Flying sludge, healing mud at Brazil Carnival beach party

PARATY, Brazil - Hundreds of revelers wrestled, tackled each other and threw chunks of gunk while dancing to samba and reggaeton on Saturday at a Carnival beach party where clothes were optional but the mud was not.

The annual "Bloco da Lama", or "Mud Party", in the coastal town about a 4 hour drive from Rio de Janeiro got started when Alesandra Cristiana was the first person to jump into thick black mud in an area of mangroves the size of several soccer fields.

With the tropical sun blasting a 35C heat, dozens of onlookers then followed her lead, soon followed by a few hundred.