GeoStats:

Capital: Brasilia

Population: 201,103,330

Major Religions: Roman Catholic, Protestant

Languages: Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language; less common languages include Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages.

Passport/Visa Requirements: US and Canadian citizens need a valid passport as well as a visa to enter Brazil. EU citizens need only a valid passport.

Time Zones: Brazil is divided into three time zones. São Paulo and Rio are 3 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.

Voltage Requirements: 220 volts or 110 volts

Phone Codes: 55, country code; 11, São Paulo city code; 21, Rio de Janeiro city code; 71, Salvador city code

Destination:

Brazil


Getting Ready

topBooks

The Brazilians
Joseph A. Page

A clear, comprehensive and compelling introduction to Brazil, covering politics, history, economics, ecology, conservation and culture. Buy now

Tree of Rivers, The Story of the Amazon
John Hemming

Hemming captures the ambition, greed and awe of naturalists, explorers and missionaries -- and their devastating impact on native peoples -- in this absorbing human history. Buy now

Tropical Nature
Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata

A lively, lucid portrait of the tropics as seen by two uncommonly observant and thoughtful field biologists. Its 17 marvelous essays introduce the habitats, ecology, plants and animals of the Central and South American rainforest.  Buy now

Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World
Ruy Castro

Journalist Ruy Castro interviewed everyone who had anything to do with Boss Nova for this animated history, capturing not only the personalities of pioneers like Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto but also the spirit of Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s. Buy now

Samba
Alma Guillermoprieto

A memorable account of life and music on the coast of Brazil by the talented and wide-ranging Guillermoprieto. A dancer herself, she lived for a year in Manguiera, a favela near Rio known for its samba school. Nominated for a National Book Award. Buy now

topBooks for Kids

Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon
Michael Goulding

This beautiful, profusely illustrated atlas of the river includes its major tributaries and 150 full-color maps. Michael Goulding (Floods of Fortune) and Brazilian biologists Ronaldo Barthem and Efrem Ferreira provide the accompanying text. Buy now

topDVD's

Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures: Return to the Amazon
Jean-Michel Cousteau

The Amazon: the most powerful of the world's rivers. It flows through the largest tropical rainforest, the natural theater where evolution has gone wild, creating the greatest biodiversity on the planet. Twenty-five years ago Jean-Michel explored this region with his father, the legendary Jacques Cousteau. Since then an area the size of Texas has been deforested. Buy now

The Middle of the World (2005)
Directed by Vincente Amorim, starring Claudia Abreu, Wagner Moura

The Middle of the World is a road movie on bicycles. It is freely adapted from the true story of an unemployed truck driver who, with his wife and five children, pedals from Paraíba, in the poverty-stricken Northeast of Brazil, all the way to Rio de Janeiro looking for a job. A story of dreams and hope. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Buy now

Central Station (1998)
Fernanda Montenegro, Marília Pêra

Two very unlikely souls, a motherless young boy and a lonely retired school teacher become inextricably linked and form an uncommon bond as they venture from the bustling city to Brazil's remote northeast region in search of the boy's father. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
Buy now