I'm at the University of Brazilia in Brazil right now and the weather here is absolutely beautiful. I'll have some pictures up sometime soon (hopefully). In the mean time, I know that I will be in Rio for a week (Aug 15-21), and from there will be traveling Chile for about a month (Aug 22-Sept 22). I'm flying into Santiago and staying there for a week or so, and from there I need to decide whether to go north or south, and what I should see in the meantime.

If you have any suggestions for traveling Chile or things to do/see in Rio, please let me know!
(FYI, even though I'd love to go there, Easter Island is out of the question because the plane ticket is just too expensive for me right now )

5/31/2006 10:38:19 AM

bttt

5/31/2006 2:22:12 PM

club 6 in rio, and if your going to the beach in rio just go to baha...its a lil further, gonna have to catch the bus but it is well worth it. Also the botanical gardens are great.

6/1/2006 12:35:37 AM

try some Chilean cabernet while you're there

6/1/2006 12:37:14 AM

try the chilean sea bass

but if you ask for a brazillian wax nobody will know wtf youre talking about

6/1/2006 12:40:04 AM

more suggestions on places?

6/5/2006 8:29:37 AM

In Rio, go eat lunch at the churrascaria Porcao. It has an awesome view of everything in the city and the food/service is wonderful.

6/5/2006 8:47:10 AM

I'm University of Brasilia alumni. With whom are you working ? Guarino and Alex? Their students (or themselves) can drive you to the waterfalls around Brasilia. Chapada dos Veadeiros, Mumunhas, Poco Azul, Tororo (this last two are like 20 minutes from the city) are great options, and at this time of the year it is even better to go there, because there's no rain.
I don't know Rio, but in Brasilia there's also a Porcao. Great bbq. If you like sushi, go to Nippon, at 403 south. There's dinner for US$15, and you can eat as much as you can. If you want to drink some beer, go to Toca do Chopp, at 104 North. Try also carne-de-sol (a kind of meat with beans, rice, yucca root, and other stuff) at Xique-xique. Sundays afternoons are great on the lake shore, so you can go to Mormaii, on Pontao, and ask for Acai. It is a fruit from Amazon that is served with granola, bananas and guarana syrup.
I'd recommend going to the UnB parties, but they were prohibited some 5 years ago.

[Edited on June 6, 2006 at 12:29 PM. Reason : ...]

6/6/2006 12:28:20 PM

TRY NOT TO GET KIDNAPPED.....THEY LIKE TO DO THAT TO AMERICANS.....ESPECIALLY IN BRAZIL

6/6/2006 1:53:35 PM

No, they don't. They don't give a shit if you are American or Brazilian. They want money. That's all. But the kidnapping stuff is serious, even in Brasilia. Just don't go to ATMs at night, alone.

6/6/2006 2:02:37 PM

I'm working with Bill Hoffmann, now of NC State, formerly a visiting faculty person there. My UnB contacts are Drs Haridasan and Augusto Franco. It's part of a larger NSF-funded project in the cerrado at the IBGE research station. I have a few friends that go to UnB that I met recently on an ecosystems hydrology course, and I think I'll be going to a UnB party tomorrow night, and hopefully a festa juninha sometime soon. I'll be here for another two months before going to Rio and then Chile, so any other suggestions are more than welcome!

6/16/2006 4:28:44 PM

bttt

6/18/2006 6:51:06 PM

Sample some Chilean Poonanah.

6/18/2006 6:52:16 PM

dont get kidnapped

6/18/2006 7:11:53 PM

any other suggestions about places to go that don't involve kidnapping?

6/25/2006 2:16:46 PM

I have a 20 hour layover in Sao Paulo in a couple weeks on my way to Campo Grande...any suggestions of what to do in that time?

6/25/2006 2:35:52 PM

i was just down in Buenos Aires these past 8 days, I'd totally recommend it (though its not Chile or Brazil), also I spent some time in Uraguay which was really great as well, and considerably different.

-ZiP!-

6/25/2006 4:29:33 PM

^^I haven't been nor will I make it to Sao Paulo on this trip so I have no suggestions, sorry.

^What did you do in Buenos Aires and in Uruguay and what was different about the latter?

6/26/2006 10:58:45 AM

June - September is the peak ski season on Chile.

That's what I'd do.

6/26/2006 11:04:30 AM

anyone been to Patagonia?

7/1/2006 10:58:12 AM

Be like The Simpsons and watch Teleboobies

7/1/2006 11:57:17 AM

Quote :

"^What did you do in Buenos Aires and in Uruguay and what was different about the latter?"

in BA i stayed mainly within the city - saw the normal sights, watched the world cup games in bars, took tons of pictures at the cemetaries...

in uraguay, i took the Busquebus slow boat to Colonia, rented motorscooters with my friends, and drove around the absolutely beautiful countryside. very, very different from what I saw in BA

-ZiP!-

7/1/2006 2:04:17 PM