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December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 55 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 54

Our No 1 country in Best in Travel 2014, Brazil is a place of great diversity, with dense
jungles, desert islands and colonial towns all accessible in an easy road trip from Rio
WORDS OLIVER SMITH l PHOTOGRAPHS MICHAEL HEFFERNAN
T he P e rf e cT T ri P
& beyond
Alate afternoon stroll
along Ipanema beach.
Cariocas Rio residents
make the most of their
geographically blessed city
Your trip mapped out
Pedro Lehner on Ipanema
beach ideal surf
conditions occur whenthe
wind blows from the
southwest, most often
betweenJune and October
The weekend
crowds gather
at Ipanema
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THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 57 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 56
Rio de Janeiro is the starting block for this adventure a circular road trip
that will see your tyres cross rainforest tracks and the cobblestone streets
of historic towns, before bringing you right back to where you started
RIO
Best for
beach culture
ReferencedinJames Bond
movies andBarry Manilow
songs, Rio's urbanbeaches
seethe happiest marriageof
city andsandintheworld.
It is early on a Saturday morning, and Rio
is heading for the beach.
This is a weekly event that happens with
the suddenness of a re drill: as if thousands
of people had suddenly bolted from their
front doors on the spur of the moment
phones off the hook, pans still on the boil
and joined the stampede to the seafront.
In the blink of an eye, towels are rolled out,
parasols erected.
Rio de Janeiros beaches are probably the
most famous bits of sediment on the planet.
The Pope has preached on them; world-
renowned songs have been written about
them; some of the greatest footballers have
learned their craft on this sacred sand.
Copacabana may be Rios most well-known
beach, but Ipanema is its most beautiful a
sweep of sand with a rocky headland and
the granite mountains of Dois Irmos as
bookends. It is busy with activity in the
RIO DE JANEIRO
Best for beach
culture
Miles intoyour trip: 0
BA AndTAM fly direcT To rio de JAneiro gAleo
AirporT froM londonHeATHrow
ILHA GRANDE
Best for island life
Once a penal colony, thevery
name IlhaGrande usedto send
a shiver down people's spines.
Today, it's better known as
a pristinetropical island.
ITATIAIA
Best for walking
Itatiaia is Brazil's oldest
national park and still one of
its best a mountainous tract
of forest best explored on
a web of walking trails.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
TIRADENTES
Best for art
Formerly a gold-rushtown,
Tiradentes is nowanartists'
colony: hometopainters,
sculptors andpotters making
bird-shapedwhistles.
REGUA
Best for
conservation
Anexpanseof replanted
rainforest, REGUAis hometo
an abundanceof wildlife,
includingthecapybara (above),
the world's biggest rodent.
oPPosiTeThe 30-metre-high
Christ theRedeemer statue atop
Corcovado mountain. below
fromfar lefT Polo, the surng
dog, takes a break; a hat
salesman; the Lapadistrict on
a Saturday night; a game of
footvolley onthe Ipanema sand
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 59 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 58
Set in the SantaTeresa district, Castelinho38
has 10 rooms spread over a whitewashed
19th-century mansion with improbably
high ceilings and creaky shuttered windows.
There are magnificent views out to central
Rio from the terrace (rooms from 70;
Rua Triunfo 38; 021 2252 2549).
WHERETOSTAY
Castelinho38
mid-morning sunshine. Pastors preach to
congregations in swimwear; businessman
hold melting ice creams that dribble on to
their laptops; old men squint at chessboards
in the shade. There are more eye-catching
sights too: a surfboarding dog zips past;
a diver emerges from the waves with a
harpoon in one hand and a sh in the other.
This beach is a kind of life-portrait of the
city, says Pedro Lehner, a surfer catching
waves halfway along Ipanema. You see
people from favelas and you see millionaires.
We are all equal here you cant tell who is
who because were all wearing swimwear.
Beaches are only one part of Rios
magnicent jigsaw of geography. From
Ipanema where concrete towers and
tree-lined promenades meet the thundering
waves of the Atlantic the city spreads
inland along a series of inlets and mountain
ridges. Favelas tumble down the hillsides
at angles of roller-coaster steepness; jungles
reach high up the mountainsides, rising
through the clouds, halting only at the
soapstone feet of Christ the Redeemer
the statue that is the citys most famous
landmark. It looks like Rio didnt bother to
read the manual about sensible locations for
urban planning: as if it cant denitively say
whether it is a city or maybe a national park.
Rio de Janeiro has a kind of magic in its
geography, explains Jorge Salomo, a poet
sipping a caipirinha in a bar in the Santa
Teresa neighbourhood later that same
afternoon. It gives people here a kind of
ame within them, he says. It makes us
all very happy.
