[Work in Progress] A Nation Like Its Anthem: A Nature-Focused Brazil Travelogue

OP is finally getting around to updating the travelogue. The long-promised Germany and Australia trips will stay on the back burner for now—this time I'm starting with the most recent destination. As everyone knows, Brazil announced visa-free entry through the end of the year back in May, and Lula's reelection has made the future of the visa-free policy even more certain. As a Chinese tourist who basically rushed in with the first wave of visa-free travel, I was stunned by how far this place exceeded my expectations in diversity and grandeur—just like Brazil's national anthem: beneath all the flashy ornamentation, the melodic skeleton is passionate and resolute. Given my usual reverse-snobbery toward "contemporary culture" and my safety concerns, I'd originally prepared for an Africa-style bubble tourist experience. But renting a car and driving myself, plus happening to coincide with the World Cup, meant I got a genuine taste of local flavor.

Note: This trip was even done with two colleagues, so it wasn't extremely hardcore (though still moderately hardcore). You can copy this itinerary directly. This trip was primarily nature-focused; I didn't visit colonial towns like Ouro Preto, regional cultural centers like Salvador, or the Amazon region.

Let me post photos first, and I'll slowly work on the guide...

I. What are Brazil's most irreplaceable natural wonders

During the past three years when OP could travel freely in and out of countries, it was literally a situation where I never knew if I'd still have that freedom the next year—so every year I maintained a priority list of world natural wonders, prioritizing the relatively unique ones. Brazil, as the third-to-last destination I visited before my visa expired, was theoretically relatively low on my list—for no other reason than that the Brazilian Shield is, after all, one complete plateau. Apart from Rio de Janeiro on the coast, I figured other places would theoretically lack spectacular natural scenery.

But then I arrived in Brazil and realized how naive I'd been. Although Brazil's geological structure is relatively intact, its natural scenery perfectly demonstrates why magnificent landscapes don't necessarily require big mountains and vast seas. The diversity of scenery here is practically a living geology textbook:

1. Sand dunes in a humid climate

The Lençóis Maranhenses in northeastern Brazil is perhaps the place on Earth where precipitation and scenery are most mismatched—bar none. Annual rainfall approaches 200mm, and the coastal river sediments should be covered in vegetation. But not only is the rainfall here markedly seasonal, the dry season brings extremely strong trade winds, which directly cause the surface to cross a certain threshold of cumulative annual wind action and instantly transform from dense scrub to completely barren, as shown in the photo:

Although the dunes are barren, during the rainy season they accumulate clear pools of water, creating a one-of-a-kind wonder of interlocking dunes and lakes found nowhere else in the world. Contrary to what most people imagine, the best tourist season for Lençóis Maranhenses isn't the rainy season but the dry season right after the rains end (late June to August), when water levels are at their peak and haven't yet evaporated, while the weather is clear and perfect for swimming—that childhood boast about swimming in a desert can literally come true here.

1. The world's best freshwater snorkeling and freshwater ecosystem

Bonito in the Southern Pantanal is relatively niche among Chinese tourists but legendary among Brazilian domestic tourists and ecology enthusiasts (someone was already asking me where this was before I even finished writing). Thanks to widespread natural springs, this place has the tropical freshwater rivers with the best visibility in the world—a holy land for anglers and aquarium aquascapers. Huge schools of characins swim around you, and the submerged driftwood below makes it feel like a South American aquarium brought to life.

Additionally, in the Bonito area, if you're lucky enough or find a local guide, you can spot giant anteaters—the giant vacuum cleaners. Due to time constraints we didn't book a tour this time, but we still saw plenty of wildlife.

1. The perfect combination of coastal granite and urban scenery

Although the Brazilian Shield is geologically stable, along the coast it drops directly from the plateau, creating spectacular scenery. The Rio area already has the world's most recognizable granite coastline—and on top of that, the city is completely nestled between mountains and sea. Rio is indisputably a Top 3 world cityscape, and in my heart it's number one (the other two being Cape Town and La Paz).

1. Exceptional jungle wildlife viewing experience

Brazil's Northern Pantanal is perhaps the world's best place for jungle-adventure-style wildlife spotting—in Africa, apart from Rwanda and Uganda, safaris elsewhere are mostly on open savannas; India, though dense with jungle, has temperatures that are truly off-putting; Peru and Brazil's northern Amazon are discouraging both in temperature and difficulty of finding animals; Costa Rica, while very interesting, mainly features relatively small target species.

