Top Brazil hotels
Beach Rio de Janeiro
33 Reviews When you are in Rio you quickly realize that we all love the beach, no matter if the weather is fine or not, but we always find any reason to be close by the sea. Even when the sea is flat you will...
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Portuguese needed... or not? São Paulo
6 Reviews it's difficult to travel here without knowing some rudimentary Portuguese (even Spanish helps a lot! for some reason most Brasilian/Portuguese people can understand Spanish, but not the other way...
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Bahian dress Salvador da Bahia
4 Reviews When you enter Pelourinho in Salvador you’ll be met by baiana women wearing traditional Bahian dresses. The outfit of a baiana woman is turban, starched skirts of colourful pattern, shawl over the...
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Thumbs Up! Speak Portuguese Manaus
4 Reviews Brazil is not a bilingual country and, in Manaus, as well as the rest of Brazil, most people are not fluent in English or any foreign language. In shops and turistic points you' ll probably find...
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Cachaça and Caipirinha Rio de Janeiro
4 Reviews Cachaca is a spirit native to Brazil and is distilled from fresh sugarcane juice. Considered a member of the rum family, it is lighter than other rums which are molasses based. Cachaca has a light,...
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Good food ! São Paulo
3 Reviews The city's Italian community is large and vibrant, and much of their culture has found its way into the daily lives of every paulista (i.e. someone from São Paulo). However, the Italian influence is...
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Bahian Food Salvador da Bahia
7 Reviews Bahian cuisine has the influence of Portuguese, African and Indian cultures with a predominance of local exotic ingredients. Is characterized by the generous use of malagueta chili peppers and dende...
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local people Manaus
4 Reviews from the Manaus Region, have become very much aware of their Heritage and try to preserve their way of life and culture. much of their land has been confiscated, burned and left the tribes on a knifes...
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Fitas Salvador da Bahia
5 Reviews I went to Salvador in 2007 and had my wrist covered in these beautiful Bahia Wish Bracelets. Long story short, I long ago forgot about them and the story behind them until I recently came across them...
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fishing Manaus
1 Review fishermen at the port of Belem...the main income source for many in the 70s, has been still is I suppose, a spectaculare pasttime for tourist, when the Fishermen brought their catch home in the late...
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Berimbau Salvador da Bahia
3 Reviews The Brazilian berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, braced musical bow or African origin. It consists of a wooden bow (traditionally made from biribi wood) about 1,2 - 1,5 m long, with a...
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Capoeira Salvador da Bahia
5 Reviews Capoeira is a unique Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, dance, music and acrobatics. But capoiera is much more; it is a ritual and a philosophy, a cultural tradition and a...
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Acaraje Salvador da Bahia
2 Reviews Acareje is street food eaten at any time as a snack. It consists of a patty, made from mashed feijao fradinho (black-eyed beans). The mash is deep-fried in dende oil (derived from a nut found on the...
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Carnaval Salvador da Bahia
2 Reviews New info on the last 2005 Salvador Carnaval in my new Travelogue. Carnaval is Locura Total : for 6 day and 6 night million of people dancing, singing and drinking. The old carnival consisted of big...
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Dance Salvador da Bahia
2 Reviews I stayed in Bahia from 16th until 25th June (S. Joao). Everywhere you could hear "forro", and in the night there are forro bands all over. You´ll have to learn and dance it (and very close one each...
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Cafezinho Salvador da Bahia
2 Reviews At any time of the day you will see these little coffee-cars with with decorations beyond imagination especially in the city center. Some are very basic, but lots of them are equipped with fantastic...
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On a friday afternoon, Rafael forget in a "packed" bus of Niteroi, his bag with camera and "documents"....That wonderfull lady find his bag and during 24 hours she manage all ways ( with internet) to reach Rafael and gave him back his bag......INTACT......The day before i left we went to visit her in the suburb of Niteroi. She is a teacher and with her we went to see poor children in school and make them happy with some gifts ( crayons, pencil, ballons...)
If you were to ask a Brazilian woman what their biggest complaint is about North American tourists, I think most of them would probably say something about misinterpretations of Brazilian flirting.Physical contact between people, male-male female-female, and male-felame, is part of the culture here. I have written a whole tip just on physical contact. A touch that in North America would be considered an invitation is probably, in Brasil, just normal life.The same thing goes for comments, questions and even open sexual references that in the USA would probably be considered sexual harassment. In Brasil, some of this is part of normal life. On the other hand, there are some parts of it that are not considered acceptable at all, and should be avoided.A few examples I myself have been asked by women, women whom I had just barely met, while visiting Brasil:"Do you think I'm hot?""Do you think...
Every culture has their own peculair way of dealing with dating, marriage, and intimate relationships. In this short space it is difficult to summarize the entire set of customs regarding male-female relationships. I will attempt to make a brief summary:In comparing USA and Brasil, what's the same regarding male-female relationships in the culture: Marriage happens in both, and in both countries sometimes women get pregnant.What is different: Almost everything else.Physical contact is a generally accepted part of life in Brasil. This goes for all relationships, including friendship. From words printed on a page, this may not seem such a big adjustment. It can be.For example, when I was preparing to leave Londrina after a few months, one of my female friends and her husband came to bid farewell. The woman cuddled up against my side and started caressing my hand in a way that (back home)...
