Rio's dazzling Carnival parade resumes after pandemic hiatus

Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival parade have returned after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19-pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Rio de Janeiro’s top samba schools began putting on their delayed Carnival parades late Friday, the first after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19-pandemic.

The schools colorful floats and flamboyant dancers began entering the Sambadrome grounds to parade before tens of thousands of fans on the first evening of the two-night spectacle.

Ketula Melo, 38, a muse in the Imperatriz Leopoldinense school dressed as the Iemanja deity of Afro-Brazilian religions, was thrilled to go to the Sambadrome.

“These two years were horrible. Now we can be happy again,” Melo said as she was about to enter, wearing a black and white costume made of shells that barely covered her body.