Only Brazil's Northern Pantanal lets you go deep into the jungle in cool temperatures and come face to face with jaguars from a small boat:

The relatively open terrain along the riverbanks and the relatively sparse wetland jungle also make wildlife spotting here less dependent on guides—everyone can spot capybaras by the river, parrots and toucans in the trees, and so on.

1. The world's largest waterfall system

No need to elaborate on Iguazu Falls—it's roughly worth ten Niagaras in terms of impact, and the Brazilian side is indeed better for photography. I don't know how it compares to Victoria Falls, which I haven't visited...

II. Brazil experience overview: What you can do in 9 days in Brazil

Since I'd confirmed what I most wanted to see before finalizing the itinerary, the next question was how to arrange the trip. I'd booked Independence Day week for Brazil early on but couldn't find anyone to go with—until Brazil announced visa-free entry in May, when I finally roped in two colleagues who'd just signed H1B. As the original hardcore traveler, this trip still followed hardcore principles of cramming in as much as possible. But traveling with colleagues, plus Latin America's safety situation making night driving relatively dangerous, meant the itinerary was (in planning) mostly daytime-focused, staying at airports after night flights landed—of course, unexpected changes are another matter. Also, the vast majority of Brazil's attractions are either cityscapes or tour-guide-arranged activities, making them relatively easy to schedule—so places like Bonito that run on fixed timetables mean everyone's itinerary ends up completely identical, which is actually very unfriendly to hardcore travelers. But Latin Americans value a relaxed pace—once you've seen the core sights at most places, the rest is whatever.

The final confirmed itinerary (and actual execution) was as follows:

Day 0:

Afternoon departure, Avianca cattle class DFW-BOG-GRU.

Day 1:

After early morning arrival, connecting flight to IGR Iguazu Falls. First visit the Brazilian side, then decide based on time whether to do a day trip to the Argentine side—but due to thunderstorm delays, we decisively cancelled the Argentina plan. That evening, from IGR via a connection at VCP airport north of São Paulo to Rio, staying at a Rio GIG airport hotel.

Day 2:

Classic one-day Rio city tour—beaches, Sugarloaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer, and helicopter sightseeing. Not long after we went, several companies had accidents and were grounded, but not the one I'd carefully selected, Rio Helicopters. Back to GIG for the night.

Day 3:

Rest day. In the morning I took a one-hour taxi from the airport to Petropolis on the highlands north of Rio to see the Organ Mountains. Originally planned to transfer in São Paulo at noon and fly to Sao Luis, but halfway through boarding they suddenly told us the plane had no crew—which is very South America. So while everyone else was still bewildered, we rushed to the LATAM counter and changed to a connection through Brasilia. The downside was arriving in Sao Luis at midnight—which was already the earliest arrival flight we could find... Then we wandered around Brasilia, sacrificed a night's sleep, and took a chartered car to Lençóis Maranhenses.

Day 4:

Lençóis Maranhenses: Lagoa Bonita sunrise + swimming at Lagoa Azul. Afterwards, a small plane aerial tour, then chartered car back to Sao Luis, flight via São Paulo connection to Campo Grande, staying at CGR airport.

Day 5:

Early morning drive from Campo Grande to Bonito. Mystic Lake + Galaxy + Parrot Pit—the classic three-in-one day. Stay in Bonito.

Day 6:

Hiking tour to the Boca da Onca waterfall group north of Bonito. Afterwards, drive back to Campo Grande, fly via VCP connection to Cuiaba in the Northern Pantanal for the night—crossing a river and still needing a V-shaped connection. If it were just me, I'd have taken a direct bus and slept on the vehicle.

Day 7:

Morning chartered car to Porto Jofre, stopping along the way for wildlife. After arrival, stay at a local特色 steam-boat lodge. Afternoon boat trip searching for jaguars and wildlife.

Day 8:

Morning fishing on the river, then continued jaguar searching. At 16:00, drove back to Cuiaba, staying near the airport.

Day 9:

Morning CGB-BSB arrival in Brasilia, half-day city tour. At noon, took the world's longest 7M8 iron-butt route BSB-MCO, then connected back to DFW.

