Category Archives: Rio de Janeiro

Rocinha by Rocinha offers a new Rio favela experience

Posted on by

rocinha4A new initiative, the Rocinha By Rocinha Project, hopes to boost tourism to one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favelas and was created earlier this year by a small dedicated team of young people, all living in Rocinha. The project hopes to start a cultural exchange between residents and domestic and foreign tourists visiting Rio.

Rocinha By Rocinha has adopted a tourist concept largely used in European countries: the free walking tour. At the end of the guided tour, the visitors then have the option of making a voluntary contribution according to how much they want and can afford. All generated funds go directly to the guide that is doing the tour of the day. The same procedure is adopted for the charged packages, such as the tour to the Dois Irmãos mountain and a tour of Rocinha by night.

“We want to show what the culture of Rocinha has to offer and to give a true feeling of what its like to be part of the community,” explains one of the founders of Rocinha By Rocinha, Erik Martins. Erik leads the team formed by five other guides, all with excellent knowledge of the community, good English and a willingness to become entrepreneurs, and help Rocinha to prosper.

“Our tours cover the recent initiatives that are improving the conditions of the slums, but also reveal the locations that still lack of zeal. We don’t want to hide what saddens us, but explain everything that is beautiful and culturally rich around us, as some fascinating panoramic views that fill us with pride”, Erik explains.

Rocinha By Rocinha has the support of a group of voluntary international consultants who are helping to organize and publicize the work and created the Rocinha By Rocinha website and helped develop a solution for the guides to accept payments from international credit and debit cards.

The Swedish company iZettle, one of Europe’s leading providers of mobile payment services and apps, is a partner of Rocinha By Rocinha and this allows foreign tourists, not always with cash to hand, to be able to pay securely by card. Operating in Brazil since August 2013, iZettle is now helping entrepreneurs and professionals from nine countries to accept payments on their smartphones and tablets.

Reservations for Rocinha By Rocinha can be made ​​through the website or by email  to tours@rocinhabyrocinha.com.

rocinha1

Germany wins the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

Posted on by

On Sunday, 13 July 2014 Germany beat Argentina one-nil in extra time in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã to to win the 20th FIFA World Cup. It was Germany’s 4th title and, including qualifying, it had had to play 16 games to reach the final, winning 14 of them and drawing two.

Germany Trophy 6Germany Trophy 2German goalieFinal playWC Trophy FinalWC Final Ball

First trailer for “Rio, Eu Te Amo”

Posted on by

The first trailer for “Rio, Eu Te Amo“, which is part of the Cities of Love series, has been released. Produced by Conspiração Filmes, Empyrean Pictures and BossaNovaFilms, the film is set for an 11 September release in Brazil.

Among the directors involved in the project are Paolo Sorrentino, Vicente Amorim, John Turturro, Guillermo Arriaga, Stephan Elliott, Sang-soo Im, Nadine Labaki, Fernando Meirelles, José Padilha, Carlos Saldanha and Andrucha Waddington. Actors include Fernanda Montenegro, Rodrigo Santoro, Vincent Cassel, Jason Isaacs, Cláudia Abreu, John Turturro, Emily Mortimer, Marcelo Serrado, Harvey Keitel and Vanessa Paradis.

The new Doctor Who and friends head to Rio de Janeiro

Posted on by

doctor_who_peter_capaldiThe BBC has announced that the new Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, is to visit Rio de Janeiro on 19 August. A reflection of the importance of the Brazilian market and the popularity of Doctor Who in Brazil.

The trip will see the twelfth Doctor, Capaldi, on-screen companion Jenna Coleman, and the show’s lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, visit seven cities across five continents in 12 days, where they will attend fan events and media interviews, publicising Series 8 to a global audience.

The tour, which starts on 7 August, marks the largest ever promotional undertaking in Doctor Who’s 50-year history and will kick off in the Welsh capital and home of the series’ production, Cardiff, before taking in London, Seoul, Sydney (Australia), New York, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. More details of the itinerary will be available from doctorwho.tv soon.

