Carnatal 2006

Natal-Brazil.com attended Carnatal 2006, on Dec. 3rd.
From year to year, there are small differences (usually, improvements on the previous year); the report below, however, gives a good idea of what is Carnatal.

The tour. As in previous years, the Carnatal tour is about 3,800 meters long; the Corredor da Folia has 400 meters, and the blocos pass twice through it. The organization distributed some very good maps of the tour, but they don't get very readable when scanned.
The official Carnatal site has a flash version of the tour. From the homepage, place the mouse over "Evento", then move to "Percurso", click on it and wait for the animation.

The Blocos.

Corredor da Folia, the Corridor of Party.

Party in the streets.