Brazil:
One third of Brazil's immense territory includes the Amazon rainforest, and lately there's been a lot more interest in preserving this treasure and the people who live in it. The question is, how much more of the rainforest is going to be destroyed?
Ecotourists will love Brazil. You can sail up the Amazon River into the interior and explore isolated communities and cultures. Still, since the Amazon is so wide, you might be disappointed that you often can't even see the shores, and will feel like you're on a lake. The Pantanal, the largest area of wetlands in the world, is also becoming a major ecotourism destination, as it has thousands of species of birds, caymans, and many varieties of snake.
As for urban attractions, Rio de Janeiro is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but that reputation has been marred by the heavy crime scene. Tourists should be extra-extra careful of robbery when in Rio. A rather grisly demonstration of this crime level took place in January 2000, when body parts of people murdered in drug wars washed up on the beach in Rio--to be followed a couple of days later by oil from a nearby refinery. Then, in February, 2000, a barge holding nearly 1.9 million litres of oil sank to the bottom of the Amazon River in the state of Para. There was a lot of frantic work by clean-up crews to minimize the damage from both these spills.
Sao Paulo is the world's second-largest city, and not very attractive, with hundreds of highrises jutting into the sky. Both cities have major poverty, and half the people are considered poor. Many live in favellas--makeshift slums. Speakers of Spanish take note that although Portuguese sort of sounds like Spanish, it's harder to pronounce, and many words are not the same.
In July, 2000, the results of a poll revealed that less than half of Brazilians believed that democracy was best for the country....
Movies: Central Station: a beautiful and touching piece of art about a grouchy old woman who ends up helping an orphaned little boy reunite with his father.
This page last updated July 23, 2000.