A journey to Rio de Janeiro is always a real adventure. The breathtakingly beautiful city is stretched along the ocean. The mountains seem to grow out of the ocean, tens of kilometres long, mosaic pavements, wonderful white beaches, a crowd of lovely girls. There's also a great activity of petty thieves and pickpockets, fast cars, shouting, sounds of car horns, whining of police cars and ambulance sirens.
During the days of the carnival in this city of the River of January great adventuremeets the borders of horror. Group hysteria takes over millions of people. The party in the streets and in numerous entertainment venues turns into madness. The atmosphere is both wonderful and terrifying. The amount of decibels during the day and at night reaches the intensity of noise produced by numerous fleets of jumbo jets. Young and old, rich and poor have fun, dance, sing, beat their drums, drink. Fot these few days inhabitants of the "favelas" descend from the mountains. They are usually dressed in elaborate costumes and with wide smiles they move to the samba thythm. Rio turns into one huge theatre under the open sky. The streets are full of parades by samba schools, whose members have been preparing for this occasion all year long. Everything begins with the so - called "sambodrom" , when a group of judges chooses the most outstanding from among all the samba schools. The victoryof a group, which later will make it the pride of the whole of Brazil, depends on a number of factors, among them samba - the leading tune, harmonising the song with the dance and percussion instruments, as well as with the costumes, the arrangement of the parade and choreographic effects. At first we hear the voice of one singer, who intonates the samba. A crowd of a thousand people and 600 to 800 drummers in each group immediately join in. Then all of them move out into town.Without going into detail, we can say that this gigantic festivity of samba presents thousands of beautiful, amazingly shapely ladies with chocolate skin, known as the famous "cariocas", mulattos from Rio. Each school of samba coming along the street is announced by the name of the group and the theme they perform. Numerous schools propagate an often strong social, economic or political message with the words of their songs, their music, costumes and allegorical decorations. A special mangreets the crowds. At some point the "Baianas" turn up. They are girls in folklore dress from Bahii, where 120 years ago the idea of carnival parades originated. Parades of people dressed in colourful costumes, hundreds of groups of the schools of samba, frenetic fun with rum - drinking, orgiastic trances induced by drugs, the whole frenzy of the carnival each year claims its victims - many killed, injured, mugged, raped. The Brazilian carnival is not only Rio' s monopoly, it is celebrated throughout the whole of Latin America in fact, though not to such an extent as an anthropological phenomenon. Anyone who decides to visit Rio de Janeiro during the days of the carnival should be aware that he is taking a certain risk. But he will also participate in something inique of its kind. The visitor must be prepared for significant expenses, everything requires prior reservation and, of course, caution. The Cariocas also begin their activities. The amateur schools of samba known as "bandas" start their shows. They spontaneously join in the street parades and parties in various places closed at the time of the carnival, they act out their separate performances in various parts of the city long before the breakout of carnival hysteria. These non - professional music and dances groups are willing to perform various "pranks" and are a good subject for photos even two weeks before the carnival finals. Clubs and theatres host a number of attractions. There the carnival lasts all year long. On their stages we can admire scarely dressed girls who look as if they have been taken straight from a beauty contest. The better - informed know that these girls practise two proffesions and some of them even have a different sex. Allegedly it is here that the members of the Mafia develop their particularly notorious activities. It is believed that such a systematically repeated outbreak of the joy of life is only possible in Rio de Janeiro - the temperament of its inhabitants, its mild climate, the beautiful scenery of the city. And at thye same time, nothing to stop them and their need for group exhibitionism.
Undoubtedly this is a very fascinating holiday. It is very different from other carnivals held all over the world - the one of its kind. Everyone has a lot of fun during the Carnival. The whole city of River and hundreds of thousands of visitors look forward to this nice event every year. You should see it with your own eyes and feel the unique atmosphere. Certainly this is one of the most spectacular festivities worth seeing.
