Owner: Brazil Travel Blog URL:www.braziltravelblog.com Join Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:55:07 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog written from São Paulo for anyone with their minds set on a trip to Brazil. Site statistics:Click here
July 2007 2007-07-02 05:28:59 It’s winter time in the southern hemisphere. June was an intense month, I took part as a speaker in a conference of the travel sector, and what with one thing and another, time passed by real quick.
There is a new page on the blog, Archives, where a list of all the entries published so far can be easily consulted.
In June we talked about:
the photo albums from our May trip to Arraial, Caraíva y Trancoso.
quite a lot of information resulting from our trip to the region of Arraial d’Ajuda.
I wrote an index of all the information published on Maranhão so far.
the news that the pavement of the avenida Paulista is going to be replace was behind this entry. I also mentioned two institutional pages with information on São Paulo.
we learnd that St. Valentine’s is celebrated in Brazil in June.
I mentioned how you can make the most of a Creative Commons licence to get excellent photographs for your blogs.
UNESCO denies having any involvement in the election of the New Wond
Result of the election of the 7 new wonders of the world 2007-07-07 17:54:31 It has just been announced the result of the election of the seven new wonders of the world. The statue of Christ Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro, is among the chosen 7, showing that nothing beats the support of a population of 190 million people when it comes to decide an unjust and unfair vote.
This blog has published quite a few entries on the topic of the election:
7 New wonders of the world
7 New wonders of the modern world re-revisited
UNESCO and the new wonders of the world
A list of other wonders of the world
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New UNESCO World Heritage Sites 2007-07-06 05:18:58 There are no Brazilian sites on the list of new WorldHeritageSites
announced by UNESCO
. A list of the Brazilian sites (and other Latin American sites as well) on the UNESCO waiting list was published by De Viaje a Brasil, the Spanish counterpart of this blog, a few days ago.
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Alternative energy sources in Brazil 2007-07-05 05:17:33
The current president of Brazil
gets emotional very easily when dreaming of a future in which Brazil will lead the nations of a new world where clean energies will dominate. As usual, the reality is quite different. While you travel through Brazil, those of you with a keen sense of curiosity will wonder why the gigantic potential Brazil has for the production of clean energies is being wasted in such a shameful way.
Brasil has a total installed windpower capacity of 250WM. An amount dwarfed by the achievements of countries like Germany (18,415 WM) or Spain (11,615WM). The Centro Brasileiro de Energía Eólica has studied the characteristics of the winds blowing in the Northeast of Brazil. Its conclusion is that the potential for the commercial explotation of those winds is even better than that of the winds blowing in Europe. However, you can travel days and days through the Northeast and not come across a single wind turbine.
As for solar energy, an infinite source in the dry and po Read more:Alternative
, sources
Taxa de serviço 2007-07-12 06:02:45 In Brazil, some hotels and pousadas charge a taxa de serviço (generally 10%), others don’t. When finding out prices for accommodation, it is advisable to ask whether that taxa de serviço is included or not in the price.
In places that have nothing to hide, their price list will show clearly whether the tax is charged on top of the price of the room (”Taxa de serviço 10%“), whether it is already included on the price (”10% Taxa de serviço já inclusa“) or whether there is no charge at all (”Não cobramos taxa de serviço“). When that information is not present, do find out what is the final price you will end up paying.
Dishonest hoteliers - and absolute minority, to be fair to them, hide that tax only for it to make an unwelcome appearance on your final bill.
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TAM will fly to Madrid and Frankfurt 2007-07-11 08:30:31 TAM just got official permission to begin operating flights to Madrid
(seven flights per week) and Frankfurt
(three flights per week). According to the company, the flights will be in operation before the end of the year.
This is spectacular news for those of us who’ve had to endure Iberia’s domination over the São Paulo - Madrid route. Since the disappearance of Varig, no other major airline flew to Madrid on a daily basis. I hope the new competition (with Varig joining the ranks soon) will force Iberia to get their act together - otherwise, if the Spanish carrier continues offering an abysmal standard of service, TAM will thrash it.
