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Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast
Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast
Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast
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Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast

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The best places to stay and eat in the Leewards are described here, with abundant pictures, often little-known except by celebrities and the wealthiest travelers. Anguilla, Barbuda, Antigua, Nevis, St. Barts, St. Kitts, St. Martin - all are described. Wit
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 24, 2010
ISBN9781588439550
Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast

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    Southeastern Brazil - John Waggoner

    Southeastern Brazil: Rio, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, the Sun Coast & the Green Coast

    John Waggoner

    Hunter Publishing, Inc.

    Introduction

    History

    Geography

    Language

    Population

    Culture

    Cuisine

    Travel Information

    Visa & Customs

    Airlines

    Money

    Gratuities

    Costs

    Time Zones

    Dialing Out

    Electric Current

    Health & Vaccinations

    Staying Safe

    Driving in Brazil

    Brazil’s Top 20

    Holidays

    Embassies & Consulates

    Information Sources

    The Southeast

    Road Trips

    Natural Wonders

    Coastal Resorts

    Land Adventures

    Sport Fishing

    Historical Sightseeing

    Culture & Nightlife

    Tips for Exploring the Southeast

    Rio & Surroundings

    Rio de Janeiro

    How to Get Here

    When to Go

    Getting Around

    Taxis

    Subway

    Buses

    Vans

    Driving

    For More Information

    Staying Safe

    Festivals & Events

    Carnival

    Blocos: Carnival in the Neighborhoods

    Samba Schools: Taking Frivolity Seriously

    New Year’s Eve

    Sightseeing

    Downtown

    Museums

    Landmarks

    Parks

    Historic Fortresses

    Museums

    Cultural Center

    Sightseeing in the Western Zone

    Museums

    Sightseeing in the Northern Zone

    Museums

    Sports

    Adventures

    Adventures on Wheels

    Adventures on Horseback

    Adventures on Water

    Adventures in the Air

    Adventures in the Trees

    Adventures on the Land

    What to Buy

    Street Fairs

    Arts & Crafts Shops

    Where To Stay

    Ipanema

    Leblon

    Botafogo

    Glória

    Bed and Breakfasts (Hostels)

    Apart-Hotels

    Where to Eat

    After Hours

    African

    Bahian

    Brazilian

    Cuban

    Minas Gerais

    Buffet by Kilo

    Italian

    Feijoada

    French

    German

    Middle Eastern

    Pizza

    Polish

    Northeastern Food

    Spanish

    Thai

    Varied

    Vegetarian

    Nightlife

    Nightclubs

    Dance Halls (Gafieiras)

