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 →

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 →

São Paulo has a lot of museums. Like a ton. Here are some that we have never been to and thus can’t speak to their quality: Museu do Ipiranga - Technically the Museu Paulista da Universidade de São Paulo, this museum focuses on the history of Brazil and the state of São Paulo. It is São Paulo’s most famous … Read more →

São Paulo is a monster. The city proper’s nearly twelve million residents make it one of the top ten largest cities in the world, as well as the largest in all of the Americas and all of the Southern hemisphere. With a total population of twenty million, the metropolitan area is also in the top … Read more →

More than anything, Colonia del Sacramento is an escape. It is old cars and cobblestone streets and lamplight, all of it seemingly separated by both kilometers and centuries from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, visible on a clear day across the Rio de la Plata. Even the river itself looks different from this … Read more →

Back in the States, we are generally only exposed to two kinds of “natural” stimulating beverages, namely coffees and teas. Over the past six months we have had the pleasure of being introduced to a couple alternatives to these staples. To try (legally, at least) coca tea, one would unfortunately have to actually travel to … Read more →

Colonia del Sacramento sits peacefully on the north side of the Rio de la Plata, around thirty miles as the crow flies east-northeast across the water from Buenos Aires. Originally founded by the Portuguese in 1680 at a highly strategic point jutting into the river, Colonia, as it is often shortened to, changed hands between … Read more →