Such a multi-segment connection itinerary didn't come from nowhere. Although South American stereotypes aren't reliable, thanks to stable climate, Brazil's flight on-time performance leads the world by a wide margin—though that didn't seem to be the case on our trip. But I'd reserved potential alternative arrangements for almost every segment—and indeed we successfully encountered one change, fortunately without major incident. The only sacrifice was that one night's sleep.jpg

III. Itinerary details

Day 0. Departure

For the outbound, I chose the well-known slave ship + unreliable king Avianca—for no other reason than best schedule + cheap. As expected, we smoothly got boarding passes online—after all, their signature move is checking documents at the gate, especially for flights departing from the US. Sure enough, all three of us were separately stopped when scanning boarding passes at the gate. I skillfully pulled out the IATA rules, and then was unreasonably told that Colombia transit requires a US visa valid for 6+ months. Fortunately I skillfully produced my five-year F1 and successfully boarded. The thing is, I've gotten used to their document checks on outbound flights over the past two years of flying them to Latin America regularly (though return flights generally check in and board smoothly, probably related to the US passenger pre-screening system).

But after all that hassle, we naturally became the last to board, and our backpacks could only go under the already cramped foot space for a five-hour flight...

Speaking of this photo, the pants on my legs are anti-theft pants with zippered pockets that I specifically bought on Amazon. Latin America and certain European cities have always been off-putting due to safety concerns, so these are essential travel gear.

The second leg BOG-GRU was actually upgraded from a prison-cell 320 to a 788 two months in advance. Avianca, as the alliance's bottom-tier airline, still has mainstream-standard cattle class on the 788, so I slept as soon as I boarded and woke up already landed.

Day 1. Iguazu in the rain

At takeoff the captain said GRU might have fog, but on landing day GRU had great weather while Rio GIG was full of diversions—so much for Brazil's stable weather conditions. Landing and immigration was smooth, but as soon as we reached the domestic terminal, we got notice that Iguazu had thunderstorms and departure time was TBD—originally I'd worried about low water levels in the dry season at Iguazu, and now thunderstorms instead... So I opened Windy, and the weather radar was indeed a mess of tomato-and-egg splatter. I figured if a thunderstorm of that intensity hit DFW for 20 minutes, the whole airport would probably be paralyzed for a full day.

Yet the plane still took off an hour late into the thunderstorm—the thrill of weaving around thunderstorm cells was probably top 3 in my life. Arrived at 11:30. My two companions weren't on the same flight; their LATAM flight was scheduled earlier but arrived an hour later than mine. Given the timing, the Argentine side was definitely out, so I picked up the car and waited for them at the airport, deciding to take it easy and enjoy the Brazilian side.

After arriving at Iguazu the rain never stopped. I checked the cloud map—it would be slightly clearer near the falls than in the city. It was still misty when we first arrived:

But I have to say the weather radar was reliable—within half an hour the clouds gradually cleared, and looking across the river, waterfalls stretched endlessly on the opposite bank—this is also the main reason the Brazilian side is better for photography at Iguazu; the Argentine side has most of its views above the falls. However, if you want to feel the power of the falls up close, the Argentine side is indeed worth experiencing—unfortunately we didn't have enough time this trip.

The Brazilian side of Iguazu isn't large; after about half an hour along the trail you reach the famous Devil's Throat viewpoint, where waterfalls from all directions converge. You walk along the boardwalk over the water to where the falls plunge down. Although it's far from the highest-volume Argentine side falls, the impact is still maxed out.

As shown, the boardwalk over the water:

The classic shot at the end of the boardwalk—directly ahead is the largest waterfall on the Argentine side:

Near the boardwalk entrance where it leads to the sightseeing bus exit, there's an observation deck for close-up views of the falls. It started raining again, but we could no longer tell which was rain and which was waterfall spray. Early July is winter in Brazil, and Iguazu in the south is very chilly—only 13-14°C. On our first day in Brazil we got soaked to the bone in the cold rain and waterfall mist.

It was still early when we left Iguazu, but definitely far from enough to set foot on the Argentine side, so we went to the bird park at the falls entrance—though it's a zoo, it's laid out according to the natural environment, the birds are in good condition, and it's not too much of a tourist trap, so it's worth a visit. Most birds are common species that you can easily see in the wild during the coming days. But the parrot collection here is very rich, and we also saw scarlet ibises that are hard to see without a dedicated trip.

Dinner was naturally meat. Iguazu is at the tri-border area, and the steak flavor leans more toward Argentine style—chimichurri-seasoned, intensely beefy Argentine-style steak. Among my personal top 6 steak traditions worldwide (US, Japan, France, Australia, Argentina, Brazil), it ranks second only to Japan:

IV. Brazil self-drive rental car notes