Brazil is well-known for containing the majority of the Amazon River Basin, which ranks as the world's largest tropical rainforest. Eco-tourists flock to the region for its incomparable biodiversity and exotic beauty. Pictured is an aerial view of the Mato Grosso/Para state border in Brazil's Amazon Basin. Zuma Press/Newscom/File
Held before Lent each year, the world-famous Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is considered the biggest carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets. Here, revelers of the Vila Isabel samba school participate in the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome on March 6. Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters/File
Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue is 130 feet tall and stands atop the peak of Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. Designed by Heitor da Silva Costa and sculpted by Paul Landowski out of reinforced concrete and soapstone, it was constructed between 1922 and 1931. Felipe Dana/AP/File
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) is a 1,299-foot monolithic 'morro' of granite and quartz that rises straight from the water's edge in Rio de Janeiro. Visitors can ride a cable car to the summit and watch rock climbers scale the mountain. Douglas Engle/AP/File
The famous Rio de Janeiro beach neighborhood of Copacabana was just a small fishing village until a new highway changed the face of it in the 1900s. Now it plays host to world class pop music concerts, New Year's Eve celebrations, and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. DanitaDelimont.com/Newscom/File
A shrine to soccer, the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA world cup. It is currently closed for renovations to prepare for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America, the 2016 Summer Olympics, and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. EFE/Marcelo Sayao/Newscom/File
The expensive Ipanema neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro became famous in 1962 with the bossa nova tune by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes called 'Girl from Ipanema.' Ipanema Beach is known as an elegant and social place, and was named by the Travel Channel as the world's sexiest beach. Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Newscom/File
A rainbow stretches across Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil's State of Parana and Argentina's province of Misiones in 2010. The falls are accessible from towns in both countries. Enrique Marcarian/Reuters
At 1,053 feet, the Morro do Pico is the highest point of the island of Fernando de Noronha in the archipelago of the same name in Pernambuco State. Below the waters of this maritime reserve are close to 230 species of fish and 15 types of coral, as well as sharks, turtles and dolphins.
This frieze high above the main auditorium in the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, was painted to look like the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. The opera house has withstood searing heat, unforgiving humidity, and relentless tropical downpours. It opened to an astounded audience in 1896 and has been renovated four times. Robert Harbison/Staff/File
The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas in Minais Gerais, south of Belo Horizonte, was built in the second half of the 18th century and has a magnificent, Italian-inspired Rococo interior and seven chapels illustrating the Stations of the Cross, with expressive polychrome sculptures by Aleijadinho.
New soccer stadiums dotting Brazil have become iconic of the frustration on the streets: The government is investing billions in sports but not schools or hospitals.
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