Carnival in Brazil ranges from a week to a month of continuous partying. It begins with the pre-carnival which for me meant a team t-shirt and an all night jump around at a farm about 10kms outside Taubate
Then came the real event and was lucky enough to get VIP tickets for the Brahma area (everyone in red t-shirts!) at the Sao Paulo Carnival courtesy of a supplier. Each of the samba schools has about 1hr to parade the length of the purpose built "Sambadrome" to try and win the judges favour with elaborate floats, exuburent costumes and effervescent dance routines relentlessly driven on by the supporting 50+ piece samba band and highly vocal crowd. The first school went through at 11pm and the last in the morning sun at 8am. It was a hot summer's night....
Some folk drew a larger audience than others..
Even a dab of tribal facepaint isn't enough to enthuse some Brits!
another float...
a couple more...
and on into the morning...
spot the ball gags on a postcard please.
So if the pictures haven't persuaded you I would highly recommend a visit to the carnival in either Sao Paulo or Rio. They are similar (each would say they are better than the other) and parade on different days during carnival week so you could get to both... although don't plan anything for a few days afterwards.
Taubate had it's own carnival, admittedly on a slightly lower budget...
