Brazil
- Karen Darnell
- May 21, 2020
- 3 min read
We have music, martial arts, dance, food, city life, rainforest exploration, art, and literature, and most of it comes with the push of a button. What I love about the Brazilians I know is that they are generous and thoughtful. This also seems to apply to the Brazilian resources online – there are so many free resources listed here. The few things I’ve listed that you might want to buy are not necessary, just a few more options.
To get the feeling of Brazil, first put on the music. There are at least four different online radio stations to choose from:
Then pick your activity:
· capoeira, a Brazilian martial art: http://www.capoeira-world.com/capoeira-moves/free-capoeira-video-lessons/
· or Samba, a Brazilian dance. Here’s the five minute version of Samba lessons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGN5UJTP-0U and if you really love it and the various YouTube lessons aren’t enough, then sign up for real lessons at http://sambaliscious.com.au/online-lessons/.
If you are hungry after all that dancing, here are some options for food:
· The fabulous cheese bread: https://sweetcsdesigns.com/easy-fogo-de-chao-brazilian-cheese-bread-copycat-recipe/
· The authentic Brazilian food: https://www.oliviascuisine.com/authentic-brazilian-recipes/
· The vegetarian versions: https://www.easyanddelish.com/brazilian-food-recipes/vegetarian/
· Where to buy and how to prepare acai: https://theforkedspoon.com/acai-bowl/
Then you might want to choose one or two things to read or watch from around the country. It’s a big country – almost the size of the United States. I tried to pick out just a few options from each region.
Northwest Brazil including the states of Amazonas, Roraima, Amapa, Tocantins, Para, and Rondonia
· Read Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin (this Pulitzer Prize nominated work is available on Kindle, Audible, and paperback new and used)
· Watch Survivor Tocantins (If you don’t have CBS All Access, you can buy the Survivor series on Amazon, the webpage, not the rainforest)
· Watch First Contact: Lost Tribe of the Amazon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k0doays7is or https://vimeo.com/215232524
Eastern Brazil including the states of Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Serguipe, and Bahia
· Read Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado (this modern novel might not come in as many formats, but my Brazilian friend Joilo tells me that it was written in high Portuguese and is well respected)
· Watch Black in Latin America with Henry Louis Gates Jr: Episode 3 Brazil: A Racial Paradise? https://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/
· Read The Head of the Saint by Socorro Acioli (I’m not a huge Magical Realism fan, but I enjoyed this one which is available on Kindle and hardcover, new and used)
· Watch Chato, The King of Brazil (This bio on media mogul Assis Chateaubriand is in Portuguese with English subtitles, jumps back and forth in time and from realism to early TV game show settings, and it took 20 years to make due to controversy. IMDB reports that it is one of the greatest Brazilian movies ever. It’s on Netflix as of 5/21/2020 but things roll off eventually, so I can’t promise it will be there later.)
Central Brazil including the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso Do Sul, and Goias
· Watch “Building Brasília” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDDujW6ESsk (I couldn’t find a full length documentary on Brasilia, but this 15 minute YouTube video has a good overview of Brazil’s capital and how it was built)
· Watch one of the many nature videos about central Brazil. Here are just a couple, but YouTube has more:
Hotel Armadillo: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/hotel-armadillo-about/15186/
The Pantanal: A Wetland at the Crossroads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUhYhkpvA-U
Southeast Brazil including the states of Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul
· Stroll around Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/masp?hl=en
· Watch Waste Land (artist Vik Muniz "paints" catadores with garbage. The documentary is available on Amazon. More discussion and lesson plans can be found at https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/waste-land/)
· Read Hippie by Paulo Coelho (Available on Overdrive and eaudiobook at San Bernardino County Library and other libraries, as well as Kindle, Audible, and paperback)
· Read Chronicle of the Murdered House by Lucio Cardoso (available on Kindle & paperback)
· Read Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (Kindle, Audible, paperback)
· Watch The Mechanism, a political drama series on Netflix based on true events.
· Sports legend documentaries available on Amazon include Pele, Birth of a Legend and Senna: No Fear. No Limits. No Equal.
· A couple more great Brazilian movies (because it is hard to stop!) both available on Amazon include Gabriela and City of God.
More beauty from Brazil and options for a great trip can be seen in the three galleries about Brazil at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/?s=brazil.
Finally, when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Brazil using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Brazil and throughout the world.
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