Archive - November 21, 2024

Carnival in Rio is bigger and better than anything of its kind. The all-night parades of samba schools in the Sambadrome, the most famous of the events, are mesmerizing in person and great memories thereafter. So are the hundreds of street parties, called blocos, where participants numbering from a few hundred to a million dance and sing and eat and hug, toast each other with extra-large bottles of beer, and renew old friendships and make new ones. Carnival is also a state of mind and being—of joy, spontaneity, camaraderie, and goodwill—that pervades the city and the country. Everyone sports a costume, even if it’s a cute crown or an outrageous hat or shirt or, popular with children, sneakers flashing multi-colored lights. In the Sambadrome, the spectators’ adrenalin starts to flow when a samba school begins its march down the parade route. As the marchers near each section, the entire grandstand . . .