Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CARNAVAL
Carnaval
plunges Brazil into the most serious partying in the world. Mardi Gras in New
Orleans or Notting Hill in London don't come close; nothing approaches the sheer scale and
spectacle of Carnaval in Rio, Salvador and Olinda, just outside Recife. But Carnaval also speaks
to the streak of melancholy that is the other side of the stereotype of fun-loving Brazil. Part of
the reason is Carnaval's
origins
at the time when Brazil was still the largest slave-holding
country in the Americas. The celebrations just before Lent acquired a kind of “world turned
upside down” character, with slave-owners ceremonially serving their slaves food and
allowing them time off work - giving a particularly double-edged feel to Carnaval as
servitude reasserted itself come Ash Wedneday. Carnaval during the
day
is for families, and
you can relax along with the Pierrots, masks and brass bands that ply the streets and
squares. Carnaval at
night
is memorably spectacular in Rio (see p.104) and the biggest
street party you will ever see in Salvador (see p.223) and Olinda (see p.275).
When to go
Brazil splits into four distinct
climatic
regions. The coldest part is the
South
and
Southeast
, the region roughly from central Minas Gerais to Rio Grande do Sul that
includes Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. Here, there's a distinct winter
between June and September, with occasional cold, wind and rain. Although Brazilians
complain, it's all fairly mild to anyone coming from the US or UK. Temperatures rarely
hit freezing overnight, and when they do it's featured on the news. The coldest part is the
interior of Rio Grande do Sul, in the extreme south of the country, but even here there
are many warm, bright days in winter, and the summer (Dec-March) is hot. Only in
Santa Catarina's central highlands does it (very occasionally) snow.
he
coastal climate
is exceptionally good. Brazil has been called a “crab civilization”
because most of its population lives on or near the coast - and with good reason. Seven
thousand kilometres of coastline, from Paraná to near the equator, bask under a warm
tropical climate. There is a “winter”, when there are cloudy days and sometimes the
temperature dips below 25°C (77°F), and a
rainy season
, when tropical downpours are
severe enough to kill dozens in flash floods and landslides. In Rio and points south, the
rains last from October through to January, but in the Northeast they last about three
months from April in Fortaleza and Salvador, and from May in Recife. Even in winter or
the rainy season, the weather will be
sunny
much of the time.
he
Northeast
is too hot to have a winter. Nowhere is the average monthly temperature
below 25°C (77°F) and the interior often soars beyond that - regularly to as much as
40°C (104°F). Rain is sparse and irregular, although violent.
Amazônia
is stereotyped as
steamy jungle with constant rainfall, but much of the region has a distinct dry season -
apparently getting longer every year in the most deforested areas. Belém is closest to the
image of a humid tropical city: it rains there an awful lot from January to May, and
merely quite a lot for the rest of the year. Manaus and central Amazônia, in contrast,
have a marked dry season from July to October. The Pantanal has a similar climate to
central Amazônia, with a winter dry season from July to October and heavier rains from
January to March. It's generally at its hottest between September and November.
FROM TOP
CARNAVAL, RIO; GIANT ANTEATER, THE PANTANAL
