Brazil and South America are a great international travel destination. The vastness of Americas, scarce population, massively sized grace land; stocky horses, unique fruits, sandy beaches, huge water bodies, lonely mountains and awesome Mother Nature create a great exploration map.
South America covers an area of roughly 6.9 million square miles or 17 million square kilometers and is the fourth largest continent. From a population standpoint, South America is home to about 400 million people, which makes it the fifth most populated continent. Brazil is the largest Latin American country which covers nearly half of the continent of South America, stretching from the Guiana Highlands in the north, which borders with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, to the plains of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina in the south. In the west Brazil spreads to the equatorial rain forest, bordering with Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia and in the east it extends into the Atlantic Ocean towards Africa. And if you happen to be living in the southern most beaches of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Big River of the South), the cold waves and wind from Antarctica can be easily felt through the year. South America and Brazil has a blend of European, Indigenous people of America or Native Indians and African cultures.
The first impression of Brazil for someone coming from India, is that it’s a youthful land and country with palpable freshness in the air. The living history of Brazil can be dated back to couple of hundred years, with the entry of exploratory missions from Europe, inflow of African slaves and later more immigrants from Europe during periods of crises. The living history of the indigenous people of America is not yet well recognized and adopted into the mainstream culture of Brazil. Twelve independent countries having two European languages i.e. Spanish and Portuguese as their official language is perhaps an indicator. In fact, if Brazil was not colonized by Portuguese, Spanish would have been the only official language for the entire continent. Certainly, having one official language is a great help to international travelers. But, where have all the regional and ethnic tribe languages gone?
Language hurdle is the second observation a traveler from India can easily make.
As Brazil was a colony of Portugal from 1500 to 1822, Portuguese is the official language. Portuguese, as an official language is spoken in nine countries mainly in South and East Africa apart from Brazil in South America and Portugal in Europe. However, the hospitable, warm and friendly nature of Brazilians, makes moving around easier for a non-Portuguese and non-Spanish speaking traveler.
The oldest buildings and structures in Brazil only date back to a hundred or couple years back. For an Indian who has been born and living in heritage structures that date back to centuries, it was quite a thing to go visit heritage sites and buildings in Brazil. How could I share with my fellow Brazilians that in India when we say heritage or old monuments we are thinking in terms of thousands of years? There is greater homogeneity (language, religion, value system) in Brazil and South America in comparison with India and Asia. Various regional cultural flavors and wonderful festival expression are part of Brazil, yet there seem to be common pulse running through all. Further integration of native culture in to mainstream would certainly make the Brazilian culture more rich and recognizable in the memories of foreign tourist and travelers.
Having no history or very less of it is a great proposition for people and communities who want to achieve new heights of perfection based on knowledge and learning from other continents and civilization. What a relief I felt when I first realized the ethos of this land. As an Indian we are always subject to heavy conditioning, which our centuries old culture and tradition passes on. However, it took me some while to understand that human mind can not live without conditioning and that difference between Asia/India and Brazil is the type, level and nature of conditioning. That, a very different type of conditioning prevailed here too!
The regions in south Brazil are inhabited by European settles and seem very white. These settles primary came from Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Majority of these settles till today hold quite closely the association with European roots. In
southern Brazil, many small towns and villages have only settlers from Germany, with distinct German touch in local infrastructure, taste, cuisine, bakery and not to forget the German national flag, which flies high along with Brazilian national flag and the state flag. Another prominent feature of Brazil for an Indian point of view is the amount visibility of the Brazilian national flag gets. The Brazilian flag and its colors can be seen everywhere, from private homes, fashion clothing to even on the dress material of saints and Mother Mary. The flag and its colors seem omnipresent.
Can an Indian imagine to travel without trains in a country 3 times bigger than India? That was the other surprise stored for me. Traveling through entire Brazil on a slow moving and comfortable train would have been the ultimate experience of the Brazilian ethos for an Indian from far far away land.. In fact to foreign nationals who really want to explore India (have time on their hand), I always advise them to travel by train in India. India without trains would perhaps be Brazil without Carnival!
What cricket, bollywood and chai (tea) is to India. Football, television serials and coffee is to entire Brazil. If you love either of the three or all the three then there can’t be a more tempting destination then Brazil.
