Brazil Travel Blog

For those of you keen on attending a soccer/football (futebol in Portuguese) match while in Brazil, here’s the 2008 League calendar (click on Tabela).

I’ve prepared a GoogleMaps mash-up with all the 1st division soccer stadiums in Brazil:

View larger map

A few clarifications:

• the Brazilian league is known as the Brasileirão
• unless there is another ongoing competition (Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana) there is usually a round of games during the week (Wednesdays or Thursdays) and another one during the weekend (Saturdays or Sundays). During the weekend all matches are usually played at the same time, either four o’clock or six o’clock.
• unlike the European national championships, the Brasileirão begins in May and ends in December. Halfway through the season, coinciding with the beginning of the European leagues, there is a real exodus of players, bought by European and Asian clubs. Often the squad that begins the league is quite different from the one that finishes it.
• at local derbys (clásicos) emotions run high. You are advised to be careful, as violent clashes between rival fans are frequent, especially on the way to the stadium. Get away from conflict as fast as you can, the police do not deal with troublemakers on a kind fashion.
• with the exception of the local derbys, in general stadium attendance is poor, nothing to do with what we are used to see in Europe and other American countries.
• in general tickets are much more affordable than in Europe.

All along the Brazilian coast, from the wild north and the never ending waves of the pororoca in the Amazon, to the southernmost point of the Brazilian coast, near the border with Uruguay, surfing is an essential part of many young people’s lives.

Doesn’t matter where, it’s surfers coming and surfers going. I’m not a surfing person myself, but do I not enjoying watching surfers ride the waves!

I don’t usually like to open an entry with a photograph, but in this case the placement of the image is deliberate and has the only aim of provoking an instant reaction from the reader. What you see above is tourism on a coral reef Brazilian-sytle.

2008 is the Internation Year of the Reef and the Brazil Travel Blog’s contribution to the celebration is this handbook. I only want to raise awareness among tourists about the critical situation of coral reefs in Brazil. What can the tourist do to avoid contributing to the degradation of the few surviving coral reefs in Brazil? The following handbook was written with a pinch of common sense and some excellent ideas extracted from the websites of the International Year of the Reef y and the Coral Reef Alliance.

CORAL REEFS IN BRAZIL: A HANDBOOK

1. Do find out about coral reefs.
Before you visit a coral reef, learn about corals, how they live, how they feed. Once you are aware of how fragile the environmental balance they depend on is, you will be much more careful with them when you visit them.

2. Do not buy souvenirs extracted from the bottom of the sea.
Before and after your trip you will see locals selling starfish, sea shells, seahorses. They have been extracted illegaly from the sea and in an unsustainable manner. Do not buy they, and do explain why you don’t do it. Do ask everyone around you not to buy the souvenirs either.

3. Make sure no rubbish is thrown to the sea from the boat that takes you to the reef.
If you see someone throwing away rubbish, tell them off and talk to the person in charge for the trip as well. The tourism industry has convinced Brazilians that coral reefs are the ideal place for a picnic. If the boat has a kitchen or a bar, pay particular attention to where the waste goes.


4. Do not walk on the corals.
Corals are living beings, they are not rocks. In some places you will see that part of the visit to the coral reef includes walking on the corals. Do refuse to do so.

5. If you dive, do not touch the corals.
Be very careful with your flippers, do not hit the coral reef accidentally. On a shallow sea, do not stand on the bottom of the sea, you will stir particles that are damaging to corals. Dive horizontally, to avoid touching the corals with your feet. Do not move your arms abruptly. Move slowly, relax.

6. Do not feed the fish.
They are wild animals, they can feed themselves. Do not introduce environmental imbalances. In quite a few places in Brazil, the locals will offer you food for the fish. Refuse it, and explain why you do it.

7. Do not bring anything outside the water, dead or alive.
The only exception to this rule is garbage.

8. Do find out if the company running the trip makes it a policy to educate tourists about the protection and conservation of coral reefs.
You will be disheartened when you discover many Brazilian companies are running trips exclusively for the money. The more tourists they can carry per day, the better. There is absolutely no effort to educate the tourists. And education is something that, as the pictures that illustrate this entry make it very clear, the country is lacking.

