The rough guide to Brazil

706 Pages·2014·70.25 MB·English

THE ROUGH GUIDE to
Brazil
EXPERT ADVICE • FULL COVERAGE • EASY TO USE
INSIDE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION What to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more – everything
you need to get started
BASICS Pre-departure tips and practical information
THE GUIDE Comprehensive, in-depth guide to Brazil, with a rea highlights and full-
colour maps throughout
CONTEXTS History, the Amazon, music, cinema, books and football, plus a useful
language section
We’ve fl agged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special
★
restaurant – throughout the guide with the symbol
Brazil chapters
COLOMBIA VENEZBUoaE VLiAsta GUYANA SURINAME FRENGCUIHA NA Oiapoque ATOLCAENATNIC
Ilha do
Macapá Marajó Equator
Belém São Luis
Manaus
5 Fortaleza Fernando
de Noronha
Teresina
Porto Velho 4
Rio Branco Recife
Maceió
PERU 7 6 3 Aracaju
Salvador
Cuiabá BRASÍLIA
BOLIVIA Goiânia
2
PACIFIC
OCEAN Belo Horizonte
Vitória
8 1
PARAGUAY Tropic of Capricorn
Foz do São Rio de
Iguaçu Paulo Janeiro
CHILE ARGENTINA 9
Florianópolis
Porto Alegre 0 500
URUGUAY kilometres
1 Rio de Janeiro 4 The Northeast 7 Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul
2 Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo 5 The Amazon 8 São Paulo
3 Bahia 6 Brasília and the Planalto Central 9 The South
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This eighth edition published October 2014
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO
Brazil
This eighth edition updated by
Kiki Deere, Daniel Jacobs, Stephen Keeling
and Clemmy Manzo
roughguides.com

