We are currently in: Ciudad de Mexico, DF, Mexico
Cachaça Cachaça is to Brazil what tequila (or mezcal!) is to Mexico, what vodka is to Russia, what rum is to the Caribbean – that is to say, it is Brazil’s most common distilled alcohol. Also called pinga or aguardente depending on where you are, cachaça dates to at least the sixteenth century and is distilled … Read more
This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.” Location and Safety Rio de Janeiro is a big place with a lot of variation in neighborhoods. Our rental this month, which we … Read more
Running the length of the state of Rio de Janeiro’s coastline, and spilling over to São Paolo’s shores as well, is Brazil’s magnificent Costa Verde (literally “Green Coast”, though I prefer “Emerald Coast”). It is a storybook place where blue tropical waters lap against the Serro do Mar mountain range, whose Atlantic rainforest-clad slopes reach … Read more
At a Glance: Tijuca National Park is one of the largest urban-surrounded forests on earth, taking up some seven percent of Rio’s area. It is not original growth, but is secondary re-planted and otherwise re-grown Atlantic rainforest. After it was realized that the cleared land had eroded and polluted the city’s water supply, Emporor Dom … Read more
How much of an introduction does A Cidade Maravilhosa (The Marvelous City) really need? Dating to the early sixteenth century, Rio de Janeiro was Brazil’s capital until the move to Brasilia in 1960. Today’s 6 million cariocas, as Rio’s residents are called, make it South America’s third largest city after São Paulo and Buenos Aires; … Read more
Welp, it finally happened for the first time. The CR-Van broke down. We hopped in the car to leave São Paulo on a sunny Saturday morning, excited to hit the sexy beaches of Rio de Janeiro by that afternoon. After a few loopty-loops and a few curses lobbed at the GPS for her poor performance, … Read more
Our home in São Paulo was a compact 1-bedroom apartment on a double-digit floor of a big bland downtown building with a fantastic view, many built-in conveniences, and a super comfortable bed. From the outside, things felt a bit chaotic. The building sits at the intersection of two main-ish streets with lots of foot traffic and … Read more
This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.” Groceries We were out for a walk with the dogs on our first Sunday in São Paulo when we stumbled upon a fantastic market … Read more
