rio de janeiro (4)

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by Sarah Brown

Though 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 SaúdeGamboa, 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 o

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The Art of Learning a New Language

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Sitting on the beach in a Brazilian bikini with the vocabulary of an infant, I could not help but feel like the epitome of a contradiction. At the age of 33, I was not thrilled to feel like a toddler again.

I loved to fantasize about myself at a fabulous Rio rooftop bar, making a charming joke about a local cultural nuance. But the agony of the years that stood between me and this image was overwhelming. This was definitely not the first time that I was trying to manifest the magazine image in

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Hidden deep inside another one of French designer Phillipe Stark’s hotels is the Spa at the Fasano Hotel. This hotel, built with core materials such as wood, glass and marble overlooks life-guard stand Posto 8 on Ipanema Beach. With its spirit of sophisticated casualness- in Havaiana flip-flips or Kenzo espadrilles- you will fit in no matter what your footwear. 

Albeit it is a warm 77F (25C), autumn is full swing here in Rio de Janeiro. I enter the lobby of this beachfront property after a morni

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Mari and I in Morro de São Paulo

My friend Mari and me in Morro de São Paulo

I came to Brazil for the first time alone in 2014. I love to learn languages and I had made several attempts at Spanish that never furnished the skills I had hoped for. So, I filled a backpack and headed to South America for a six-month trip. I had a rough idea of where I wanted to go, but the overall idea was to be alone so that I could be immersed in Spanish and return home with the capability of being charming at a dinner party in Mexico City (if tha

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