Of special note from this year’s Jewish film festival: a trio of uniquely personal biodocs. The festival runs February 9-20. Visit the SDJFF website for more information. Eddy’s World (2020) What a joy! We open …
February 3, 2022
Brazil news, stories & travel reviews
Brazil news, stories & travel reviews
Three from this year’s Jewish film festival
Manaus, Brazil: quick and cheap across the Meeting of Waters
June 2020 UPDATE: The Brazilian state of Amazonas has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic – with the capital, Manaus, having the only intensive care beds in the state. Read more about how …
June 21, 2020
Life (and the party) go on in Rio
After months of continuous Olympic coverage two years ago, the questions still being asked about Rio de Janeiro likely include: "Wow! Rio looks incredible - is it really that beautiful?" And: "Wow! Is Rio really …
November 26, 2018
Whitney Shay's "away" game
A chance encounter at the Doheny Blues Festival two years ago proved to be a pivotal moment for North Park blues woman Whitney Shay, who met a Brazilian guitarist/concert promoter named Igor Prado. “A couple …
May 24, 2017
Eco-luxury in the Amazon: Ariau Towers
I’ve been traveling around the world for years and always attempt to practice socially responsible tourism. I had read about the Ariau Amazon Towers for several years and decided to make it my eco-lodge destination …
Carnaval en Rio – Firsthand
My head was pounding. Fireworks crackled overhead. Hordes jeered, screamed, waved and then broke into joyous whirls of samba. The smell was unbearable, an open sewer ran beside our Sambódromo warm-up lane, and yet thousands …
September 28, 2012
Rio Beauty Salons
I picked the wrong year to stop sniffing glue – but of that, later. The following post makes me vulnerable A) because I'm not given to beauty salons anywhere, and B) you'd never find it …
May 15, 2012
Tidal Living in Bahia, Brazil
Those who abide in the coastal state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil live according to something like "tidal time": when it ebbs, and it ebbs hundreds of meters, it's time for business; when it flows, …
December 17, 2011
Gramado, Brazil: A South American Anomaly
Below the heat and subtropical savannas that spread out across millions of acres of the sub-Amazonian Brazilian interior is the Serra Gaúcha. "Serra" is a Latin American subtropical forest. The Gaúcho is the Latin American …
Buzzing on Starbucks in Rio
Warning: the following may make you feel the full weight of the modern guy/gal's addiction to well-produced, low-cost goods consumed en masse. (Yes, Starbucks.) Our last night of holiday travel, we were in Ipanema and …
July 21, 2011
Finding Magic: Chapada dos Veadeiros, Brazil
When I was a young San Diego grom, long weekenders meant the following: My dad piled me, my brothers and some friends into our VW van and we camped and surfed in San Clemente. Despite …
May 8, 2011
Paraty, Brazil
Paraty (pada-chee), a town on the southeast coast of Rio state, is like a top-shelf drink — from the aged, distilled waterfront of Brazil’s colonial history, to the calm, primal ecological beauty of the coastal …
March 26, 2011
Splashing Out at Iguaçu Falls, Brazil
After several months of lodging in hostels throughout Brazil, we (my wife and I) decided to let our cash cascade into the Hotel das Cataratas Iguassu — a beautiful, if somewhat corporate, upscale resort with …
January 31, 2011
Life on the Rocks: Salvador, Brazil
“Thirty percent of Brazilians live in favelas,” says Michael David Lynch, proprietor of Albergue Pedras da Sereia in Salvador, speaking of neighborhoods like the one he moved to 25 years ago. Basically, favelas are built …
November 20, 2010
Goias, Brazil: NEX Wildcat Refuge
“They tried to make me go to rehab: I said meow, meow, meow…” Here's a cure for the common Hollywood rehab story: Deep in the Brazilian cerrado lies a rehabilitation center for eight species of …
October 3, 2010