Plan A Trip To Brazil
Posted by the author on January 26th, 2012When the Portuguese began colonizing Brazil in 1504 with their official arrival in Porto Seguro, their intention was to extract as many riches as possible from this vast land. The first attraction was the beautiful, red, hard wood of the Pau Brasil tree. Later eyes turned to cocoa, sugar, and eventually the grand prize: gold and jewels.
The northeast region is where the colonization first took hold and this is the main destination for most visitors to Brazil. The cities of Salvador da Bahia and Recife/Olinda became major centers of the sugar and cocoa trade and to this day, sugar plantations blanket the hillsides of the Northeast for as far as the eye can see. The region offers a three-dimensional view into the 16th and 17th centuries through its historical cities, colonial architecture, gold-laden churches, and age-old festivals. Here, you’ll also find that special blend of cultures, derived from the mixture the Portuguese colonists, African slaves, and aboriginal Indian tribes. In Bahia, the African influences are strong, from the famous Capoeira dance, to Candomblé rituals to the Afro-Brazilian music and festivals, mixtures of African and Catholic traditions.
The only place equal to Bahia in its association with all things Brazil, is Rio de Janeiro, the cidade maravilhosa. Thrust into the forefront by the great gold rush in Minas Gerais in the 18th century, Rio became the most important channel for extracting Brazil’s great wealth. It wasn’t until the Portuguese Court spent its years of exile in the city, during Napoleon’s scouring of Europe, that Brazil began its climb to independence. Rio gained a vast amount of 19th century buildings, parks, and public squares in the process. The museums and architectural complexes in downtown Rio de Janeiro would take weeks to see completely. But competition from the city’s 20th-century influences is often a tempting distraction to visitors: the boardwalk of Copacabana, Carnaval, and the great monuments of the Cristo Redentor and Pão de Açúcar, to name a few.
Tickets to Brazil keeps going. There are national parks where you can practice mountain climbing, rappelling, white-water rafting, and waterfall cascading. There are marine reserves where you can scuba dive with tropical fish, sea turtles, sharks, lobsters, and even visit wrecked ships on the sandy bottom of the ocean. Skin divers can snorkel in offshore reefs, natural pools, and underwater corridors, looking into the marine world as if into an aquarium. In Mato Grosso do Sul, near the southern Pantanal, there is a vertical cavern that is home to hundreds of Red Breasted Macaw; and it has a pool of crystal-clear water at the bottom. You can rappel down to get a closer look. In Chapada Diamantina you can hike up to the top of the chapadas, flat mountain mesas, and look out over the vast and rugged countryside–then go for a swim in a lake of sparkling fresh water, filled with small fish nibbling at your skin.