Here is an an amazing tilt-shift time lapse of Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Even though I felt like I spent too much time in Rio, this video is so beautiful it makes me long for the city. I want to be walking along the beach, singing Girl from Ipanema, eating Acai shakes while looking [...]

I’ve created a YouTube playlist of some of my favourite Bossa Nova songs on the site. Gal Costa – Wave This is a great rendition of Antonio Carlo Jobim’s Wave. Gal Costa’s voice is both polished and expressive yet sensitive. Ella Fitzgerald – Dindi Ella Fitzgerald is cute as molasses and this version is an [...]

Brazil was much more expensive than I ever imagined it’d be. I got a hint of what I was going to encounter by the prices of hotels in Rio, but I didn’t imagine that the prices would be nearly on par with Canadian ones. Brazil’s economy is the world’s sixth largest economy and growing at [...]

The New York Times has named Paraty as one of its places to go in 2012. They have a slideshow here.

Despite having a lot of experience travelling independently, I decided to do a group tour for part of my vacation to Argentina and Brazil, for many reasons. First, my travel partner had never been outside of North America (and had never backpacked either) so I thought a group tour would make him more comfortable. Second, [...]