Rio's Carnival features host of parties

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Several blocos, or street parties, were being held in Rio de Janeiro Sunday to mark the second official day of Carnival.

Millions of revelers will fill the streets of Rio for a host of parties, including the popular Simpatia E Quase Amor, The Rio Times reported. The party, the name of which translates to "Kindness and Almost Love," is based at Praca General Osorio in Ipanema.

A sequence of blocos will take place in the afternoon in Rio's party district Lapa: Dragao da Riachuelo, Banda dos Invalidos and Banda da Amizade.

In the south zone of Rio, Academicos do Vidigal, a bloco the Times said is popular with tourists, is held on Avenida Delfim Moreira, Leblon. The party is in its 16th consecutive year.

Later in the evening, Bloco Banda Atlantica in Copacabana and Folioes de Botafogo in Botafogo will take place. Folioes de Botafogo has been a regular at Carnival since 1950 and is one of Rio's more traditional blocos, the Times said.