From the frenzied passion of Carnaval to the immensity of the dark Amazon, Brazil is a country of mythic proportions. Encompassing half the coutinent, South America’s giant of unexplored rainforest, islands with pristine tropical beaches and endless rivers. After decades of internal migration and population growth, Brazil is also an urban country; more than two out of every three Brazilians live in a city, and Sao Paulo is among the world’s most populous metropolises.

There is no bad time to visit Brazil

Dancing through the cobblestone streets of Salvador da Bahia during Carnaval Escaping to llha Grande, the perfect island getaway, blending tropical beach and Atlantic rainforest Experiencing the mad spectacle of football at Maracana Partying till dawn at samba clubs in Lapa Watching capoeira (an Afro-Barzilian martial art) on the beach Taking a jungle tour into the heart of the Amazon

Read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, or The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization by Gilberto Freye, the most famous book on Brazil’s colonial past
Listen to bossa nova’s founding father, guitarist Joao Gilberto; for something more contemporary, the punk-driven Legiao Urbana

Watch Hector Babenco’s Pixote, the tale of a street kid in Rio that won the best film award at Cannes in 1981. Cidade de Deus (City of god) gives an honest and disturbing portrayal of life in a Rio favela (slum).
Eat feijoaday (pork stew served with rice and a bowl of beans) or acaraje (peeldbrown beans, mashed in salt and onions, and then fried-inside is dried shrimp, pepper and tomato sauce
Drink cafezinho (coffee, served as an espresso-sized shot with plenty of sugar and without milk) and sucos (juice from the incredible variety of Brazilian fruits)

Bacana (cool)

Carmen Miranda; ‘The Girl from lpanema’; Carnaval; the Amazon; soccer; beaches; bossa nova

Candomble gods are known as orixas and each person is believed to be protected for life by one of them. Millions of Brazilians go to the beach at New Year to pay homage to lemanja, the sea goddess, whose alter ego is the Virgin Mary.

Brazilians love to celebrate, and parties happen year-round. But it isn’t all samba and beaches in the land of the tropics. At times, Brazilians suffer from saudade, a nostalgic, often deeply melancholic longing for something. Saudade manifests itself in many forms-from the dull ache of homesickness to the deep regret over past mistakes.