Members of Vila Isabel samba school perform during the second night of Rio's Carnival parade at the Sambadrome Marques de Sapucai in Rio de Janeiro on April 24. Photo: AFP
Rio de Janeiro's carnival, a glittering, sequin-studded festival of the flesh, exploded back to life recently with the first famed samba school parades since Covid-19 hit Brazil.
After two long years of face masks, social-distancing and death, a sparkling sea of dancers, drummers and multi-storey floats reclaimed the "Sambadrome," the iconic beach city's carnival parade venue, which had been turned into a drive-through vaccination centre at the height of the health crisis.