9. Do prefer boats that use bouys rather than anchors.
Anchors are deadly to coral reefs.

10. Do spread the word.
Let all your friends and acquaintances know how to behave on a coral reef. When you return from Brazil, tell everybody what you thought of the experience of visiting a coral reef. Places that make an effort to protect the natural heritage should be praised; those that pay scant attention to the environment should be reported and boycotted.

Unfortunately, I realized that if you were to follow this handbook you couldn’t possibly visit in a sustainable way most of the Brazilian coral reefs. Something has to change.

In all the Brazilian coral reefs I know tourism is predatory and unsustainable. Long is the list of crimes against the environment committed in very popular places like the Recife de Fora in Porto Seguro, the Parrachos in Maracajaú near Natal, the natural pools in Porto de Galinhas in Pernambuco, and the Galés of Maragogi in Alagoas. Basically, wherever there are tourists and coral reefs, the destruction has been devastating - the exception being the island of Fernando de Noronha.

We all play an important part.

1. The tourist, in the first place, in its role as consumer of a tourist service. No demand, no supply. If thousands of people weren’t willing to picnic, can of beer in hand, in the middle of a coral reef, there wouldn’t be a place for beer sellers and meat skewers providers. We have to stop consuming products that endanger the environment.
2. Tourist sector workers. Whether by ignorance of sheer bad faith, they all want to keep the cash machine rolling. Those who act out of ignorance need to be educated. Those acting out of bad faith, need to be reported.
3. The tourism industry and its publicity branch (travel magazines). By selling as paradise destinations places where the environment is endangered on a daily basis, they contribute to perpetuate in eternum the cycle of destruction.

For what it’s worth, being a part of the problem means we are also part of the solution.

The two pictures of Maragogi used on this entry belong to Juninho Insanoskater, who has kindly allowed me to reproduce them here.

The Toyo Matsuri, held at the beginning of December in the oriental quarter of Liberdade, in São Paulo, is, along with the Tanabata Matsuri celebrated in July, the most important festival of the Japanese community in São Paulo. The festival has been held for 39 years now. If during the Tanabata Matsuri the streets of the Liberdade were decorated with bamboo shoots, for the Toyo Matsuri white banners were hang.

This year the media didn’t contribute to the promotion of the festival - it seemed more concerned with promoting consumerism on the run-up to Christmas. Because of the lack of publicity, the quarter wasn’t as crowded as it was during the celebration of the Tanabata Matsuri. Thank God for that, as it was a really hot and sunny day. The program for the weekend included all kinds of folk performances.

Some of the performances were identical to the ones we saw at the Tanabata Matsuri - we didn’t mind at all. Other performers introduced new elements, customes and colours.

For us, the main event of the festival was the taiko bands (the traditional Japanese drum).

Taiko bands represent traditions from different regions of Japan.

The energy put into the performances is contagious.

The complete photo album of the pictures taken on Saturday is here: Toyo Matsuri in São Paulo.

Make a note, the Toyo Matsuri festival is held yearly at the beginning of December.

Pot-holers [spelunkers] will be thrilled to hear of the existente of PETAR, in the south east of the state of São Paulo, between the villages of Iporanga and Apiaia, near the border with the state of Paraná [Google Maps]. PETAR stands for Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (Alto Ribeira Tourist State Park) and is best known for its more than 300 caves - it is a nature preserve set in the middle of the Atlantic rainforest, very rich in limestone. Some of the caves cannot be visited, others are restricted to spelunkers, and a good number of them are opened to the general public. Being in the middle of the rainforest, PETAR offers, as well as the opportunity of exploring caves, interesting treks along rivers and waterfalls.

Our friend Emília has just been to PETAR and has published on her A Turista Acidental blog a very thorough guide to the park. It is written in Portuguese. Emília is a very friendly Brazilian who will answer queries if you have any - she speaks English. Her blog entries on the subject are:

Petar: Páginas Amarelas
Petar: módulo diversão
Petar: Na trilha do Bethary
Cavernas: curso básico
Virando morcego

One of the most complete websites about the region is PETAR Online. It doesn’t have an English version - as a matter of fact, it’s only in Portuguese. As well as information on pot-holing, it contains a section devoted to adventure sports on the area.