BBC Worldwide’s ambition for the brand has grown since the global success of the 50th anniversary, which saw the special episode The Day of the Doctor broadcast simultaneously in 98 countries and in over 1,500 theaters across the world.

Rio’s carnival parade order for 2015

Posted on by

Carnival 2014Even on the eve of the World Cup there was still time on Monday, 9 June for the League of Samba Schools (LIESA) to make the draw to decide the date and order that the top samba schools in Rio de Janeiro will parade in 2015.

Sunday, 15 February 2015

  • Viradouro
  • Mangueira
  • Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel
  • Unidos de Vila Isabel
  • Salgueiro
  • Grande Rio

Monday, 16 February 2015

  • São Clemente
  • Portela
  • Beija-Flor
  • União da Ilha do Governador
  • Imperatriz Leopoldinense
  • Unidos da Tijuca

The winner in 2014, Unidos da Tijuca, has again chosen to go out last on the final night.

 

Over 150,000 visit the Brazil and World Cup guide sites

Posted on by

150000A big thank you to all 150,000 plus people who have visited World Cup: The Guide and Brazil: The Guide over the last few months. We hit the 150,000 target on 3 June 2014 and could now fill the Maracanã twice over; or just the once going by the stadium’s capacity for the 1950 final. We do hope that at least some of you will have found the sites helpful and worthwhile.

If you need text versions of the sites when travelling or are off-line, we have produced two low cost Kindle versions that are available around the world from the respective Amazon sites.

Guide covers

Brazil: The Guide launches a Kindle text version for use off-line

Posted on by

Brazil CoverTo help to satisfy the demand of people travelling to Brazil who would like to have the information on www.braziltheguide.com to hand, even when the are off-line, we have published a text only Kindle version of the guide that can be purchased globally from Amazon.

In the UK the guide sells for just £2.58. To access UK Amazon CLICK HERE

It is at a similar low price on Amazon stores around the world. For links to all the various global stores CLICK HERE

Julien Temple’s Rio 50 Degrees premieres in the UK on BBC 1

Posted on by

Julien_photo_bJulien Temple’s “Rio 50 Degrees” (AKA: Children of the Revolution) will premiere and screen in the UK as the first episode of Alan Yentob’s Imagine series at 22.30 on BBC One on Sunday, 18 May.

The film, produced by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor’s F&ME and Roberto Berliner and Rodrigo Letier’s TV Zero and based on an original idea by Critical Divide’s Christopher Pickard, paints a picture of a city under transformation as Rio de Janeiro prepares to host two of the world’s largest and most high-profile sporting events: the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Julien Temple had filmed previously in Rio with the Sex Pistols, Ronnie Biggs and Mick Jagger.

Rio 50

Plenty of spare hotel capacity in São Paulo for the World Cup

Posted on by

CENTRO EMPRESARIAL NAÇÕES UNIDASFootball fans looking for a hotel room to stay in during the World Cup should look in São Paulo, according to a report from the Forum de Operadores Hoteleiros do Brasil (FOHB), an organisation that represents the big hotel chains that control over 70% of all hotel rooms in Brazil.

According to FOHB as of the end of April only 24% of the rooms in São Paulo have been sold for the period of the World Cup, this compares with 87% sold in Rio de Janeiro.

Occupancy figures for Curitiba and Salvador for the period of the World Cup are respectively 44% and 57%.

Prices have also been falling since FIFA’s MatchService, started handing rooms back to the market. Studies suggest prices fell as much as 43% in Rio and 34% in São Paulo and Salvador for certain match days.

Rainforest Alliance: “I’m Alive” Brasil: The Floresta da Tijuca Sessions

Posted on by

A collaboration produced by Andres Levin, with Caetano Veloso, Lenine, Criolo, Emicida, Pretinho da Serrinha and Sistah Mo Respect along with many other celebrated Brazilian musicians and filmmakers who spent three days in Rio de Janeiro’s Floresta da Tijuca, part of Parque Nacional da Tijuca (that supported the project by offering its landscapes to film) creating “I’m Alive” a multimedia expression of man’s relationship to nature filmed, composed and recorded in the rainforest.

eco_certified_rainforest_alliance

 

Rainforest Alliance