Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest of the world. It borders with Uruguay in the South; Argentina and Paraguay in the Southwest; Bolivia and Peru in the West; Colombia in the Northwest; and Venezuela, Suriname and the Guyanas in the North. It shares its borders with every country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile. It has a population of over 178 million. The official language is Portuguese.
Almost all of Brazil is south of the equator, hence their seasons are the opposite of the North American Continent.
The Portuguese Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovered Brazil in 1500 and they started to colonize it. From the 1500’s to the 1800’s, millions of African slaves were brought to Brazil, and the Portuguese had children by both Indian and Negro women.
Coffee and sugar are the leading products. Today, technology, hydroelectric power and factories are also part of their economy, as well as precious stones and gold.
Rio de Janeiro is the major port and cultural center. It is the largest city after Sao Paolo, with a population of over six million people. It is renowned for its beauty and striking natural settings. It used to be one of the major tourist attractions in the world, but crime in the city -especially muggings to tourists- had made it less appealing in the last years.
Rio, as it is called by the cariocas, was the capital of Brazil until 1960, when the seat of government was moved inland to the new city of Brasilia. It boasts the busiest port of the country, in the Bay of Guanabara, which is crossed by the 14 km. long Rio-Niteroi Bridge, the longest bridge in the world.
My wife and I visited Brazil in March of 2007 spending a few days in Rio, another one in Buzios and then traveled to Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires. Iguazu and Buenos Aires deserve separate articles.
Rio de Janeiro is, undoubtedly, the most beautiful city that we gave ever visited, but the fear of being mugged doesn’t allow you to enjoy the city as much as you would love to. We stayed at a fine hotel right across the street from Copacabana beach and were afraid to come out at night. A couple of tourists that we met there told us their experiences with young muggers. We were always walking watching everybody around us and keeping my cameras under the shirt.
The Forte de Copacabana is well worth a visit. This is where you get to take the classical photo of Copacabana Beach that you see on postcards. From here we walked a few blocks to Ipanema Beach, which also disappointed us a little bit as it is full of locals only. That night we ate at the Carretao, a typical rodizio. This is a steakhouse that serves barbecue on an all-you-can-eat basis. Tender, juicy, delicious cuts of beef cooked to perfection and served by skilled professional that seem tireless. They give you a round ticket that is green on one side and red on the other. As long as the green side is shown on your table, the waiters keep coming one after the other offering all kinds of meat, sausages, chicken hearts and other goodies. All this is complimented with a vast array of buffet-style salad and soup bar. The price is only $13.00.
Saturday morning, after breakfast, we were picked up at the hotel and taken to the base of the Corcovado Mountain where we rode a cog-rail train for about 20 minutes to the top. The mountain has an altitude of more than 2,000 feet, from where you can have spectacular views of the city below, including the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon ,the Lagoon and Sugar Loaf. And then there is the 120 feet high statute of Christ the Redeemer. The huge statue is lighted and night and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city and from many miles off shore.
From there we went to visit the world’s largest jewel manufacturer, H. Stern, where we were welcomed with a typical Brazilian drink, called caipirinha, and then were given a tour of one of the floors where workers were sorting, cutting and assembling jewels of all kinds. On another floor there are more than 100 sales people. Bruni “needed” a pair of emerald earring and they were glad to charge my credit card
That night we joined a group of tourists in a van and enjoyed another delicious rodizio and the best samba show in Rio, called Plataforma. This show is magnificent with over 100 performers. The music, the dances, the acts and the $10,000.00 dresses were spectacular.
Sunday morning we took another tour to Sugar Loaf. This site is really composed of two mountains and we had to take two different cable cars to the top, where the 360 view of the city is even better.
At night we joined another group and watched a soccer game at Maracana Stadium, the largest in the world with a capacity of 198,000 fans.
We booked yet another tour with our friend Ademir, this time to the town of Buzios. This quiet village was kept secret for many years until Brigitte Bardot, the famous French movie star, made a movie there in 1964, transforming it into the spectacular beach resort that it is today. Buzios had been nominated one of the 10 most beautiful places in the world. It boasts 20 beaches, including one for nudists. It has now over 100 inns and hotels and many fine restaurants, art galleries and boutiques. The boulevard along the downtown beach is very picturesque. It has a bronze statue of Brigitte sitting down and also another one called “the three fishermen” that depicts three men inside the water.
All in all, this part of Brazil was fantastic. It really deserved a much longer stay. But we had to depart for Iguazu. That will probably be my next blog.
I hope that you liked this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment