Sports and Leisure in Brazil

 

Football, volleyball and kite surfing

When we talk about sport in Brazil, one thinks of course football, the rank of popular religion by all Brazilians and practiced in all towns and villages. The number and size of football stadiums in Brazilian cities is testimony to the popularity of this sport, the most famous being the Maracana in Rio and Sao Paulo Morumbi. Every major city has at least two teams, so two stages, a team supported by the working class and another supported by the bourgeois class.

To experience the atmosphere vibrant games and plunge into all this madness in Brazil, you can go to the stadium, usually on Wednesdays and Sundays. For large meetings, everything stops.

After football, volleyball and beach volleyball, practiced on the beaches of the coast, are very popular and appreciated by men and women. Like basketball, which saw the birth of the top players. The middle class particularly enjoys tennis. Not to mention the formula 1, popularized by the legendary motor racing driver, Nelson Piquet Rubens Barichello or Ayrton Senna.

On the coast of the Northeast, from August to September, the kite was on a roll! The small town of Paracuru, a hundred kilometers north of Fortaleza, has become in recent years, one of the spots in the world of the sport, like Jericoacoara or Barra Grande.

Otherwise, there is little known in Europe but activity practiced by a majority of Brazilians, walking tonic (!). This activity requires very specific conditions in these regions because it is performed preferably in an idyllic setting along the coastal beaches such as Copacabana, to name only the most famous...

Early morning or late afternoon, a crowd uniform, wearing a tight-fitting shorts, sneakers and futuristic usually equipped with a walkman, with an energetic pacing the few miles along the vast sandy beaches. Democratic activity, practiced alone or with others, from 7 to 77 years, which sometimes offers an unusual sight on the beaches of Rio, the Espírito Santo and Bahia.

Capoeira

Practiced in many Brazilian cities, in the afternoon or evening in the square by the sea or the sound of African songs and three musical instruments, amazing dancers, often dressed in white, two rival two in the middle of a circle formed by the participants. The pace particular, the vibration of the steel cord of berimbaus the choir clearly truculent and profane at the same time chanting, this can attract your attention. And tricks of the "dancer-combatants", usually men, will make you think it could be a ballet-like tragic and murderous.

Hidden within this amazing dance, it is one of the most formidable combat sports that are borrowed from the martial techniques of various African nations. Capoeira is now practiced throughout Brazil, with championships and a sports federation (which are obviously the best academies in Bahia). It serves as a flag to the various cultural movements of black consciousness.

The "game animals"

On popular games, you can see many blocks from the downtown of men sitting on chairs, pen and notebook in hand, waiting for customers for the jogo do bicho. The "game animals" is parallel in paris (and illegal) is being done on animals, on the same principle as the National Lottery. It was invented in the 1870s to raise funds to redevelop the city zoo. The idea was taken illegally.

It is an institution in Brazil, the police do not seek to prohibit. Indeed, the rich people at the head of the Paris underground grease the highest political police and paws. In addition, they largely fund the carnival, and that's sacred!

Health and Safety in Brazil

 

The situation of public health in Brazil is improving despite difficult geographical areas, and isolated cases of cholera and meningitis.

Dengue fever is rising considerably. Yellow fever has been resurgence across the South and particularly in the country's tourism.

However, few serious general risks outside the favelas and rural Amazon, provided to be careful with water. If you choose to go to a private hospital, know that the price of care is very high. It is therefore advisable to take out travel insurance before departure.

Amazon

For stays in the Amazon rainforest, a medical consultation in a center of international vaccinations and advice to travelers is essential, even if only to assess the risk of malaria (there is also a treatment against it will be required) and also address the prevention of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis steadily expanding. Vaccination against yellow fever is mandatory.

Remember to bring systems water purification: as appropriate, tablets for chemical disinfection, microbial filters Katadyn type.

Mosquitoes

The main risk of disease comes from mosquitoes. In the forest, it is malaria, yellow fever, leishmaniasis, dengue ... But dengue fever, up sharply, too prevalent in urban areas.

Do you maintain, as far as possible, bites! And that night (malaria) and day (dengue, etc.).. In the forest, in areas infested with mosquitoes, cover up, you sprinkle effective repellents (DEET greater than 35%) and in the absence of air conditioning, do not sleep without a good ITN ... Remember to soak into your clothes.

For the most part, mosquito repellents / arthropods sold in supermarkets or pharmacies are not or insufficiently effective. Nevertheless, there are a range reliable and consistent with the recommendations of the French Ministry of Health: Insect Screen.

In the Amazon, the germ that causes malaria is resistant Nivaquine, we recommend Malarone or, failing that, the Lariam or doxycycline. CAUTION: This is potentially photosensitizing. In all cases, seek the advice of your doctor in every way, these drugs are issued with a prescription.

Some recommendations

- Risk Standing for tourists: the sun. Remember, cap or hat, good sunglasses and sunscreen. Be careful the first few days and do not linger too long on the beaches ... Drink plenty of water.

- Another possible problem: parasites, which multiply in the Brazilian countryside and beaches. Do not walk barefoot and avoid swimming in fresh water. At Bahia in particular, but on all the beaches in general, attention to bicho PE (larva migrans), a parasite that lives in the sand and into the foot. To avoid this, one solution: wear shoes - or sandals - on the beach and lie on a mat!

- Be wary also of bugs, especially in the Amazon: one of them (red and black) transmits Chagas disease, a rare but serious. As for snakes, scorpions and spiders, just watch where you walk and not put his hands anywhere ... In the forest, sleeping in hammocks to avoid this, covered with nets. And we inspect your shoes before putting them on.

- Consultations with a GP practice are very expensive (45 to € 75). The same is true for drugs.

- Pharmacies: in large cities, no difficulty finding open day and night. Please note, employees are not white coats ... pharmacists (pharmacist is usually one day per week). When in doubt, get advice from a doctor before you rush to the pharmacy.

- Finally, remember to protect yourself against AIDS by using condoms.

Dangers and annoy

The images of social and urban violence are cause for concern, yet the day, the beaches and the streets are crowded in the evening, terraces and bars remain lively late at night.

Brazil Is a violent country? Yes, certainly, with about 50,000 murders a year (!). But this spectacular and bloody violence on the world of the little traveler. Over 75% of crimes are the result of conflicts between corrupt police and a youth poor and desperate they are held in the slums of the outskirts.

Specific policies (Policia turística) were established in some large cities (Belém and Salvador, for example). Agents roam all day the sights.

So Brazil is it a dangerous country for the traveler? Our answer is clear: you can travel without worry as long to observe a few simple rules.

We must distinguish, however, within the country, small towns, where the violence was not over, and major urban centers in Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Recife, Natal and Fortaleza, prudence.

Tips

- Dress Code: Rule number one, do not look like a tourist!
- Go out with the bare minimum.
- Avoid the trappings of wealth.
- Photos: if you plan to take pictures, a small device that fits in your pocket is better than a bag full of sophisticated objectives.
- At the beach, use an ordinary plastic bag and take only the bare minimum.
- Night: in large cities (such as Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Belém ...), avoid a stroll on foot after dark, move more in a taxi. If you have a car, do as the other drivers and do not stop at red lights only when necessary.

Tips for the money

This is obviously the primary target.

- Always make changes in the specialty pharmacies.
- Never change a stranger, who offers you an attractive rate, it is a blow to be robbed.
- The output of the currency exchange is a place where the robbery attempt and is current.
- In general, do not keep you on the money needed and leave the rest in the hotel safe or properly hidden in your luggage (with a closed padlock).
- Belts with zip inside or installed under your pants are a good solution, provided to a discrete model (cloth) and, of course, avoid using it as a portfolio by putting all money and opening it in public!
- Avoid having large bills in excess of the equivalent of € 20. If you have euros on you, take them out quietly, not bundles.
- Do not leave your wallet or your papers in the back pocket of your pants!
- Never agree to share a drink with a stranger.
- During the carnival in Salvador, Recife, or Rio, follow all previous. Many pickpockets are rife.

Drugs

We rarely offer drugs to travelers or tourists. Though it depends on the cities. That, at least, a daily reality in Brazil. Large quantities of illicit drugs at low prices to move, mainly marijuana and cocaine. Repression of their possession, transport, use, or trafficking is very severe, whatever the amount.

Accommodation In Brazil

- Reminder: During the holidays (New Year carnival celebration Tirandentes, Holy Week, long bridges, etc..), Most hotels having packages (Pacot), that is to say a minimum stay of three, five or even seven days, at high prices.

Hostels (albergues da Juventud)

The hostel network is very comprehensive. They are mostly well designed and clean, offering breakfast and many services, such as free access to the kitchen, Internet connection or bike rental. There is no age limit to stay in AJ. It is not necessary to be a member of Hostelling International, but you'll pay a few reais more if you're not.

The United Federation of Youth Hostels offers its members the opportunity to book online through its international reservation system. You pay a 5% deposit and booking fee.

The pousadas

In Portugal, a pousada is a luxury hotel listed building. In Brazil, that's not it at all! In general, these are small structures not too expensive, the atmosphere more or less friendly. But we have seen, as the pousada of really attractive to high prices! In short, the term "pousada" is elastic enough, especially since, not to simplify, some institutions that one is tempted to call pousada (large family house, with cottages) are called ... hotel.

Hotels

Vague term, too, since it can just as easily refer to a home-like hotel pousada a classical structure. However, a building primarily functional, with reception rooms on floors numbered, is still called "hotel" and not "pousada". Like these, they can be in all categories. They are often without much character, but generally well kept and comfortable. Without some areas, um quarto means a single room, sometimes with shared shower and apartamento a double room with private bathroom. Apartamento is a bit more expensive.

Motels

Excellent hotels mainly for fun lovers. By no means reserved for prostitution, they provide for expensive and not well a few hours, a Hollywood backdrop of alcove, equipped and adapted to all kinds of fantasies, quiet and comfort. The most kitsch are in peripheral areas, identifiable by their evocative name ... The motel is a sociological necessity: as there are many families in Brazil, the couple may not have places to cuddle.

Apartment rentals

A solution under development in the country, usually through agencies. The problem is the same as everywhere else: you really have to trust the agency to book in peace! We have selected a few, who often work only on a city and you will find in the places concerned.

Geography, climate and weather In Brazil

 

It is a federal republic divided into 26 states, federal district and five major administrative regions. 65% of the population in the South East and South

- The North: the largest region of the country and the least populated. With much of the Midwest, the North as the Legal Amazon. It is almost entirely forested.

- The Northeast: here and in the North are concentrated latifundia, vast private estates of tens of thousands of hectares. From there come the millions of landless peasants who are scrambling around the capitals of South-East, or will form the fronts of colonization and deforestation in the North and Midwest. Land of great wealth and cultural traditions, today is also a region ravaged by social deprivation.

- The Midwest: the continental shelf of the country, the geographic center of which is built the capital, Brasilia. It is divided between the arid highlands, covered with vegetation of the cerrado, and the region of swamps and tropical forests, which, east of the Rio Araguaia, the universe continues exuberant Amazon. Sparsely populated, the Midwest is also, in its western part, a land settlement of peasants from the South and Northeast, and a place of conflict for the possession of the land. The cerrado is largely devoted to cattle ranching.

- South East, which is only 10% of the country, is home to 40% of Brazilians. Heart of Brazil developed its vitality and its economic fevers, this region, where agriculture high performance of colonial origin was combined with industrial concentration, is symbolized by the power of São Paulo and Rio radiation . Country of vegetation and tropical climate, beautiful coastline and forested mountains, dotted with hot springs and inland lakes and historical sites of great beauty.

