Brazil Itinerary

We traveled to 4 places in 13 days (including travel time), as shown in the map below and outlined in the details below the map. We flew in and out of Brazil through Manaus, and we got to the 4 cities within Brazil using the Brazil Airpass on the domestic airlines 'TAM'.

Days 1-4: Rio de Janeiro (A)

• Surf and sand time along the beautiful adjacent beaches: Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana
• Hired a taxi to take us to Corcovado hill where the symbol of Brazil, the "Christo Redentor" statue is casting its shadow over the entire city. I wanted to take the train up the hill, but it worked out better to go in a taxi given our schedule.

• Walked around the energetic Santa Teresa neighborhood
• Went to Pão de Açúcar, also known as Sugar Loaf Mountain, to check out the gorgeous sunset and the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro
• Enjoyed and participated in the many street parades that where people were pre-partying before Carnaval officially started
• Partied all night (only one of the two nights of Carnaval) with the locals in sambódromo while watching many samba schools compete

Other options for activities in Rio that we did not get to (these are suggestions from Catia, a friend of my good friend Anjali Bhantia):

• Lots of great places to have coffee in Rio: Armazem do Cafe and Alessandro & Frederico, both in Ipanema, and cafes inside bookstores like Livraria da Travessa, in Ipanema, Livraria Argumento, in Leblon, Livraria Letras e Espressões in Ipanema and Leblon
• If you want an interesting view of the famous Copacabana beach, you could go to the Forte de Copacabana, a former military fort, now a museum open to the public which has a restaurant and a great view of the beach. These military forts usually have great views of the city and are very safe places to hang around. There is also one with a steep way on the other side of the Copacabana beach called Forte do Leme but it is not as interesting
• There are also good hiking areas but you should always use the assistance of guides. The most famous one is the Pedra da Gavea hiking. There are specialized companies which provide this kind of service


• Hang-gliding is a very popular activity where tourists glide from near the twin peaks of Leblon all the way down to the beach. Rio Turismo Radical and Just Fly Rio are two of many companies that offer this activity. There were lots of people selling these activities in front of the entrance to Sugar Loaf Mountain. If you are keen on doing this, buy tickets the day you get to Rio as they tend to sell out. The activity is also very weather-dependent.
• Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas - A large lagoon in the middle of South Zone, with great views to Corcovado and Ipanema and Leblon beaches; there are skating and jogging fields all around it
• Jardim Botanico - The Botanical Garden, planted up in the 1800s. It is both a park and a scientific laboratory. If you take the bus note that Jardim Botanico is also the name of a neighborhood so make sure you take the right one to the entrance. The admission is $4. The gardens are well kept and very lush. Not far from the cafe, first you hear swooshing sounds. Look up and you can see small monkeys swinging from tree to tree
• MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art) - The second most important contemporary art museum in Brazil, after MASP (downtown, next to Santos Dumont airport). Modernist architecture spreading over almost the sea
• Niteroi – island off of Rio coast, good contemporary art museum with a modern building, Itcoataria beach is good.
• Kayaking - The Bay of Guanabara is perfect for kayaking. Avid paddler and guide Simone Miranda Duarte (tel. 021/2541-6437 or 021/9954-9632) runs guided tours out of Praia Vermelha. Her rate is R$250 (US$105) per 4-hour trip, including equipment and English-speaking guide. This works out to R$125 (US$52) per person for two, R$63 (US$26) per person with four people, and R$50 (US$21) per person for a group of five. The guides at Rio Hiking (tel. 021/9721-0594; www.riohiking.com.br) also organize kayaking tours out of Praia Vermelha in Urca out and around some of the small islands. The fiberglass kayaks aren't quite up to North American quality, but it's nice to be on the water. Cost is R$155 (US$65) for a half-day tour, including transfers, refreshments, and English-speaking guide.
• Tijuca Park/Forest – The rainforest surrounding Corcovado hill. Lots of waterfalls, animals and greenery
• The towns around Rio with great beaches and nature are: Buzios, Parati/Paraty (it's halfway between Rio and São Paulo) and Ilha Grande (see the next bullet)
• Ilha Grande – a beautiful and lush island off the mainland in the region of Angra dos Reis, near Rio. Other islands in the region of Itacuruca are popular as well
• For diving, people usually go to Arraial do Cabo

