For those who like to party, Carnaval.com networks with cities that will stage colorful parades and balls during the season that precede Ash Wednesday, on March 8, when Lent begins.

Carnaval 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, March 4-8, anticipates the 500^th anniversary of the country on April 22, and the Brazilian city's samba schools are going all out with parade themes that capture "the ancient world's spirit of chaotic collective delirium." You'll encounter the boys and the girls, the drag queens and the floats by clicking on Pictours of Carnival. Or, romp on Ipanema Beach with Fred the Dog. Alex de Oliveira must pull a lot of weight in Rio, because he's been selected for yet another year as the King of Carnaval. Maybe he manufactures thongs, which must be big business in Rio, judging by the Best of Brazil's Carnaval Parade and Rio, where the Girls from Ipanema can be seen at their best. 123-rio.com is a comprehensive source of information about Carnaval and the city of Rio.

Epinions.com takes a serious look at the more troubled side of Rio, with features by leading travel writers. A colleague of mine was mugged in Rio, but he has a habit of being mugged wherever he goes anyway.

Wonderful Green Inferno scenes of wildlife and inhabitants are seen in Brazil's Amazon Jungle.

Carnival in Trinidad, March 6 and 7, claims to be the sexiest music-filled event in the Caribbean. "Unlike Rio, where visitors watch the famous samba schools do their thing, or New Orleans, where heavy drinking blurs the edges, Trinidad's carnival demands participation," planners say. Calypso music fills the air in downtown Port of Spain and competitions are held. An open-party atmosphere is promised. The Trinidad Cityguide offers a history of the island, and everything possible you would want to know if you attend Carnival.

Romance and elegance, what else, characterize the Venice Carnival Feb. 25 to March 7. Parties and masked balls in the palaces and alongside the canals, with fireworks, heighten the festivities. The reflected canal water of Carnival of Venice will make you drool to be there when you read all about it. The Carnival presents a brief history that chronicles the custom of wearing masks. Carnival Programm 2000 lists events. The Gateway to Venice is a virtual slide show tour of the activities.

The Fasching Carnival in Munich is one that I have experienced first-hand, having attended it several times. A kind of free-for-all sexual atmosphere pervades in the round of parties that goes on for weeks in nightspots and hotels. "Fasching babies" are part of the lore. Fasching in other parts of Germany is possibly more family-oriented, as shown in a tourist's Meinz parade pictures.

Carnival New Orleans takes a virtual tour back to the second century in Rome, when the early Christians apparently got nostalgic for the pagan gods Bacchus and Venus as the 40 days of fasting that precede Easter approached. Derived from the Latin words carnis (flesh) and vale (farewell), the Carnival custom spread through Europe, and was introduced to New Orleans in 1827 by students returning from France. Hence, the name Mardi Gras, from the French phrase for Fat Tuesday. Like Fasching in Germany, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans officially begins on the twelfth night after Christmas and lasts until Shrove Tuesday. An elaborate social structure in New Orleans involves membership by invitation only in krewes, which will stage their parades Feb. 5-16 in the midst of fancy-dress balls.

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