South America's largest (and many would say sexiest) country has a lifetime's worth of experiences waiting, from the sands of Rio de Janeiro and modern architecture of Brasilia to the Amazon jungles, the wine country and cowboy culture of Rio Grande do Sul, and beyond.
Cover photo: CIFOR
Many years ago, my girlfriend and I were on a mini-golf course on Cape Cod when I heard people behind us speaking in an unfamiliar language. I said to Lisa, "what is that, Hebrew?" Highly amused, she - a Portuguese major in college - replied "no, silly, they´re from Brazil!" (of course I did feel silly, but in my defense, at the time I was 19 and had not been exposed to many foreign languages beyond French, German, and Spanish). In the years to come, I too studied Portuguese a bit, and during…
Read more…dabidy I don´t have to tell you that Rio knows how to party, and Copacabana Beach hosts one of the most famous New Year's Eve celebrations (known here as Reveillon) in the world, attracting millions of revelers (many dressed in white for good luck). The night features breathtaking fireworks over the ocean, live music, and samba dancing, along with an especially local twist: Tossing flowers into the water as offerings to Yemanjá, the goddess of the sea. But be sure to get there early to…
Read more…Sarah BrownThough most famous for Carnival, golden beaches, and world-famous landmarks, the real heart of Rio de Janeiro, for those in the know, lies in its downtown, most notably in Saúde, Gamboa, and the surrounding neighbourhoods hard by the port. For it’s this area that’s steeped in a complex history that dates back half a millennium to the Portuguese colonisers’ founding of Rio and the centuries of brutal slavery which followed.A good place to start is Praça Mauá, a once rundown square…
Read more…Amazon Nature Tours I am a hiker. But at home no one uses a machete to blaze the trail prior to walking on it as did our guide Souza, creating a path in the overgrown rainforest step by step. Slicing, swatting, swooping, chopping, no branch, bush, vine or twig was safe. The hike was one of four daily activities during our eight-day adventure exploring Brazil's Amazonia. Calling the Tucano, an 18-passenger river yacht operated by Amazon Nature Tours home, we traveled over 200 miles along the…
Read more…You need to be a member of Tripatini to add comments!
Comments are closed.
Comments
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next