The impact of her visit in Búzios was huge and the city started to be well known internationally. Bridget spent almost 2 months in Búzios, spending her time by  lying out at the beach, playing guitar and talking with the locals. After this period of time, Búzios reach the status of the “Brazilian Saint Tropez” and the village was elevated to a city. Brigitte Bardot represents a lot for this small town, so much so that they named several landmarks after her, including a movie theater, a seafront called Orla Bardot and a beautiful statue on one of the most beautiful shorelines.

The beauty of the city of Búzios attracts visitors from all over the world, but what’s most surprising is the quantity of Argentinians you’ll find in the city, not just as visitors but as business owners running local restaurants and pousadas (a kind of B&B or a boutique hotel). The shore is very distinctive with a brilliant blue colored waters and the beaches are usually surrounded by fish boats. Búzios was recent named “The Best Destination Sun and Beach 2012″  by EUROAL 2012.

The food in Búzios deserves a blog post unto itself. With a big community of Argentinians, French and Italians this city offers fantastic gastronomic experiences. Sea food is what they make best, fish and shrimp are the most popular ingredients but you can easily find pasta and the famous Argentinian “asado“  (barbecue).

Adventures in Brazil offers the best experience for you, your friends and family. Send us a e-mail and we will more than happy to organize your next travel vacation.

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and lots of love, happiness, and adventure in 2013!

To make this delicious drink you will need:
• 1 passion fruit
• 1 can of condensed milk – in U.S. the “Lechera” brand is the best!
• 2 oz of vodka
• 1 lime
• sugar cane
• ice
• tall glass
• shaker

Start by cutting the passion fruit in 2 halves, reserve 1 half. With a spoon take all the passion fruit pulp inside the shaker with ice (3 or 4 cubs), add 1 table spoon of sugar cane and the 2oz of vodka. Add 4 spoons of condensed milk, half lime juice pressed and shake very well. Pour everything inside the tall glass with the desired quantity of ice and drink! In the Brazilian tradition, make a really big glass and share it with your friends.

Enjoy and happy holidays!

1- Bira de Guaratiba

Located 45 minutes outside the city of Rio de Janeiro, Bira is a culinary gem located in Guaratiba.  Offering visitors fantastic views from the Restinga da Marambaia and delicious sea food dishes, a visit to this paradise is highly recommended.

Address:
Caminho da Vendinha, 68
Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 23020-810, Brazil
Phone: (21)2410-8304
No website available at this time

2- Maze Jazz

The first Friday of every month, Maze B&B opens its doors for a night of Jazz music. Located inside a pacified slum, Maze visitors will be stunned by the breathtaking views of Rio while sipping on fresh caipirinhas and listening to Bossa Nova jazz. The live music starts at 9pm and goes all night.

Address:
Rua Tavares Bastos, 414
Catete, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22221-030, Brazil
Phone: (21) 2558-5547
http://jazzrio.com/en/

3- Don Pascual

Don Pascual is located in the middle of the Mata Atlântica, the restaurant itself is situated in a forest! Harmonizing nature and food, this restaurant offers a good selection of wine and a mix of Brazilian/Mediterranean cuisine.

Address:
Estrada do Sacarrão, 867
Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22785-085, Brazil
Phone: (21) 2428-6237
http://www.donpascual.com.br/

4- Aconchego Carioca

Famous amongst Cariocas, this spot serves boteco food. Boteco’s are small bars in Brazil that offer creative small dishes, similar to Spanish tapas. Be sure to try a bolinho (dumpling) filled with Feijoada – you’ll love it! Add a cold beer and your meal will be perfection

Address:
Rua Barão de Iguatemi, 379
Praça da Bandeira, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 20270-060, Brazil
Phone: (21) 2273-1035
Website under contruction: http://www.aconchegocarioca.com.br/

5- Festa Segredo

Festa Segredo (Secret Party) takes place once a month and is limited to 300 people at a time. The address of the secret location is shared on Facebook, so you have to connect to their Facebook page. People that attend the party are invited to write down a secret on a communal board. It’s an all night party filled with beautiful  people dancing all night long. It’s can be hard to get in, especially if you are not a Portuguese speaker, bit worth it if you can find a spot. Good luck!

Address:
https://www.facebook.com/segredo.festa

6- Bar Chico e Alaíde

Another boteco for you to try. Located in Leblon neighborhood, this place serves more than 40 different kind of small plates like bolinhos, empadas e caldinhos. Cold draft beers called Choop are very popular here.

