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 by traveldave
On January 1, 1502, a Portuguese sailor and explorer named Gaspar de Lemos mistook Guanabara Bay for the mouth of a large river and named it Rio de Janeiro, or "River of January." The first Portuguese settlement was establised in 1560 (shortly after the French, who had set up a colony on one of the islands in Guanabara Bay, were expelled).
Later, sugar plantations helped Rio de Janeiro become an important settlement in Portuguese Brazil. It was not until an eighteenth-century boom brought about by a gold rush in nearby Minas Gerais (for which the city was the chief port), that Rio de Janeiro became the most important city in the colony.
In 1763, Rio de Janeiro replaced Salvador as the colonial capital. In 1808, Portugal's Prince Regent João fled Lisbon ahead of Napoleon's armies, and moved his court and capital to Rio de Janeiro. The city became the de facto capital of the entire Portuguese empire. The royal presence transformed Rio de Janeiro into a city of ornate palaces and landscaped gardens. Although the emperor eventually returned to Portugal, the city remained the capital of Brazil until 1961.
Nowadays, Rio de Janeiro is the center of a metropolitan area with about 12,150,000 inhabitants. The city is divided by mountains between the Zona Norte ("North Zone") which is the commercial and industrial part of the city, and the Zona Sul ("South Zone") which contains the beaches, best hotels and restaurants, and tourist attractions. Leave a Comment
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If you wish to live abroad for a while and if your destination should be Brazil, then you can have a look and see at the volunteer programs in Brazil.
The volunteer organization of Brazil does have a webpage for you to have some infos, the drawback of it is that it is only written in portuguese yet:
http://www.voluntario.org.br/<br />
There is a volunteer program named AFS in Brazil which offers also some english information on their webpage:
http://www.afs.org.br/int_port/welcome.htm
If you wish to volunteer in a special city or state in Brazil here's a list of different volunteer programs in all brazilian states:
http://www.voluntario.org.br/centros.htm
There is also a list of volunteer programs in special regions of Brazil:
http://www.portaldovoluntario.org.br/centro_vol/default.asp<br />
There is another brazilian page where you can find a lot of links about brazilian and international volunteer programs:
http://www.portaldovoluntario.org.br/links/default.asp
To have contact with current volunteers in Brazil and maybe ask them something simply click on http://www.voluntarios.com.br/contato.htm
and fill in the city you want to volunteer in under "Cidade" (like for example Rio de Janeiro) and click on "Listar".... Leave a Comment
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 Olodum-brazilian rhythms by mangueirense
Brazilian rhythms will not get lost from your body if you leave the country....you will get infected with some of the dances like Axe or samba, forro or lambada, no doubt!
I have been infected myself by axe, lambada, and most of all: Samba!
If you would like to get more informations on brazilian music and the different styles there is a nice page under:
http://www.slipcue.com/music/brazil/brazillist.html
which explains it all in english.
Another good page (also in english) and with sound-examples is:
http://www2.uol.com.br/allbrazilianmusic/
Just select an artist or a style at the left side of the page and drift away for a while ;-) Leave a Comment
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 Caipirinha by rui_bijie
Try the more expensive ones pure! (In general Caipirinha might cause more headache the next day than pure Cachaca.)
If you want to bring some Cachaca back home, don't wait until the Airport! The Duty Free Stores just offer the high-end brands at international prizes (8 US $ upwards - US $ not R$!!!)!
By the way, think about bringing some lemons as well - they are 10 times cheaper than in Europe! Leave a Comment
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 Sergio Ferraz by cachaseiro
Samba,reggae,bossa nove,jazz,rock,frevo,pagode and lot's lot's more.
You will still have the tunes in your head years after you have been there.
One of my best freinds,Sergio Ferraz, is a jazz musician in Brazil.
If you come across his band you should go and hear them if you are in to instrumental jazz.
Their name is humani sonoris fabrica.
You can hear their music on their website:
www.sonorisfabrica.mus.br Leave a Comment
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This is an espeacially fine way of dining (may be not if you are a Vegetarian): waiters will bring barbecued meet and a variety of other goodies - all you can eat. Besides that you can help yourself at an extremely large salad buffet (also available: side dishes).
Rodizio is the name for the serving system - they come to offer item after item till you can eat no more.
The rules: You'll get a small card - red on the one side, green on the other. As long as the card shows the green side, the waiters will come along with the meat. To stop this (if you need a pause) just turn it over. Leave a Comment
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 by andal13
Porto Alegre es la capital de Rio Grande do Sul, y una de las ciudades más importantes de Brasil. Es una ciudad industrial, y en mi modesta opinión, nada más alejada de su nombre: es una ciudad ajetreada, bulliciosa, gris. No me gusta este lugar, pero cerca de Porto Alegre hay varios lugares hermosos, como la Serra Gaúcha.
I was in Porto Alegre for the first time when I was a teenager; for the first time in my life I met children that begged in the streets, and prostitute young girls; of course, that shocked me. Unfortunately, nowadays those sad scenes take place everywhere, and also in my country.
Estuve en Porto Alegre por primera vez cuando adolescente; por primera vez en mi vida encontré niños pidiendo en las calles, y jovencitas prostituyéndose; por supuesto, eso me conmovió. Desafortunadamente, hoy en día esas escenas se ven en todas partes, incluso en mi país. Leave a Comment
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 Goats Island by andal13
The picture shows the seaside and the Island of the Goats.
Cambori? es otro famoso balneario de Santa Catarina; menos salvaje y m?s urbano que Florian?polis, pero muy atractivo tambi?n.
La foto muestra la playa y la Isla de las Cabras. Leave a Comment
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 Royal Summer Palace by andal13
Santos Dumont was the pioneer of Brazilian aviation. His house is a really odd building, that deserves a visit.
Petr?polis es una ciudad cercana a R?o, en donde se puede visitar la residencia de verano del Emperador Pedro II (quien dio el nombre a la ciudad), la Universidad Cat?lica y la casa de Santos Dumont.
Santos Dumont fue el pionero de la aviaci?n brasile?a. Su casa es un edificio realmente extra?o, que merece una visita. Leave a Comment
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 Pedestrian street by andal13
Santa Maria es una ciudad universitaria pequeña y bointa de Rio Grande do Sul; acogedora, limpia, y rodeada por una hermosa sierra en la cual hay numerosos balnearios, es un destino alejado del trillo pero my atractivo. Leave a Comment
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