggressive roller skating, in bringing shitty brands, or in ignoring their needs. Locals keep trying to reach out to brands to make it more accessible, but their customs and shipping are at least 40% more, adding to the bill. They’re doing it against all odds, and that’s what makes it such a tight community: they want to lace up, they want to keep skating. It’s a passion project that requires a lot of effort. So if you love what they’re doing, share and engage so others can find them too!
Something I’ve mentioned in the past is ways to articulate the sport in new places and help it grow. The best way to be part of it is to dig and find more of what we want to see. I was aware of the local community through Manu and her project: “Cuidado Roller Skate.” Have been following some skaters for years and have gotten a glimpse of how they live and skate. Nothing compared to being present and interacting with them. Even when actively looking for it, I missed so much and found really inspiring people who are hosting free lessons and meetups, partnering with other women-led projects, and even just facilitating free judgment-free spaces all over the country. You’ll find inspiration everywhere. Unfortunately, many amazing individuals never get the flowers they deserve for all they do, but we can change that.