Nightlife:

• Lapa is THE place. There are great samba and Brazilian music places there with lots of young people and great entertainment. Two of the most famous are: Carioca da Gema and Rio Scenarium.
• But there are other places in the same area where you can dance and see concerts of different styles such as Circo Voador, Fundacao Progresso and Teatro Odisseia.
• Usually during the summer, there are concerts and parties at night in the Sugar Loaf area. They are great, usually with famous Brazilian musicians and DJs and the place is fantastic, offering a great view of the city at night. The event is called Oi Noites Cariocas.
• Some of my friends usually go to a nightclub called 00 (zero, zero) in Gavea but I am not sure if it's really trendy this summer.
• There is also a place called Baixo Gavea where many young people hang around at night near the bars.
• Other places like this are Cobal do Leblon and again Lapa.

• Melt - 47 Rua Rita Ludolf Leblon - Restaurant and lounge bar popular with the Carioca high society. Inspired by New York lounge bars, it's dark and relaxed with soft sofas and cushions to Melt‚ into - so to speak. The cosmopolitan menu in the open-plan dining area combines Tex-Mex with Thai delights and apart from regular cocktails in the lunge bar the Caiparoskas are top notch - there are tasty Belgian beers to get the juices flowing too. The atmosphere heats up later on with sounds from samba to techno and trip-hop and you'll want to get close to some of the lovelies who spin their tails on the dance floor.
• Academia de Cachaca - 26 Rua Conde de Bernadotte Leblon, A laid-back yet up-market Leblon classic specialising in North East Brazilian food and great cocktails all built from the traditional Brazilian spirit of cachaca. There are at least 500 varieties of the potion to choose from - served up either straight, as traditional Caiparinhas, or as colourful fruity concoctions by barmen who are quite clearly pass masters. Try the passion-fruit Caiparinha with real fruit floating inside - best sipped while snacking on something like a manioc croquette with cream cheese. Our kind of academy!
• Bar d’Hotel - 696 Avenida Delfim Moreira Marina Hotel, Sexy, star-filled hangout for the beautiful people with a beautiful view of the ocean - not that much use is made of it. And why stare at the ocean when glamorous customers in various stages of designer undress are also on view? Food is fancy, finessed Italian fare, the menu appearing on a chalk board ferried over by a dashing waiter, but the cocktails are the real draw. Potent, inventive creations such as the Sake Caipirinha and a champagne cocktail with a lemon sorbet mixer proving particularly popular

Click here for her list of Vegetarian friendly restaurants in Rio.

Day 5: Foz do Iguaçu (B)

• We spent half a day checking out the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls

Days 6,7: Salvador (C)

• Crazy night of Carnaval in its rawest state!
• Igreja de Sao Francisco - The famous San Francisco church
• Forte de Sao Marcelo - A fort along the picturesque beach
• The Historic Lighthouse
• Capoeira performance by the locals. Capoeira originated in Salvador!

Days 8-12: Manaus (D)

• Meeting of the Waters - where water from two rivers (Rio Negro and Rio Solimões) don't mix as their constituencies are very different
• Navigated the pitch darkness in kayaks to spot caimans
• Explored the flooded forest ecosystem in kayaks while following howler monkeys and looking for sloths
• Pink dolphin spotting
• Spear fishing and Piranha fishing
• Witnessed a gorgeous Amazonian sunset and moonrise at Lake Mira, which is just a section of stagnant water amidst a tributary
• Hiked within the rainforest and camping in the jungle on hammocks
• Visited a local family and 'harvested' branches of açaí, and helped make delicious açaí juice freshly crushed and sieved in front of us
• All of the above was part of an all-inclusive package deal we found through Amazon Riders
• Teatro Amazonas - the ornate opera house located in Manaus
• My lunch at an all vegetarian restaurant, Casa da Pomonha, right next to Teatro Amazonas
• The tangy and spicy tacacá soup at the central plaza that made your tongue go numb for a few minutes

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Vegetarian Friendly Restaurant Recommendations in Rio de Janeiro:

Zaza Bistro Tropical

Rua Joana Angelica 40, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Phone: 21-2247-9101

Saturday and Sunday for lunch only. (Expensive, but worth it. Snazzy)

Celeiro

R. Dias Ferreira 199, Leblon, tel 2274-7843

Site: Celeiro

Comment: Ambitious with over 40 different salads and a strong organic profile, only open for lunch. (lots of good reviews!)