As new details emerge, you will be informed here at this blog.
The full news item can be read at Mercado e Eventos (in Portuguese). I heard the story first from Aquela Passagem!, by our super well-informed friend Rodrigo Purisch.
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Fare check update 2007-07-10 05:13:52 I’ve just updated the Fare check page of this blog, where you will find a small sample of routes and prices of flights with the two most important airlines in Brazil. More routes available on request.
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Tanabata Matsuri in São Paulo 2007-07-09 06:33:55
This weekend the Liberdade Japanese quarter was host to the Tanabata Matsuri festival, also known as star festival. It’s a Japanese festival with a tradition of more than 1,000 years, celebrated in Brazil since 1979.
We went to the Liberdade on Saturday, on a shiny day with warm temperature. Liberdade is one of those places in São Paulo
that always has a reward in store for its visitors. This weekend the prize was unbeatable: the streets of Liberdade were full of colour and life, with thousands of people (oriental or not) enjoying a quiet stroll along the streets.
Along the colourful decoration, the central element of the Tanabata are the tanzakus, messages hang from the trees where the public write their petitions to the Gods.
During the weekend there is schedule of colourful folk presentations.
The oriental community takes part in the festival en masse.
The whole album with the pictures I took on Saturday can be found here: Tanabata Matsuri in São Paulo.
Make a note
New 7 wonders of nature 2007-07-08 17:55:22
Yes, here it is, the race for the election of the new seven wonders of nature
has begun (I haven’t been able to find on the webpage any clarification on what the ancient wonders of nature were). The election of the 7 new wonders of the world must have been so fabulously profitable for its organizers that they haven’t given it a second thought, here we go again. Who knows what will come next, best pop singer of the universe, best football team ever? One day we might even elect the best politician ever!
Natural wonders abound in Brazil (with a constant threat of destruction hovering over them). It is only to be expected that the Ministry of Tourism will squander millions of reais coming from the pockets of the long-suffering taxpayers to support an initiative that will benefit a private individual, a private bank, several telcos, and whoever else wants to join the circus.
Those of us who dedicate our time to give 2.0 information on Brazil do so without any institutional sup
Brazil - Argentina 2007-07-15 08:31:59 Or Argentina
- Brazil
, it’s all the same. I’m writing this entry a few hours before the final match of the Copa America, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where the national teams from both countries will clash, a repetition of the final celebrated three years ago in Peru.
Brazil - Argentina represent the biggest rivalry in the football world (at least between countries with a long tradition on the sport), comparable only to historical rivalries between clubs, such as Boca and River, Barcelona and Madrid, Inter and Milan or Celtic and Rangers. Fortunately, and for the majority of supporters, the animosity between nations begins and ends on the football pitch. Once the game is over rivalries are forgotten; Brazilians love to holiday in Argentina, Argentinians love Brazil as a destination for their own leisure time (a feeling that fluctuates along with the exchange rate of the peso and the real). Fanaticism is restricted to a few hardcore supporters and to the most famous Brazilian s
Destination: Lençóis (Bahia) 2007-07-17 05:11:47 [from our friend Lily]
Lençóis is a charming little village in the state of Bahia
, entry point to the Chapada Diamantina, a National Park in the middle of the Brazilian sertão. Most visitors to the National Park will spend some time in Lençóis, a place that depends almost exclusively on tourism.
WE LIKE THE MOST: the piece and quiet; the well-kept village, that has managed to conserve its charm while at the same time providing all sorts of services to tourists
WE LIKE THE LEAST: couldn’t find anything wrong with the place, if only, the four-hour bus trip from Salvador
HOW TO GET THERE: with the bus company Real Express from the bus station in Salvador. There are three buses a day.
CAREFUL WITH: unprofessional and underage guides, totally unprepared. Reliable agencies provide reliable guides - all the agencies in Lençóis have the same prices.