- The South is a subtropical and temperate. This is the land of the gauchos, Brazilian cowboys and rodeos churrascos (of beef grilled). Beautiful natural sites. While enjoying a cooler climate, especially in winter in the far south is a land where the black and Indian roots, utopias and the Jesuit traditions of immigrants from Central Europe have formed an amazing mix. A land where social balance, put to the test here as well, yet no one knows the sinking of the country.

Climate

Brazil is so large that it is virtually impossible to define the ideal time to travel there. The country is situated in the southern hemisphere; the seasons are reversed compared to us.

In the south, the southern summer extends from December to March. It is very hot or stuffy in Rio and São Paulo. It is not free of tropical rains, sometimes sudden and torrential. The short winter from June to September, but temperatures remain pleasant 12 ° C overnight at 25 ° C day (roughly).

In southern Brazil, the coast offers an almost Mediterranean climate: mild winters, hot summer.
- In the states of the Northeast - Bahia and Pernambuco - near the equator, heat, heavy at times from December to March, is punctuated by frequent but brief showers. Prefer the period from September to mid-December to visit this area.

- The Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul also know, during the austral summer, a rainy season floods the plains of the Pantanal. The city of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, is reputed to be one of the hottest Brazil, with temperatures around 40 ° C throughout the year.

- The Amazon is a hot, humid and rainy. In the forest, the humidity reaches 100%. There are two periods: that of the CHUV, which extends from January to June (sometimes torrential rain), and one that goes from July to December, best time to travel in the Amazon, some days escaping the rain!

Brazil Culture

Music

This is the samba. It can be slow, song dressed in a voice still hot, then samba Canção, or hymn to the rhythm rolling and jerky carnival parade, samba enredo, or even walk leading to the collective enthusiasm, walked ranch ... She is always composed at the turn of a play on words, a desire, the memory of a past love. Above all popular music, it runs the district, city, radio waves. Samba saw its heyday during the carnival, but it fills the life of every Brazilian, especially in Rio, with multiple schools. Competition is severe and each year we compete in talent to create the most beautiful parade, call the samba and choose who will become a tube, prepare costumes, rehearse with the musicians and dancers ...

Brazilian music also captures the many influences from the world, especially Africa, but also Latin and Western styles that mix to reinvent between pop, jazz and African rhythms. Often with the feeling of indescribable saudade (nostalgia, melancholy), which is perhaps the secret of the music found in Cuba, Angola and Cape Verde. Saudade is also reflected perfectly in the bossa nova, born of a merger between the acoustic guitar and the sweet life of Bahia beaches.

In Minas Gerais, the voice of Milton Nascimento lives in the tropical mountains, and in a different genre, hard rock group Sepultura, adored by another audience in Europe and the United States ...

Assert new trends. Like rap, that Brazil digests its way, with a return to reality "naked and raw," and yet festive swing. And all the music derived from the carnival-like focus to music or Chiclete Daniela Mercury, which attract all the young Bahia, or pagoda, a popular Rio to Salvador, a sort of samba reduced training, sung by the particular Zeca Pagodinho Carioca. And Afro blocks carnival in Salvador da Bahia.

And then there's the music of the Northeast: the forró warm to energy, with its syncopated rhythms of accordion brega the area of ​​Belém and Marajó Island, which means "corny" and attracts couples dancers applied to the ball Friday night, or the languor Sertaneja frevo and Recife.

Not to mention the famous MPB Musica Popular do Brazil, you meet all street corners and in many bars and restaurants. A kind of bossa nova revisited in the 1960s by the great of the time.

Museums, sites and monuments

Museums and churches are generally closed during the carnival, and sometimes between Christmas and New Year's Day. Except for major museums, opening hours are often variable, depending on the weather or the mood of the guard ... Discounts (or free) are often granted with the international student card. Reminder: to visit most of the religious buildings, proper attire (legs and shoulders covered) are required!

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