Brazil

We had eight days to visit Brazil and went to Iguazu Falls, Rio, and Sao Paulo. Despite being winter, the weather was fine — except morning at Iguazu. We loved the food and the music.

Iguazu Falls

First stop Iguazu Falls — we went one day to the Argentinian side where we walked along the paths, seeing the falls, flora, and quite a few pretty critters. The next day we did the Brazilian side and were glad to see both as the views were so different.

Iguazu Falls are the widest in the world. Niagara Falls has the most water and Victoria Falls is the steepest. Our guide told us that there are really about 250 separate falls.

We saw lots of pretty butterflies and birds around the falls. The coati are a nuisance, stealing food from people who are picnicking.

And a highlight — a cachaca tasting at the hotel.

Rio de Janeiro

Second stop: Rio. Unfortunately, Rio was gray and foggy while we were there. Still we saw Christ the Redeemer and took the gondola up Sugarloaf Mountain. We did a fun Carnaval Experience — complete with trying on costumes and getting a brief samba lesson. We walked around downtown. We went for a lovely hike in the Tijuca Forest. No photos of food but we enjoyed the street food as much as the fine restaurants. We did private cooking class one day and sampled lots of traditional and more modern Brazilian food.

Below are photos from our Carnaval Experience

Sao Paulo

We only had a day in Sao Paulo to tour but enjoyed parks, street markets, and fairs as well as the view from the Museum of Contemporary Art. And as usual, we tried lots of great food including an Amazonian restaurant where we sampled ants that were fed exclusively on lemon grass and a street cart that sold traditional Afro-Brazilian food.

Food From Great Amazonian Restaurant in Sao Paulo

We had dinner with colleagues at a wonderful Amazonian restaurant in Sao Paulo called Banzeiro. The food was great. And yes we did eat ants. They are farm raised, fed only lemon grass, and then freeze dried. They taste like crunchy lemon grass. The fish was fresh water — Brazilians says “sweet water.” Note the photos were taken by Will.