Encarnación Carnival is so big and so vibrant that many Paraguayans and visitors from all over the world call it the best carnival on the continent after Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Competing groups called comparsas spend months before carnival sewing their costumes by hand - enormous feathered headdresses, sparkling bodices, and sequinned capes that can weigh up to 20 kilograms.
The parade route, known as the sambodromo, is lined with spectators who cheer, dance, and wave as the comparsas go past. Each group has its own theme, music, and choreography - judges score them on everything from the coordination of the dancers to the quality of the costumes and the originality of their story. Winning the carnival is a huge honour for the whole group.
Behind the scenes, carnival is a community effort. Grandmothers and children sew alongside professional costume designers; drummers practise for months to get their rhythms perfectly synchronised; float builders construct enormous moving sculptures from papier-mâché, wire, and paint. Almost everyone in the city is involved in some way.