Associação Macrobiotica

Praça Mahatma Ghandi 2 nr 104, Centro, tel 2220-7585

Comment: Macrobiotic, vegan-friendly

Health's

R. Senador Dantas 84 Store G, Centro, tel 2240-5388

Comment: Lacto, juice bar, salad bar

Metamorfose

R. Santa Luzia 405 nr 207, Centro, tel 2262-6306

Comment: Macrobiotic, closed Sunday

Reino Vegetal

R. Luiz de Camões 98, Centro, tel 2221-7416

Restaurante Tempeh

R. Primeiro de Março 24, Centro, tel 2232-8007

Comment: Vegan, buffet, salad-bar

Restaurante Vegetariano Beterraba

R. da Alfândega 25, Centro, tel 2253-7460

Type of Food: Vegan

Universo Organico

R. Conde de Bernadote 26, Leblon, tel 2274-8983

Comment: Raw, vegan, organic, juice bar, organic natural foods market and raw food restaurant. (reviews look really good!)

Vegan Vegan

R. Voluntários da Pátria 402, Botafogo tel 2286-7088

Comment: Yes, vegan. (reviews look good!)

Empório Saúde

R. Visconde de Pirajá, Ipanema, tel 2522-1494

Comment: Vegetarian

Gávea Integral

R. Marquês de São Vicente 75, Gávea, tel 2512-2283

Green

R. do Carmo 38, Centro, tel 2252-5356

Comment: One of the first vegetarian restaurants in Rio.

Le Cafè Vert

R. Barão de Jaguaripe 182, Ipanema, tel 2522-0669

Sabor Saúde

R. da Quitanda 21, Centro, tel 2252-6041

Verde Vício

R. Buenos Aires 22, Centro, tel 2233-9602

Restaurante Vegetariano Beterraba (Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurant)

Rua da Alfândega, 25 A - Centro, Rio De Janeiro

55-21-2253-7460

Type: Vegan-friendly, Brazilian, Not 100% Vegetarian (looks good!)

Bistrô do Paço

Praça Quinze 48, Centro, Rio de Janeiro 021/2262-3613

A good option for a light lunch, the daily buffet of salads (R$14 per person) includes carrot salad with oranges, potatoes, and apples. You also can try an onion, cheese, or spinach quiche.

Vegetariano Social Clube

Rua Conde de Bernadotte 26, Loja L, Leblon, Rio de Janeiro 021/2294-5200

Vegan restaurants are rare in Rio, and this is by far the most sophisticated. The small eatery has carefully prepared dishes free of any animal products that go much beyond brown rice or burdock. Sunday and Wed for traditional Brazilian food. Sunday is lunch only.

Doce Delícia

Ipanema, Rua Anibal de Mendonça, 55C

2259-0239

New Natural

Ipanema, Rua Barão da Torre, 173 (Good acai juice!)

2287-0301

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São Paulo

We did not visit São Paulo, but here are some recommendations from Catia and Anjali for what to check out and where to eat in this bustling city:

• There is a very interesting Japanese neighborhood, called Bairro da Liberdade with a huge Japanese colony (the largest concentration of Japanese people outside Japan)
• An interesting park (Ibirapuera)
• Sophisticated places to visit include the Jardins, Iguatemi, Oscar Freire Street, Iguatemi Shopping Mall, Cidade Jardim Shopping Mall, Daslu (uber chic mega store)
• There are also good art museums and a great nightlife with lots of different and excelent restaurants, clubs and bars
• As for day trips, people usually go to Guaruja and Ibatuba for the beach but I don't think these places are as great as the ones near Rio.