There is a youth hostel in Iporonga, the Capitão Caverna Hostel.

For those interested in images of the region, Alex Uchôa, an exceptional photographer, has an album of PETAR online.

You can reach the region using public transportation. The bus company Transpen goes to Apiai, on the area of the park (it leaves from the Terminal Barra Funda bus station in São Paulo). There are four buses per day, the trip lasts 6 hours and costs R$54,70 in November 2007. But a private car comes very handy when it comes to moving around the PETAR area; without a car you will have to pay someone to take you to the different points of interest.

The Carnatal is here! That is, Natal’s carnival - Natal is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Strictly speaking, we are dealing here with a micareta (a carnival that takes places outside the carnival period). It is the largest of such carnivals in the whole of Brazil, gathering more than one million people during four days of non-stop partying. It is the fourth largest carnival in Brazil (after Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador de Bahia) and the one that brings together the biggest amount of baiano artists (not counting Salvador’s carnival, of course).

If you are keen on experiencing a carnival in Brazil, the Carnatal is an excellent option: not as overcrowded as the most popular carnivals, much safer, and considerably cheaper.

The Carnatal is very much like a smaller version of the Salvador de Bahia carnival. It has nothing to do with Rio and São Paulo carnivals. In Natal the dominant rhythm is axé - from Bahía, although a new fussion of axé baiano and forró nordestino, known as forroaxé, is becoming increasingly popular.

Photograph by Humberto Lopes, reproduced with permission.

WHEN DOES IT TAKE PLACE?

This year the Carnatal will take place between 29 November and 2 December. Its dates usually coincide with the first weekend in December and the Thursday and Friday previous to that.

WHERE DOES IT TAKE PLACE?

The Carnatal parades along a 3.5 km circuit that begins and ends in the Avenida Prudente de Morais. The artists perform on top of gigantic juggernauts [trucks], with larger than life loudspeakers on its sides.

HOW CAN I TAKE PART?

There are four different ways you can take part in the Carnatal: the bloco, the camarotes, the arquibancada and the pipoca. For the first three you need to buy a sleeveless t-shirt (abadá) in advance. It’s your passport to the Carnatal.

1. bloco: to be able to parade along a bloco you need an abadá. A bloco is a group of people with the same shirt parading along the same trio elétrico. The price of the abadás for the best blocos is expensive. All blocos have their own security staff. The trio elétrico is followed by a support truck with bars from where drinks are served (drinks are usually free for the members of the bloco), toilets and medical assistance. You need to be physically fit to take part in a bloco, after all, it’s a minimum of 10.5 km of non-stop jumping and dancing. There will be 9 blocos this year: bloco Nana Babana, bloco Cerveja & Coco, bloco Eva, bloco Bicho, bloco Cajú, bloco Me Leva, bloco Burro Elétrico, bloco Aviões Elétrico y bloco Cidadão Nota 10.
2. camarotes (= boxes). Though there are small boxes, usually hired by companies or private individuals for a minimum of 20 people, there are large boxes open to those who have bought a ticket for them. This year there will be three large camarotes: SkolBeat, Donna Donna y Cabo Fox. They have bands playing between the passage of one trio elétrico and the following one, a closed space with a DJ where you can dance electronic music, several bars with free drinks, and a few food stands (in some camarotes food is free). One side of each box faces the circuit; from there you can watch the trios elétricos and the blocos parading. The camarote is where more foreigners are seen.
3. arquibancada (= stands): stands found along the circuit. Family atmosphere and very few foreigners. The t-shirts that give access to the stands are affordable, approximately 30 Brazilian reais per day. The stands are usually crowded. Chemical toilets are found.
4. pipoca: it’s the Carnatal on the street, outside the boundaries of the official parade; for that reason, it is free. Not recommended for foreigners, as the big crowds draw a few bad characters along.

Prices are approximate and tend to increase as the dates of the Carnatal approach.

