Larissa Neto, a muse of the Unidos da Tijuca Samba School, poses as she wears a carnival dress in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 3, 2016. Rio de Janeiro's carnival parades are known the world over for the glitz and glamour, high-tech allegorical floats and shimmering bodies, which battle it out each year for the championship title. Each school is fronted by the Queen of the Drums, who dances alongside the raging percussion, and her court of sparkling, sculpted dancers known as “muses”. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

Members of the Uniao da Ilha do Governador Samba School perform during the first day of the Special Group Samba Schools parade of Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 07 February 2016. (Photo by Luiz Eduardo Perez/EPA)

A reveller performs while attending the block party “Galo da Madrugada” during carnival festivities in Sao Paulo, Brazil on February 25, 2020. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Reuters)

Carnival revellers pose during the postponed “Rosenmontag” (Rose Monday) parade in Mainz, Germany, May 8, 2016, after the original parade in February was cancelled due to severe weather. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)

A man wearing a native costume named “Woman Carrying Husband” poses ahead of the Carnival in Sostanj January 15, 2015. Slovenians and members of various ethnological groups celebrate the annual carnival, also known locally as Pust, by wearing traditional masks and costumes to symbolically “chase away” the winter. Prust runs from February 7 to 17 this year. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)

A Brazilian Navy member ejects spent cartridges while shooting rubber bullets during an exhibition of their operational capacity to combat terrorist attacks and riots ahead of the FIFA Confederations Cup and World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro on May 27, 2013. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

“A Brazilian hotel was evacuated in the capital, Brasilia, on Monday after a man took hostage an employee who was held for hours before he was safely released to police. Firefighters and police cordoned off the area and about 300 guests and other employees left the hotel – some reportedly told to leave by the man who took the employee hostage”. – Associated Press. (Photo by Evaristo Sa/AFP Photo)

Just a week before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America's first Olympics, city residents expressed mixed feelings about the cost and security of the Games, while holding out hope they will bring joy to a nation facing economic and political crises. The conflicted thoughts mirror a recent survey by the Datafolha polling group showing that half of Brazilians were opposed to holding the Games, while 63 percent think the costs of hosting the event will outweigh benefits. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)