An article from Tribuna do Norte (we saw it mentioned at the blog Guia Natal) reflects on increasing living costs in Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte. Prices have gone up to the point where Natal is today the most expensive capital in Northeast Brazil, surpassing Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza. The reason for the high cost of living would be a rapidly increasing population putting pressure on a limited housing and services market.

Destination: Natal is our main blog post on the popular destination of northeast Brazil.

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RELATED POSTS:
since 2003, the value of Brazilian real has increased 122 percent against the once mighty dollar
sky-high prices, a new Brazilian reality

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This is the fourth on a series of videos produced by the Brazilian tourism authorities. They all have a common theme: those states that will host 2014 World Cup games. During the coming weeks we will present all those videos here in the blog. They are shortish videos, with conventional but beautiful images of the states and its main destinations.

Rio Grande do Norte:

We have devoted several blog posts to the state of Rio Grande do Norte, including our guides to Natal and Pipa.

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institutional videos: Paraná
institutional videos: São Paulo
institutional videos: Ceará
institutional videos: Bahia
institutional videos: Pernambuco
institutional videos: Rio Grande do Sul
institutional videos: Rio de Janeiro
institutional videos: Minas Gerais
destination: Natal
destination: Pipa

The cities that will host the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil have been chosen. They are Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaos, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.

It is almost certain that the World Cup final will take place at the Maracanã stadium in Rio. São Paulo and Belo Horizonte are fighting for the right to host the opening game.

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Soccer championship 2009 – calendar
Museu do Futebol (football/soccer museum)
Morumbi stadium (São Paulo FC)
Brazil – Argentina
Maracanã

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BY BUS

The company traveling between Fortaleza and Natal is Viação Nordeste. Its site contains schedules and prices. The trip lasts 5 hours and costs from R$69 (basic bus, with no air con).

Careful. There were several hold-ups during the year 2008. The armed robberies on buses travelling between the two cities took place in the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. We do not advice night travel on that route – all the hold-ups happened at night time.

BY PLANE

Brazilian airlines Gol and Tam have direct flights between Natal and Fortaleza. Schedules and prices available at their websites.

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RELATED POSTS:
Destination: Fortaleza
Destination: Natal
Bus transportation in Brazil
the main Brazilian airlines (from D Airfare)

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Accommodation in Brazil has five new blog posts, with full listings of accommodation in Ilha do Mel, Ilha Grande, Maresias, Natal and Ubatuba.

The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has a website devoted to Nautical Tourism in Brazil. It has an English version.

The website has a beautiful layout and tons of information on the Brazilian coastline, the weather, tide charts and other useful information for sailors.

It also contains complete information on the marinas at Baía de Todos os Santos, Fernando de Noronha, Fortaleza, Ilha Grande, Ilhabela, João Pessoa, Morro de São Paulo, Natal, Paraty, Recife, Río de Janeiro and Ubatuba.

The initiative is part of the declared policy of the Brazilian Authorities to promote tourism in Brazil abroad almost exclusively among the upper-class markets. Foreign currency, rather than number of visitors, is the force behind the promotion of Brazil as a tourist destination. The website Golf in Brazil is also part of that initiative.

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Golf in Brazil

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The considerable increase in the number of cases of dengue fever in Natal has forced its local authorities to declare state of emergency (Dengue: Prefeito Carlos Eduardo decreta estado de emergência).

In the first three months of 2008 there were 2.568 cases of dengue fever and 272 of hemorrhagic dengue fever, resulting in two deaths (in comparison, in the entire 2007 there were 6.107 cases of dengue fever and 163 of hemorrhagic dengue fever). The number of cases might seem small when compared with Rio de Janeiro, but do bear in mind Natal is considerably smaller than Rio. There are also reasons to suspect the number of deaths might be higher than what the authorities are acknowledging.

At the entry 10 facts about dengue fever in Brazil you have the basics of what you need to know about dengue fever. If you are planning a trip to Natal, be informed beforehand. For the time being, we do not recommend cancelling your trips to the region.

