Mardi Gras in Bourbon St. in NOLA, Carnival in Sambodromo in Rio de Janeiro

With Mardi Gras so fresh in our minds, I thought it'd be interesting to learn a bit more about it's Latin counterpart.

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The Brazilian Carnival is the most famous annual celebration in the world, and is celebrated 40 days before Easter. In Rio, the biggest attraction in the carnival is the Samba Parade competition at the Sambodromo. Like a soccer stadium, the audience must pay to enter, and the prices vary according to the location of the seat.

Star architect Oscar Niemeyer designed Sambodromo street specially for the Carnival parade. The best samba schools of Brazil compete for the honor of winning. Preparations for this top event are going on throughout the whole year and represent for many participants their purpose in life. Each samba school participates with around 4’000 members at this competition including 200 to 400 drummers. Some regard the Carnival in Rio as very touristy because it is certainly very different from the more traditional Carnival in the North of Brazil.

Competitions take place Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays throughout the Carnival week (This year it was Feb. 25th through Feb. 28.) The competition starts with children and teenage samba groups on Friday. On Saturday it’s the turn of samba groups category A. Tickets are a lot cheaper for these groups but the show is absolutely recommendable. The top samba groups are performing on Sunday and Monday at far higher ticket rates. Performances start around 8:00 pm and end around 6:00 am on Monday or Tuesday morning.