Looking around the bar, its clear that
a second mass migration of the day is
underway when beachgoers gravitate
to the citys bars (spreading a trail of sand
behind them as they go). The sun sets, and
the nightlife in the Lapa district seems to
accelerate into fast-forward mode a giddy
succession of samba music, cold beer,
football matches on ickering TV screens,
clattering plastic chairs in local bars,
waiters aggressively topping up your
glass with more beer, yet more samba...
Its before dawn when the crowds disperse,
stumbling home in the shadow of Christ
the Redeemer, who seems to look down
forgivingly on mortal hangovers.
But for some there is one time-honoured
Rio cure for these hangovers. And that is to
welcome in the sunrise by heading straight
back to the beach.
FURTHERINFORMATION
lrioguiaoficial.com.br
WHERETOEAT
lWitha white-tiledinterior decoratedwithpots and
pans, Bar doMineirois one of Rio's most characterful
bars, andserves excellent feijoada a meaty bean
stew(mains from10; bardomineiro.net).
Ilha Grande is a beautiful island with a
famously grim history. Up until 20 years
ago, this was Brazils answer to Alcatraz: the
island served as a notorious penal colony
(one prison was so violent that even the
guards working there were known to have
murdered each other).
Sailing to Ilha Grande with mental images
of barbed wire and blaring sirens, the reality
makes for a happy surprise: a paradise
island rearing up from rolling waves. The
boat draws closer to reveal coves lined with
bowing palms and jungly slopes draped with
mists the sort of island where King Kong
could feasibly be hiding on the other side.
A side effect of Ilha Grandes grim history
was that until recently no-one wanted
to live here. While the nearby coastline was
settled, this 15-mile-long island was (and
still is) largely left to nature. It means there
are lagoons with exquisitely clear waters
where you can spend all day nosing into the
private lives of the crabs that scuttle about
the seabed. And there are rumours that after
dark when the glow from the lights of Rio
can be seen on the horizon jaguars still
patrol the island's virgin forests.
The boat from the mainland pulls into
Vila do Abrao a village of pastel-colour
houses set around a broad bay. Sardine
shermen potter quietly about the shipyards
and a man selling coconut sweets walks
along the foreshore. It all seems a far cry
from Ilha Grandes dangerous past. Not so
long ago, however, the town was a home for
prison guards, and prison folklore remains
part of village life. There is no better way to
pass an evening here than to listen to stories
of bungled escape attempts.
My father was a guard who had to look
after 50 prisoners, says Vava de Brito,
sitting beneath a tropical almond tree on the
beach. Im not sure they knew his gun could
hold only six bullets.
A former sherman with a face crinkled
by years on deck, Vava has inherited some
of the best escape anecdotes from his dad.
Chuckling softly, he remembers one
prisoner who tried to escape dressed in
drag; the gang of escapees who locked their
guard in a fridge; and a crime kingpin who
was successfully airlifted out by helicopter
(it was his second escape from Ilha Grande).
And then there were countless others
who escaped pursued by guards with
ashlights and vanished into the forests
and night-time tides around Ilha Grande,
never to be seen again.
Vavas tales end in contented silence, and
the sunset scatters languid, lemony light
over the bay. A warm, springtime wind
catches the sails of anchored boats, and a
game of football starts up on the beach the
surf carrying the ball into the goal. For a
moment, it is hard to imagine why anyone
could be so desperate to leave Ilha Grande.
aboveAviewof the bay from near Vilado Abrao.
below Vavade Brito takes a seafront stroll
Few people staying in Itatiaia National
Park get to enjoy a lie-in. Morning is
announced by loud bird song in the jungle
a gentle chirruping with the rst glimmer
of dawn steadily rising to ASBO-worthy
noisiness by breakfast time. Outside the
hotel room are birds in Hitchcockian
abundance: a pair of saffron toucanets
pecking at a bird table, tiny hummingbirds
mock-whooshing past: various unidentied
species whooping, warbling and screeching
up in the treetops.
The morning wake-up call is a daily
xture in Itatiaia National Park. Opened in
1937, it is Brazils oldest national park a
116-square-mile reserve known for good
birding, and loved all the more for its
accessibility. Halfway along the busy
highway linking Rio de Janeiro and So
Paolo, a small road branches north for a few
miles to the park entrance. Green pastures
suddenly turn to thick, Tarzan-style
rainforest, while bare hills rise up to rocky
mountains and hanging valleys scored
by swiftly owing rivers. It is also a park
known for its hiking trails: only two hours
from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, you can
set off on a trail towards summits where
snowfall is not uncommon.
Walking beneath the forest canopy, it
seems that everything in Itatiaia is built
on a super-size scale. Huge, wrinkly roots
crisscross the trail, and a giant leaf snaps off
from a branch high above gliding down to
the forest oor in a long, slow helix. There
are spiders webs the size of shing nets and
creepers swinging like elephants trunks.