Vegetarian Friendly Restaurant Recommendations in São Paulo:

BioAlternativa

Alameda Santos, 2214, São Paulo (at Cerqueira Cesar, Jardins, Metro: Consolação, between Haddock Lobo St and Bela Cintra Vegetarian and organic restaurant. Menu features pilaf, veggiemeats, tofu, yaki soba noodles, banana curry, mushroom risotto, and more. Segunda a sexta das 12 às 15 horas, sábado das 12 às 22 horas, domingo das 12 às 16 horas.

Vegacy

Galeria Nova Augusta, Rua Augusta - 2077 - Loja 03

Cozinha vegetariana. Sao Paulo vegetarian restaurant, more like an eat-run-back-to-work kind of place. Friendly service. Maybe closes around 4pm.

Vegethus Restaurante Vegetariano

Rua Padre Machado, 51, São Paulo (at Rua Domingos de Moraes, próximo ao metro Santa Cruz, Via Mariana, Zona Sul)

Sao Paulo vegetarian restaurant. Mostly vegan with some organic options. Accept credit cards. Open daily for lunch. Segunda a sexta das 11:30 às 15 horas, domingo das 11:30 às 16 horas.

Fulo

Rua Haddock Lobo, 899, São Paulo

Fulô offers organic food and drinks in a charming setting. Open 11:30am-11:30pm.

Galleria Organica

rua Oscar Freire, 2273, São Paulo (at metro Sumarê)

Galleria Orgânica is an organic vegetarian restaurant using certified organic ingredients and featuring 5 types of organic wine and 1 Brasillian organic beer. Lunch is served Mon-Sat 11am-3pm with choice of either cooked or raw and includes a soup, salad, and dessert for R$16. The pizzeria features all-you-can-eat for R$25, and is open Thur-Sun 7pm-11pm. Fri-Sat nights features after hours pizza-lounge with dj spinning music.

Maha Mantra

Rua Fradique Coutinho, 766, São Paulo (at Vila Madalena)

New ownership since April 2008. Lassi, chutney, pakoda, poori, feijoada vegetariana, organic salads. Cash only. Closed Monday.

Cheiro Verde

Rua Peisoto Gomide, 1078, Jardim Paulista, São Paulo

A la carte menu dining. Open Mon-Fri 11:30-15:00, Sat-Sun 12:00-17:00.

Alcaparra

Av. Pompéia, 2544, São Paulo (at Sumarezinho)

Try the Shiitake strogonoff on Sundays. Segunda à sexta das 11:30 às 15:30 horas, sábado e domingo das 11 às 16 horas.

Ananta

Rua dos Buritis, 54, Loja 31 - Shopping Jabaquara

Brazilian, Juice bar

Anna Prem

Rua Muniz de Souza, 1170 (01534-001) (at front of Aclimação Park)

Lacto, Vegan-friendly, Organic, Indian, International, Juice bar, Delivery

Bistrô e Restaurante Natural. The restaurant occupies two levels of the house while the bistro is at front by the sidewalk. Features four daily options of combinations and 2 options of juice and dessert.

Casa do Natural

Rua Fradique Coutinho, 910, São Paulo (at Vila Madalena)

Also store selling lots of natural products. Almoço diariamente das 12 às 16 horas domingos e feriados cardápios especiais.

Casa Prema

Rua Diogo Moreira, 312, Pinheiros

Veggie buffet. Open Mon-Fri 11.30-15, Sat 11.30-15.30.

Cereal Brasil

Rua Rodésia, 242, Vila Madalena

Ovo, Lacto, Vegan-friendly, Brazilian, International, Buffet

Espaco Improprio

R. Dona Antônia de Queiróz, 40, Bela Vista

Vegan, Fast food, Salad bar, Juice bar, Brazilian

Espaço Impróprio is a vegan restaurant in Sao Paulo. Open Tue-Sun 10-23.

Frazao Vegetariano

Rua Chafic Maluf, 193, Brooklin

Ovo, Lacto, Vegan-friendly, Brazilian, Buffet, Juice bar

Gostoso Restaurante

Rua Frei Gaspar 71, Centro Santos, São Paulo

Simple place that's hidden. Look for the little sign inside the hall up the stairs. Approximately 10 reais for buffet that includes drink and dessert. Non smoking.

Recanto Vegetariano

Rua Florida, 1442, São Paulo (at Brooklim, a uma quadra da Av. Eng. Luís Carlos Berrini na praça Lions Monções)

Large buffet spread featuring salads, breads, fruits, and hot foods. Almoço das 11:30h às 15:00h.

