Are your plans for a European vacation looking grim now that the European Union is considering restricting the entrance of Americans, especially unvaccinated ones? If so, here are a few reasons to consider Brazil instead:
Contemporary Art Museum
- were you going to London and/or Paris for the culture? Rio and Sao Paulo have world-class restaurants, museums and fashion and there are a huge variety of surprising cultural options all over the country
Ouro Preto
- or were you going for small, charming villages with timeless appeal? Brazilian UNESCO towns along the Estrada Real that blossomed in the 18th century remind me of hill towns in Portugal. The village of Paraty was founded in 1597. After the discovery of the world's richest gold mines in 1696 in the mountains of Minas Gerais, Paraty became an export port for gold to Rio de Janeiro and from there on to Portugal. The ensuing gold rush led to the construction of the "Caminho do Ouro" or "Gold Trail", a 1200 kilometer road, paved in steep areas with large stones, which connected Paraty to Diamantina via Ouro Preto and Tiradentes. Not only was it used to transport gold to Paraty, but it was also used to convey supplies, miners and African slaves by mule train over the mountains to and from the gold mining areas. Two sections of the Caminho do Ouro have been excavated near Paraty and are now a tourist destination for hiking And the larger cities such as Salvador and Sao Luis also reflect their colonial Portugese heritage.
Serra da Capivara
- are you fascinated by the ancient archeological sites of Europe? At Serra da Capivara National Park, another UNESCO site, you can see artifacts from about 50,000 years ago.
- scenery - do they have anything like the Amazon, the Pantanal , Lencois Marenhenses or Iguassu Falls in Europe?
Jaguars in the Pantanal
- Or the variety of warm and beautiful, uncrowded tropical beaches?
Lopes Mendes Beach
- maybe you like to tour wineries. Well, Italians brought their skills and expertise to southern Brazil years ago and the wine scene is flourishing there now.
One thing that you won't have in Brazil are cities that have a problem with tourists. You may have read about how places like Amsterdam, Barcelona and Venice are complaining about the number of tourists they are getting and how Florence is trying to divert tourists to other cities in the area. You won't have that problem in Brazil.
Also, the Delta variant has not spread very much in Brazil and the number of new cases and deaths have been dropping as more and more people are getting vaccinated (17 states are showing decreasing numbers, 6 are showing stable numbers and 3 in less visited areas are showing increases) - as of September 3, a little over 62% of people have gotten at least 1 vaccine and over 30% have gotten their 2nd one and 2nd doses are rapidly being administered.
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