Every so often hikers pass by, dwarfed by
the ora around them. There are other,
unseen, visitors nearby: sloths, wild cats,
monkeys and 64 species of frog can all be
found in the park.
Soon the mufed roar of rushing water
sounds in the distance, and the canopy
opens into a small glade. The path reaches
the Itaporani waterfall one of many in
Itatiaia where the river foams and
splashes its way through a boulder-lled
cleft in the valley. Families swim in the
pools between the cataracts, and a scout
troop collects litter under the supervision of
Edson Teixeira a leader with a rope slung
over his shoulder, making him look a bit
like a litter-collecting Rambo.
Look at all this, Edson says, gesturing
at the landscape with a plastic bag full
of crisp packets and crushed cans. The
nature, the river, the waterfalls. I am
sure it is a gift from God.
Smiling, he and his troop set off in
search of more litter, hopping over
stepping stones to the opposite bank
in single le, waving scout ags as they
go. They return into a forest still stirring
with a symphony of bird song.
FURTHERINFORMATION
licmbio.gov.br/parnaitatiaia
ToP The Vu de Noiva waterfall
inthe jungles of Itatiaia.
above lefT EdsonTeixeira
beside the Itaporani waterfall.
above righTApair of saffron
toucanets outside Hotel do Yp
WHERETOEAT
lOwned byVava, Lua e Mar specialises infreshly
caught seafood (mains from6; Praia doCanto).
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 61 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 60
Asalem offers waterfront accommodation
just outsideVila do Abrao, overlooking an
inlet frequented by turtles. Rooms have
hammocks, small terraces and sea views,
and its possible to rent a canoe from the
lodge and go paddling around the bay
(suites from 130; asalem.com.br).
WHERETOSTAY
Asalem
ILHA GRANDE
Best for island life
Miles intoyour trip: 95
froMrio, iTsATwo-Hour driveToAngrA dos reis.
froMHere, regulAr ferries depArT forvilA do
ABrAoonilHAgrAnde. resA Mundi ecoTours
offersTrAnsfers froMrio(resAMundi.coM.Br).
ITATIAIA
NATIONAL PARK
Best for walking
Miles intoyour trip: 201
iTs A THree-Hour drive norTH froM AngrA dos
reis To iTATiAiA nATionAl pArk, MAkinguse of
THe rio de JAneiroso pAulo MoTorwAy
Hotel doYp has wood-panelled rooms
with hearths and panoramic views down
the southern slopes of Itatiaia National Park.
The hotel operates an excellent churrascaria
(a Brazilian barbecue) buffet at lunch (from
100full-board; hoteldoype.com.br).
WHERETOSTAY AND EAT
Hotel do Yp
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
It is Sunday in Tiradentes, and a peal of
church bells is ringing through the streets.
People in their Sunday best are heading to
mass. They walk along cobblestone streets
that echo with the clippity-clop of horses
hooves, passing shady gardens full of cacti
and monkey puzzle trees, before quietly
assembling outside Santo Antonio a
marzipan-yellow church on a hilltop above
the tiny town. Seen in the slanting light of a
Sunday afternoon, Tiradentes is a picture of
rustic serenity the Brazilian equivalent of
the village from the Hovis adverts, perhaps.
Tiradentes wasnt always this quiet. In
the 18th century this was a gold-rush town
prospectors came from afar to pan its
rivers (the superstitious ones believing
they would be guided to gold seams by
following meteor showers in the night
sky). Gold from this corner of Brazil was
exported across the world the lions
share nding its way into peoples pockets
in England, where the Bank of England
melted it down into pound coins.
Gradually, however, the gold ran out.
Tiradentes lapsed into obscurity and
only in recent decades was the town
reinvented as an artists' colony.
Whenever you need inspiration in
Tiradentes you only need to step out of
your front door, says Thi Rohmann an
artist who has spent much of his life
painting and sketching Tiradentes, and
who works in a tidy, whitewashed studio
in the shadow of Santo Antonio church.
There is the blue of the sky, the white of
our houses, all the colours of the owers
Thi isnt alone in his philosophy.
It seems that everyone in the town is
inexplicably compelled to paint or write or
sing or else simply make something in
homage to their hometown.
A few doors down lives Joo Goulart
Silva, a sculptor whittling a statue of Saint
Benedict out of a trunk of cedar. He explains
his interest in sacred art began when he went
to watch his mother sing at the local church
instead he got distracted by the timber
saints beaming down at him from on high.
By a smoky kiln on the edge of town,
octogenarian potter Sebastio Augusto
de Freitas makes ceramic whistles from
local clay. He is the latest in a dynasty of
Tiradentes potters stretching back ve
generations. He thinks of all ve of them
every time he spins his potters wheel.
