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Rio Field Trip / Rio Travel / Olympics Travel / Street Art / Grafitti Travel / → All Tags

It's All About the Graffiti Art in Rio, Not Bikini Thongs

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Brazil is home to two legit and exciting graffiti artists. Meet Os Gemeos which is Portuguese for The Twins.

The artists: Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo are in fact twins and responsible for the mural on the corner of Houston and Bowery streets in Manhattan, that replaced the now whitewashed famed Keith Haring mural.

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The Girl From Ipanema Goes...To Eat Pizza?

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Forty-seven years ago, Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote the famed bossa nova song "Girl from Ipanema" about the tall and tan and young and lovely Heloisa Pinheiro at the restaurant Garota de Ipanema (which means Girl from Ipanema in Portuguese). Watch the video here.

It's a way touristy place to go complete with cheesy details like blown up lyric sheets hanging from the walls and the sale of t-shirts with the lyrics scribbled across.

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Rio Field Trip / Rio Travel / Olympics Travel / Favelas / Poverty Tourism / Slum Tourism / → All Tags

A Controversial 'To Do' in Rio: Touring the Favelas

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Slum Tourism has its place in travel for the voyeuristicly curious vacationing in a post "City of God" and "Slumdog Millionaire" world. While it's a controversial alternative to the crashpad, there are some safe, noteworthy and creative partnerships that bring business and business opportunities to the lovely people living in the slums while also giving tourists a chance to see another side of Rio.

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Where to Samba in Rio de Janeiro

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

In Rio you can samba anywhere. (The clubs, the beach, your mom's house.) Here are a few places we shook it Carioca style. (Save the classy fist-pumping Jersey Shore-style samba for stateside Mardi Gras celebrations.)

Off-season (as in not during the February month of Carnival)is a much tamer and less expensive way to to channel your inner Carmen Miranda. While it might take two nights of sweaty samba dancing for non-Cariocas to catch onto the double time quick steps, once you nail it you'll be shaking your moneymaker as if Jesus Christ the Redeemer himself was en route from Corcovado Mountain for the second coming. (Our first observation of the samba was that it looked like someone desperately needing to use the bathroom.)

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Rio Field Trip / Rio Travel / Olympics Travel / Hotels / 2016 Summer Olympics / → All Tags

It's Not Too Soon To Plan For The 2016 Summer Olympics, Is It?

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years.

Based on how utterly psyched Brazilians, tourists in Brazil, and everyone on Twitter responded to the news that Rio would be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics, it might be wise to get samba steppin' now to book that hotel stay and flight.

And good news to Southerners! As of Dec. 15, US Airways brought it with the Brazil-bound convenience and began direct service to Rio from its hub in Charlotte, North Carolina. So now you have a flight option, but what about a hotel? Never fear, we've pulled together some options below.

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