WAY COOL VIEWS FROM A HOT AIR BALLOON

According to Lupércio Lima, the best Brazilian ranked in the International Aviation Federation, placed third in the World Hot Air Balloon Championship, Boituva (SP) is the best destination for beginners.

Pirenópolis, in Goiás, suits better advanced balloonists.

BEGINNER

Boituva (Sao Paulo)

Brazilian ballooning HQ has a good number of instructors and balloons available, constant winds - despite being a flat ground - and many landing areas.

To help you engage in the sport, the town of Rio Claro (100 km away from Boituva) hosts several ballooning events and championships.

BEST TIME dry season (from April to October), but it can be practised all year-round

FROM US$ 120 per person

WHO TAKES YOU Chico do Balão: (+55 15) 98134-4365; Aeromagic: (+55 11) 2684-1206; Escola Brasileira de Balonismo: (+55 11) 2894-5380

PACKAGE two nights US$ 407; includes breakfast, ballooning and tandem skydiving. Meu Mundo Viagens: (+55 11) 5041-3962.

ADVANCED

Pirenópolis (Goiás)

The city's flat ground is surrounded by the Pirineus Hills that provides good wind conditions with large variations.

It increases steer ability and gives the pilot better conditions to manoeuvre. It also provides a good number of landing areas. The flights can go as far as Brasilia and Chapada dos Veadeiros

BEST TIME all year-round

FROM US$ 200 per person

WHO TAKES YOU BlueSky: (+55 62) 3142-9040

PACKAGE two nights in a double room during the weekend at Suprema B&B US$ 140. Breakfast included. Reservations: (+55 62) 3331-3360; POUSADA SUPREMA

Excerpts by GUSTAVO SIMON from FOLHA DE SAO PAULO

SOME INFO ON BALLOONING (in Portuguese)

THIS CAVE DIVING WILL TOTALLY WOW YOU!

Photo by Marcio Cabral

Anhumas Abyss is a cave 23km far from the city of Bonito in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Access is made by a gap that exists in the rock by means of vertical rappelling techniques. To the base of the cave there is a 72-meter drop, until the deck by the lake of clear water.  Depth can reach 80m. During some days of the year the sun passes through the small opening of the cave, producing a light beam that illuminates the cave for a few hours.

All details and photos to this adventure  can be found here (in Portuguese).

Do you know the difference between cave and cavern diving? Check it out here.

YEP, WE ARE PIZZA LOVERS TOO!

Brazilian style pizza is extremely different from American pizza in many ways. The entire experience of pizza is something unique in Brazil. Pizza is traditionally eaten with a fork and a knife, which is unfamiliar to Americans. Americans usually use their hands unless they are attempting to eat a particularly large slice of pizza or the pizza is extremely messy. The pizzas are also not pre-cut by pizzerias and the pizza eater is meant to do that themselves. Occasionally, some pizzerias will provide small plastic pizza rollers, but often it has to be cut by a traditional kitchen knife.

The crust on Brazilian pizzas are typically very thin. Thicker crusts are sometimes offered, but they are rarely ordered that way, unless it is by tourists from Europe or America. The sauce on the pizza is also very thin. It is not common to be able to see the sauce underneath the cheese, which happens often with American style pizzas.

The toppings on Brazilian pizzas are very different from what an American is used to. Though we do occasionally top pizzas with traditional toppings such as olives, ham, bacon, oregano and tomatoes, we prefer to add more unique toppings as well. Some of the non-traditional toppings that Brazilians enjoy include: corn, quail, curried chicken, beets, eggs, raisins, bananas, hearts of palm and potatoes.

Pizzas in Brazil are also often topped with catupiry cheese. Catupiry cheese is a soft tangy cheese that has a similar consistency to cream cheese, but has a less sweet flavor. This cheese was invented by an Italian immigrant named Mario Silvestrini and has become a very popular Brazilian staple food. This cheese is also known to be spread on crackers and french bread, shrimp and salmon. Catupiry cheese is also often paired with sweets as a dessert.

Though we Brazilians love savory pizzas, we also truly enjoy dessert pizzas, which are also sometimes called “sweet pizzas”. These pizzas also have a very thin crust and often are topped with catupiry cheese. Other dessert pizza toppings can include: plantains, chocolate, dulce de leche, guava paste, bananas, mango, strawberries, chocolate and even ice cream.

SOURCE: Estancia Churrascaria

FERNANDO DE NORONHA: a place to put in your bucket list

Photo by Henrique Neto

The government of Pernambuco charges a daily stay preservation fee for visitors to the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. The following site (in English) might clear out any doubt: OFFICIAL SITE

Two-thirds of the archipelago are located in the Fernando de Noronha Marine National Park its access is restricted. The most beautiful beaches on the island are within it and to visit them you need to buy the ticket valid for 10 days. You can buy it online here.