    Classical Music

    Lapa: Latin America’s Hottest Nightlife

    Live Music

    Gay Nightlife

    Bars, Lounges & Botequins

    The Sun Coast

    Armação de Búzios, Arraial do Cabo & Cabo Frio

    How to Get Here

    When to Go

    Armação de Búzios

    Getting Around

    Currency Exchange

    Events & Festivals

    For More Information

    Sightseeing

    Adventures

    On Water

    Adventures on Land

    Where to Stay

    Spas

    Resort

    Nightlife

    Where to Eat

    Arraial do Cabo

    Getting Around

    Sightseeing

    Adventures on Land

    Scenic Ruins

    Nature Trails & Lookout Points

    Adventures on Water

    Beaches

    Diving

    Where to Stay

    Camping

    Where to Eat

    Cabo Frio

    Getting Around

    Sightseeing

    Museums

    Historic Churches

    Adventures on the Water

    Beaches

    Diving

    Sport Fishing

    Kitesurfing

    Adventures on Land

    Dunes

    Where to Stay

    Hotels & Pousadas

    Camping

    Where to Eat

    What to Buy

    The Green Coast

    When to Go

    How to Get Here

    Getting Around

    For More Information

    Resorts

    Ilha Grande

    How to Get Here

    Getting Around

    For More Information

    Tour Agencies & Boat Operators

    Adventures on Land

    Trails

    Rappeling

    Adventures on the Water

    Beaches

    Diving

    Boat Trips

    Where to Stay

    Camping

    Where to Eat

    Paraty

    How to Get Here

    Getting Around

    For More Information

    Festivals & Events

    Sightseeing

    Historic Churches

    Adventures on the Water

    Beaches

    Boat Excursions

    Diving

    Sport Fishing

    Adventures on Land

    What to Buy

    Where to Stay

    Where to Eat

    São Paulo & Surroundings

    São Paulo

    How to Get Here

    Getting Oriented

    Getting Around

    For More Information

    Sightseeing

    Centro

    Luz District

    The Jardins & Ibirapuera Park

    Chorinho, Snacks & Antiques at the Praça Benedito Calixto

    Adventures in the Air

    Cultural Adventures

    Musical Adventures

    Where to Eat

    Chinese

    French

    German

    Italian

    Japanese

    Northeastern

    Middle Eastern

    Minas Gerais

    Pizza

    Portuguese

    Seafood

    Spanish

    Steakhouses

    Nightlife

    Where to Stay

    What to Buy

    Side-Trips

    Campos do Jordão

    The Paulista Coast

    How to Get Here

    Minas Gerais

    Belo Horizonte

    Getting Here & Getting Around

    Sightseeing

    Museums

    The Pampulha District

    Parks

    Where to Stay

    Where to Eat

    What to Buy

    Side-Trips

    Caraça Park Hermitage

    Sabará Historic Town

    Where to Stay & Eat

    The Historical Cities

    Ouro Preto

    How to Get Here

    For More Information

    Sightseeing

    Historic Square

    Historic Churches & Buildings

    Adventures on Rails

    Alternative Adventures: Zen Buddhist Temple

    Adventures Underground

    Where to Stay

    Where to Eat

    What to Buy

    Side-Trip

    Mariana

    Tiradentes

    How to Get Here

    Getting Around

    For More Information

    Sightseeing

    Museums & Cultural Centers

    Historic Churches

    Adventures on Rail

    Adventures on Horseback

    Where to Stay

    Where to Eat

    What to Buy

    Side-Trip

    São João Del Rey

    Diamantina

    How to Get Here

    Getting Around

    Festivals & Events

    Sightseeing

    Historic Churches

    Museums & Other Landmarks

    Adventures on Land

    Hikes & Trails

    Adventures on Water

    Waterfalls & the Biribiri Villa

    Where to Eat

    Where to Stay

    What to Buy

    Serra do Cipó National Park

    How to Get Here

    Planning Your Trip

    For More Information

    Adventures on the Land

    Mountain Biking

    Horseback Riding

    Trekking

    Rock Climbing & Rappel

    Adventures on the Water

    Kayaking

    Waterfalls

    Where to Stay

    Where to Eat & Go Out

    Language

    Useful Phrases

    Greetings & Salutations

    Forming Questions

    At the Restaurant

    Basic Foods

    Getting Around

    At the Hotel

    Introduction

    Brazil is one of the most fascinating countries on the planet. Virtually a continent unto itself, this largest and most important country of South America is also the least understood. Travel here can be the experience of a lifetime, and yet most people don’t know where to begin in planning their trip.

    Everyone knows about the Amazon and Carnival, and most have ideas about the sultry city of Rio de Janeiro. People may think of the tropical beaches, the soccer legends, the supermodels, or perhaps they have seen films that expose the hard reality in the favelas like City of God. Many people know about Brazilian coffee or the national drink cachaça, or the churrascaria steakhouses that are opening up around the world.

    It seems that every day more and more people are getting to know the rich culture and the arts, the customs and the cuisine. The rhythms of Brazil, the great musicians and singers, and its dances like capoeira, catch everyone’s attention. But in spite of it all, the lyrics of this music and the inspiration for these arts remain an enigma for most of the world.

    Unlocking these mysteries for you has been one of the greatest joys of my lifetime.

    I had been living in Brazil for nearly a decade before I started writing this book. Working as a foreign correspondent and as the editor of a now defunct English-language newspaper called the Brazilian Post, I had a chance to study this country in detail. It was here that I met my wife and it is here that I was made an honorary citizen in a tiny town called Piancó, in the northeast of Brazil and the state of Paraíba.

    As the plane descended the first time in São Paulo I recall being staggered by the size of the country and those endless city blocks. I realized that no matter what I had read, Brazil remained a blank page. The real identity of Brazil, its essence, somehow was different from what I thought I would find. The travel books I had read were hopelessly out of date or even misleading, and they all said the same thing. So I decided to write my own book from what I had seen with my own eyes, about the very best of what Brazil has to offer.

    This does not necessarily mean the most expensive places or the best known, nor have I included every city or even every state. The idea all along was not to chart out every square inch, but to suggest ideas based on what visitors actually do – sightseeing, outdoor adventures, dining, shopping, and getting to know the locals. Every destination in this book has a compelling reason for you to visit – whether it be for the natural beauty, for the nightlife, the cuisine, the shopping, or most importantly for the culture.

    On every page I have tried to bring you something unique.

    In writing this book, I went wandering through cities to find the best restaurants and nightclubs, came face to face with a charging tapir, drifted through the Amazon after my boat ran out of fuel, peered over rusty cannons through cracks in fortress walls, went rappelling and scuba diving in a primordial cave, saw dinosaur tracks in the scalding desert, traveled to indigenous villages and went scrambling through abandoned mines.

    Along the way I made some important discoveries. I spoke with locals to get their advice and tried to avoid the clichés that seem always to find their way into the travel literature. I discovered what was interesting and what was not, what was safe and what was not, and have tried to include something in this book for everyone, no matter what your age or interests.

