Rio de Janeiro Travel Guide
9/04/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Dangerous Travel, Animals, Drugs, Drug Travel (all tags)
Police making what a local newspaper called a "mega-operation" on the Rio favela of Coréia discovered two caimans, which they say drug traffickers used to intimidate enemies--and dispose of bodies. Says one cop:
The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and give him to the caimans.
The crocodile-like reptiles aren't exactly big, but we still wouldn't want to get near 'em--or the drug lords that put the critters to work. Still, a two-foot-long caiman has got to be less intimidating than a ninja gangster.
Related Stories:
· Police Seize Caimans, Weapons and Drugs in Rio Slum [O Globo, in Portuguese]
· Brazil: Police Seize Gang's Reptiles [NYT]
· Oh Rio! Dead Baby Penguins Make Us Sad [Jaunted]
[Photo: O Globo]
by pbb
7/21/2008 at 11:00 AM
Tags: Animals, Beaches, Environment (all tags)
What a beach bummer: Hundreds of baby penguins have washed up on the famous sands of Rio de Janeiro, sparking a debate about how we might be affecting the livelihood of adorable fuzzy animals.
Typically some penguins every year get caught in currents off Patagonia and Antarctica and wind up dead hundreds of miles away, but this has been a particularly bad year for the Cute Overload crowd. Suspects include overfishing, which forces penguins to swim farther for their food, and immunity-damaging pollution, but it could also be the result of changing weather patterns at the Strait of Magellan.
Luckily, the Brazilian Coast Guard has been keeping a special watch on the coast, rescuing penguins and bringing them to Rio's Niteroi Zoo to recuperate.
Related Stories:
· Dead Penguins Washing Up In Brazil [TIME]
· Penguin and Polar Bear Problems [Jaunted]
[Photo: winklerw]
by egw
7/20/2008 at 12:00 PM
Tags: Carmen Miranda Travel Samba Dance (all tags)
It's curious how much our perceptions of other countries are informed by the most outlandish of pop culture references. Even if we know better than to believe the exaggerations and patent misrepresentations, certain images simply become ingrained into our consciousness, and, for better or worse, we arrive in these countries expecting things to play out like they do in the movie version. Such is the case with Brazil, as the recent release of the five-DVD collection of Carmen Miranda musical films illustrates quite clearly. Though her influence is beginning to fade a half-century after her death, the flamboyant Portuguese-Brazilian bombshell led generations of fans in both hemispheres to envision life in Rio as a series of spontaneous dance numbers amid verdant palm and banana groves. And somewhere along the line, a girl would no doubt emerge with a giant Tutti-Frutti Hat to sing a song about the importance of taking a breezy attitude towards life.
MORE...
by Victor Ozols
6/13/2008 at 3:45 PM
Tags: Crime, Drugs, Drug Travel, Dangerous Travel (all tags)
The Brazillian government is cracking down on masked militias after an incident last month where several journalists were tortured for more than six hours by a gang of armed thugs wearing ninja hoods. The reporters had gone undercover in one of Rio de Janeiro's infamous favelas to investigate the "illegal economy" in the notorious slums.
MORE...
by Hunter Walker
6/19/2007 at 12:27 PM
Tags: Rio de Janeiro Travel, Favela, Monica Guy (all tags)
If you've seen the cult film City of God (Cidade de Deus), or talked to any middle class Brazilians, then the infamous favelas, or shanty towns, of Rio de Janeiro won't be top on your list of places to go. Considering, however, that an estimated 20 per cent of Rio de Janeiro's population live in the 750 or so favelas distributed not only around the outskirts but within the city centre, and considering that many of the maids cleaning your hotel room or the bellboys carrying your luggage will have come from a favela that morning, you'll be missing out on a huge part of Rio's cultural mix if you ignore them completely.
MORE...
by femmefatale
1/29/2007 at 10:35 AM
Tags: Dance, Dancing (all tags)
We don't mention dancing enough here: apart from the occasional reference to the well-known bird flu dance, we don't get those hips swinging often enough. So here's our dance tip for the week: Samba City in Rio de Janeiro is there to educate tourists about the way of the samba. It's open 5 days a week (in fact, every day except those starting with T!) and you can watch samba dancers and traditional drummers or even learn some steps yourself.
Disneyland-style, an 8 p.m. parade finishes the day, including fireworks and the opportunity for visitors to get involved in the festivities too. In fact, they bill it as a year-round version of Carnival. It's a government-sponsored project with a secondary purpose: many samba schools of the city are based there and prepare year round for Carnival in a facility known as the Sambodrome!
Originally advertised to open some three years ago, the bosses must have been samba-ing their time away instead of working, but Samba City finally got up and running last year. If you can't stay away from a place with a name as cool as the Sambodrome or you just feel the urge to get those feet moving, check out Samba City for an experience of Carnival without the hefty hotel price hikes.
[Photo: Andreas Helke]
Related Stories:
· Bird Flu Dance [Jaunted]
by amandak
1/18/2007 at 9:35 AM
Tags: Crime, Safety, Public Transportation, Buses (all tags)
It's a widely held guidebook opinion that Brazil can be a dodgy place to visit, although the Jaunted experience in Rio suggests sometimes the books' warnings can be over the top. Nonetheless, there's a disturbing new crime that's hit Rio this week: hair stealing.
On a Rio bus recently--and, without fearmongering, we don't recommend you ride those--a 22 year old Brazilian woman with hair down to her waist felt a strange tug. Then she realized that thieves had cut off her ponytail right at the top. They got away with masses of beautiful dark hair that could easily be sold--police suspect--to hairdressers or beauty salons who can charge hundreds of dollars to customers wanting hair extensions. You may not need to pack a gun in Rio, but it might not hurt to bring a hat.
[Photo: Wam Mosely]
Related Stories:
· Danger in Rio? [Jaunted]
· Hair Theft the Unkindest Cut [The Australian]
by amandak
11/10/2006 at 9:23 AM
Tags: Movie Set Travel, Rio de Janeiro (all tags)
Opening December 1st is the horror movie, Turistas, starring Josh Duhamel and Melissa George.
At first glance, this movie looks like Hostel, Part II but instead of tourists being tortured in the basement of a hostel, this group of backpackers/surfers get lost in a Brazilian jungle near Rio de Janeiro, which just happens to be holding an ominous secret like an organ thieving blackmarket or something.
Instead of focusing on the gnarly parts of the movie like someone waking up in a tub of ice with suspicious scars around their kidneys, we'll tell you where to go in Rio and stay alive.
Where to Stay:
Seeing as this movie may turn you off about backpacking, why not check out the Rio Internacional Hotel which is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor. The place has great service, an English-speaking staff and supreme views of the beach. But it is a costly trip at around $250 a night.
Where to Surf:
There are a bunch of good places to surf in Rio. Who knew the place was akin to California and Hawaii when it comes to hanging ten. Sidestep has the list of beaches worth checking out. May we suggest surfing at Arpoador Beach in Ipanema which is closest to the main part of Rio?
Where to Avoid:
According to Fodor's Travel Wire, they particularly recommend avoiding the downtown area, especially Saara, after dark because it's deserted.
Walking on the beach at night is probably not a good idea, and although many tourists like to wander off the beaten path when they're traveling this isn't always a good idea in Rio---stick to the well-populated areas.
If you can't get enough, then visit the Turistas MySpace page where you can look at pictures of a shirtless Josh, read his character Alex's lame-o blog and predict which backpackers will die first.
Related Stories:
· Rio Internacional reviews [TripAdvisor]
by juliana
0 Comments - Add Yours
