Brazil travel tips

Following are regularly updated travel tips for Brazil.

The text below is from the comprehensive holiday travel tips to be found at
Cheap World Travel Tips.

May 6 2009 Brazil travel tips

Note: Severe flooding has hit Brazil's north-east in early May, 2009, killing more than a dozen people and leaving about 70,000 homeless. State most affected by the flooding are Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Alagoas and Bahai.

Note: A dengue fever epidemic hit Rio de Janeiro in early 2008, killing almost 70 people and infecting about 50,000 others. Dengue causes high fevers, severe headaches and joint pains. Rio suffered serious dengue outbreaks in 1986, 1995 and 2002.

Rio is the ultimate party town every New Year's Eve, when about a million people congregate around Copacabana Beach. There is nightlife everywhere but popular areas are Ipanema, Leblona and Leme. Since the 1990s, Lapa in the old quarter of Rio has restored its former glory as a nightlife haven for all forms of traditional Brazilian music. If you hope to impress a member of the opposite sex while in Rio, learn at the least the basics of samba before you begin your holiday.

A must-see is the famous Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio from Corcovado hill. The statue is 30 metres high and weighs more than a thousand tonnes, overlooking one of the world's great vistas. Most hotels have organised tours to the Corcovado and a taxi from the centre of town will cost about US$18.

On New Years Day in 1502, Portuguese explorer Goncalo Coelho landed at Guanabara Bay and, believing the bay was the mouth of a mighty river, named the location Rio de Janeiro - January River.

Rio de Janeiro, known to locals as Cadade Maravilhosa (Marvellous City), is a chaotic yet sophisticated city for holiday adventure.

Rio is nestled around Guanabara Bay, surrounded by verdant mountains and has a population around 14 million.

The city's fanatical beach culture is centred on Copacabana Beach, a 4.5 kilometre stretch of white sand backed by high-rise apartments. Small bikinis are the norm and women in one-piece bathers are usually assumed to be tourists.

Brazil's balmy north-east has almost 3,000 kilometres of virtually uninterrupted white beaches from Sao Luis to Salvador.

Brazil's national drink is the caipirinha, a potent blend of cachaca (sugar cane brandy), crushed lime and sugar.

Tourists are best advised to avoid the notorious favellas, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro. It might be tempting to experience "the real Rio" within these ramshackle, mostly hillside communities, but crime is rampant and naive tourists have always been a target.

Recent statistics suggest there are 13 murders every day in the Rio favellas, including the murder of children. Believe it or not, this is an improvement as the murder rate during the early 1990s was closer to 40 per day. Drug cartels effectively own different favella communities and almost all residents have access to a gun.

About 35 thousand people in Brazil are killed by guns each year, more than any other country in the world, but the numbers have declined in recent years.

In June 2005, the State Governor threw out plans to build high walls between some of the slums and main roads in Rio, mostly to protect innocent motorists from stray bullets during gang shootouts. Get the hint?

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