Click on one picture to view the whole gallery |
23.08.2007
Getting to Brazil …
A 20 hours travel took us from Santa Elene de Uairen, Venezuela, to Manaus, Brazil: first a collective taxi or “Por Puesto” to the border, where we got our exit stamp, then we walked a few hundred meters to the Brazilian side to fill out immigration documents. At this point we needed a treat and checked out the famous “Churrascaria de la Frontera”, a Brazilian All-You-Can-Eat restaurant. It is so popular and so good value that travelers who stay in Santa Helena take a taxi across the border to fill up for 4 Euros. We immediately...[more] Category: Brazil
24.08.2007
One night at the Opera … in Manaus
From the beginning, it was clear to us that we would not do a Jungle Tour from Manaus but from Bolivia. That helped us stay clear of all the hawkers talking your head off. We thus had no great expectations, but we soon learned to enjoy this city in the middle of the Amazon, though the city itself is situated on the Rio Negro, which meets Rio Solimoes about 20km downriver from Manaus, and only then becomes the Amazon River. This “Meeting of the Rivers” or “Encontro das Aguas” is quite sensational, you can clearly see the line...[more] Category: Brazil
27.08.2007
Beautiful colonial Olinda
The good news is, there is a direct flight from Manaus to Recife … The bad news is, the plane stops at Santarém, Belem, Sao Luis & Fortaleza before reaching Recife, each a 50 minutes flight and every flight the same sandwich. When we arrived in Olinda at about 05:00 pm, without our luggage, thanks to TAM, we had been going for 13 hours. However, our backpacks were delivered to the hotel the same evening! Recife, a very modern city, has little to offer to the curious tourist, but so does its little sister Olinda, only six kilometers...[more] Category: Brazil
30.08.2007
First impressions of Fernando de Noronha
Two weeks before we actually went to Fernando de Noronha, we had never heard of this island, but fellow travellers in Venezuela raved about it. So we checked the ThornTree forum from Lonely Planet and no superlative seemed to be able to describe this island 17 km2 small 370 km east of Brazil shores: “most beautiful beaches”, “best diving spot in the world”, “a small place in paradise” … Prices quoted by local agencies were absurdly high, but we found a reasonably priced ticket (180 € roundtrip per person) on LastMinute.fr. When we...[more] Category: Brazil
31.08.2007
Four days on Fernando de Noronha
If you wonder what makes Fernando de Noronha such a desired holiday destination: it is a beautiful island with 11 golden sandy beaches without any people, great landscapes and very good snorkelling. Most of the island is a Marine National Park that is protected by IBAMA. They also run a project to save and protect turtles, including a museum and lectures. There is also a bay that is off-limit to the public where dolphins come to feed every morning and the rest of the day you may encounter them while taking a boat trip. So the...[more] Category: Brazil
04.09.2007
Salvador de Bahia: a tourist town!
Salvador is a must on every tourist´ agenda for many reasons. Firstly it hosts the second largest Carnival in Brazil, secondly for its old colonial historic centre, the Pelourinho and above all, its unique cultural background. Nowhere in the Americas have the descendants of African slaves preserved their culture more strongly than here! It is obvious in the music, the cuisine, the religion or types of dance of this Bahia town - at times we almost forgot that we were in Brazil! Given the fact that the tourists only gather in the...[more] Category: Brazil
05.09.2007
Highlights of Salvador de Bahia
There have been several highlights during our stay in Salvador de Bahia apart from visiting the Pelourinho … which is by the way far less interesting and not as well preserved than the colonial laid-back city of Olinda! One evening we spent at a Candomblé, a religious ceremony based on the culture, tradition and religion of the African slaves brought to Brazil that developed and survived in the African community. According to the Afro-Brazilian Museum, more than 4.5 million Africans were brought to Brazil as slaves until 1851, the...[more] Category: Brazil
07.09.2007
Relaxing in Morro de Sao Paolo
One of the things we did not want to miss while visiting Brazil was its beautiful, postcard-like beaches. We followed the recommendation of several fellow travellers and decided to head for Morro de Sao Paolo, an island two hours from Salvador by boat. On Wednesday, September 5th, we left from the Terminal Maritimo Turistico and took the rather pricy Catamaran to Morro de Sao Paolo. As the Lonely Planet warns, the sea can be real rough and after one hour almost everyone on the boat was seasick. Gilles was one a few exceptions and...[more] Category: Brazil
10.09.2007
Arriving in Rio de Janeiro
Going to Rio for the first time is simply exciting: will the city live up to its reputation and our expectations? After a few conversations with fellow travellers, we found out that flying in Brazil can be cheaper than taking a long distance bus. This is especially true on routes starting & going to Rio de Janeiro. So instead of spending 27 hours on a bus from Salvador, it took us 1 hour and 50 minutes and we actually even saved 12 Reals per person flying!!! Following the advice of a Lonely Planet ThornTree posting we checked into...[more] Category: Brazil
11.09.2007
Rio de Janeiro the Maravilhosa
We arrived on a Saturday, just in time to join in some of the typical weekend activities. One we learned of by chance, was eating Feijoda on a Saturday, a black bean stew with a variety of meats, like tongue and pork cut-offs. It is served with rice, fried manioc flour, a green vegetable called kale and pieces of oranges. Gilles simply loved it - hey, it was lots of meat! Heidi would prefer a vegetarian version. Well, the other is going to the beach, especially on weekends. Sunday we took the bus across town to the very end of...[more] Category: Brazil
12.09.2007
Visit to Rocinha
After visiting fancy Leblon & Ipanema, bohemian Santa Teresa, the busy Centro and other nice neighbourhoods in Zone Sul, we decided to see how the less fortunate inhabitants of Rio live. There are currently 500 favelas in Rio, all perched on mountain slopes, often very, very close to the most expensive neighbourhoods. For example from Leblon Beach you have a close-up view of the favela Vidigal. If you follow the costal road, past the Sheraton Hotel, you get to Rio’s largest favela, Rocinha, home to 180.000 people. We contacted Mr....[more] Category: Brazil
13.09.2007
Brazil: Budget
Brazil is definitely no longer a budget destination. This made us actually shorten our stay here and with lots of guilty feelings we decided to skip certain destinations such as the Chapada Diamantina National Parc or the whole Minais Gerais region to spend more time in cheaper countries such as Peru or Bolivia. One clear mistake was to follow the recommendation of several fellow travellers and several advices on the Lonely Planet ThornTree and go to the island of Fernando de Noronha east of Recife. This place is simply outrageously...[more] Category: Brazil, Budget
15.09.2007
Brazil: Summary
Those impressions will always stay in our mind when thinking of Brazil: (x) Its immense ethnic diversity: a Brazilian may look like somebody from Stockholm, from Spain, from Lagos, from Karachi, from Hanoi or from La Paz. Once we were riding the metro in Sao Paulo and looking around we decided nobody could just guess which country they were in! (x) The friendly and open-minded people of Brazil. (x) Some of the most incredible beaches. (x) Thumbs up or two thumbs up, without this Brazilians could not communicate agreement. (x)...[more] Category: Brazil, Summaries
|