Address:
Rua Dias Ferreira, 679
Leblon, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22431-050, Brazil
Phone: (21) 2512-0028
http://www.chicoealaide.com.br/

7- Lapa 40º

Lapa 40º is a bar in the Lapa neighborhood that offers live Samba music. It’s a big venue with 4 floors, live music and  5 pool tables on the first floor (pay per hour) and some more on the third floor . This is a great local spot to enjoy a beer and catch up with friends. Live samba brands perform on the 4th floor, entrance fees are charged after 10pm.

Address:
Rua Riachuelo, 97
Lapa  Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 20230-013, Brazil
Phone: (21) 3970-1338
http://www.lapa40graus.com.br/site/

8- Casa Moreira Salles

This used to be the residence of Walter Moreira Salles (1912-2001), one of Brazil’s most successful bankers and a politician. In 1990 this house was converted in a cultural center to promote photography, literature, and Brazilian music.

Address:
Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 476
Gávea – Rio de Janeiro
Phone: (21) 3284-7400
http://ims.uol.com.br/
*Call to confirm time

9- Casa de Rui Barbosa

This house belonged to Rui Barbosa (1849-1923), an important Senator, Minister of Finance and Diplomat. After his death, the Brazilian government bought the house and created a Foundation in his memory. Rui lived there for 28 years and all his furniture and personal library with 35,000 books remain in the house. The landscape and grounds surrounding the house are beautiful and showcase many different varieties of Brazilian plants and trees.

Address:
Rua São Clemente, 134 -
Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22260-000, Brazil
Phone: (21) 3289-4600
http://www.casaruibarbosa.gov.br/
*Call to confirm time

10- Mirante do Pasmado

Mirante do Pasmado is a open park with great views of Guanabara bay and Sugar Loaf Mountain. Great place to take a walk after lunch and enjoy the views.

Address:
In Botafogo neighborhood. After passing the Pasmado tunnel, turn on General Severiano Street.

P.S.: Many thanks to all my Carioca friends who always support Adventures in Brazil and provide us with local tips and experiences to share with our travelers: Carol Sauer, Vivian Prudente de Moraes, Cristiano Ricon and Eduardo Almeida. You guys rock!

Carnival is a Christian tradition that was historically absorbed by every country that receives Catholic influences. Carnival takes place 46 days before Easter. The religious significant of the tradition is to abstain from eating meat (fish is acceptable) from all meals until after the Easter. The term “Carnival” means  carne vale – that translation for from the Italian origin means “farewell meat.”

As a Brazilian growing up inside the Carnival culture, I can tell you that not every Brazilian likes Carnival. Some people complain that the country as a whole stops for the festivities (which is true) and wastes precious time from a business/productivity perspective. But it’s important to remember that Carnival itself is as industry that brings more than 1 billion Reais and brings 400,000 tourists to Rio de Janeiro alone.

Every State in Brazil celebrates Carnival but Rio de Janeiro was the first one to be produced on a professional scale, with huge monetary investments and tons of media coverage. Every year thousands of people work for each school of samba inside barracões (storage wear house) producing the floats (you can see a big one with hearts at the picture on the top), sewing complex costumes for the hundreds of participants in each school. Some of the larger schools have more than 7,000 people!

The competition

Every Carnival with parade is a competition. Groups of people from a neighborhood start getting organized and play samba for fun, but over the years these groups grow larger and get more organized. They elected a President and create an entity to practice playing percussion instruments once or twice a week. The first step to creating a new school of samba is to form a bloco. A bloco is a group of people who come together organically and start participating in the street Carnival (not the official sambódromo but in the neighborhood streets) wearing a politically incorrect costume, usually a manifestation of some cause. As an example, in 2010 a famous clown was elected to the House of Representatives in Brasília – Tiririca is the name of the clown. In the following, carnival hundreds of people were wearing costumes representing the clown, a Brazilian way to make fun and protest with humor.

Once the school is formed and they have a theme for the next carnival, it’s time to think about the samba.