When you are born in Tiradentes, you
are born with creative spirit, he says.
I was born with a potter's intuition. I feel
a connection with the earth when I feel it
between my ngers.
WHERETOEAT
lSet on Largo das Forras square, Restaurante
Dona Xepa serves traditional food from the
Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (dishes from
4; tiradentesgerais.com.br/donaxepa).
lefT Joo Goulart Silva in his
studio, sculptingSt Benedict.
righTRuadoChafariz in
Tiradentes' oldtown.
below fromlefT Horses
outside the town square; Santo
Antonio church; Sebastio
Augusto de Freitas at his wheel
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 63 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 62
TIRADENTES
Best for art
Miles intoyour trip: 377
dependingonTrAffic, iTs A four- or five-Hour
drive froM iTATiAiA nATionAl pArk norTHTo
TirAdenTes, TrAvellingviA HigHwAy Br-383
Pousada do offers elegant rooms arranged
around a handsome colonial building in
Tiradentes old town, near the church of
Santo Antonio. Asimple breakfast is served
in the leafy courtyard, including excellent
po de queijo Brazilian cheese rolls (from
55; pousadadoo.com.br).
WHERETOSTAY
Pousada do
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
If you ever wondered where the Rio
Carnival got its colour scheme from, then
take a stroll in Brazils Atlantic Rainforest.
It is a place where Mother Nature is
at her most extrovert. A swallow-tailed
buttery ashes past in a streak of brilliant
yellow, and bursts of neon-pink owers
sprout among the leaf litter. High above,
birds with electric-blue feathers strut about
the branches; down below cicadas rattle in
the heat. Like carnival, it is a spectacle to
behold: noisy, colourful and diverse.
When the rst Portuguese sailors set eyes
on the coast near Rio in the 16th century,
they would have seen the edge of a forest
just like this extending along the Atlantic
for more than a thousand miles, covering
an area about four times the size of the UK.
Since then, this forest has suffered from
cataclysmic depletion. After ve centuries
of logging and agricultural expansion, it is
now in bits its total area amounts to just
seven per cent of its former self.
There is, fortunately, a silver lining to all
this. While much of the Atlantic Rainforest
is several million years old, the Reserva
Ecolgica de Guapi Assu is, in fact,
completely new. REGUA is a project
undoing ve centuries of destruction over
28 square miles of rural Brazil: replanting
farmland with new rainforest and digging
new wetlands with excavators.
lefT Marli inthe nursery.
oPPosiTe, fromlefT
Aswallow-tailed buttery; a
hide overlookingthe wetlands;
a black jacobin mid-ight.
oPPosiTe below The new
rainforest and wetlands
NEXT MONTH:
THE PERFECT TRIP TO CUBA
I often talk to the trees, explains Marli,
a gardener tending to the saplings in
REGUAs nursery. A former cook, she is
one of many workers who collectively
plant as many as 50,000 trees each year.
I tell them I hope they will grow big and
strong, she says. I am proud of them when
I see them growing up but like a mother,
I have no favourites.
Looking at pictures, the progress of Marlis
trees has been impressive. Ten years ago
there was bare grass here; ve years ago
there were shrubs (it looked not unlike a
garden centre). In 2013, however, visitors
are walking through real rainforest. As a seal
of approval, animals have shufed in of
their own accord. Caiman sunbathe on the
banks of the wetlands, while dozens of
capybara (the worlds biggest rodent)
bulldoze their way through the reeds and
lilies like mini-hippopotamuses. It will be
another two centuries before the forest
grows to its fullest extent quite what will
arrive by then is anyones guess.
The sky darkens. The doleful coos of
distant doves carry through the air and
with them a hushed drumming sound. It
gathers pace: the noise of millions of leaves
twitching under millions of droplets. Soon
the clouds over the rainforest are doing
what they do best: raining.
FURTHERINFORMATION
lREGUAis open to day visitors throughout the
year (admission 6; regua.co.uk).
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
THE PE RF E CT TRI P
Rio & beyond
December 2013 LonelyPlanetTraveller 65 LonelyPlanetTraveller December 2013 64
Overlooking REGUAs wetlands, Guapi Assu
Bird Lodge is often visited by hummingbirds
and marmosets. Brazilianfood is served in
generous portions, and caipirinha cocktails
are served at sundown (from155, including
meals; guapiassubirdlodge.com).
WHERETOSTAY
Guapi Assu Bird Lodge
Miles intoyour trip: 611
froM TirAdenTes iTs ABouT five Hours souTHTo
reguA, souTHof cAcHoeirAs de MAcAcu Town
RESERVA ECOLGICA
DE GUAPI ASSU (REGUA)
Best for conservation
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700