FAVOURITE PLACES: the entire Chapada Diamantina is a present (yet another one!) mother nature gave to Brazil
PIECE OF ADVICE:
if Read more:Destination
Brazil in pictures: gymnastics at the beach 2007-07-16 05:13:59
Whether it’s capoeira or straightforward gymnastics, I can’t tell for certain. But watching mr muscle exercising at the beach can be a fascinating way of spending your time. We saw our friend here at the praia do Amor, in Pipa.
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Carnival of cities 2007-07-20 05:25:45 An entry from this blog (Tanabata Matsuri in São Paulo) features in the Carnival
of Cities hosted by Alan Patrick at his Buenos Aires Argentina Guide blog. A new fascinating trip around the world in one single post. Thanks for all the hard work putting together the carnival, Alan!
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Endangered heritage 2007-07-19 06:21:56 A few months ago I wrote in World Heritage sites in Brazil: a report about a study that assessed the state of conservation of the world heritage in Salvador de Bahia, Iguazu and the Pantanal.
Last Sunday, the Folha de São Paulo dedicated an entire page to a feature on the constant degradation of the Pelourinho area in Salvador (the online article is for subscribers only). Prostitution is back in force, and the deterioration of the atmosphere in the region has meant that only last year 20% of local shop owners put their shops up for sale.
The main cause behind this degradation is a decrease in the investments being made by the authorities on the area - the authorities of the state of Bahia, in particular. The government of Bahia is in the hands of PT, as it is the case for the government of Brazil. The same party that recently saw fit to spend public money supporting a private marketing initiative - the election of the new 7 wonders of the world.
We can’t forget Salvador is a Wo
No new material today 2007-07-18 06:47:41 I won’t be publishing any new material
today. 40 minutes after the tragic air crash last night in São Paulo I began blogging about the event on blog.deviajeabrasil.com (in Spanish only). I need to take a break now.
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my new blog on São Paulo 2007-07-22 19:48:24 It fills me with pride to announce the launch of a new project, the blog de São Paulo
. A blog along the lines of this Brazil Travel Blog but devoted entirely to the city of São Paulo and its surroundings. Unfortunately, there will only be a Spanish version of the blog. The three blogs I will be maintaining from now on count with no support from any institution or business, and they are taking a heavy toll on my spare time. It is only for that reason that I will not be maintaining a parallel blog in English.
For more details on the launch of the blog (in Spanish), read the following entry on de Viaje a a Brasil: blog de São Paulo.
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Lost luggage 2007-07-25 05:45:09 A reader of this blog wrote in despair a couple of days ago from the States. Her husband was in Brazil, he had arrived in the country right in the middle of the chaotic situation Brazilian airports are facing at the moment. He had taken a GOL connecting flight from Rio to São Paulo and his luggage was nowhere to be seen. His luggage contained all his belongings. GOL staff were not helping at all and all attempts to contact the company on the phone were fruitless. What could he possibly do?
At times like this I feel really powerless. I do not work for the tourism & travel industry so the most I can do is try and give some basic and sensible advice, knowing perfectly well my words might not go a very long way, given the shambles Brazilian airports have become.
In any case, should you find yourself in a similar situation, this is my advice:
do not leave the airport. Once you do that, your chances of contacting the airline on the phone are slim. Right now, getting through to somebo
Top 10: strong emotions 2007-07-25 05:26:48 I am presenting my very own personal list of 10 moments lived in Brazil filled with emotion. They do not follow any particular order.
a huge turtle (up until then you had never stopped to think how large turtles can be) swimming placidly next to you, in complete silence; suddenly a shoal of fish swims by right in front of you while you approach a sunken ship where thousands of colourful fish rejoice. Diving in Noronha has to be one of the most intense experiences you can live in Brazil.
up to four or five dolphins jumping out of the water simultatenously, while dozens of them follow the small boat from where you contemplate the amazing display. Encountering dolphins in Noronha is joy at its purest.
in spite of the pushing and shoving; of the endless queue of tourists all waiting to take exactly the same snapshot in front of the statue, arms opened; in spite of the awful mood of the professional photographers; in spite of the street vendors; when you reach the balcony of the Corcova Read more:emotions
Vaccines 2007-07-24 05:26:35 I am reproducing the information on vaccines that appears at the Portal Brasileño de Turismo (run by the Brazilian government).
