RIO DE JANEIRO. - Mayor if the Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes handed the keys of the city to corpulent clown King Momo in the presence of residents and guests. The Rio de Janeiro Carnival officially started.

On Thursday Rio de Janeiro’s Samba school will give a performance and from Saturday the whole city will live in Carnival.

According the Rio’s Association of Hotel businesses (ABIH-RJ), 95 per cent of the hotels are already full. The carnival will officially end on Ash Wednesday- February 22 a day of mourning and repentance when the Catholic Church begins Lent.