    Most of all I found confirmation for what I suspected all along – that Brazil is the most amazing country on the planet. I think that you will agree.

    History

    Indigenous groups, mainly Tupis and Guarnanis, lived here for as much as 30,000 years, according to some archeologists. We didn’t know much about the way they lived until the arrival of Europeans in 1500.

    When Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral anchored his fleet of 13 ships at the coast in southern Bahia (in the Northeast Region) he discovered Brazil wood, a valuable resource used to make red dye. It that gave the country its name.

    After the coast was mostly mapped out, in 1532 King João III of Portugal divided the country into 15 horizontal bands, called capitanias. Each was the responsibility of a different nobleman. The latter were more or less on their own to explore the lands and make them profitable, but most were unsuccessful. In 1549 João III decided to set up a Colonial government with a strong military and Jesuit presence in Salvador (in the Northeast Region).

    At that point, under the governor Tomé de Sousa, colonization became more violent. The colonies produced sugar by use of indigenous and African slave labor, and warfare and disease began wiping out the indigenous population.

    The Dutch took control in 1578 of most of the Northeast coast. In the Southeast the Brazilian settlers, many of them by now mestizos, continued to explore inland in mercenary groups called Bandeirantes, searching for wealth and slaves. By 1640 Portugal reconquered the Northeast and continued into the Amazon and the Southern Region. By 1670 gold was discovered, starting another phase of intense migration inland.

    Empire & Gold

    One after another, gold was found in the Southeast, the Center West and the Northeast. Brazil became the envy of the world. With the wealth came new ideas and, in 1778, a revolution called the Inconfidência started in Minas Gerais but was rapidly crushed.

    In 1807 something unheard of happened. The Portuguese royal family fled Europe to escape Napoleon Bonaparte, and moved to Rio. Expanding the borders in a war with Argentina, they continued to face growing internal opposition. In 1822, the royals returned, and crown regent Pedro I declared Brazil independent. Rio de Janeiro became the capital of this new constitutional empire. After a flurry of hope among Brazilians tired of the old ways, the situation grew more and more chaotic, and Pedro I was forced to abdicate in 1831.

    His young son, Pedro II, remained in Brazil and took power in 1839. Opposition began to rise in Europe against the slave trade – on which Brazil relied heavily. Meanwhile, more and more immigrants were pouring into Brazil from all over the world.

    In 1865 Paraguay declared war and the Triple Alliance was formed between Brazil, Uruguay (by this time independent) and Argentina. In three years Paraguay was defeated and Brazil expanded into its territory. But the Empire was crumbling.

    In 1887, Pedro II, plagued with scandal and losing power, finally fled to Europe. One year later his daughter, Princess Isabel, abolished slavery with the Áurea law and a short while later ended the monarchy and transferred power to a Republic.

    Old & New Republics

    The new government implemented major social changes, and it was a period of hope and inspiration for Brazil. The gold was long gone and agriculture became the source of Brazil’s wealth: coffee, rubber, and cocoa.

    As the country began to industrialize, social problems became more apparent in the growing cities. In 1917 a huge labor strike paralyzed Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and radical new political parties were taking shape with socialist and anarchistic views.

    By 1922, frustration with the corruption and inefficiency of the government led to military uprisings in the cities. The greatest of these was the Prestes Column, a group of lieutenants under the command of Luis Carlos Prestes, which marched through the entire country from 1924 to 1926, before fleeing into exile.

    In 1929, the price of Brazil’s main product, coffee, fell drastically and the economy spiraled into ruin. Unemployment and poverty plagued the country, and the solution came in 1930 with the rise of a charismatic politician named Getúlio Vargas, below, who staged a revolution, declared a New Republic and began to rule with an iron hand.

    The dictatorship made sweeping changes to help the urban working class, while at the same reducing the power of the unions that threatened it. The economy was departmentalized into separate political groups, which consolidated Vargas as the supreme authority and led to the emergence of Brazil as a global economic power.

    Vargas admired the fascist state of Europe at the time, but was thrown into World War II on the side of the Allies after the Nazis sank Brazilian ships. When the war ended in 1945 and fascism was crushed, the dictatorship lost support and Vargas was forced to renounce.

    From Dictatorship to Democracy

    Under the new democratic government, in 1950 Vargas once again rose to power – this time as an elected President. Incredibly popular among some segments of society, he faced increasing opposition from more conservative officers in the military. On the brink of a military revolution to depose him, Vargas committed suicide in 1954.

    Juscelino Kubitschek was elected President in 1955 with a new vision for Brazil. He moved the capital to Brasília (in the Center West Region) and oversaw more social reforms. This was a great period in Brazil, when music like bossa nova gained popularity around the world and the Brazilian soccer team won a dramatic World Cup victory in 1958.

