Visit Brazil -the cradle of samba and football🥰

Visit Brazil – Brazil is special. You’ll notice the energy soon after arriving. In typical “only in Brazil” fashion you may quickly find yourself playing foosball with the lead singer of Sepultura and dancing samba until sunrise.

And yes, it’s true: Brazilians are friendly, beautiful, football-crazed and they know how to party. It’s a huge country (larger than the United States excluding Alaska) with all the diverse scenic and cultural variety you’d expect, from Bahian beaches to Amazonian jungles.

But Brazil isn’t all Club Med and Indiana Jones – it’s cosmopolitan too. Rio and São Paulo are two of the world’s great metropolises and eleven other cities each have over a million inhabitants.

Brazilians are one of the most ethni- cally diverse peoples in the world: in the extreme south, German and Italian immigration have left distinc-tive European features; São Paulo has the world’s largest Japanese community outside Japan; there’s a large black population concentrated in Rio and Salvador; and Indian influence is pervasive in Amazônia and the North-eastern interior.

Brazil is a land of economic contradictions. It has enormous natural resources, and rapid postwar industrialization made it one of the world’s ten largest economies and put it among the most developed Third World nations.

But this hasn’t improved the lives of many of its citizens: there may be a growing middle class, but cities are still dotted with favelas and the contrast between rich and poor is glaring.

Be prepared for requests for your leftovers. Nowhere, however, do people know how to enjoy themselves more – most famously in the orgiastic annual fourday celebrations of Carnaval, but also reflected in the lively year-round nightlife you’ll find almost everywhere.

Brazil has the most relaxed and tolerant attitude to sexuality, straight and gay, of anywhere in South America.

And the country’s hedonism also manifests itself in a highly developed beach culture, superb music and dancing, and rich regional cuisines. No, this isn’t paradise, but it does feel like it sometimes.

Arrival

There are direct flights to Rio and São Paulo from Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as from most major cities elsewhere in South America.

Brazil has a very well developed network of domestic flights, so you can easily connect straight through to your final destination.

Overland crossings to Brazil are possible from every South American country except Chile, Ecuador and Suriname. The first two have no land borders with Brazil and Suriname, while adjacent, has no official crossing.

Flights from Santiago, Quito and Paramaribo, however, depart for most major cities in Brazil. If you do decide to enter the country overland, remember that Brazil is a vast place – crossing points can be very remote from your final destination.

CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE

The official and most widely spoken language in Brazil is Portuguese. Educated Brazilians usually speak some English, and there are plenty of Spanish speakers, but knowing Spanish is of limited help in inter-preting spoken Portuguese. You will do yourself a huge favour and likely make several new friends if you learn some Portuguese words. Even a little effort goes a long way.

On the whole, Brazilians are very friendly, open people (you’ll be minded to your stop by passengers on public transportation if you ask for help). The pace differs depending on the region. In major cities things operate fairly quickly and on a schedule. Things work in the Northeast too, but in their own special way – you’re better off slowing to their pace.

Though attitudes vary regionally, in general it is true that Brazilians are remarkably open with their sexuality. Brazil’s reputation as a sex destination is not completely without merit prostitution is legal and you’ll see love motels (hourly rates) everywhere.

Have fun but be careful – there are plenty of what locals call ‘gringo-hunters,’ Brazilians looking for foreign passports, and not every lady of the night is actually a lady (as AC Milan striker Ronaldo could attest in May, 2008).

Whatever you do, use protection (a condom is a camisinha): about a third of the people with HIV in Latin America live in Brazil (an estimated 620,000 in 2005). And don’t make too many assumptions. While known for being accepting of alternative sexualities during Carnaval, Latin machismo still applies here and Brazilians can be as bigoted against gays and lesbians as anybody.

