68°F
Brazil
Capital: Brasília
Population: app. 216.4 million
Language: Portuguese
Currency: The currency in Brazil is the REAL (R$)
Payment cards: Master Card and Visa are widely accepted.
Religion: Catholicism being its largest denomination.
Useful information:
Country code: +55
Emergency phone: 190
Police: 190
Ambulance: 192
Electricity:
The electrical voltage in Brazil varies between 110V and 220V, depending on your location. Most Brazilian hotels supply both voltages.
Brazil cuisine:
Typical dishes are feijoada, considered the country’s national dish, and regional foods such as beiju , feijão tropeiro, vatapá, moqueca capixaba, polenta (from Italian cuisine) and acarajé (from African cuisine). There is also caruru, which consists of okra, onion, dried shrimp, and toasted nuts (peanuts or cashews), cooked with palm oil until a spread-like consistency is reached; moqueca baiana, consisting of slow-cooked fish in palm oil and coconut milk, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic and topped with cilantro.
One of the most famous dishes is meat cooked in churrasco style, which translates roughly from the Portuguese word for “barbecue”. Churrascaria cuisine is typically (but not always) served rodízio style, where roving waiters serve the barbecued meats from large skewers directly onto the seated diners’ plates.
The national beverage is coffee, while cachaça is Brazil’s native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from fermented sugar cane must, and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, caipirinha.
Typical prices:
A small bottle of water – from R$ 4
Coke can: R$ 6
Coffe or cappuccino R$ 10-15
Botle of wine – R$ 43
Caipirinha: R$ 20-25
Sandwich, croissant or similar– R$ 16
Churrascaria steak house – about R$190 per person
Weather conditions:
Spring and autumn are the best time to travel in Brazil. Brazil lies in the southern hemisphere, so its winter and summer are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. Brazil experiences winter between May and September with temperatures of around 20°C during the daytime. In the summer months between November and March, the temperature rises above 30 C.
Places to visit:
Rio de Janeiro: leads the list of the most visited cities in Brazil, recognized worldwide for its iconic beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema Cariocas (Rio locals) have a saying: God made the world in seven days, and the eighth he devoted to Rio de Janeiro. Given its oceanfront setting, protected by Guanabara Bay and lounging between sandy shores and forested granite peaks, you might forgive the hyperbole. Sugarloaf Mountain rises vertically out of the azure Atlantic, while Christ the Redeemer, arms wide open, watches over the city from atop Corcovado Mountain. The city comes alive during Carnival, where it is mobbed by tourists and locals alike, dressed to the nines.
Iguazú Falls: Are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Set amongst lush forests, this is a truly breath-taking spectacle as thousands of liters of water tumble down the steps of the Parana Plateau. The Iguazu (also called Iguassu) Falls are composed of 275 separate cascades, which make it the largest broken waterfall in the world.
San Paulo: is the richest and most populous state in Brazil. City is focused on the future and modern-day travelers will enjoy exploring the contemporary landscape of bohemian neighborhoods covered in street art, fine art museums and great restaurants.
Amazon rainforest: the world’s largest jungle in the north, covering around half of the country. The majority of the forest, 60%, is in Brazil. The two most popular ways to explore the Amazon rainforest are by staying in a jungle lodge or taking a cruise along the Amazon River. It is home to more than 24 million people in Brazil alone, including hundreds of thousands of Indigenous Peoples belonging to 180 different groups, who have lived there for centuries.
The region is home to 10 percent of all plant and animal species known on Earth. Here’s a reason the Amazon was the place that inspired scientists to coin the term “biodiversity.” The Brazilian Amazon is home to a wide range of endemic and endangered animals, including the Amazon river dolphin, the giant river otter, and the harpy eagle. As part of the largest above-ground carbon store, its survival is essential in the fight to curb the global impacts of climate change.