Informations about Brazil


INTRODUCING BRAZIL

Brazil’s official time is UTC -3. Including its Atlantic islands, Brazil lies between latitudes 6°N and 34°S, and longitudes 28° and 74°W.
Brazil is a big country, the fifth biggest in the world with 8,514,877 sq km. With 203,429,773 people Brazil seems like many different countries in one. From north to south, from east to west you will find different landscape, colours, flavours and tastes. Brazil has captivated travellers since the Portuguese came in 15th century. Powdery white-sand beaches, lined with palm trees and fronting a deep blue Atlantic, stretch for more than 7,000 km.
Brazil’s population, reached its lands from Africa, Asia (specially Japanese),and Europe (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and some German) – diverse origins that have created one of the planet’s most racially mixed societies, intermingled and developed the unique Brazilian identity that charms visitors today.
Carnival, samba, caipirinha, wild nature, white sand beaches and friendly people are the spread image of Brazil around the world. But here you will find much more.
Travellers need not come to Carnival to experience the music, dance and revelry that pack so many calendar nights. Samba and MPB (brazilian popular Music) is all around.
Cachaça is produced from distillation of sugar cane and became the favourite spirit of Brazilians. Caipirinha is a very simple to prepare drink, made with cachaça, sugar and lime. You can find it all over the country.
The most famous dish is the feijoada. The history tells that it began with the slaves, cooking the beans with rests of pork meat like ear, feet and tongue. Nowadays the feijoada developed in a more elaborated dish, with different kinds of sausage and jerked meat. Many restaurants offer feijoada every Wednesday and Saturday. Anyway, almost all family have rice and beans as a every day meal.
In the coastline many different kinds of fish and seafood dish can be found, like caldeirada and moqueca. But what most traveller remember from Brazil is the many different kinds of fruits and its incredible taste.

SEASONS AND WEATHER

Brazil’s high season runs from December to March. This is when the country fills with both foreign visitors and vacationing Brazilian families (school holidays run from mid-December to Carnaval, usually in February). Prices rise during this time and you’ll face more crowds. Brazil’s low season runs from May to September. With the exception of July, which is also a school-holiday month. During the summer, which runs from December to February, Rio and the Northeast have temperatures in the high 30s. The rest of the year temperatures are generally in the mid-20s to low 30s, with night a little bit more cold then the day. In Paraty the dry season is the winter.

ABOUT PARATY AND ILHA GRANDE

Ilha Grande (Big Island) has dazzled visitors for centuries. Some 150km southwest of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s third-largest island has tropical scenery and gorgeous beaches. Its hillsides are covered in lush forests, important remnants of the rapidly disappearing Mata Atlântica ecosystem.
Beautiful tropical beaches and virgin Atlantic rain forest (now protected by the federal government) abound on Ilha Grande, and there are still only a few settlements on the island. Vila do Abraão, the only town of any size on Ilha Grande, was itself a sleepy fishing village until 30 years ago. Recently, there’s been a steady stream of new pousadas and bars popping up, but this palm-studded beachfront town with its tidy white church is still incredibly picturesque, and remains small by mainland Brazil standards. Except for Abraão’s lone garbage truck, fire engine and police vehicle, cars are not allowed in the island, so the only transport here is by foot or boat.
Paraty, set amid jutting peninsulas and secluded beaches, with a backdrop of steep, jungled mountains plunging into an island-studded bay, and it is one of Brazil’s most appealing and exquisitely preserved historical gems.
Paraty’s colonial centre is remarkable not only for its centuries-old architecture, but also for its lack of automobile traffic. The irregular cobblestone streets are closed to motor vehicles, making it a delightful place to stroll about. Elegant white buildings adorned with fanciful multi-hued borders and latticed windows blend harmoniously with the natural beauty that envelops the town.
The Brazilian government has recognized Paraty as a National Historic Site since 1966, and the town is currently petitioning Unesco for World Heritage status. With the opening of Rio-Santos road in the 1970's, Paraty was once again connected to the rest of the country. It started to attract visitors from all over Brazil and the world.
Paraty is crowded and lively throughout the summer holidays, brimming with Brazilian and European vacationers and good music. The town’s cosmopolitan flavour is further enhanced by the large number of artists, writers and chefs, both Brazilian and foreign, who have settled here and opened shops, galleries and restaurants in recent years. In the evening, Paraty´s historic centre comes to life, offering its guests delicious dining options. Don´t be surprised to catch a band performance, a capoiera demonstration or even a Carnival rehearsal near the main square - Paraty is full of entertaining surprises!
Paraty shares with Angra dos Reis the large Bay of Ilha Grande, so you have a total of over 300 islands to choose from. The islands come in all sizes, and they are covered in lush Mata Atlantica rain forest. You don't have to go far to reach wonderful spots for a dip or snorkeling. The visibility ranges from 5 to 20 meters, depending on sea currents and rain levels. A couple of islands have restaurants and kiosks.