Although Rio de Janeiro and Bahia are famous for their Carnaval celebrations, these celebrations are really celebrated all over Brazil. What goes on changes a little bit from one culture to the other (there are different cultures inside Brazil).I have never been to Brazil during Carnaval. However, I have lived with Brazilian families and have had many Brazilian friends and aquantances. Some Brazilians really like Carnaval because it is, after all, a unique national party. On the other hand, there are many others that do not like Carnaval for many reasons, including the fact that the cities become more dangerous, the fact that it interferes with daily life, and the fact that Many Brazilians participate full-force in Carnaval activities. Others lock themselves in their appartments for an entire week for security reasons, as they feel it is unsafe to venture outside the building during that...
Let's face it, Brazil's real religion is Futebol: many in the country have their emotions charged by how Brazil is doing on the soccer field.If you choose to wear a local team colors:Be really careful what jersey you wear though, as it is taken seriously enough that identification with some teams in some areas may be grounds for social rejection or worse.(The photo here was taken by a friend from São Paulo named Claudia, who granted her permission for its use.)
Despite the fact that Brazil is commonly identified with Roman Catholicism, the fact is that there is also a huge portion of the population that also practices various voodoo traditions.Macumba is one of these ceremonies that involves chicken sacrifice, burning candles, and getting drunk on sugar cane alcohol.As shown here, the practice is common enough that certain Brazilian picnic areas have posted "No Macumba" signs.Apparently, public voodoo ceremonies tend to scare away the tourists....
THE OK SIGN:In Brazil, an "OK" hand sign may be misinterpreted as an offensive gesture (equivalent to a middle finger), so to avoid any trouble, you should rather smile and make a "thumb-up" gesture.BRAZILIAN GESTURES FOR "I DON'T KNOW":Whenever I wanted to mean "I don't know" with a gesture, I would usually rub my fingers under my chin (from neck to chin) one time. It was a pretty obvious gesture to me. However, when I went to the USA, someone pointed out this curious gesture just after I made it and then I realized it wasn't an international gesture. Silly me!Another gesture for "I don't know" is shrugging shoulders with an uncertain face, and sometimes followed by raising both hands towards shoulders and palms outward. Same gesture also used to express "I don't care!" (without hands gesture).
We saw this several times during my stay in Brazil. It was the beginning of the new school year, and there was this hazing tradition where the freshmen had to paint themselves and dance in the street and then ask for money from people in cars. (I think they called this "pedágio" or "trote".) If they don't get enough money (I am presuming), then different things can happen to them, such as getting some of their hair cut off. This scene got kind of crazy sometimes, especially at night.
Symbol of the age-old myths of Africa, this clenched-first good-luck charm came to Brazil with its XVII century slave trade.As tribal memories paled over generations, belief in its powers to increase warrior's fertility also faded, until today it is prized by both men and women purely for luck. Tradition holds that , in order to bring luck, a figa must always be a gift .It may be carved froom wood or stone , crafted from plain or precious metals,ranging from delicate earrings to meter-tall sculptures.In some respects it is similar to our symbol of "crossed fingers". In our culture there is a crude hand symbol which is similar but not the same -- this is NOT a crude symbol.
The time in the parts of Brazil most popular with foreign visitors is three hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. This is true of Rio de Janeiro, Sýo Paulo, Brasýlia, Bahia, Minas Gerais etc. Amazonas, Roraima, Rondýnia, Parý, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul are a further one hour behind Brazilian stantard time, while Acre is two hours behind. Fernando de Noronha and other oceanic islands are one hour in front.In 1985 Brazil introduced ýsummer timeý to help save energy and has repeated the measure ever since. Brazilian summer time comes into effect in October and ends in early February. During this period of daylight saving time, Brazilýs clocks go forward one hour in most of the south east. This when most of the Northern Hemisphere countries, such as the UK, are putting their clocks back one hour and coming off summer time. So, from March to October, when Brazil is on normal time and the...
Copacabana Palace Rio de Janeiro
21 Reviews and 355 Opinions A veritable Rio landmark, Copacabana Palace continues to enjoy a reputation as one of the most...
Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi São Paulo
4 Reviews and 200 Opinions ALL PICTURES ON PAGE 1 ( PICS 1 - 5 ) AND ON THIS PAGE # 6 AND 7 TAKEN IN SEPTEMBER 2003 , PICTURES...
Aram Yami Hotel Salvador da Bahia
1 Review and 100 Opinions I did not stay at the hotel, but my good friends did and I visited them there, hung out in the...
Reviews and photos of Brazil attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Brazil sightseeing.
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Q: Hi there! I am looking for people, who love dancing, have attended or are planning to attend Brazilian dance (Samba, Forro)...
A: I don't think that this topic belongs on a VT forum. This site is about sharing tips, vidoes and photos on travelling. It's not a site where you want to meet up with...
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