RIO DE JANEIRO – 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 topless, 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."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was to attend Sunday night's parade -- the first time he has joined the Rio festivities since taking office in 2003.
All of Brazil has thrown itself into the partying with gusto, setting aside for the duration of the pre-Lent Carnival the deepening impact of the global economic crisis, and chronic crime.
Foreigners, though, were extra cautious in Rio despite the deployment of 9,800 police to boost security.
Nearly 100 had been victims of robbers, most of them armed gangs, in the lead-up to the festivities.
In two of the worst cases, gangs trussed up all the guests of two city hostels at gunpoint, stealing cash, iPods and cameras in pre-dawn raids from nearly 50 tourists.
New mayor Eduardo Paes tried to minimize the violence when he opened the partying on Friday, saying Rio was "the best city in the world to have fun during Carnival."
Crime, though, is the biggest stumbling block to Rio de Janeiro's bid to win the 2016 Olympic Games.
Paes has thrown himself behind the campaign, which, if successful, would bring $14.4 billion of improvements to the city -- and bring the Olympics to South America for the first time.
The head of the tourist police, Fernando Veloso, was confident.
"I think Rio will be prepared, very well prepared. One or two cases won't ruin Rio's image. There is always a problem of some sort. But every big city has problems," he told AFP.
Foreigners said they were aware of the risk, but they were not dissuaded from joining the partying.
"I think the most tourist zone is not so dangerous, and I don't go to the most dangerous zones," Thomas Spagnolatti, a 35-year-old Italian tourist sitting in a Copacabana beach cafe, said.
"We live in London, so you're kind of used to the danger of watching your back. You have to be quite vigilant there anyway. I think obviously if someone comes in and holds a knife or gun up to you, then you just give them your money don't you? I don't know. We tried not to bring too many valuables with us," said Jessica Bowen, sitting in another cafe with her boyfriend.
In Rio's many street parties, the emphasis was on sweaty, alcohol-fueled fun. Tourists and locals danced as they filed behind trucks blaring foot-stomping rhythms, often wearing little more than shorts and bikinis.
The exuberance was just as grand at exclusive fetes where fancy-dress and black-tie guests paid up to hundreds of dollars to get in.
At the most luxurious of them all, at the top Copacabana Hotel on Saturday night, Brazilian models, TV stars, business tycoons and well-heeled foreigners danced to dawn in stylized debauchery.
The Brazilian government is doing all it can to temper the risks of Carnival's sexual fervor, handing out 59 million free condoms across the country.
But when the partying is done, Brazil is going to come back to reality with a jolt.
The financial and economic crisis is leaving an increasing number of corporate casualties.
Embraer, Brazil's aircraft manufacturer, announced on Carnival's eve it was laying off more than 4,000 workers. Other big companies are poised to follow suit.
The consequences are likely to be worse than any hangover -- and maybe sobering enough to make many here think back on this Carnival as the last carefree party for some time to come.
