When I got back to the States, everyone asked me, "How was Carnival?" All I can say is that 1. It was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen, and 2. Everyone should go if they can.

I realized I actually knew very little about Carnival in Rio before going. It turns out that of Rio's 100+ samba schools, only 12-13 make it to the Special Group, and get to parade in the Sambadrome during the week of Carnival at part of a competition (another 12-13 also perform before them). Carnival begins on Friday and ends on Ash Wednesday, with the main parades on Sunday and Monday, and a Winners' Parade that happens on the Saturday after the carnival ends. Many of the samba schools have over 4,000 particpiants, and are expected to spend up to $3-5 million to dance down the magnificent Sambadrome, a runway of building that stretches about half a mile.

The parade nights run from 10 pm till 6 am, and people dress up in bright and crazy colors to party through the night.

Before we went, we were told our costumes were "...very sober."

The Sambadrome is broken into sections, and each section also has a suite/box that gives attendees a different view of the parade, and sometimes access to the ground level. There are also clubs that have exclusive access and ground level views. You can also buy tickets to be a part of the Samba performance.

At the beginning of each parade, there's a line of people who intro the parade, and a flag bearer who waves (from what I could tell) the Samba school's flag with her partner.

Each of the parades are themed, with floats and costumes that match, and each school has an hour to dance down the 700-meter stretch of runway.

The first school's theme was very obviously China.

The second was harder to discern. Something around Africans in Brazil, maybe?

Everyone's costumes are beautifully elaborate.

People dance on top of the floats, and even run around them upside down, in an effort to impress the judges and make it to the Winners' Parade.

On most of the floats, there are a handful people who feature at the front (and back) of the floats, and they are often wearing elaborate feathers.

All the floats are powered by people, from the counter-balances to the individually moving parts.

They're even pushed by a row of people, who are signaled by other people how far to push.

The whole thing is extravagant and phenomenal. And there are people who serve you ice cream to boot.

Around 3 am, we decided that we should probably head out to make the most of our last day in Rio, even though there were 2 schools left to Samba.

As we left the Sambadrome, we saw some people holding costumes walking in a certain direction, and decided to follow them. We turned, and saw the line of schools waiting to get their shot in the arena.