First Rio 2016 test event brings 23 Olympic medallists to city

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evento_teste_vela_alexferro_29072014-1618_0.jpgThe first Rio 2016 test event, the Aquece Rio International Sailing Regatta 2014, has brought some of the world’s top sailors to Rio de Janeiro. From 2 to 9 August, 324 athletes – including 23 Olympic medallists – from 34 countries will compete in 215 boats across five courses on Guanabara Bay, in the largest Olympic sailing competition ever held in Brazil.

“All the sailors who are dreaming of winning a medal at Rio 2016 are here,” said Australia’s Mathew Belcher, the London 2012 champion in the 470 class. “There are various Olympic champions here, and many more who will win Olympic medals. It’s my first time in Rio so my goal is to get to know and understand the climatic conditions, as well as to get to the know the city. I already knew that the wind varies from medium to low intensity in the bay and this will be a challenge for all the sailors.”

Belcher was joined in Rio by four other Olympic champions from the London Games: fellow Australian and 49er champion Nathan Outteridge, Spain’s Marina Alabau, who won the 49er FX, Holland’s RS:X  champion Dorian van Rijsselberge, and Sweden’s Max Salminen, gold medallist in the Star class, which has been dropped from the Olympic programme for the Rio 2016 Games.

Great Britain’s Luke Patience, who took silver behind Belcher in the 470, also spoke of the high level of competitors and the importance of getting to know the Rio 2016 Olympic venue. “The best boats in the world are here,” he explained. “It’s an important opportunity for us to get to know the conditions and gather information, but it’s also clear that everyone who’s here wants to be the first to win a title on the Olympic Waters.”

For Patience, the regatta is his first sailing competition in South America and he expressed his excitement about being in the next Olympic host city. “It’s a really exciting city, full of life and energy. It has a happy atmosphere and is known for hosting big celebrations, like Carnival and the World Cup. I’m really happy to be here and determined to do my best in the test event.”

The International Sailing Regatta is the first in a series of 45 sporting events that will take place in Rio 2016 venues that will allow athletes and the organising committee to rehearse for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The majority of the events will be held in 2015.

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August Festivals in Brazil

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Post World Cup, Brazil is hosting a number of its traditional festivals in August. They include:

Festival da Pinga / Cachaça, Culture and Flavours is celebrated annually in Paraty, close to Rio de Janeiro, a beautiful coastal village with an unusual blend of nature and history. Started in the 1980’s and taking place in the last week of August in one of the country’s main cachaça-producing areas, it is a festival made for true lovers of pinga /  cachaça and brings together the strong Brazilian spirit, great food and amazing parties. The programme also includes live samba and a traditional Paraty music shows, attracting a large crowd of local and international visitors to celebrate the production, variety and character of the sugar cane spirit.

The Festa da Boa Morte (Feast of Good Death) is one of the most important events in the Afro-Brazilian religious calendar, taking place every August in Cachoeira, one of the towns in the Northeastern region known as the Recôncavo Baiano. Organised by the Irmandade da Boa Morte (Sisterhood of the Good Death), this celebration culminates in a procession that parades through the streets of the historical town on the banks of the Paraguaca River. During the festival, visitors can discover the Freedom Route (Rota da Liberdade), which explores Afro-Brazilian heritage by visiting communities of the descendants of escaped and freed slaves.

On 15 August, the Festa de Iemanjá (Goddess of the sea festival) takes place in Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará in Northeastern Brazil and one of the World Cup host cities, bringing many visitors to the area. This annual festival celebrates Iemanjá, the mother of all the gods in the Umbanda religion, where participants celebrate, give thanks and offer perfumes, gifts and flowers to the sea.

The Folclore Nordestino Festival takes place in Olinda, a historic city in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco that is located just north of Recife, bringing together art, music, museums, heritage, architecture and a showcase of colonial Brazil. Folklore is a key element of Brazil’s northeastern culture and in late August, the city holds this annual festival.

Rocinha by Rocinha offers a new Rio favela experience

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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.

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They think it is all over… It isn’t yet for football in Brazil

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ball in netIf you are sorry you missed out on the 2014 World Cup and watching international football in Brazil, you still have another chance in the shape of the Olympic football tournament that takes place 3 to 19 August 2016.

16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams will play in the tournament with Brazil qualifying for both as host. Brazil will be hoping to finally win Olympic football gold, the only major football title missing from the country’s CV.

During the Rio Olympic Games the matches will be played at the Maracanã Stadium, but there will also be games to see in four other World Cup stadiums in Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador (below) and São Paulo.

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World Cup in Brazil sets Twitter records

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Twit Germ 1The World Cup in Brazil became the world most tweeted about event. Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil in the World Cup semi-finals was the most discussed sports game on Twitter in history. A record 35.6 million tweets being sent during the 90-minute game.

The World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina, which itself generated 32.1 million tweets, set a new tweets-per-minute record when the final whistle went and Germany was crowned champion. This triggered 618,725 tweets in one minute.

Not surprisingly the most tweeted German player in the final was goal scorer Mario Gotze, while for Argentina it was Lionel Messi.

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Visa cardholders spend US$188M in Brazil in 12 cities during group stage of World Cup

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Total spend by international travelers on Visa accounts through the group stage of the World Cup has hit US$188 million. This represents a 152 percent increase year-over-year, and a 141 percent increase when compared to the US$78 million spent by travelers attending the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup during the same timeframe. The highest spending day in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil was June 25, when travelers spent US$17.4 million in one day.

Visitors from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, France, and Mexico represented the largest overall tourist spend in Brazil. The most significant spending increases were seen from countries such as Australia (+835%);Colombia (+765%); Chile (+519%) and Mexico (+396%).

photo 2-1Visa Everywhere Travel Report for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, which analyzes travel data and spending through the use of Visa credit, has also found that some smaller Brazilian cities, which are hosting tournament games, realized some of the most significant increases in spending by international travelers.

Data through the group stage of the tournament, which includes opening day (12 June) through the close of the group stage (26 June), revealed triple-digit increases in spending, compared to the same period last year, in cities such as Natal (+851%); Cuiaba (+963%); Curitiba (+167%); and Manaus (+409%).

“The group stage of the World Cup has shown that international tourism was strong well beyond the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as fans traveled throughout Brazil to support their teams,” says Ricardo Fort, SVP Global Sponsorship Marketing, Visa Inc. “The fact that these games are bringing positive economic impact to regions of Brazil typically less visited by international travelers, is another sign of success for the tournament overall.”

First trailer for “Rio, Eu Te Amo”

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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.