Brazil Carnival 2009

Brazil's five-day Carnival got into high gear Sunday with its famous parades in Rio de Janeiro adding choreographed extravagance on top of lusty street parties and fancy-dress balls already underway.

Locals, tourists and television audiences around the world were to be treated to thousands of dancers and the drum bands from the city's samba schools marching behind sequined beauties for two nights of colorful processions.

The parades, a carefully timed competition that comes at the mid-point of Carnival, mark the climax of what all of Rio calls "the greatest show on Earth."