Yellow fever vaccine
For tourists who have been in transit over the past three months, or who are coming from certain countries - Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, French Guiana, Liberia, Nigeria, Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leon, Sudan, Venezuela and Zaire -, an International Certificate of Vaccination against yellow fever is required.
The yellow fever vaccine is also recommended for all national and international tourists who intend to visit the following Brazilian states: Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Federal District, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins.
Not counting the cases mentioned above, no other vaccines are required for travellers entering Brazil.
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Avoid Congonhas airport at all costs 2007-07-23 18:26:31 If you are coming to Brazil and are planning to take domestic flights, you should avoid at all costs Congonhas airport
in São Paulo. An tragedy like the one last week is unlikely to happen in the short term again. The problem is that the chaos that descended on Congonhas after the accident last week is still there in force. Out of 215 scheduled flights today, 167 were cancelled and 18 took off with a delay of more than 1 hour. Those with a cancelled flight are having to wait two or three days until they are realocated onto another flight.
To make things worse, a couple of hours ago there was a landslide right at the end of the runway where the TAM Airbus left the airport before crashing last week. The runway ends on a steep decline, and part of that decline has come down. It would seem that when the Airbus went through the end of the runway it damaged the drainage system of that part of the airport.
Keep an eye on this spot, there’s plenty more news coming. Among them, a subst Read more:Avoid
False friends: oi 2007-07-27 05:19:34 The moment you set foot on Brazil people will greet you with the word oi! Do not panic, they are not trying to attract your attention because they are angry. Oi! means simply hi!
If you want to render the English oi! into Portuguese, go for something like ei!
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Long queues ahoy! 2007-07-26 15:46:51 The new Brazilian Defence minister has just declared that never-ending queues
at the airports are the price you pay for safety.
Hold on. If the queues represent any price at all, it has to be the price of incompetence. Because 10 months of queues at the Brazilian airports have brought no safety whatsoever. So much so that president Lula declared yesterday - to the dismay of tourism authorities, I suppose, that every time he takes a plane in Brazil he puts his trust in God. The former Defence minister had already declared that the solution to the air crisis in Brazil involved “a lot of faith and a lot of praying”.
Are you still keen on a trip to Brazil?
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August desktop calendar 2007-07-30 05:25:11 The desktop calendar for the month of August
is already available for download at the calendars section of this blog. We have an outstanding guest once again, Rio de Janeiro and a glorious view of Copacabana by night.
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How to calculate the distance between two cities 2007-08-01 05:44:27 What’s the distance
between…? How far are…? Many end up here on this blog looking for an answer to questions like these ones. I want to introduce to you today a tool that will allow you to find that information effortessly on your own.
Three months ago I wrote about the new features introduced by Google for their Google Maps: My Maps!
And now the relentless flow of ideas from the Google factory brings us a new feature. We can add interactive content to our very own GoogleMaps page. While not essential, having a Google account is a good idea, as it allows to keep all changes made to your pages for future return visits.
We are going to add a distance measurement tool to our Google Maps. For that, you need to access Google Maps, and on the Results/My maps tab (Resultados/Mis mapas in Spanish), on the left hand side of the screen, click on My Maps:
[the default language on my Google account is Spanish, and all the screenshots are in that language. I’m providing tr Read more:calculate
Cheaper flights to Brazil? 2007-07-31 07:00:20 In the midst of so many negative news on air travel in Brazil
, the Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico publishes today a surprisingly positive piece of news: Governo quer reduzir tarifa de vôos para fora do país (the government wants to reduce fares for international flights
). Briefly, it would seem that the Brazilian government wants a more flexible price structure (prices are regulated by the government). The aim would be to allow airlines to give bigger discounts on their flights to the U.S. and Europe.