We are informing about the situation in Rio at Dengue fever epidemic in Rio.

I’ve posted a similar warning, in Spanish, at Dengue en Natal.

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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.

Most of those who holiday in Natal will eventually visit Pipa. Here’s how to get there.

BY CAR

Leaving Natal, head south on the BR-101. At Goianinha, turn left and take the RN-003 direction Tibau do Sul. When reaching Tibau, turn right until you get to Pipa. Depending on traffic conditions, the trip can take between 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours. Careful with the final stretch, plenty of bends. Up until recently there were no gas stations in Tibau or Pipa. If you need to refill, Goianinha is the place.

You could drive along the beach as well, for as long as you were on a buggy or a 4-wheel drive.

The following map illustrates the route to be followed:

View Larger Map

BY BUS

Buses leave from Natal bus station. The company operating the service is Oceano. There are 10 buses during the week and just four during the weekend. No website I’ve heard of. I’ve seen timetables in several sites on the Internet but they do not match. I’m sure wherever you are staying in Natal you will be able to get the timetables for the Pipa service.

The cost of the ticket last year was R$8,50 each way.

SEE ALSO:
- Destination: Pipa
- Hotels and pousadas in Pipa

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I am presenting my very own personal list of 10 moments lived in Brazil filled with emotion. They do not follow any particular order.

1. a huge turtle (up until then you had never stopped to think how large turtles can be) swimming placidly next to you, in complete silence; suddenly a shoal of fish swims by right in front of you while you approach a sunken ship where thousands of colourful fish rejoice. Diving in Noronha has to be one of the most intense experiences you can live in Brazil.
   
2. up to four or five dolphins jumping out of the water simultatenously, while dozens of them follow the small boat from where you contemplate the amazing display. Encountering dolphins in Noronha is joy at its purest.
3. in spite of the pushing and shoving; of the endless queue of tourists all waiting to take exactly the same snapshot in front of the statue, arms opened; in spite of the awful mood of the professional photographers; in spite of the street vendors; when you reach the balcony of the Corcovado mountain and the whole of Rio unfolds in front of your very own eyes, your heart and mind are transported somewhere else.
   
4. the ceaseless rhythm of the percussion, the tune you will not stop humming even after you’ve gone to sleep, the festival of colours and dazzling costumes, the bumba-meu-boi festival in São Luís is pure magic.
   
5. from the top of the sunset dune in Jericoacoara there is a terrific panoramic view of the sea and the dunes. When the moon is full, it will appear right at the same time as the sun goes down, turning the experience into an unforgettable moment.
   
6. think of the wildest rollercoaster your mind can imagine and then take all safety devices out of the picture. That’s what a buggy ride on the Genipabu dunes feels like. Your stomach will turn, you will bid farewell to friends an family endless times, you will swallow tons of sand, and your heart will be tested to the limit.
   
7. everything in the village is special, but watching the sun go down behind the Serra do Mar from the harbour in Paraty is an unforgettable moment that can open the door to never-ending passions.
   
8. an endless succession of dunes and green lagoons, absolutely no one around, the merciless sun being your only companion. A walk through the Lençóis Maranhenses is intense to the extreme.
   
9. there is something unreal about that intense red colour. Because of that, contemplating the scarlet ibises near the Baronesa beach in Alcântara is an activity where the notion of time quickly vanishes.
   
10. the roaring of the waters and its spray are felt from afar, but the real power of the place is only truly manifested when you reach the mighty Devil’s Throat at the Iguazu Falls. Don’t be surprised should you find yourself leaning dangerously towards, such is the power of the enchanment [the observation deck for the Devil's Throat is actually in Argentina, but most of what you see from there it's on Brazil].
    

I want to close my list with a very special emotion, that can be experienced anywhere on Brasil, but only once in a long while. In terms of strong emotions, few things can compare to the explosion of joy that follows the conquest by Brazil of a soccer World Cup. The last time it happened I was lucky to be here to witness it, it was 2002.

Here are all the Top 10 lists published in the blog so far.