World's largest party going on

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-24 11:08

Taking place over two nights, the parades feature the top 12 samba schools competing in front of 80,000 spectators at the Sambadrome stadium. The winning school earns bragging rights and massive attention from the local news media.

Hundreds of informal, around-the-clock street parties - celebrations that many describe as the soul of Brazil's Carnival - hummed along outside the stadium on Sunday, with the largest gathering attracting more than a half-million people.

Samba schools also staged early parades on Sunday in Sao Paulo, a city some Brazilians say is too straight-laced to throw a proper party.

But Swiss tourist Christoph Fischer, 42, seemed to appreciate the milder version of events, noting that in contrast to the anything-goes chaos of Rio's pre-Lent bash, "Carnival in Sao Paulo is very organized".

Fernando Angelo Reis, 35, a nurse from Sao Paulo, acknowledged that the city's celebrations lacked the exuberance of those in Rio, or even those in the cities of Salvador and Recife. But "even though Carnival might be a little better in Rio, I wouldn't trade it for Carnival in Sao Paulo because of security issues," Reis said.

In Rio last week, armed men with guns and grenades invaded youth hostels, tying up scores of foreign tourists and robbing them. Police have since reinforced patrols in tourist areas.

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