ABOUT ABROLHOS

It is thought that the name of Brazil’s first marine park comes from a sailor’s warning: when approaching land, open your eyes (abre os olhos). Abrolhos covers an area of 913 sq km, including reefs noted for the variety of colours and a five-island archipelago that Charles Darwin, aboard the HMS Beagle, visited in 1832. These days the primary residents of the archipelago are migrating birds and humpback whales (June to October), which come here to rest and give birth. Only the Ilha de Santa Bárbara has a handful of buildings, including a lighthouse built in 1861. The preservation of the islands is important to IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis; Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), so visitor land access is limited to daytime hours on only the Ilha da Siriba. But you didn’t come to a marine park for land; you came to snorkel and dive in crystal-clear waters, the visibility of which can reach 20m in the dry season (May to September). And it is really wonderful!

WILD LIFE

Brazil’s teeming flora and fauna make it one of the planet’s best destinations for nature lovers. Colourfull birds as hummingbird, toucans and parrots, and small ones like tiê-sangue, sabiá and bentevi.
Dolphins are spread all around the coast. The Fernando de Noronha archipelago, is a good site for observing large groups of the spinner dolphin, a small marine dolphin less than 1.8m long.
Seven whale species occur off Brazil’s coasts. The rare humpback whale, breeds between June and October in the Parque Nacional Marinho de Abrolhos, off the coast of southern Bahia.
Five of the world’s seven species of sea turtle are found along Brazil’s coasts and are all under effective official protection, though still endangered or vulnerable.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

FLIGHT

The most popular international gateways are Aeroporto Galeão (GIG) in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s Aeroporto Guarulhos (GRU). Both towns are approximately 350 km distant from Paraty, what means 4 hours drive or 6 hours by bus.

VISA

Brazil has a reciprocal visa system, so if your home country requires Brazilian nationals to secure a visa, then you will need one to enter Brazil. At the time of writing, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand citizens need visas, but citizens of the UK, Ireland and most other EU countries as well as South Africa do not. Check with the Brazilian embassy or consulate in your home country.
Applicants under 18 years of age who are travelling alone must also submit a notarized letter of authorization from a parent or legal guardian.
Depending on where you are coming from when you arrive in Brazil, you may need a yellow-fever vaccination certificate. On your arrival in Brazil, immigration officials sometimes ask to see your onward or return ticket and/or proof of means of support such as credit cards or traveler’s checks.
Visa regulations change from time to time, and you should always get the latest information from your local Brazilian embassy or consulate.
Entry/exit card: On entering Brazil, all tourists must fill out a cartão de entrada/saida (entry/exit card); immigration officials will keep half, you keep the other. They will also stamp your passport and, if for some reason they are not granting you the usual 90-day stay in Brazil, the number of days will be written beneath the word Prazo on the stamp in your passport. When you leave Brazil, the second half of the entry/exit card will be taken by immigration officials. Tip: Don’t lose your card while traveling around Brazil! If you do lose it, you can miss your flight dealing with immigration hassles.

COST AND MONEY

Brazil’s currency is the real (hay-ow; often written R$); the plural is reais (hay-ice). One real is made up of 100 centavos. Banknotes are easy to distinguish from each other as they come in different colours and with a different animal featured on each. There’s a green one-real note (hummingbird), a blue two (hawksbill turtle), a violet five (egret), a scarlet 10 (macaw), a yellow twenty (lion-faced monkey), a golden-brown 50 (jaguar) and a blue 100 (grouper fish).
ATMs are the easiest way of getting cash and are common. Make sure you have a four-digit PIN (longer PINs may not work). In general HSBC, Citibank, Banco do Brasil and Bradesco are the best ATMs to try.
Even if you are relying mainly on credit or debit cards as your source of funds, it’s not a bad idea to take some cash and traveler’s checks in reserve. You can change these in banks or in casas de câmbio (exchange offices). Banks have slower, more bureaucratic procedures but on the whole give better exchange rates (an exception being Banco do Brasil which charges R$40 commission for every traveler’s check transaction). You’ll usually get a 1% or 2% better exchange rate for cash than for traveler’s checks. Checks, of course, have the advantage of being replaceable if lost or stolen. Both cash and traveler’s checks should be either in US dollars or Euros.
You can use credit cards for many purchases and to make cash withdrawals from ATMs and banks. Visa is the most widely accepted card, followed by MasterCard. Amex and Diners Club cards are also useful.

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