The Samba

Samba is a musical genre originally from the state of Bahia (in the Northeast), brought to Brazil during the slave trade between Portugal and Africa. The Brazilian slaves mixed the African religious traditions with their music, creating a true culture melting pot between African and Brazilian culture. Examples of different sambas are:

• Samba-enredo

Played in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, samba-enredo is played fast and is written by a group of composers that use a theme as a guideline for the lyrics. Many samba-enredo will written but only one is choosen to represent the school in the avenue. The enredo is a written as a reflection of  a political view, a historical event, or an local or international issue.

• Axé

Axé music is played in the Carnival of Salvador – Bahia, played over trios-elétricos – a truck with a full band in the top and equipped with a high power sound system. In Salvador you can buy a abadá  (a t-shirt with the logo of the musical group with a cool design that also serves as an entrance ticket for the event). To have access to the event you will need to wear the t-shirt.

• Micareta

Very similar of the carnival in Salvador, the micaretas are very popular in the north of Brazil. People dance behind bands and trios-elétricos. Micaretas can happen anytime during the year, not just during carnival.

During the samba-enredo process, the carnavalesco – the Art Director -  will design the costumes for each bloco. Blocos are groups of 200 – 400 people, depending how many blocos are participating in the parade.

P.S.: To best learn even more about Brazilian music refer to a older post by clicking here.

The Alas

Alas are segments (usually with between 50/200 people) that wear the same costumes, they represent a historical fact in the chosen theme. During the Carnival presentation you will see alas, one after another that represent a particular perspective or angle of the bigger theme. Imagine if the theme was “The United States of America – from Thomas Jefferson to Obama”, one ala could represent George Washington and all the components of this ala will relate to the first President of the United States.

The Carro Alegórico

Carro alegórico is a truck made with metal and wood built to support a huge structure with lots of people on top. The floats can’t have an engine and have to be push by people (usually people from the school that want to have fun in the parade but don’t want to wear a costume). Below you can watch a video about a great carro alegórico from the school Unidos da Tijuca – Rio de Janeiro:

Each school of samba has between 50 and 60 minutes to cross the whole avenue, if it takes them longer than that they’ll start losing points. There are several requirements that a school needs to meet in order to score high in the competition. For example, the Commission of Front – usually 10/15 guys open the school parade, the allegories – the scenery organized at the top of the carros alegóricos and the size of the cars can’t be different from the ones already decided by the judges. The plot-theme – how the school of samba explained the theme in the avenue through the development of the costumes and the composition of the samba. Many more requirements will affect the scores given by the judges. At the end of carnival the scores will be tallied to determine the Carnival champion of that year.

I hope this gives you some insight into how Carnival has evolved overtime, as well as how it has developed not only into a great celebration but a top-notch competition as well.

If you’d like to participate in the Carnival of São Paulo, Adventures in Brazil can make your dream a reality! We have a tour organized and ready for Carnival 2013. For more information please click here.

Designed by Rafaa Architecture & Design in Zurich, this vertical concept structure will be placed in Cotonduba Island and will generate renewable energy during the day for use in the Olympic Village.  Produced by solar panels, the excess power will be used to pump sea water inside a tank built as a tower. At night the water will be released, producing energy to be used in the city and creating the stunning cascade effect you see in the picture below.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about interfering with the natural beauty of Rio – if you’ve been there you know what I’m talking about! The landscape of Rio de Janeiro is naturally amazing, surrounded by mountains and spilling out into the sparkling Atlantic ocean. But maybe this project will be another attraction for the Marvelous City. What is your opinion about it? Do you think the Solar City Tower adds or detracts value for the Olympics?

For those who want to know Rio like the “palm of your hand”  (a Brazilian expression that means you are very comfortable with the routine, location, etc ) or dream of visiting one of the most famous destinations in South America, this post will help to give you a clear sense how the Rio the games will unfold; everything from location, to transportation, to how the Olympic Village will be built, etc.

This video below is presented by 4 Brazilian kids who explain the 4 zones of Rio that are being completely remodeled to receive this global event. Enjoy!

With all of that in mind, AIB is excited to be exhibiting at the upcoming ASTA Travel Retailing and Destination Expo in Los Angeles, Sept. 7 – 9, 2012. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with many of the top travel industry leaders as well as the broader community of agents. We want to take a moment to extend a warm invitation to anyone and everyone interested in learning more about Brazil as a travel destination – please stop by and say “Alô Brasil” (hello Brazil)! You’ll find AIB at booth number 2716…or follow the sound of Brazilian samba beats!

Te vejo lá! (See you there!)