One of the world's biggest and best-known celebrations wrapped up this week in Rio with record temperatures (soaring to 106 Fahrenheit on Tuesday!) as the mayhem of Carnival slowly came to an end. Over 700,000 visitors came to the city (including a few celebrities like Madonna, Beyonce and Paris Hilton) to join in the five nights of street parties, open-air concerts, costume balls and brilliant parades taking place in the custom-built Sambadrome. Local officials estimate some 2.5 million feted Carnival in Rio, and this year the city made efforts to bring more orderliness to the often chaotic celebration, adopting the motto "choque de ordem" (the shock of order). Only licensed vendors were allowed to sell beer and other drinks at street parties, and the city installed some 4000 portable toilets around Rio in an effort -- largely successful -- to combat the rivers of urine that sometimes accompany the 20,000-strong block parties (the city also took a tough stance on revelers who chose to relieve themselves outside of these chemical bathrooms, arresting over 300 this year). It was Rio's first Carnival since winning the bid to host the 2016 Olympics, and the city seemed determined to prove that it could properly manage such massive gatherings.

Carnival hasn't officially started here in Rio, but the revelry has already been underway for days. Beginning last week, the first big street parties kicked off, filling many neighborhoods with revelers singing and dancing down the avenues. These are Rio's street parades -- known locally as bandas and blocos -- and are open to all who want to join the party. All you have to do is show up.

Despite their earliest appearance in the 19th century, until recently, there were only a handful of these street parades still going on around town, and most visitors described Salvador in Bahia as the home of true street carnival. (Their disappearance from Rio coincided with the opening of the Sambadrome in 1984, where the colorful samba school parades became the raison d'etre for Carnival.) All that has changed dramatically in the last ten years, as Carnival has returned to the streets with some 465 -- nearly double the number from 2009 -- free music and dance celebrations happening throughout the city this year. (Copacabana alone will host some 55 street parades.) All in all, the city predicts a turnout of 2.5 million people attending the celebrations.

It's summertime in Rio de Janeiro, which brings hot, humid days--sometimes of breathtaking intensity. Afternoon thunderstorms provide occasional relief, though these often erupt without warning, sending everyone scattering for cover under the awning of the nearest juice bar as the skies open up.

Summer also coincides with the tremendous spectacle of Carnival, held in Rio on the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. This year, Carnival officially begins on Friday, February 12th, when the mayor gives the keys of the city to King Momo, the portly pleasure-seeker who ushers in the bacchanalia. The next four days are marked by neighborhood parties, lavish masked balls, open-air concerts on stages all over town and the all-night Technicolor parades held in the specially designed Sambadrome.

When I arrived in mid-January, the city was on holiday for the patron saint of Rio, Sao Sebastiao (the city still has many holidays that revolve around Catholic traditions, Carnival being the best known). Rua Visconde de Piraja, a normally bustling thoroughfare through Ipanema, was empty. Meanwhile a few streets over, the long narrow shoreline was packed. From the rocky outcropping overlooking Ipanema beach, all I could see was a dense mass of yellow umbrellas, with vendors barking their wares ('Agua! Mate! Cerveja!'; water, sweet tea, beer) as they wound through a maze of beach chairs and supine sunbathers, racing children and arcing soccer balls. Cyclists and joggers sped along the beachside path, which appeared to run like a straight line into the magnificent green peaks of Dois Irmaos ('two brothers') rising majestically in the distance.