Brazil

Travel Dates: February-March 2009

We had been wanting to go to Brazil for a long time, especially to witness the craze and see if there was any truth to all the stories we had heard about the infamous Carnaval. I also had lots of images of the rainforest and the mighty Amazon that all put together made the country quite mysterious and fascinating. What we didn't realize is Brazil is huge in terms of geography. Getting from one place to another, especially airfare and that too during Carnaval, was getting very expensive and long. After doing some research, we zeroed in on visiting Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu (home to the famous Iguassu Falls), Salvador da Bahia, and Manaus (biggest city in the state of Amazonas and embarkation point to many a rainforest adventures). Salvador didn't live up to its hype for us, though it was a quaint little colonial town that was the entry point for a lot of Africans into the country who were brought in by the Portuguese as slaves.

If we had more time: We would have rather cut our rainforest adventure short to 2-3 days (we spent 4 days 3 nights there) and instead visited the azure oases and white sands within the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. The next time we come back to Brazil, we would also like to check out Chapada Diamantina National Park, Pantanal (the world's largest wetland), Paraty (the colonial town that's nestled between Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro), the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, and of course Rio de Janeiro. Rio is one of the most beautiful places we've been to in terms of diversity of nature as well as the people!

Prices: At the time, one Brazillian Reais/Real was worth around $0.40. Other than local foods at the hole-in-the-wall places or stalls along the streets, the food was not necessarily cheap. The fresh fruit juices, especially açaí berry smoothies were absolutely delicious and inexpensive! The bottled açaí stuff you get here doesn't even come close to the amazing goodness of the non-preserved real açaí in Brazil! Be prepared for everything to get exponentially expensive during Carnaval time.

Transportation: As mentioned above, you may not realize how huge Brazil is until you start researching transportation options for getting from one city to another. It took a 6-hour flight to get from Manaus (Amazon area) to Rio de Janeiro - the same amount of time it takes to fly coast-to-coast in the US! The best thing to do to avoid super expensive a la carte flight prices is to buy an airpass. We bought the Brazil Air Pass offered by the Brazillian airlines TAM. The idea is you use 1 coupon per leg of your flight, and you pay a certain amount based on how many "coupons" you need. We were visiting 4 places in Brazil, hence we got the first level pass, which allows 1-4 coupons/stops. It's in your best interest to find non-stop flights between the cities you want to go to so you don't have to spend coupons unnecessarily.

However, note that if there's an included stop-over at a city in your flight, then you don't have to spend your coupon over it. For example, we landed from the US into Manaus, then took a flight from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro, which was 1 coupon. However, it stopped at Brasilia en-route for a connecting flight and we didn't have to spend an extra coupon (1 for Manaus-Brasilia, and 1 more for Brasilia-Rio). When you call TAM to buy the air pass, be sure to have decided on which cities you want to visit and are flexible in terms of dates and even the sequence of your visit. We had to change the sequence of our visits to the cities based on the availability of the non-stop flights. It cost us $730 each for the airpass (which was cheaper than what the individual flights would have cost us all summed up!). If you buy the international airfare with TAM as well, you'll get a discount on the Brazil airpass. We only got a partial discount because we had already booked our international flights on Delta, which is a TAM partner.

Within Rio de Janeiro, we either took taxis, trams or the subway/metro to get to places. We took the bus to get to Iguassu Falls and back to our hostel/airport, and we took taxis around in Salvador. In Manaus, we got a package deal for the rainforest adventure which included all transfers, including to/from airport. More about that in just a bit.

Weather/Best time to visit: It was only hot and humid in Manaus (rainforest) when we went. The weather in Rio de Janeiro was actually in the pleasant mid-70's. It was warm (80's) and humid at both Iguassu Falls and Manaus, but not unbearably so. I suppose early winter in North America, which is late spring/early summer in the southern hemisphere, should be a pleasant time to visit Brazil as well.

Also, be sure to not visit Salvador on Ash Wednesday, which is the day after a week long celebration of Carnaval, when the place is almost dead. Everyone's recuperating from the hedonistic festivities and a lot of the popular spots (like churches, etc.) are also closed!