The following artists have had their presence at the Carnatal confirmed: Ivete Sangalo, Chiclete com Banana, Asa de Águia, Babado Novo, Margareth Menezes, Timbalada, Araketu, Jammil e Uma Noites, Ricardo Chaves, Thábata, Lane Cardoso, Banda Eva, Netinho, Capilé and the forró groups Aviões do Forró and Cavaleiros do Forró.

ADVICE:

• wear comfortable clothing, Bermuda shorts or jeans, and tennis shoes (no flip-flops/thongs or shoes)
• leave your ID at the safe of your hotel; just take a photocopy along with you
• bring only the amount of money you reckon you will need for the day, and keep it in a safe place. Be discreet when you handle your money
• don’t let alcohol ruin the party for you.

The official website of the Carnatal ocassionally broadcasts the event life. What follows here is a promotional video of the Carnatal.

[youtube]h6jBiDIk5MU[/youtube]

P.S.: the merit of this entry belongs to Ke_rule, a blog reader who fell in love with Natal.

For those of you keen on attending a soccer (futebol) match while in Brazil, here’s the 2007 League calendar, including the scores of the games that have already been played. An up-to-date table is found here: Brasileirão - classificação.

A few clarifications:

• the Brazilian league is known as the Brasileirão
• unless there is another ongoing competition (Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana) there is usually a round of games during the week (Wednesdays or Thursdays) and another one during the weekend (Saturdays or Sundays). During the weekend all matches are usually played at the same time, either four o’clock or six o’clock.
• unlike the European national championships, the Brasileirão begins in May and ends in December. Halfway through the season, coinciding with the beginning of the European leagues, there is a real exodus of players, bought by European and Asian clubs. Often the squad that begins the league is quite different from the one that finishes it.
• at local derbys (clásicos) emotions run high. You are advised to be careful, as violent clashes between rival fans are frequent, especially on the way to the stadium. Get away from conflict as fast as you can, the police do not deal with troublemakers on a kind fashion.
• with the exception of the local derbys, in general stadium attendance is poor, nothing to do with what we are used to see in Europe and other American countries.
• in general tickets are much more affordable than in Europe.

The umbrella Association for all the Escolas de Samba from Rio, LIESA, has just published on its website the prices of tickets for carnival parades at the Sambadrome in 2008 : Ingressos Sambódromo 2008. For most tourists the interesting part are the Arquibancadas, the stands. On the same page there is a map of the Sambadrome (click on the link on the top right hand-side corner of the page).

The escolas de samba enter the sambadrome through the bottom side of the map (the bit labeled Área de Armação, and known as Concentração). Tickets for Setor 1 are cheap because you don’t get to see the schools parading - only their preparations.

The parade finishes on the top side of the map, on the part known as Praça da Apoteose (not labeled as such on the map). Tickets for this part of the sambadrome are also cheaper as you only get to see the end of the parade, when the escolas are already tired after a performance of more than one hour.

SEE ALSO:
Escolas de samba Parades in Rio 2008
Carnival 2008: dates

The calendar for the parades of the escolas de samba at the Rio Sambodrome is already known.

The first parade will take place on Sunday 3 February, from 9pm till dawn. The escolas parading on that night will be: São Clemente, Porto da Pedra, Salgueiro, Portela, Mangueira and Viradouro.

The second parade will be on Monday 4 February, and the escolas parading will be: Mocidade, Unidos da Tijuca, Emperatriz, Vila Isabel, Grande-Rio y Beija-Flor.

The parade of the champions will take place on Saturday 9. The top 6 escolas of the competition parade once again. The show lacks the emotion of the competitive parades but even then, it’s spectacular enough and, more important, much much cheaper than the competitive parades.

As well as the parades at the sambodrome, the Rio carnaval takes place all over the city. More details as they emerge.

SEE ALSO:
Sambadrome ticket prices
Carnival 2008: dates

The Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos will be the last race of the season, and will take place in São Paulo on October 21. The sporting event draws thousands of fans every year to the Brazilian race course.

There is complete information on the race at the official website of the GP de Brasil.

When the date approaches I will write more details on how to get to Interlagos, which is a bit far away from most hotels and touristic areas of São Paulo.

Interlagos on Google Maps.