BRASIL
Being married to a Brasilian, it was always going to be the case that I would end up travelling all over that immense country. So far my journeys have taken me to all of the four South Eastern States (Espirito Santo; Minas Gerais; Rio De Janeiro; Sao Paulo), as well as the Southern State of Paraná, with its beautiful capital of Curitiba, “The Ecological Capital of Brasil”.
Brasil was formally part of the Portuguese Empire. It was discovered in 1500AD by Pedro Alvares Cabral. Cabral was supposedly trying to find a new route to India, but was obviously blown off course completely. He found Indians alright, but not those from Asia.
After Napoleon invaded Portugal the entire Portuguese royal Family fled to Brasil. After his defeat many of them returned, but the Prince, Dom Pedro, remained. Eventually he declared Brasilian independence from Portugal and became the 1st of the 2 Brasilian Emperor’s. Political upheaval forced Dom Pedro II to abdicate in the final decades of the 19th Century & the 1st Republic was proclaimed. This remained until the Vargas dictatorship in the 1930’s. After he died in mysterious circumstances in the 1950’s, a new air of liberal politics began. President Kubitschek moved the capital from Rio De Janeiro to his specially purpose built base of Brasilia. The USA were afraid of the left wing politics of the country, especially one the size of Brasil, so aiding the Brasilian military they assisted in the coup which overthrew President Goulart in 1964. What followed was 20 years of political & artistic repression which only ended after 20 or so years when democracy was restored.
In every place I have had the privilege to visit I have been knocked out by the immense hospitality shown to me by the Brasilian people. In many ways they are very similar to the Scottish and Polish people. They take great pleasure in allowing you into their homes and are naturally curious to find out all about you, and your culture.
The galleries in these pages highlight the places I have visited thus far. I have witnessed everything from impressive waterfalls, ancient limestone caves, the mad bustle of the subway in Sao Paulo at rush hour, to the world famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema (where the girl came from). Travel in Brasil isn’t exactly easy, and can be either quite expensive, arduous, or both.
Once you have got from point “A” to point “B” however, and you’ve just discovered a place where perhaps not many other visitors from outside of Brasil have visited, and even many inside of Brasil may not know about, then travelling for upwards of 15 hours on a bus becomes worthwhile.
With this in mind I hope that you enjoy reading about this Scotsman’s travels in what he now considers to be his adopted home. My only regret is that I can’t visit this beautiful country more often.
GETTING THERE
There are countless airlines which have flights to Brasil. You cannot fly there directly from many countries in the world however. We usually travel with KLM via Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. Whilst KLM might not be the cheapest option I recommend them because the service you receive onboard is first class, and also because Schipol is such an amazing airport. You can of course fly from other destinations such as London, Paris or Frankfurt. The only flights I know of that fly directly to the Northeast of Brasil are from Porto in the north of Portugal.
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