It was rainy season in the Amazon when we went, which proved advantageous to us because the forest floor was flooded and we were able to explore deeper on canoes rather than walking/hiking. It also made for extremely humid conditions with no breeze when you're within the forest - an almost suffocating situation when you're covered with bug spray, sleeping in hammocks stacked next to each other like sardines, with mosquito nets around each hammock. Take a well ventilated rain jacket with you for it can start pouring at any time as well!

Carnaval: The two biggest Carnavals in Brazil are in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. They're both quite different, and we went to both (kinda), so here's what you need to know for both.

In Rio, there are several Samba schools that compete with each other to be able to present their school's floats in the infamous carnaval parade in the Sambódromo. Sambódromo is actually a street on which the parades go by, but it's become somewhat akin to a stadium now with bleachers built on both sides for audience to view the parades from. Only around 14 Samba schools are chosen to participate in this 2 day long parade which starts at 9pm and ends at around 9am each day. The winning school that has the best theme and dancing and costumes gets the bragging rights till the next year's competition. Each school gets 1 hour 20 minutes to complete the parade down the street, showing their tricks and everything along the way. During the entire time a school is on, if you're in the bleachers sitting with its supporters, they will not sit down till the parade is finished! Brazilians know how to party, albeit on the bleachers! The judges are in the middle section, and of course the seats in those sections are more expensive than those in other sections. We also took the metro to the Sambódromo and walked with the crowd to where the entrances were.

The seats sell out up to a year in advance, and are MUCH cheaper if you know someone local there who can buy them for you. If you don't, like us, then just have a nice dinner the night you want to go, and arrive at the Sambódromo closer to midnight and bargain your way through buying the tickets from scalpers outside. Since the parade has already begun, the scalpers are willing to go lower on their asking price. Be careful, but also confident. I bargained in Spanish, and once we bought the tickets (which is an eletronic card key that you swipe to get through), one of us tried it out to see if it worked. Once it did, I paid the money in full (came out to $115 per person) and the rest of us went through as well without any hiccups!

Above is a picture of Sambódromo's layout. The bleachers are divided into sectors, and the parade starts from Sector 1 and ends at the arch/Sector 13. Sectors 3, 5, and 7 are great for viewing the entire parade. Sector 9 is the tourist section with bilingual guides, which I don't think is worth it because you won't be able to hear them anyway. There's so much noise and dancing around you all the time! We were in Sector 5, across from the judges, so we got to see a lot of the schools' tricks (albeit the back view). We left at around 6am (competition/party was still going on) and found that the wait for taxis was at least 3 hours. We thought of taking the metro back, but found a lone taxi along the road and came back to the hotel in that (he charged us $30, which is 5x more expensive and he knew if we wouldn't pay, somebody else would).

In Salvador, the Carnaval is a lot more "raw". The parades go through actual streets and there are 3 or 4 different circuits. Makeshift bleachers are built on either side of the street and seats are sold to people. If you want to participate *in* the parade, you have to buy a t-shirt representing the group you want to participate with. The t-shirt costs as much as $100-500. The safest place, we were told, was to be within the group, for if you're a spectator outside, unless you're on the bleachers, you are guaranteed to be groped by everybody. There are no huge costumes or floats here - each group just has a big truck with lots of speakers on it. There's a singer who jumps to the top of the truck and starts singing karaoke style as the truck parades down the streets, and its "groupies" follow along behind.

Amazonian Rainforest Adventure: Having gone all the way out there, we were very keen on spending some quality time in the rainforest. After doing some online research, we chose Amazon Riders as the company to go with. We went with their "Anaconda 2" package deal, which was 4 days 3 nights of an all-inclusive adventure. Check out the link for details on what was covered in the package, but the highlights were staying in a jungle lodge (quite rustic, perhaps a 1 or 2 star), meeting other travelers like us, camping in the rainforest on hammocks, exploring the rainforest and listening to the howler monkeys, caiman spotting at night, pink dolphin spotting (they look like flying/swimming pigs!), "harvesting" açaí berries and making + consuming fresh açaí juice, and playing with a wild sloth! They also took great care to cook vegetarian meals first and separately from the non-vegetarian dishes, which was perfect too!

