Finally, the pictures of the Rio Carnaval. The parade is on a special parade ground, not a city street. But instead of oval, it is a long street, perhaps a mile or more, five lanes wide, bleachers on both sides.

 

There were over 50,000 participants in the parade, which ran from nine in the evening until seven the next morning on two consecutive nights. The floats were huge with dancers all over, as many as thirty or forty on some. Then there were squads of marchers, each with 100 - 150 dancers, all members of a squad dressed the same. By my count there were at least 100 floats and two or three times that many squads of dancers.

 

This year's theme was related to the environment, but some of the floats stretched the imagination a bit. However, all were elaborate on a grand scale, yet intricately detailed.

 

We stayed only three hours, but the photos attached will show you the beauty of the pageant.