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