Tag Archives: brazil

Rio sunset: caught
Rio sunrise: also
Next up: Christ the Redeemer!…

With the sun up, we headed on over to the one and only Christ the Redeemer statue! But of course we did! This imposing masterpiece of both engineering and art is simply mandatory for any visitor to Rio de Janeiro!…

…So, of course, “any visitor to Rio de Janeiro” means, alas, crowds of tourists – and right from dawn ->

Read on: The temptation of the Redeemer.

After all the presentations, meetings, and interviews at our Latin American partner conference, we had some important business visits lined up in a couple of places around Rio the next day. But all work and no play makes Eugene a dull boy – especially in Rio…

I’d long secretly dreamed not just of being back in Rio, but of catching the sunrise somewhere at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer statue. So that was the plan post-business, and to make the logistics easier we decided to switch from our hotel in the suburbs to another one closer to downtown and the statue.

And just as we were checking out of our first hotel in the afternoon, our Brazilian colleagues, upon finding out we were heading into Rio and had a free evening, suggested we go watch the sunset from Sugarloaf Mountain – all about which I told you and showed you in a previous post.

So we hop into a car to take us to Rio. Meanwhile, one of our events crew (the awesome team that handles our exhibitions, conferences, etc. – huge thanks to them!) is frantically trying to get us fast-track tickets for Sugarloaf – for there isn’t much time left before sunset, and we really wanted to make it. But that’s enough detail; main thing: we (practically) made it!…

And here’s the sunset – from Sugarloaf Mountain:

Read on…

Hey everyone!

As I write this I’m recovering after a 32-hour multi-stopover flight back from Latin America; however, despite the exhaustion, I’m already back into reminiscing about Rio de Janeiro while the memories are still fresh…

The first time I visited this splendid city (and Brazil, for that matter) was way back in 2006. We were having our second Latin American partner conference in a place called Salvador (here), and we figured it’d be a shame not to spend a few days on some banal tourism. I mean, why fly halfway around the world just to work and then immediately head back home? No – you need to stay a while longer and take a good look around.

But since I wasn’t blogging in 2006, there aren’t any photos on the internet from back then. Still, I do have a few pics in my archives – for example the following. Yes, it was windy! ->

Read on…

I’ll tell you about Rio a bit later, as well as other notable events of my trip. But first I want to tell you about Brasília, the capital of Brazil – for it’s rather an intriguing place…

The city was built from scratch in the early 1960s (meaning it’s less than 70 years old!) specially to become the capital – Brazil’s state-administrative center. The main buildings were designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer – known for his leading role in designing the UN headquarters in New York…

With a population of about 2.5 million, the city’s shaped like a bird (or airplane) – a long, narrow central part with two “wings” on each side. Here it is on Google Maps:

Read on…

Another day – another continent!…

• Country: Brazil.
• City: Rio de Janeiro
• Main business: our regional (the Americas; these days mostly Latin American) partner conference
• Secondary activity: tourisms – of course!…

First up – the partner conference carnival. It wasn’t in Rio city itself, but a bit outside – in a beach suburb; still Rio though. I’d been here a couple of times before, but that was ages ago. The first time was in 2006; the second in 2010 – and on both occasions the reason I was here was for… you won’t will believe it: regional partner conferences!

Back then, I didn’t bother with detailed stories and lots photos (that got started properly in 2011), so I can’t compare today’s experience with that from 19 and 15 years ago, alas.

