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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Taxa de serviço
2007-07-13 00:00:00
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 ...

TAM will fly to Madrid and Frankfurt
2007-07-11 00:00:00
TAM just got official permission to begin operating flights to Madrid (seven flights per week) and Frank furt (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 ...

Fare check update
2007-07-11 00:00:00
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. Share This
More About: Check , Update

Tanabata Matsuri in São Paulo
2007-07-09 13:33:00
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
2007-07-09 00:55:00
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! Natur al 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 su...
More About: Nature , Wonders

Result of the election of the 7 new wonders of the world
2007-07-08 00:54:00
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 Share This
More About: World , Election , Wonders , The World , Wonders of the World

New UNESCO World Heritage Sites
2007-07-06 12:18:00
There are no Brazilian sites on the list of new World Heritage Sites 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. Share This
More About: World Heritage

Alternative energy sources in Brazil
2007-07-05 12:17:00
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 p...
More About: Energy , Alternative , Alternative Energy , Sources

Destination: Caraíva
2007-07-04 12:19:00
Caraiva is a small jewel in the south of coast of the state of Bahia. A tiny fishing village, everything in Caraiva is basic, from the unpaved streets to the lack of electricity supply - electricity is arriving in Caraíva only as we speak. WE LIKE THE MOST: the absolute peace and tranquility of the place, mass tourism hasn’t arrived there yet, and the less conventional tourist is getting there in dribs and drabs WE LIKE THE LEAST: the road leading to Caraiva, in a sorry state HOW TO GET THERE: from Porto Seguro/Arraial d’Ajuda, or in the bus that goes to Caraiva twice a day, or on a rented car CAREFUL WITH: the road that goes to Caraiva, especially if it has rained the previous days, it is in a truly sorry state - I don’t advice anyone to get in there with a rented car FAVOURITE PLACES: the village, the beaches, the point where the river meets the sea PIECE OF ADVICE: everything is quite basic in Caraiva, and there are very few shops. Bring whatever you are li...
More About: Destination , Cara

National parks: online brochures
2007-07-04 00:00:00
Last week I wrote an entry on the Brazilian National parks and today I’d like to share with you an interesting - albeit limited - resource I’ve just come across. It’s a series of brochures edited by Philips in partnership with the Brazilian publisher Horizonte Geográfico. The series is very small, in Portuguese, but it’s ...
More About: Online , Parks , National Parks , Broch

July 2007
2007-07-03 00:00:00
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 ...
More About: July 2007 , July

Airport trouble
2007-07-03 00:00:00
It’s that time of the year when many of you will be coming to Brazil, mainly from the Northern hemisphere. Unfortunately, the following warning is still in force: be very careful, as Brazil is still experiencing a critical situation at its airports. We had yet another weekend of widespread delays and flight cancellations. On ...
More About: Airport

Brazil in pictures: blue moon from São Paulo
2007-07-01 00:00:00
This photograph is nearly a live broadcast. I took this picture 20 minutes ago. It’s the second full moon of the month, the legendary blue moon. As you will see, when I took the picture, with the moon still being hit by the rays of the setting soon, it was more of an orange ...
More About: Pictures , Moon , Brazil , Blue , Paulo

July desktop calendar
2007-07-01 00:00:00
The desktop calendar for the month of July is already available for download at the calendars section of this blog. Any month of the year is a good month to visit Paraty, and July is no exception. The only warning I want to give you is that from the 4th to the 8th ...
More About: Desktop , Calendar , Desk , Lend

A list of the other wonders of the world
2007-07-01 00:00:00
As part of a joint initiative with Blog de Viajes, our sister blog De Viaje a Brasil has published today an entry (in Spanish) with a list of all the sites in Latin America that are on the UNESCO tentative list, waiting for the day when they will be upgraded to World Heritage Status. ...
More About: List , Wonders , The World , Wonders of the World

Brazilian National parks
2007-07-01 00:00:00
Brasil has 62 National Parks , and the list grows every year. Out of those, 22 are not opened to the public, as the government lacks the funds to run them, and only a very small amount of those parks opened for visitation have an infrastructure that remotely resembles what we understand for a ...
More About: Razi , National Parks , Brazilian

Showers: the curse of the f-letter
2007-06-27 00:00:00
Veteran readers of this blog will remember a text I wrote some months ago on the Brazilian showers. We came back from our recent trip to Arraial with a new and fascinating adventure to share with you. I will be naming no names, especially because we made the unforgiveable mistake of not taking photographs ...
More About: Curse , Letter , Shower , Showers