By paying the ticket online you will earn an extra hour without being kept at a boring line to fill out papers on arrival at the airport. These papers are compulsory both in and out of the main island.

Should you decide to stay longer, you have to pay the extra fee at the customs station. Beware! Fine on overdue stay permit is heavy.

WHAT TO TAKE:

Sunblock, mosquito repelent, sun shades, snorkelling gear and a hat. Products go to the island by boat therefore elevating their price tags, specially sunblock and repelent.

WARNING: Noronha is a volcanic island and sun rays are exceptionally stronger there. Sunblock is of the utmost importance, especially behind the ears, even on a cloudy day, which is rare.

HOW TO GET THERE:

It requires some reasearch work, for prices vary tremendously. Both domestic airlines, Gol and Azul operate daily from Natal and Recife. 

WHERE TO STAY: 

Accomodation in Noronha is threefold: hotels, lodges and B&B. Camping is not allowed. Daily rates at hotels and lodges are around R$700,00 (approx. $290), but the downside is you´re going to pay the price of a five-star hotel in return for a three-star service. On the other hand, locals offer rooms at their homes with air conditioning, frigobar, cable TV, hot shower, fluffy towels, a substantial breakfast, all served with a welcoming smile.

Avoid doing tours by yourself. It may end up being a nuisance; the minimum stay period recommended is 5 days, so that you do not end up feeling like you´ve been through a marathon - you will get to know all beaches without time constraints and will have saved yourself $50.

The island fits within barely 17 sq/km. The main hamlet can be stridden easily and the 16 beaches, 4 at the Outer Sea (Mar de Fora), which face Africa, and 12 at the Inner Sea (Mar de Dentro) facing the Brazilian coast are within a walking distance.

Moving from one place to another can be done by means of buses, taxis or buggies ($67 daily rent). The most expensive taxi ride costs $15 (from the harbor to southeast of the island), and the bus which fares along the island is barely $1. Hitchhiking is also very common.

A VIRTUAL DIVE WITH GOOGLE MAPS

THERE´S MORE TO BRAZIL THAN BEACHES AND FAMOUS CITIES

The continent-sized country also has a vast interior, with forests, mountain ranges (serras) and plateaux (chapadas) of at times staggering beauty. One dominant feature of its more mountainous landscapes is its waterfalls.

Walk a little further into the Brazilian wilderness and the waterfalls empty out. There is a waterfall along the two-day hike along the Vale do Pati, or Pati Valley, in the Chapada Diamantina national park in Bahia that is an oasis on a hot, long and dusty trail. So cool, shady and refreshing that it seems too good to be true.




For hikers, Brazil offers a lot more – there are three chapadas: Chapada Diamantina, in Bahia; Chapada dos Veadeiros, in Goiás; and Chapada dos Guimarães in Mato Grosso.

Excerpts taken from Folha de Sao Paulo, by Dom Phillips

ART WHICH RESONATES WITH ANYONE´S HEART

Please meet Izabel Mendes da Cunha, the most famous artisan of the Jequitinhonha Valley in the state of Minas Gerais. In the small town where she lived, the master artisan created and taught close to everyone to make clay dolls,  and turned the region into a major producer of ceramic arts. 

Daughter to a skillful craftswoman who made chinaware, Ms. Cunha started creating her famous dolls in 1970 at the age of 44. In the beginning the molded faces were only the heads of pitchers. Soon after came the breastfeeding mothers and brides figures, always copper-coloured mulattas with straight hair  and in various shades of clay.

In 2003, the dolls of Dona Izabel, as she is known,  ended up in the São Paulo Fashion Week, when designer Ronaldo Fraga honored the potters from the Jequitinhonha Valley. Mother of four, she received several awards such as the UNESCO Crafts for Latin America (2004), the Order of Cultural Merit (awarded by the Ministry of Culture, 2005) and the Popular Culture Award (by the Ministry of Culture, 2009). Dona Isabel was also honored by President Dilma Rousseff during the opening of the Brazilian Women´s Arts Show exhibited at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia.

AND THE WORLD´S MOST BEAUTIFUL STREET IS IN...

Please meet Goncalo de Carvalho street, in Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul. It´s almost like living in a forest...

The more than one hundred trees of the  tipuana genus (also known as Rosewood), lined along approximately 500 meters of sidewalks, have been planted in the late 1930s by German-born workers employed in an old local brewery.