On the morning of our arrival, with a few hard days’ work ahead, we start out with breakfast looking out onto the South Atlantic Ocean – and a seemingly endless traffic jam:

Read on…

My series of posts from both the Egyptian and Jordanian sides turned out to last longer than the trips themselves! As a result, there’s been a delay in my starting a new series from a different continent, which took place as far back as late November. And that continent is… South America. And the countries? Brazil and Chile!…

// Perhaps I should stop writing a sentence like the next one in my posts, as what it describes seems to go without saying for every business trip! The work portion of the trip was busy bust-a-gut intense! That is – lots of: meetings, presentations, speeches, interviews, new acquaintances, hand-shakes, and a lot more besides! Perhaps I need to also stop writing sentences like this one: After the work was all done, it was time for some rest-and-relaxation/tourism time – of both a quantity and tempo of similarly bust-a-gut intensity!… So in future, perhaps I’ll just link back to this blogpost and avoid the repetition! No – that won’t work; I’ll just try and be briefer somehow…

But before that “tourism till you drop”, a quick breather: some intro-photos and a few intro-words too…

I’ll start, logically, from the beginning: with the flight. Flying from Moscow to Brazil these days takes about as long as it does from Moscow to Australia (Sydney) – 19 hours up in the air – which is four hours longer than what it used to take. Before, for example, the first leg of the journey was Moscow to Paris (3.5 hours), and the second: Paris to Sao Paulo (+11 hours) = 15 hours. Now it’s 5 hours – to Doha – then +14 hours to Sao Paulo, which makes 19 hours.

But it is what it is. We just have to get used to living in the new geopolitical-transportational reality.

Read on…

Hi folks!

Herewith, my final post on Iguazu! All good things come to an end…

On our last day at Iguazu the sun came out to play – for the first time while we were there. This is quite normal, of course, but what was less normal was how the clear skies (no rain) that began the previous night led to the water levels falling by more than two meters! Haven’t seen that often. Have a look for yourself:

Read on: Dry season and floods…

Herewith, one of my regular ‘columns’ on this here blog of mine – (in)habitat(ion), i.e., where the locals stay and/or where we stay on our travels. This time – it’s categorically where we stayed, since no locals live right next to the Iguazu Falls. Birds on the other hand…

Now, there’s one hotel that sits right next door to the falls. And it’s a very nice one. It’s the Belmond hotel das Cataratas. Here’s an aerial pic thereof:

If your budget permits, I heartily recommend you stay here. The reason is fairly obvious: as in selling real estate, it’s down to three simple things: location, location and location!

A room with a view of the falls isn’t really needed (you can’t see them too clearly through the forest that surrounds the hotel). But waking, breakfasting, then a stroll of just a hundred meters to the Iguazu viewing platform – well, what more could you ask for? Ok, I guess you could ask for a pre-breakkie morning constitutional to the falls, and even a post-dinner walk thereto, cigar in hand. The answer would still be ‘no problem’!

Read on: Another bonus of staying at this hotel…

While at the waterfalls called Iguazu, taking a helicopter ride is a must-do!

A flight up above the falls is not only wholly informative, it’s also thoroughly meditative – just how I like it. Oki-doki… off we chopper…

Here’s the Iguazu River downstream of the falls:

Here’s where the Iguazu (river) meets the Parana – the second longest South American river (after the Amazon, of course:). It’s also a spot where three countries’ borders meet: Paraguay to the right, Argentina – top left, Brazil – bottom left. The differences in the quality of housing and roads are quite marked between the three countries (see the photos further below) – highlighting their different levels of economic development:

Read on: Left of the river – Paraguay, right – Brazil…

Hi folks!

As promised, herewith, more from the best stretch of the Argentina-Brazil border.

There’s a good reason why it’s ‘falls’ – in the plural. Apart from the obvious fact that this is for sure a collection of waterfalls all together – some to the east, some to the left, others to the north and south – you can also split the falls in two geographically-politically: some of them fall (pun unintended) in Brazil; the others – Argentina. You can see how on the map: the border between the two countries runs down the middle of the Iguazu River. Anyway – the views from each country are totally different. From Brazil it’s all about panoramic views and water cascading down. From the Argentine side: a spectacle of the almighty power of the waterfalls. There’s also cascading water – only you view it from up top. But enough words; enter the pics!..

So, here we go: first up – Brazil:

Read on: go right the edge and peer down…