The only plausible explanation for the news (piece of news that needs to be taken with a pinch of salt) is that the government is trying to minimize the negative impact (or should it be rather catastrophic impact?) that the airport crisis will have on international tourism in Brazil. Whatever the reason, the discounts are welcome. Specially at a time when domestic fares increased 7,32% in June and 8,25% in July, with further increases on the way (Tarifa aérea aumentou em julho e
Ruy Ohtake in São Paulo 2007-07-31 05:30:29 São Paulo
is host to some excellent examples of the work of Japanese-Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake. One of those examples is the Hotel Unique, winner of uncountable architecture prizes for its futuristic design. Fans of the game show Amazing Race (ninth season) will remember that the contestants had to climb to the top terrace of the hotel.
The second outstanding work is the building complex known as Centro Cultural Tomie Ohtake, aka Carambola (star fruit).
Location of the buildings: MyMaps!
This entry was originally published in the Blog de São Paulo.
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Liberdade Japanese quarter, São Paulo 2007-08-03 06:17:16 [article originally published in Spanish in the blog de São Paulo
]
We can hardly hide it, we have a soft spot for the Japanesequarter
of Liberdade, in São Paulo. It’s our favourite part of the city. An exceptional place with a unique atmosphere on its streets. We don’t know of any other place in São Paulo where we feel as if we were in a traditional quarter of a European city or even Buenos Aires.
Liberdade was originally a gathering point for the Japanese colony in Brazil (don’t forget São Paulo is the largest Japanese city outside Japan). Today the ethnic make-up of the population of Liberdade is more diverse, with Chinese and Koreans, as well as Brazilians.
It’s very easy to reach the Liberdade using public transportation. There is an underground station (estação Liberdade, blue line) at its main square.
Walking along the streets of Liberdade is excellent fun, discovering shops selling all sorts of Japanese goods, venturing yourselves into Japanese
Destination: Alter do Chão 2007-08-06 05:24:31 [from our special guest Daniel]
Alter
do Chão is a small town in the state of Pará, council of Santarém. It is located at the entrance of a lake formed on the right bank of the Tapajós river - one of the biggest tributaries of the Amazon and known for its greenish-blue waters. When the level of the Amazon river is low, from July to January, a beach of fine and clear sands appears at the entrance of the lake. Alter do Chão is known as the Caribbean Amazon for its combination of water and clear sand.
WE LIKE THE MOST: to spend the day at the Ilha do Amor (literally, “love island”) eating snacks and drinking beer; watch the sunset from the new pier and end the night with a piracaia (barbeque fish) on the beach
WE LIKE THE LEAST: noise pollution along the river front and the Praça Matriz; the Ilha do Amor vanishes for several months; mass tourism will end up destroying the place.
HOW TO GET THERE: you can only reach Santarém by plane or by boat (from Manaos or Belem). Read more:Destination
Your luggage and domestic flight connections 2007-08-09 05:22:28 Just a reminder that if your arrive in Brazil from abroad and have a domestic connecting flight, you will have to get your baggage from the conveyor belt at your first entry point in the country, go through customs, and check in your luggage again. Standard procedure.
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top 10: foreign tourists in Brazil 2007-08-08 05:21:05
Which are the countries sending the most tourists
to Brazil
? Here’s the top ten (data from 2005):
Argentina. 992.000 tourists. For 87% it’s not their first visit to Brazil. Main destinations: Rio de Janeiro, Búzios, São Paulo, Florianópolis y Porto Alegre.
United States. 794.000 tourists. For 61% it’s not their first visit to Brazil. Main destinations: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Búzios.
Portugal. 358.000 tourists. For 67% it’s not their first visit to Brazil. Main destinations: Recife, Fortaleza, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Natal.
Uruguay. 342.000 tourists. For 90% it’s not their first visit to Brazil. Main destinations: Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis, Balneário Camboriú.
Germany. 309.000 tourists. For 58% it’s not their first visit to Brazil. Main destinations: Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Foz do Iguaçu, São Paulo, Recife.
Italy. 304.000 tourists. For 64% it’s not their first visit to
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