I was sitting around Rio De Janeiro and I suddenly realized that I was leaving in a few months and hadn’t seen the majority of the country. I had been acclimating to life in Rio De Janeiro for close to 3 months already and was able to visit Easter Island, Peru, and parts of southern Brazil.
I couldn’t possibly leave the country and not see northern Brazil.
I was able to already see Salvador, Brazil, thanks to carnival in 2011, but I haven’t been able to see the rest of the country. One of the things that many people don’t realize is how big Brazil is, it is the 5th largest country in the world by area and population according to the CIA fact book.
Most times when people think of a country they only think of it as a whole, an example would be Brazilian culture. While there are many similarities throughout the country the cultures of the north and south are miles apart from each other. Even the culture in Rio De Janeiro is unique, strangely similar in comparing what Buenos Aires means to Argentina.
For the most part, the south is more European while the north tends to be more African and indigenous.
My trip through the entire norther coast of Brazil
One of the other things that many people don’t realize are the amount of things to see and do Brazil. There are only a handful of countries that have everything to see from a tourist’s standpoint, United States & Argentina are two that quickly come to mind.
India for example, has everything that a tourist could ask for culturally (one of the reasons why I just submitted my visa for the country as your reading this and plan on spending up to 6 months there)
Brazil almost makes that list but I would place in a 2nd tier as you can’t see any glaciers in Brazil. Most people know Brazil from the women & pictures of Rio De Janeiro, the sunny beaches of Rio De Janeiro, and of course their meat!
The country has so much more to offer and many people won’t ever discover the country outside of the southern coast. I wanted to see every single part of the country bus sadly, things didn’t work out the way I wanted.
Now I have more reason to return to Brazil!
While my original plan when moving to Brazil was to try and see the entire country, my business has been exploding unexpectedly, especially my day trading education business, The Day Trading Academy.
My focus was to try and align things the right way then so I could travel more later by doing more work while in Brazil. With all of the things I am involved in, you can’t work and travel at the same time. Usually you have to pick one or the other. What I planned to see were some of the most unique things to see in Brazil, if not in all of South America.
- Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
- First star on the top of the chart: Near the city of Sao Luis de Maranho, there is a desert oasis with lagoons in the desert
- Fortaleza
- Gateway to some of the most amazing beaches in Brazil, one of the highlights is Jericoacoara which I now call The Brazilian Maldives
- Recife
- Definitely a lot more interesting than I ever thought it would be. One of the best places to experience Carnival (Olinda), building the largest mall in South America, very beautiful historic district, and has one of the highest shark infested waters in the world. Care for a swim?
- Salvador
- One of the oldest cities in the America’s, site of the first slave market in the new world, and home to one of the best Carnival’s in Brazil.
- Gateway to Chapada Diamantina National Park which I can compare to the Southwest United States; unique rock formations, incredible cave complexes, and even waterfalls. Just an incredible place.
Now that I have completed this trip I will be able to focus on smaller segments in Brazil that I still want to see but wont be able to see on this trip. Having the ability to live in Rio De Janeiro for close to 6 months I was able to explore the city and its surrounding area in great detail. Someone could easily spend a year or more experiencing Rio, its an incredible city.
Some of the places that I plan on returning to see are:
- Fernando De Noronha
- What I call the Brazilian Carribbean, an island deep into the Atlantic ocean with amazing beaches & diving
- Manaus
- City in the heart of the Amazon
- Brasilia, Sao Paolo, Oro Preto, Maceio
- I still have a lot of things to see in Brazil don’t I?
Awesome! I want to visit brazil in the near future 🙂
Northern Brazil seems very attractive! I was there last year but I failed to visit Fortaleza. When I was waiting for my flight going back home, I grabbed a copy of a travel magazine. I was captivated with the beaches like the Jericoacoara. Now, I am asking why I missed that gorgeous place.
And its funny because there isn’t anything overly nice about Fortaleza but the beaches in the area are absolutely incredible
Ow Great post !
I’m brazilian and I have a YT channel, where I upload videos made by me about touristic places in Brazil that are unknow yet.
So it’s very gratifying read a post like that! Because Brazil is a huge country & there are more than just Rio & Amazon.
Thanks for this post ;D
Hello, I’m a brazilian travel blogger and I suggest you to think about Foz do Iguaçu (Iguaçu Falls)!
Glieber.. I lived in Argentina & Brazil for 6 months each.. I went to Iguazu Falls on two separate occasions 🙂
Hi Marcello, my name is Naa. N-a-a, and i am currently a college student in the United States. I have have been fallowing your videos for about a year, because i started taking Portuguese last year and found one of your videos on Brazil to help learn the language and the culture better. I did not find another route of contact for you other than this comment blog, but the reason I have been trying to contact you is simply because i dream to travel to other countries, and i want to experience life outside of the United State at a young age, I have only been to the Caribbean islands where my parents are from (though my mom is half west African in Ghana). Its important to to experience and see life from another view and others cultures which you are proficient in. I was trying to find out if you do or would be interested in planning a group trip with other students or people to any of the various countries you have traveled, somewhat like study abroad but less programmed, I want to visit Brasil for and learn the language fluently. Which country are you traveling to next as well because you can not find many people who are willing to just pick up and experience more of life. I left my email above, please contact back. Hope to hear back soon!
Naa
I plan on heading to Brazil and Cartagena next Naa… good to hear from you and good luck!