A reveler from the Vila Isabel samba school participates in the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (Photo Credit: Reuters/Sergio Moraes)
In Rio de Janeiro, more than 72,000 spectators jammed into the Sambodrome to watch the spectacle of samba school floats, dancers, and extravagant costumes during Carnival.
Even more people — millions of locals and visitors — took part in the many “blocos,” or street parties, dancing and drinking into the wee hours of the night. Collected here are images from Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil, as Carnival 2013 comes to a close.
Performers from the Portela samba school, during the first night of Carnival, in Rio de Janeiro, on February 11, 2013. (Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images)Drum Queen Camila Silva of the Mocidade Independente samba school, on the first night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, on February 11, 2013. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares)Performers from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school, in Rio’s Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)A performer from the Unidos de Vila Isabel samba school during Carnival in Rio, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)A member of Academicos do Tatuape samba school, before the first night of carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 8, 2013. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)A performer from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school, in the Sambadrome in Rio, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)A dancer from the Nene da Vila Matilde samba school during a carnival parade in Sao Paulo, on February 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)A performer from the Mangueira samba school, during carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)A reveler from the Mocidade Alegre Samba School takes part in a carnival at Anhembi Sambadrome, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 10, 2013. (Reuters/Nacho Doce)Revelers of the Inocentes de Belford-Roxo samba school, in the Sambadrome, on February 10, 2013. Inocentes paid tribute to the 50th aniversary of South Korean immigration to Brazil. (Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images)A float from the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel samba school in Rio’s Sambadrome, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Performers from the Inocentes de Belford Roxo samba school, on a float in the Sambadrome in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)A performer from the Beija Flor samba school, at the Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Members of the Mangueira samba school, during carnival celebrations in Rio, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)Performers from the Academicos do Salgueiro samba school parade on a float in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)A performer from the Sao Clemente samba school is tossed in the air in the Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)A woman poses for photos before participating in Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome, on February 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)Revelers from the Vila Isabel samba school participate in the Carnival parade in Rio, on February 12, 2013. (Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)The Salgueiro samba school participates in the annual Carnival parade in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares)A member of the Inocentes de Belford-Roxo samba school performs atop a float during the first night of Carnival in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images)A masked performers from the Uniao da Ilha do Governador samba school, in Rio, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)A dancer from the Uniao da Ilhia samba school performs during the first night of Carnival in Rio, on February 11, 2013. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)Revelers from the Beija Flor samba school, in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, on February 11, 2013. (Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)Performers from the Unidos de Vila Isabel samba school parade at the Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)A dragon rises behind a performer from the Beija Flor samba school in Rio, on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)A performer from the Academicos do Salgueiro samba school during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome, on February 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Performers from the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel samba school parade in Rio, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Performers from the Unidos da Tijuca samba school parade during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)The mythical jester figure who reigns over Carnival, King Momo, is represented by the the crowned and costumed Milton Rodrigues Junior who arrives for the official kick-off ceremony flashing a thumbs-up, in Rio de Janeiro, on February 8, 2013. (Photo Credit: AP/Felipe Dana)A performer from the Sao Clemente samba school sits as she waits before Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on February 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)In this photo taken Tuesday, February 5, 2013, samba dancer and call center supervisor Diana Prado talks with a co-worker, in Rio de Janeiro. Although her hectic schedule of pre-Carnival preparations often requires her to apply her extravagant glitter stage makeup in the office bathroom, Prado insists being a samba dancer, or “passista,” in Portuguese, doesn’t undermine her authority with the 15 telemarketers she supervises. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Samba dancer Diana Prado, right, in costume as she prepares for a carnival parade at central station in Rio de Janeiro. Though passistas are unquestionably the star attractions of the world’s most iconic Carnival celebrations, they’re not on the payroll of the samba school they represent. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Passista Diana Prado performs in a carnival parade at central station in Rio de Janeiro. A call center supervisor by day the 27-year-old’s double life is split down the middle, between the glitz and glam, feathers and body paint of Carnival and the workaday office reality of head-sets and cubicles. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Performers from the Inocentes de Belford Roxo samba school parade on a float during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Revelers of the Unidos da Tijuca samba school participate in the annual carnival parade in Rio, on February 10, 2013. (Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)Revelers pack the streets during the “Cordao da Bola Preta” street carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, on February 9, 2013. According to Rio’s tourism office, Rio’s street Carnival this year will consist of 492 block parties, attended by an estimated five million Carnival enthusiasts. (Photo Credit: AP/Felipe Dana)A man paints a Carnival float sculpture at the Grande Rio Samba school in Rio de Janeiro, on January 22, 2013. It’s from warehouses like this one that Rio’s over-the-top glitz-and-glam Carnival parades emerge. The internationally renowned competition between 12 elite samba groups dazzles more than a billion spectators in person and on TV for two days, but it takes nearly a year and hundreds of workers, many of them volunteers, to pull each one together. (Photo Credit: AP/Felipe Dana)A reveler from the Vila Isabel samba school participates in the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, on February 12, 2013. (Photo Credit: Reuters/Sergio Moraes)