Interestingly unlike other Asian countries the Brazilian capital city, Brasilia is not located on the tourist-traveler, commerce and cultural map. Majority of Brazilians never visit the Capital city and correctly do not have an incentive to visit it too. From the southern states of Brazil it seems that Brasilia, is a far away and disconnected land, where the central government happens to manage the entire nation. The vastness of the country can be imagined by the fact that the flying time from the southern city of Porto Alegre to Manaus, the city based in Amazon Rainforest would take at least six to seven hours.
Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Florianopolis and Porto Alegre are some of the cities which should be visited in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro stands out as the most attractive urban destination I have come across in recent past. Along with astonishingly shaped mountain peeks and beautifully shaped beaches, Rio de Janeiro has a great spiritual vibe to it, symbolized by the giant statue of Christ, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') on top of Corcovado mountain., which is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. In terms of beauty beaches in south Brazil, Florianopolis stands out as the next best city I have visited
Porto Alegre city (meaning port of happiness) is the capital of the southern most state of Brazil know as Rio Grande do Sul ( Big river of south). Porto Alegre is among the top ten cities in terms of size, but seems quite homely and pleasant. Many parts of Porto Alegre resemble cities in Europe or England. The state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) is the region of Gaucho’s in Brazil. Gaucho’s are an ethnic group, whose ancestry can be traced back to Spanish, German and Italian settlers. Gaucho´s were skilled horse riders and lived outside city and farming settlements. Cattle rearing were the source of their livelihood and they occupied major part of south Barzil , Argentina and Uruguay.Uruguay and Argentina the neighboring countries of south Brazil can be easily accessed from Porto Alegre city. Argentina and Uruguay’s border is a pleasant drive of
six hours from Porto Alegre city.
Good time e to visit Brazil is in summers which starts from November to March of each year. During summers entire Brazil is on the beach. And if your city is not on the coast then either families go on vacation to nearby costal area or camp at the nearby lagoon, river or waterfalls. Where ever you are during summers, one has to be scantly dressed and by a water source.
The spirit of Brazil is reflected during the carnival and festival time in February each year. The preparations for the carnival start almost 12 months in advance, and the entire nation is shut for a week. The colors, costumes, human bodies, dances, decorations and music add a great twist to the carnival.
I haven’t yet been to many other exotic and beautiful parts of north and western Brazil, for example breath-taking the Amazonia Rainforest. But what little I have seen and experienced in Brazil in the last six months, based on that, I can very confidently say that Brazil is a thrilling travel destination for tourist and travelers from Asia and in particular from India.
Most Indian’s who can afford international travel visit Europe and North America. For such travelers and the once who are looking at unique travel experience, Brazil and South America are a great bet. What perhaps is more interesting from a Brazilian and Indian point of view is that according to the recent annual study published by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Brazil and India are the most price competitive tourism destinations in the world.
However, there are some hurdles. An economy class ticket to Brazil cost nearly 2000 USD. Which is almost double the cost of air tickets to either Europe, North America and Australia. In fact tickets from India to Brazil which route through North America are cheaper than an other connections, either of Europe, Africa or Middle east. From Brazil a good price air ticket to India through Europe, Africa or Middle East connections, cost the same as flying from Brazil to East coast of United States ( Los Angles), stopping over for a holiday and then continuing the onward journey to India.
Lately, the daily broadcast of a soap opera titled “Caminho das Indias” (meaning The way of India) on prime time television, largely based on Indian culture and characters has created lot of interest among Brazilians. There seems to be great interest to visit the ancient land of pluralist, yoga, caste system and Taj Mahal. Courtesy to the television serial, caste system and life of dailts in India has caught the imagination and attention of many Brazilians. As an Indian national visiting Brazil, I try my best to clarify the doubts about the rigid caste system with a nonbiased perspective. After all I am a big fan of Indian ethos i.e. tolerance, respect for diversity and an incessant yearning for self knowledge/realization rather than the decayed practice of caste system as currently practiced in India.
The youthfulness of Brazil and ancientness of India can complement each other quite nicely in creating an unique route of exchange and mutual development. However, accessibility, cost of travel and language concerns need to be addressed in order to build a strong travel relationship between these two great continents and cultures. Are the international airlines, Tourism Regulatory Bodies and Federal Governments listening?
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