Fun fact#733
Iguazu has 275 separate falls
The Iguazu system comprises up to 275 waterfalls spread nearly three kilometres along the border.
Brazil
Nearly half a continent, a river with no bridges, and a capital built from nothing in four years.
10 entries · 4 stories, 6 fun facts
Brazil at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- Brasília
- Currency
- Brazilian real (BRL)
- Official language
- Portuguese
- Climate
- Equatorial in the Amazon, tropical along the coast, subtropical in the south.
- Best time to go
- May–September for most regions
- Time zone
- UTC−2 to UTC−5
- Driving side
- Right
- Plugs and voltage
- Type C / N, 127 V and 220 V depending on the region
Worth knowing: Voltage varies by city, and sometimes by socket within a hotel. Check the label before plugging anything in.
Planning a trip to Brazil
The decisions that determine whether the trip works, whichever country you are going to.
Brazil occupies about 47 percent of South America and borders every country on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. No bridge crosses the main stem of the Amazon: communities along thousands of kilometres rely on boats, which is a fact that reorganises how you plan a trip entirely.
Below: the two rivers at Manaus that run side by side for six kilometres without mixing, the beach that applauds the sunset every clear evening without anyone organising it, and the neighbourhood carnival block with a hundred drummers that nobody is filming. Brasilia, meanwhile, was planned and built in about four years and inaugurated in 1960.
Entries from Brazil
Fun fact#735
Brazil covers almost half of South America
Brazil occupies about 47 percent of the continent and borders every South American country except Chile and Ecuador.
Fun fact#739
The Amazon meets the Rio Negro without mixing
Different temperatures and speeds keep the dark Rio Negro and sandy Solimoes flowing side by side for kilometres.
Fun fact#741
Brasilia was built from nothing
Brasilia was planned and constructed in about four years and inaugurated in 1960, laid out in the shape of an aeroplane.
Fun fact#742
Rio's Christ was struck by lightning
The statue is hit regularly, and spare soapstone from the original quarry is kept for repairs.
Fun fact#745
Brazil grows a third of the world's coffee
Brazil has been the largest coffee producer for more than 150 years, mostly arabica from Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.
Story#785
Piranha for dinner
We caught four and ate three. They are mostly bones and the guide clearly finds the whole tourist ritual funny, but he cooked them properly.
Story#789
Meeting of the waters
Two rivers ran side by side for six kilometres without mixing. You can put a hand in each and feel the temperature difference.
Story#791
Carnival in a side street
The famous parade costs a lot of money. Two streets away, a neighbourhood bloco with a hundred drummers went past for free and nobody was filming it.
Story#795
Sunset at Ipanema
The whole beach applauds when the sun goes behind the hill. Nobody organises it and nobody explains it and it happens every clear evening.
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Brazil is one of 36 countries in the library. Read straight through a continent, or start from the map of everywhere we have written about.