We had a very good experience with these guys. We had one English speaking guide and another local Brazilian guide who only spoke Portuguese and drank cachaça like it was water! They customize these packages for you, like if you wanted 3 days 2 nights instead, and they're also flexible. We didn't really want to spend another night camping in the rainforest as Nishant got sick, so we came back to the lodge the 3rd night. We paid $250 all inclusive, including a hotel night's stay the 4th night since our flight was on the 5th morning. In retrospect, I think we should have done a 3 day 2 night package and checked out Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in the extra 2.5 days we had!

Cuisine: Brazil is a very big meat eating country. There are churrascarias (Brazilian steak houses) everywhere, providing endless supply of meat selections on gigantic skewers brought to the table. Their national dish seems to be Feijoada, which is a black bean stew with a variety of pig parts. Simple tomato garlic spaghetti is served as a side almost everywhere, along with manioc flour (from the cassava/tapioca root) and a shot of cachaça (sugarcane liquor) to wash it all down. At the hostel we stayed near Iguassu Falls, the hostess made special vegetarian feijoada for my friend and me, which was pretty much like a black bean chili. Brazil has really tasty cheese breads called Pao de Queijo, and even more amazing fresh fruit juices, including soothing coconut water at all beaches! I could have lived off those entirely. It's a sin that the US doesn't have decent fresh fruit juices, and no, Jamba Juice does not even come close! Guarana is another fruit of the Amazons that is supposed to be an energy booster. Needless to say they would find a way to commercialize it in the form of an "energy drink". It tasted alright...quite a bit like the drink 'Inca Cola' from Peru, or Mountain Dew with a slight after-taste.

Salvador had more interesting flavors in its dishes due to the African influence. The dishes used a lot more palm oil and quite a lot of pimento oil (oil with spicy pimento peppers in them). One of my favorite dishes was Acarajé, which is lentils fried in palm oil (a little like larger falafels) cut in half and stuffed with cucumber salad, pimento oil and shrimp. I got the non-shrimp version of course, and was delicious!

If feijoada is their national dish, Caipirinha (pronounced as 'kai-pi-rinya') is their national drink, made out of the ubiquitous cachaça. It is quite refreshing actually :)

Vegetarian Acaraje with tamarind coconut dessert (left) and Feijoada (right)

Stay: We really wanted to stay at some of the quaint Posadas, or bed and breakfast places, but most of them were booked during Carnaval, and if not, they required a minimum of 7 day stay. Hence we ended up staying at chain hotels. We stayed at a very lovely hostel in Foz do Iguaçu called Hostel Natura. And of course in the Amazon rainforest, we stayed two nights in the jungle lodge, one night under the stars in the rainforest, and one night at a hotel.

Language/People: Portuguese is the language that's widely spoken throughout Brazil, but a majority of them also understand Spanish, which was a great help for us! I could read Portuguese and infer the meaning of phrases, however when I heard the language, it was impossible for me to follow! The people were all quite pleasant. We didn't have any bad encounters with anybody from the wrong side of the neighborhood as we were careful about where we went and went only to well lit areas with a lot of people. That being said, we didn't feel the least bit threatened or scared walking along the beaches of Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana at night.

And I don't need to tell you that the people in Rio de Janeiro are just as beautiful as the city itself. We got so tired of seeing people with six-pack abs! And to our surprise, Brazilians really like Indians and all things Indian! They even have a soap opera called "Caminho das Indias" (translates to 'The Indian Way/Street') which has Brazilian stars speaking in Portuguese but the plot is entirely like a Bollywood movie! Watch a clip here :) We befriended a Brazilian girl on our way to Brazil and she said I looked like one of the actors on the show! :)

Visa Requirements: It costs $130 for US citizens to obtain a Brazilian visa! The Brazilian consulate in San Francisco was not shy in disclosing the reason, as it was stuck on posters all over their wall: They were just reciprocating the fees US has posed Brazilian citizens to enter the US! It's only $20 for Indian citizens. We got our visas in a week (we dropped off our passports and picked them up a week later).

The highlight of this trip was definitely Rio de Janeiro! But there's still so much to see...we will definitely be back!