Brazil in pictures: rush hour in Caraiva
2007-06-27 00:00:00
During our recent trip to the region, we were witness to an exceptional moment in the serene and remote Caraiva (a scene that belongs to the imagery of the big city): the rush hour. Of a serene and gentle kind of sort, that is, nothing like the frantic comings and goings we’ve grown used ...
More About: Pictures , Brazil , Rush , Razi , Hour

UNESCO and the new wonders of the world
2007-06-23 00:00:00
I visited this week UNESCO ’s website to do some research on a future entry for this blog, and found a press release from the institution titled UNESCO confirms that it is not involved in the ?New 7 wonders of the world? campaign. The note denies any relationship between UNESCO and the initiative of entrepeneur ...
More About: World , Wonders , The World , Wonders of the World

Blog archives
2007-06-23 00:00:00
I’ve just added to the blog a new tool to improve the consultation of the material already published here. It is the page Archives - you can access it through the Pages menu at the top left of the blog. On the Archives page you will find, on a single entry, the titles of ...
More About: Blog , Chives , Hives , Hive

False friends: flat
2007-06-23 00:00:00
In Portuguese, a flat is a hotel apartment. They are very common in the big cities, and very popular among business travellers on long stays far from home. The British English term flat is translated as apartamento in Brazilian Portuguese. Share This
More About: Friends , Ends , Flat

Broken promise
2007-06-23 00:00:00
I promised not to mention again the chaotic situation of air traffic transportation in Brazil - a promise that, under the present circumnstances, will be quite difficult to keep. Today I want to send you all of those who read Portuguese to the note written by our friend Rodrigo Purisch (our blogging authority ...
More About: Promise , Broken

Arraial d’Ajuda 2007: round-up
2007-06-22 00:00:00
The most recent entry completed the core of entries related to our recent trip to the region. In a few week’s time we will be reviewing the pousadas where we stayed and will also mention some other topics. But the essential entries are here. To help locate the information, here’s a small index: location of the ...
More About: Round Up , Round , Ajuda , Raia

Maranhão in June: index
2007-06-22 00:00:00
Time does fly! It’s now a year since we went to Mara nhão. I’d like to take the opportunity to leave here an index to the information published since then on São Luís do Maranhão and the Lençóis Maranhenses. It is June , after all, a very special month for the region, as it is now when ...
More About: Index

How to get from Rio to Angra dos Reis / Paraty?
2007-06-22 00:00:00
The company Costa Verde has quite a number of daily services from Rio to Angra dos Reis (a three-hour journey), and a slightly smaller number of buses going to Paraty every day (a four-hour journey). You can check the timetables on its website. Buses leave from the Rodoviária Novo Rio. [No te olvides de consultar el listado ...

Arraial d’Ajuda 2007: prices
2007-06-22 00:00:00
Here’s a shortish listing of prices we paid for some services during our week in Arraial d’Ajuda . This info complements this blog’s Prices page. TRANSPORTATION Ferryboat Porto Seguro - Arraial d’Ajuda: R$2,5 (each way, on the way to Arraial you pay a full return fare, no fare is paid on the way back) Bus ferryboat - ...
More About: Raia

Two pages on São Paulo
2007-06-16 00:00:00
If Brazil as a whole is not that well served in terms of tourist information (concentrated in the sub-standard page mantained by Embratur), the same thing can’t be said of São Paulo , that has two excellent institutional pages full of information. The first one is Cidade de São Paulo, mantained by the local authority, and ...
More About: Pages , Ages

Wonderful photographs for your blogs
2007-06-16 00:00:00
In the very short existence of this blog I don’t recall having published a single off-topic. This will be the first one, then. I want to talk about blogs and photographs taken by others. More and more people are starting up their own blog to tell the world about their travelling experiences (and so many ...
More About: Blogs , Photographs , Wonderful , Logs , Graph

Ode to the Paulista
2007-06-15 00:00:00
To the Paulista Avenue, that is. The announcement made by São Paulo City Council that intends to reform the pavement [sidewalk] of the Avenida Paulista (more than 3 kilometres each side of the avenue) gives me the chance to write a few lines on the thoroughfare that, above any other place, best simbolizes the city ...
More About: Lista

Brazilian St. Valentine’s
2007-06-13 00:00:00
Before someone corrects me, no, I didn’t get the date wrong. 12 June is the date when Brazilian celebrate lover’s day, and not the 14 February as in the rest of the world. The official explanation tells that 12 June is the day before St. Anthony’s, a saint with a solid matchmaking reputation. The real ...
More About: Valentine , Razi , Lent , Valentin