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Sights in Salvador's Cidade Baixa
Cidade Baixa and Cidade Alta. Photo © Fernando Dall’Acqua, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
Sadly, the Cidade Baixa, Salvador’s port and commercial district, has seen better days. The area is a mélange of decaying historic buildings (some of them formerly quite grandiose), the odd colo
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East of Fortaleza: Exploring Aquiraz, Beberibe, and Canoa Quebrada
Praia das Fontes. Photo © Rodrigo Sampaio Teixeira, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
Fortaleza’s urban beaches look good and are certainly fun to stroll, loll, or snooze on. When it comes to actually going swimming, however, it’s better to head beyond the urban sprawl. The coastline running
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Safety Issues: How Safe is Brazil?
As someone who lives in Brazil, and writes about Brazil, one of the most frequent questions I get from non-Brazilians is “How safe is it?” I’m always stumped as to how to answer this question. Rather, I’m stumped as to how to offer a succinct and simple answer.
There is a lot more to Brazil than
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Ilha Grande and Ilha Gipóia in Brazil's Angra Bay
Ihla Grande has hundreds of pristine beaches. Photo © mk30, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
The largest of the many beautiful islands in the Bay of Angra, Ilha Grande boasts more than 100 pristine white-sand beaches, many of which—like the stunning praias of Lopes Mendes, Cachadaço, Saco do
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Bonito: One of Brazil's Top Ecotourism Destinations
Fish in the clear waters of Rio Formoso in Bonito. Photo © Jorge in Brazil, licensed Creative Commons attribution.
In Portuguese, bonito means “beautiful,” and the name is certainly an apt one for this patch of paradise on the southern fringe of the Pantanal. One of Brazil’s hippest ecotouris
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Paraty, Brazil: Exploring a Colonial Jewel
During the off-season, colonial Paraty is languorous without being dull. Photo © Rodrigo Soldon, licensed Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivatives.
Lying halfway between Rio and São Paulo, set amid blue ocean and jagged green mountains, Paraty is one of the most charismatic colonial towns you’l
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When Lightning Strikes
Lightning strikes in Rio. View from near Copacabana beach.Photo by Laszlo Ilyes licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
I always take comfort in the fact that Brazil is spared the types of natural catastrophes that afflict many other countries. Tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, blizzards,
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What to See in Salvador's Barra Neighborhood
Praia do Farol da Barra. Photo © Roberto Sabino, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
At the end of Corredor de Vitória—bracketed by a McDonald’s on one side and the gleaming white Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vitória—the descent from Avenida Sete de Setembro begins a steep plunge toward the livel
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SESC and the City
This week, The New York Times’ former Brazilian correspondent, Larry Rohter, published an inspiring profile on Brazil’s SESC system. SESC – which stands for Serviço Social de Comércio (Social Service of Commerce) – happens to be Brazil’s leading arts financing entity.
Created in 1946, SESC is a pr
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Brasília's Top Sights
Pay homage to Brasília’s founder at Niemeyer’s Memorial JK. Photo © Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
It will take you a full day at minimum to visit Brasília’s architectural marvels. Although most are located along the Eixo Monumental, its length, coupled with t
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For the Love of Travel (a trip to Diamantina)
Photo © Michael Sommers.
As anyone who’s ever done it can attest, falling in love is a lot like traveling to a new, previously unexplored country. Along with the thrill, wonder, and adrenaline-filled sense of adventure, there are recognizable signposts, moments of déjà vu, of shocking familiarity,
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Alcântara, Brazil: A Hauntingly Beautiful Colonial Town
Photo © Fernanda Gonçalves, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
Across the Baía de São Marcos from São Luís—about 1.5 hours by boat—lies the hauntingly beautiful colonial town of Alcântara. Founded in 1648, its picturesque hilltop was the favored dwelling place of Maranhão’s wealthy sugar and c
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Magic Carpets of Minas Gerais
Photo © Michael Sommers.
For years now, one of the Brazilian spectacles I’ve longed to witness are the “tapetes de serragem” (sawdust carpets) that decorate the streets of a handful of Minas Gerais´ colonial towns during the major Catholic religious festivals of Easter and Corpus Christi.
In fact,
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Shopping in Fortaleza, Brazil
The Mercado Central in Fortaleza. Photo © Ian Welch, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
Ceará is renowned for the variety and quality of its traditional artesanato, and Fortaleza is a good place to stock up on pieces to add to your burgeoning folk art collection. You’ll find lots of wood carvi
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Journey to the Quilombo of Quartel do Indaiá, Part 1
Photo © Michael Sommers.
Last weekend, when my boyfriend’s housemate, Nadia, invited me to accompany her on a trip to visit a quilombola community 50 km from Diamantina, I jumped at the chance.
The Brazilian term quilombo comes from kilombo, an expression that, in the Kimbundu language spoken by v
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Journey to the Quilombo of Quartel do Indaiá, Part 2
When my boyfriend’s housemate, Nadia, invited me to accompany her, and a colleague, Sílvio, on a trip to visit Quartel do Indaiá, a quilombola community 50 km from Diamantina, I jumped at the chance.
As I explained in Part 1 of this post, quilombo is a term of Bantu origin that is used to refer to
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A Quintet of Unmissable Brazilian Markets
Photo © Michael Sommers.
This week I was passing through Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, and I had a couple of hours to kill between my bus from Diamantina and my flight to Salvador. Without thinking twice, I stashed my bags at a gigantic storage locker in the central Rodoviária (bus stat
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Sights in São Paulo's Parque do Ibirapuera
This sweeping 160-hectare (395-acre) expanse of green is popular with tanners, readers, and picnickers. Photo © Rodrigo Soldon, licensed Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivatives.
Paulistanos’ equivalent of Central Park is Parque do Ibirapuera (entrances on Av. Pedro Alvares Cabral, Av. Repúblic
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Sights along São Paulo's Avenida Paulista
Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Photo © Rodrigo Soldon licensed, Creative Commons Attribution.
While Paris has the Champs-Élysées and New York boasts Fifth Avenue, São Paulo wouldn’t be São Paulo without Avenida Paulista. In comparison to these other two famous main drags, Avenida Paulista is mor
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Sights in São Paulo's Pinheiros and Vila Madalena Bairros
The Instituto Tomie Ohtake. Photo © André Deak/Arte Fora do Museu, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
The major thoroughfare of Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima marks the southwestern frontier of Jardins. South lies the upscale commercial neighborhood of Itaim Bibi, where some of the city’s
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