The Brazil Travel Site

Rio State is Bikini Haven

Brazilian bikini fashions are famous the world over. Bikini manufacturers of all types and sizes are scattered throughout the Southeast Region–not just on the coastline. Key production areas include Belo Horizonte, Divinopolis, Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, and topping them all…Cabo Frio. Known as the capital da moda praia, the capital of beach fashion, Cabo Frio produces so much sexy swimwear that it has an entire street dedicated to its manufacture and sale. Rua dos Biquinis is just across the bridge (Ponte Feliciano Sodré) from the canal area. On Bikini Street, you’ll find dozens of shops and fashion centers with more bikinis than you can imagine at the best prices in the entire country. Most of the stores have their own, private labels and do their own manufacturing, so you won’t find two stores with exactly the same thing. And prices are factory direct.

Brazilian bikini styles are often too racy and extravagant for foreign women, but many manufacturers have more conservative lines for international tastes. The famous fio dental model (literally meaning “dental floss,” but it translates to the g-string or thong style) would probably be censored in the United States, but is quite common on Brazil’s beaches. Ironically, as scandalous as Brazilian bikinis can be, Brazilian women are not as fond of nude beaches as foreigners are and most would never consider going topless on a public beach, much less frequent a nude beach. That explains the relative lack of nude beaches in Brazil. The most common bikini style, known as amarradinho (little string ties) can be encountered for as little as R$10. This style, too, is pretty revealing for foreign tastes.

You’ll find bikinis with hand stitching, beadwork and even decorative painting, as well as belted bikinis, bikini shorts, mesh skirts, and all kinds of wonderful ways to adorn yourself while visiting Brazil’s sensual beaches.

Bikini photos are from Brazilian-Bikinis.org

Historic Rio: Confeitaria Colombo

If you walk up Rua Gonçalves Dias from the Largo da Carioca, youll pass a number of cool shops. This is a great area for finding good deals on clothes. But the highlight of the street is the classic coffee shop and bakery, the Confeitaria Colombo (Gonçalves Dias 32). Used as the backdrop for numerous Brazilian films and soap operas, the café is a fantasic place to sit and have a refreshment. You can choose the upstairs balcony or downstairs in the main sala.

A landmark in itself, the café is worth a visit for a cup of coffee and a look at the wonderful furnishings, including Belgium crystal mirrors and chandeliers. If you walk farther up Gonçalves Dias and turn right onto Rua do Rosário, you’ll enter an area full of bookstores, restaurants, and coffee shops. You should find something here that interests you.

A Brief History of Rio de Janeiro

When gold starting pouring out of Minas Gerais in the early 1700s, the small and innocuous town of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro turned into the most important port town on the Brazilian coast, even surpassing Salvador in importance. It wasn’t long before the Portuguese Crown took the capital of the colony away from Salvador and moved it to Rio de Janeiro. Roads connecting Minas Gerais (especially Ouro Preto) and Rio were constructed and traffic between the two regions grew exponentially over the next 70 years. Rio de Janeiro grew into the most important city in Brazil.

In 1808 the Portuguese court took an extended vacation in Rio, escaping the point of Napoleon’s sword for a few years. Among the more important of these tourists was the Crown Prince himself, Dom João VI. The arrival of the royal family and court turned Rio into an imperial city, loaded with spectacular architecture, parks, and public facilities. It was Prince João himself who ordered the creation of the Jardim Botânico, now a hot tourist attraction in Rio. While in Brazil, Prince João turned into King João VI with his mother’s death and as the monarch and his court returned to Portugal, Brazil was declared an independent nation–by the king’s son, the prince of Portugal, who remained in Brazil to become the country’s first emperor, Dom Pedro I.

Naturally, the emperor and his new court set themselves up in Rio de Janeiro and his grand palace is open today for viewing. His son, Dom Pedro II saw the end of the monarchy in Brazil and the beginning of the Republic, of which Rio de Janeiro was the capital from 1889 to 1960. By this time, the shift of power and economy was already leaning toward São Paulo and its booming coffee trade. The old presidential offices remain in Rio and are open to the public.

Make the best of what you’ve got…

In Brazil, we have a special phrase for this, which says “quem nao tem cao, caca com gato!” which means “if you don’t have a dog, hunt with a cat.”

Rocinha (the little field) now the biggest favela in town

In Portuguese, the word rocinha (pronounced ho-seen-yah) a literally means a tract of land that has been cleared for planting. It is also used colloquially to refer to any field or backwoods area and that is exactly what Rocinha was in the late 1800s. It started as a settlement near the sugar plantations where poor ranch hands and their families lived. At that time, Rio was a land of opportunity for Brazilians from all over the country and thousands of poor folks from all over Brazil filed into the city to work in or around the sugar trade. When the financial crisis of 1929 occurred, Brazil’s sugar business took a major hit. Thousands of workers were jobless practically overnight and many fled to the hillsides of Rio, where they were still close to the plantations, but didn’t have to pay for rent or other services. The largest of these hillside communities was Rocinha in the far south end of the city.