    Through successive presidents and a period of cultural growth, the economy continued to decline, and in 1964 the military seized power. This dictatorship was supposed to be temporary but remained in power until 1984, with periods of harsh social repression.

    Though the dictatorship had ended, Brazil’s huge foreign debt led to constant crises for the next 10 years. In 1994 President Fernando Henrique Cardoso initiated reforms that almost overnight halted inflation of thousands of percentage points per year. This stability strengthened the young democracy and set the stage for economic prosperity.

    In 2002, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, above, an opponent of Cardoso, became the first working-class leader. His government struck a balance between economic stability and concern for the poor, particularly in the Northeast, representing a significant milestone in the country’s history. He was re-elected in 2006.

    Government & Economy

    Brazil is a Federative Republic, with a democratic government and socialized medicine and education. The President and Federal Legislature (Senate and Chamber of Deputies) are elected. The Judiciary is independent. The state and municipal governments have elected executive and legislative bodies.

    Despite an effort to streamline the government, it remains highly bureaucratic. For many Brazilians, the highest professional goal is to secure a public sector job, as these provide better wages and job security than the private sector. As most of the jobs are in the cities, every year more and more people move to the urban areas, creating huge strains on infrastructure and social services, and leading to the creation of shantytowns called favelas.

    Brazil’s economy is one of the largest in the world and split more or less equally between agriculture and industry. The agricultural sector is the world’s largest producer of coffee, sugar, orange juice, beef, ethanol, and soybeans. The industrial segment is also very important as one of the largest producers of iron and steel, petroleum and other raw materials.

    Brazil is a modern country – it is surprising to many first-time visitors just how modern. Brazil is known for its advanced technology such as ultra-deep-water oil drilling, high-tech medicines, a satellite base, a state-of-the-art jet manufacturer, advanced nuclear power plants, and, until recently, the world's longest free-standing bridge, as well as the world's largest hydroelectric dam. Its disproportionate size when compared to its neighbors is controversial, but Brazil has contributed greatly to regional cooperation and stability in recent years.

    The economy has grown steadily since hyper-inflation was eradicated, and today Brazil is as prosperous as it has been in many years. Dependence on foreign debt continues to be a weakness for the economy. Wages remain low and, while health care and education are provided free to all citizens, both have major institutional problems.

    Most of the former state-owned companies in the telecommunications, mining, transportation and electricity sectors were privatized in the past decade. This has led to greater availability of products and modernization of services, but some segments of society criticize the reduction in jobs and higher prices. While the press is free as a rule, the media is dominated by one large organization which depends heavily on paid advertising by the public sector.

    Public security tends to be weak overall with less than 3% of GDP spent on the military and daunting institutional challenges for the police such as low salaries, corruption, and the lack of integration among police divisions. Private security is a huge business that dwarfs the public security sector.

    Geography

    Brazil is the largest country in all of Latin America, and covers just about half of the total land mass in South America. That makes it the fifth-largest country in the world after Canada, Russia, China and the United States.

    Brazilians think of themselves as Americans, or South Americans, and consider people from the United States to be North Americans. The term gringo applies to any foreigner, is not meant to be offensive, and is used by just about everyone.

    Brazil is mostly tropical, with the equator passing through the north and the Tropic of Capricorn passing through the southeast. Average annual temperatures vary around 28°C (82.4°F) in the north and 22°C (71.6°F) in the south. Information on local climates is included in each chapter.

    Brazil borders Argentina and Uruguay to the South, Paraguay, Bolívia and Peru to the west, and Colombia, French Guiana, Suriname, Guiana and Venezuela to the north – that is to say, practically every other country in South America. Its border along the Amazon region was only very recently defined, with the help of satellite photos. The Atlantic Ocean forms the longest coastline in South America, extending some 7,367 km (or 4,578 miles).

    One curiosity is that Brazil is practically the same size from north to south as it is from east to west. Its easternmost tip in Paraíba (in the Northeast Region) is closer to Africa than it is São Paulo and it is here that the first rays of the rising sun hit the South American continent.

    Here there is practically every type of topography, including deserts, dunes, mountains, rainforests, canyonlands, plains, including special environments called Caatinga and the Cerrado, as explained in each of the chapters.

    Language

    Portuguese is the national language, but is a little different from that spoken in Europe, Africa and Asia. About 81% of the world’s Portuguese speakers are Brazilian. It is possible to communicate in Brazilian Portuguese with other speakers of the language, but there is a striking difference in the accent and intonation, as well as certain important grammatical and orthographic differences.

    Portuguese speakers can usually understand Spanish to some degree, but not the other way around. In a pinch you can try speaking Spanish.

    Within Brazil there are also great differences in vocabulary, accent and the use of the familar tu rather than the more universal você. It can be difficult at times for a non-native speaker to follow what is said in parts of

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