G.R.E.S Unidos do Porto da Pedra has topped Série Ouro, the second league of samba schools, with its samba “A Invenção da Amazônia”. The school will now parade with the elite schools of the Grupo Especial in 2024.

The samba was based around a book by Jules Verne published as “La Jangada” in French in 1881, and “Eight Hundred Leagues of the Amazon” in English.

It was Porto da Pedra and its returning carnavaleso, Mauro Quintaes,  that featured the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs in its carnival samba “Samba No Pé e Mãos ao Alto isto é um Assalto” (Samba On Your Feet and Hands Up. This is a Robbery) back in 1998 in Grupo Especial..