And so began the poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, known as favelas. They are essentially squatter settlements; residents move in and find a corner of land on which to make a home…if you can call it that. Homes generally start out as large tents made of second-hand materials, like cardboard boxes, string and plastic bags. Over the years, the family will begin to swap these materials for sheets of wood, then ceramic blocks. A lucky few get water inside their homes by digging to the water table below, but most end up hauling it every day from streams nearby at the bottom of the hill. Eventually, a family might even get electricity through an illegal electric line tap, known as a gato (cat) or through an electricity reseller. Some residents or business owners on the edges of the favelas who get electricity from the city often resell it to families on the hillside, at a profit. Electric lines are over-tapped, streams are polluted, and public services are practically nil. The hillsides are communities with strong ties (many of them consisting of large extended families) and around 50–100 homes stacked on top of one another. As children grow and have their own kids, more houses get stacked on. Combine a dozen of these hillsides and you have a favela.

In the 1990s, Rocinha went from around 12,000 domiciles to around 25,000, with an estimated population of 125,000 by the end of the decade. There are currently over 500 favelas in Rio, representing over 40% of the population of the city. The growth of the favelas in Rio is increasing at a rate of 30% per year, while the growth rate of the city is only around 11% annually. The favelas are literally taking over. Since the growth of drug trafficking in the 1970s, the favelas have been increasing in power and wealth and some say that the Rio government is badly corrupted by ties to the favela drug money. Besides the drug trade, favelas also dominate Carnaval and every samba school that heads down the parade route is based in one of the favelas. This is a legitimate source of income for the favelas, but also a source of political power struggles. In 2005, for example, the president of the Mangueira samba school was murdered for not choosing a drug trafficker’s girlfriend to be the queen of the parade.

To protect their interests, traffickers in the favelas operate sophisticated security forces, usually consisting of the neighborhood’s youth, heavily armed and trained. They work long hours every day watching for intruders or other threats, including city police, residents of other favelas, or any unwelcome visitors. Street wars among the favelas and between favelas and the police are commonplace in Rio.

Although Rio’s favelas are unique because of their privileged position on the hillsides overlooking the coastline and encroaching on the rich communities below, Rio is not the only place in Brazil with so many favelas. In fact, the highest concentration of favelas is located on the outskirts of Sao Paulo in the Capao Redondo favela (meaning circular brush area), the most dangerous favela in the world. Rio takes second place and the cities of Fortaleza, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, and Belem all have significant favela populations.

See also: Visitors Include Slums in their Tours of Rio

We drink, but they act drunk

That phrase in Portuguese is: ” Nos e’ que bebemos e eles que ficam tonto”.
We use that for the situation when people freak out or act stupid.

I’m not going to stick my neck out!

In Brazil in this situation we say in Portuguese: ” Eu e’ que nao vou colocar meu cu na praca”. Meaning ” I’m not going to put my ass in the Plaza.”

Cacao: Brazil’s Original Gold Dust

Chocolate, or more specifically the Cacao fruit, first appears on our radar in Egypt in the 16th century BCT. Little is know of its use in Egyptian culture, but the first known cultivation of the fruit is by the Aztec culture of around 600 CT. The Aztecs and Mayans believed that their ancestors brought the Cacao seeds from paradise where the god Quetzcoalt presented the fruit as a gift. This fruit bestowed wisdom and power upon all who ate it or, in most cases…drank it.

In Southern Bahia, Cacao (or Cacau as it’s spelled in Portuguese) created something of a revolution in the area. Although sugar was the region’s principal cash crop, Cacao played an important part in exports to Europe. In the years before Spain managed to steal a number of seedlings in an act of bio-piracy, the fine powder came mostly from South America, with Southern Bahia being among the main producers. Cacao is not easy to cultivate. Trees are sensitive to weather and temperature and prefer to be surrounded by other trees. The Cacao industry in Southern Bahia was consistently riddled with problems and hardships. Nevertheless, the European market for Cacao powder increased throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, although it was still used principally by the rich. It wasn’t until the 20th century that chocolate was mass produced and industrialized. By then Spain had created and lost its vast monopoly of Cacao production, which it had established in Africa and Malasia. Today, most of the Cacao produced in the world comes from these same African nations, although it is believed that the plant originated in the Amazon Region.

Grupo Corpo: Brazil’s National Modern Dance Company

Grupo Corpo is probably Brazil’s most highly regarded modern dance company. They travel all over the world demonstrating their interpretations and unique choreography. This particular piece is a delightful number that is typical of their casual and whimsical dance style and upbeat and childlike mood. Grupo Corpo is based in Belo Horizone and Sao Paulo and is often playing at one of the large venues in Sao Paulo when they are at home in Brazil. You can often find them with the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Brazil’s Best on the Guitar

Two of Brazil’s most talented and treasured guitar players often pair up to play together. Armandinho plays the little mandolin-like instrument, called a Cavaquinho (kah-vah-keen-yo), a traditional folk instrument in Brazil, while Yamandu Costa plays the guitar. Together, they volley back and forth with jaw-dropping speed and accuracy in their interpretations of classic Brazilian tunes. These are two musicians that are a joy to watch and to hear. Seek them out if you ever find yourself in Brazil and ready to see a concert.