Food and drink

Brazil has four main regional cuisines: comida mineira, from Minas Gerais, is based mainly on pork with imagi-native vegetable use and thick bean sauces; comida baiana (see p.317), from Bahia, has a rich seafood base and an abundance of West African ingredients;

comida do sertão, from the interior of the Northeast, relies on rehydrated dried or salted meat and regional fruits, beans and tubers; and comida gaúcha from Rio Grande do Sul, the world’s most carnivorous diet, revolves around charcoal-grilling every meat imaginable.

Alongside regional restaurants, there is a standard fare available everywhere: steak (bife) or chicken (frango), served with arroz e feijão (rice and beans) and often with salad, fries and farinha, dried manioc (cassava) flour that you sprinkle over everything. Farofa is toasted farinha, and usually comes with onions and bits of bacon mixed in.

Feijoada is the closest Brazil comes to a national dish: a stew of pork, sausage and smoked meat cooked with black beans and garlic, garnished with slices of orange. Eating it is a national ritual at weekends, when restaurants serve feijoada all day.

There are more fruits than there are English words for them. Some of the fruit any time of day. You’ll also find cheap and excellent street food like salgados (savoury snacks): pão de queijo (cheese profiteroles), pastel (fried pastry with meat or cheese filling) and coxinha (minced or shredded chicken, battered and fried) that can sate even the most voracious eaters and should be easily handled by most stomachs (conversely, beach shrimp-skewers might wisely be avoided).

If it’s sweets you’re after you’re in luck: ice cream, condensed milk puddings and pudim, condensed milk flan, are just a few of the treats you’ll find everywhere. Street markets are good for deals on fruit that make terrifi-cally cheap and exotic breakfasts – like a bag of maracuja, R$1.

SPORTS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Brazilian football (futebol) is globally revered and a privilege to watch. In fact, you won’t really have experienced Brazil until you’ve attended a match. Stadiums are spectacular sights, games enthral-ling, and crowds are wildly enthusiastic. The finest stadiums (estadios) are the temples of Brazilian football, Maracanã in Rio and the Art Deco Pacaembu in São Paulo, one of the world’s most beautiful.

Tickets are not expensive, ranging from R$20 to R$150 depending on whether you stand on the terraces (geral) or opt for stand seats (arquiban-cada) – major championship and international matches may cost more. Grounds are large and crowds usually below stadium capacity except for important matches, meaning you can usually pay at the turnstile (though there are long last-minute lines).

Regional rivalries are strong, and fans of visiting teams are seated separately from those of the home team and given different exit routes to prevent fighting.

For the most part it’s safe to attend – just don’t wear a visiting jersey or their colours unless you’re looking for trouble. In Rio, Flamengo and Fluminense have historically had the most intense rivalry in Brazilian club football and have long dominated carioca football. In São Paulo there is a similar rivalry between São Paulo and Corinthians.

But wherever you are, and whatever game you see, Brazilian football at its best can remind you why it’s known as ‘the beautiful game’.

Carnival

Carnaval is by far the most important festival in Brazil and when it comes, the country comes to a halt as it gets down to some of the most serious partying in the world. The most familiar and most spectacular celebration is in Rio, one of the world’s great sights,televised live to the whole country.

Rio de Janeiro

The citizens of RÍO DE JANEIRO call it the cidade marvilhosa – and there can’t be much argument about that. It’s a huge city with a stunning setting, extending along twenty kilometres of sandy coast,
sandwiched between an azure sea and jungle-clad mountains.

The city’s unusual name has a curious history: Portuguese explorers arriving at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on 1 January, 1502 thought they had discovered the mouth of an enormous river which they named the January River or Río de Janeiro. By the time the first settle-ment was established and the error was realized, the name had already stuck.

Although riven by inequality, Rio has great style. Its international renown is bolstered by a series of symbols that rank as some of the greatest landmarks in the world: the Corcovado mountain supporting the great statue of Christ the Redeemer; the rounded incline of the Sugarloaf mountain.

Visit Brazil- this giant country contains a long list of spectacular natural delights.

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