INTRODUCTION 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Where to go 5 Things not to miss 12
Author picks 9 Itineraries 22
When to go 10
BASICS 26
Getting there 27 Health 39
Getting around 29 The media 43
Accommodation 33 Festivals 43
Food and drink 35 Football 45
Crime and personal safety 38 Travel essentials 45
THE GUIDE 52
1 Rio de Janeiro 52 6 Brasília and the Planalto Central 400
2 Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo 134 7 Mato Grosso and Mato
Grosso do Sul 436
3 Bahia 200
8 São Paulo 480
4 The Northeast 246
9 The South 538
5 The Amazon 324
CONTEXTS 634
History 635 Books 670
The Amazon: a guide to the issues 653 Football 675
Music 660 Language 678
Cinema 666 Glossary 685
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 686
OPPOSITE IGREJA DE SÃO FRANCISCO DE ASSIS, OURO PRETO PREVIOUS PAGE PARQUE NACIONAL DA CHAPADA DIAMANTINA
4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
Brazil
The mighty rivers of the Amazon, pulsing Carnaval rhythms, bone-white
beaches and footballing flair; almost everyone on the planet knows
something about Brazil, and its caipirinhas and supermodels are familiar the
world over. Yet South America’s biggest country still holds plenty of surprises.
Though Rio de Janeiro draws by far the most tourists – indeed, for many
visitors Rio is Brazil – this is a land of stunningly diverse and staggeringly
beautiful landscapes, with a kaleidoscope of culture to match. In one, vast
nation this up-and-coming superpower encompasses the dry, mythic
landscapes of the northeastern sertão; the wildlife-rich plains of the
Pantanal; the gorgeous colonial hill towns of Minas Gerais; churning São
Paulo’s urban chic; the watery labyrinth of Amazonia; and seemingly endless,
mesmerizing tropical beaches all along the South Atlantic coast.
The sheer size of the country prevents any sort of overarching statement about the typical
Brazilian experience, just as the diversity of its people undercuts any notion of the typical
Brazilian. Indeed, Brazil often seems isolated in its own vastness, a world apart with
apparently little connection to or interest in its seven Spanish-speaking neighbours. Cut off
by language (Portuguese), culture and especially race, Brazil is proud of its diversity, from
its native indigenous population and early Portuguese conquerors, to later waves of Italians,
Germans, Spanish, Ukrainians, Polish, Arabs and Japanese migrants. In stark contrast to its
neighbours it also has a relatively large African population – a legacy of slavery, which was
legal here right up until 1888. As a result, Brazil is home to the most varied and dynamic
artistic movements on the continent, with Carnaval the biggest party season anywhere and
a bewildering range of musical styles, festivals and celebrations in evidence all year round.
What really makes Brazil different to its neighbours, however, after a decade of
explosive economic growth, is money: cross any of its international borders, from
Colombia, Peru and even Argentina, and the contrast is immediate. Entering Brazil you
ABOVE IPANEMA OPPOSITE SALVADOR
INTRODUCTION 5
join a world of major highways, skyscraper cities, high-priced boutiques and modern
manufacturing plants. And though it is still possible to travel on a budget here, prices are
much higher than in any other South American country. Though vast regions of Brazil
are empty or sparsely populated farmland, agriculture only represents 5.5 percent of
GDP nowadays and the nation is primarily an urban, developed society.
Yet even on the shortest visit, Brazil’s problems are glaringly obvious. The economy is
booming (at seventh largest in the world, it was just behind the UK at the time of writing),
but the divide between rich and poor is a serious and contentious issue, with a mind-
bending disparity of wealth – the grinding poverty of the favela (the generic name for slums
present in every city), ongoing drug wars and high crime rates can be depressing.
While many Brazilians are proud of the nation’s role as football World Cup (2014) and
Olympic (2016) host, billions have been spent on new stadiums while millions of Brazilians
struggle to pay rent and find enough to eat each day. It’s a challenging but fascinating time
for Brazil, and a privilege to witness what’s happening first hand. There are few places
where strangers can feel so confident of a warm welcome – and a really good party.
Where to go
The most heavily populated part of Brazil is the Southeast, where the three largest
cities – São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte – form a triangle around which
the economy pivots. All are worth visiting, but Rio, which really is as beautiful as it
VENEZUELA E
M H
A C
COLOMBIA Rio BBroaan Vciost a UYANA SURIN FREN G
G
ECUADOR Rio Negro
Óbidos
Rio Solimões Manaus Rio Amazonas Santarém
(Amazon)
Tabatinga
Cruzeiro Rio Tapajos Rio Xingu
do Sul
Porto
Velho
Rio Branco
PERU
Cuiabá
BOLIVIA
PANTANAL
Corumbá
PACIFIC
O CEAN Campo
Grande
Presidente
Prudente
PARAGUAY
Tropic of Capricorn RiPo araná
Foz do
Iguaçu
E
CHIL Rio Paraguay SMãioguel
Uruguaiana
ARGENTINA
LSiavnratamnean dtoo Bagé Pelotas
Rio
Grande
URUGUAY
Chuí
0 500
A kilometres
N
UIA Oiapoque
G
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Macapá
Ilha do
Marajó Equator
Belém
São Luis
Fortaleza Fernando
de Noronha
Aracati
Marabá
Teresina
Juazeiro Natal
do Norte
João
ns Campina Pessoa
Rio Araguaia PRiao Tocalntmias Juazeiro GrandeMaceROióelicnidfea
Aracaju
Rio São Francisco Lencóis IlhéuSsalvador
BRASÍLIA
Goiânia
Porto Seguro
Rio Paran aiba UbUebrelâranbdaia BHDeoialrmoizaonnttinea Itaúnas
Araçatuba Ribeirão Vitória
Preto Ouro
Bauru São PetrópolisPreto Campos
Londrina Campinas Paulo Niterói
Rio de
Santos Paraty Janeiro Tropic of Capricorn
Curitiba Paranaguá
Joinville São Francisco do Sul
Blumenau
Florianópolis
Caxias Laguna
do Sul Metres
Porto Alegre
1000
Lagos dos Patos
500
200
Impassable most
or all of the year 0
8 INTRODUCTION
seems in pictures, is an essential stop,
FACT FILE
while the ravishing colonial relic of
•
The brazil nut comes from a tree of the Paraty lies between here and booming
same name, and really does grow in the
São Paulo. North of here, the city of Belo
jungles of Brazil, though Bolivia exports
more of them. In Brazil the nuts are called Horizonte sits at the heart of Minas
castanhas-do-pará. Brazilians actually prefer Gerais, where the old Portuguese towns
the cashew nut, which is native to the
of Ouro Preto, Tiradentes and
country and called simply caju.
Diamantina drip with colonial history.
•
Rio-born author Paulo Coelho has sold
The South, encompassing the states of
around 150 million books worldwide (The
Alchemist accounts for around 65 million), Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande
making him by far the bestselling writer in do Sul, boasts the spectacular Iguaçu Falls
Portuguese of all time.
on the border with Argentina – one of
•
“Garota de Ipanema” (or “Girl from
the great natural wonders of South
Ipanema”) was written in 1962 by Antônio
Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, and America. From Curitiba the scenic Serra
allegedly inspired by the very real Helô Verde Express snakes down to the coast,
Pinheiro (19 at the time), later a Brazilian
where you can chill out on Ilha do Mel or
model and Playboy “Playmate”.
beach-hop around Florianópolis.
•
Born in Minas Gerais in 1940, Edson
Central Brazil is dominated by an
Arantes do Nascimento, better known as
Pelé, is generally regarded as the greatest enormous plateau of savannah and rock
football player of all time. He is the only escarpments, the Planalto Central. In the
player to have been in World Cup-winning
middle stands Brasília, the country’s
teams three times and is the all-time
leading goal scorer for Brazil (77). Brazil has space-age capital, built from scratch in the
won the World Cup a record five times. late 1950s. The city is the gateway to Brazil’s
•
When Brazil became a republic in 1889, interior, comprising Mato Grosso and Mato
its leaders were obsessed with all things
Grosso do Sul, and the vast Pantanal, the
French: the national motto “Ordem e
Progresso” (Order and Progress) was largest wetland in the world and the richest
inspired by Auguste Comte’s (much longer) wildlife reserve anywhere in the Americas.
musing on positivism.
To the north and west Mato Grosso shades
into the Amazon, the world’s largest river
basin and a mosaic of jungle, rivers and marshland that also contains two major cities –
Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon itself, and Manaus, some 1600km upstream.
The other major sub-region of Brazil is the Northeast (including Bahia), the first part
of Brazil to be settled by the Portuguese and the place where colonial remains are thicker
on the ground than anywhere else in the country – notably in the atmospheric Afro-
Brazilian cities of Salvador and São Luís and the gorgeous town of Olinda. It’s a region of
dramatic contrasts: a lush tropical coastline quickly gives way to the sertão, a semi-arid
interior sprinkled with mysterious monoliths, prehistoric remnants and wild, rarely
visited national parks. Most travellers stick to the beaches: party centrals Morro de São
Paulo and Porto de Galinhas, sleepy Maragogi, beach-buggy paradise Natal, backpacker
haven Praia da Pipa, and the dunes and kite-surfing enclaves of Canoa Quebrada and
Jericoacoara. Finally, if you can afford it, the pricey but idyllic offshore island chain of
Fernando de Noronha is one of the world’s great natural hideaways.