Tag: Brazil

Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Take A Cruise To South America

Cruises aren’t just for oldies with a lust for tea-dancing. Oh no. They are – believe it or not – getting cooler. And part of it is about the destinations. You don’t have to go to Malta anymore to sit on a dinky balcony and turn your skin to leather. You don’t even have to don a sparkly kaftan or a pair of Speedos to wade the waters of the Caribbean while local kids try to flog you miniature bongo drums.

So without further ado, here are seven reasons why a cruise to achingly hip South America is the thing to do:

1. You’ll see lots of boobies. Wait, now don’t get too excited. I’m talking about blue-footed boobies – a type of bird with sky blue feet which lives all over the Galapagos Islands. Choose the right time of year to go and you’ll see them doing the dance moves of their courtship dance – quite an amusing spectacle.

2. Sweat it out in the Amazon. Take a river cruise down the planet’s biggest river and you’ll really learn what it means to sweat. Even if you’re a gym regular, or a Bikram yoga fan, you’ll reach new heights of perspiration in this equatorial region. When you’re not wiping your brow, you’ll see chattering monkeys and native villages, and maybe even fish for piranhas.

3. Get the Horn. Some itineraries sail all the way under Cape Horn – the furthest south point in Chile. Early round-the-world sailors had to take this route before the Panama Canal was built. It’s pretty spectacular: glaciers, fjords, whales, penguins and condors will guide your way. Just keep an eye out for icebergs, eh?

4. Get high. Bolivian drug dens aside, there is plenty of stuff to get you high – quite literally – in South America. Choose cultural cruise which drops you off on the Peruvian coastline for an inland trip to the Lost City of Machu Picchu. Here, nearly 2,500 metres above sea level, you’ll have shortness of breath from both the altitude and the view. Chill out back at the beach with a few Pisco Sours before moving on.

5. Spy on supermodels. Ah, Brazil. Forget about feeling insecure in your frumpy on-piece and do what every other tourist does: find a prime viewing spot on Copacabana and watch the local ladies and gents play a hot and sweaty game of beach volleyball. It’s a beautiful thing. The teeny bikinis, the even smaller trunks, the toned, tanned flesh… these people really know how to look gorgeous, and they are used to being stared at.

6. Tango in Buenos Aires. The capital of Argentina is a city that keeps on giving. The locals will teach you how to stay up all night and then go straight to work for the day, and they’ll laugh it off when you ask them why the country has the highest number of psychiatrists per capita. Let them teach you to tango and you’ll be made an absolute fool of – but that’s half the fun. Knock back the red wine and get on with it. If you can get into a tangle with a luscious local, all the better!

7. Gurn at giant tortoises. The Galapagos Islands, as we’ve already seen, have such amusing animals as the blue-footed booby. But the giant tortoises take the trophy for oddest animal. These wrinkled old things staggering about the Darwin Research Centre look a lot like a bunch of retirees on an outing. Expressive and painfully slow, copy their gurning for some holiday photos you will want to frame and hang in the living room.

Article courtesy of Exsus South America

July 27, 2013
Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Start Learning Portuguese

Thinking of learning a new language? If you’re like most English people, chances are your answer is probably no. Forget the French you learned in school (if you still remember it) and check out these seven reasons to start learning Portuguese, the world’s sixth-most widely spoken language.

1. You won’t embarrass yourself when the World Cup starts. There are still a couple of years before the World Cup kicks off in Brazil, and even more time before the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Get learning before then and there’ll be no need to hold back when the tickets go on sale.

2. Understand Spanish while learning Portuguese. It doesn’t matter if you tried extra hard during GCSE Spanish – Portuguese takes extra study time to master. Here’s the good part – Portuguese speakers can understand Spanish better than Spanish speakers can understand Portuguese.

It sounds weird but it’s true. Because Brazil is surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries, the languages have developed so that Portuguese-speakers are at a major advantage. If you don’t know any Spanish, you’re effectively killing two birds with one stone by learning Portuguese.

3. It’s awesome to order a Caipirinha without a bad accent. There’s nothing worse than the classic English tourist trying to communicate abroad by using lots of hand-waving and an incredibly bad quasi-foreign accent. Stand out from the crowd by being the only one in your party who knows how to mingle with the locals – it’ll get you serious kudos.

4. Brazilians are hot. No doubt about it, Brazilians do tend to be pretty attractive. If you’re on the pull while on your holidays, there’s nothing more impressive than being able to chat someone up in their native tongue. Just make sure you know exactly what you’re saying before you open your mouth – accidentally insulting someone’s mother isn’t a great start for a romantic encounter.

5. You’ll know when tour guides are mocking you. If you’ve only ever spoken English (and possibly bits of broken French on holiday) you’ll probably have been mocked while abroad numerous times without even noticing.

Waiters, receptionists, taxi drivers – they all count on ignorant tourists not to understand what they’re saying while they grumble under their breath about heavy bags and changed orders. Knock them for six by letting them know you know exactly what they’re saying – then ask for the manager.

6. Get in with the Brazil’s recession-proof economy. Unless you’ve been living with your head in a bucket the past few years, the global economic crisis won’t be news to you. Most western countries are either in recession or at an economic stand-still – not so for Brazil.

Brazil’s economy is growing at a strong rate of around 5% per year and is currently the sixth largest in the world. Learn Portuguese and you won’t have to worry about job opportunities – there are plenty of roles open to bilingual foreigners. So while Brazilians check out daytime and evening English courses in London, you can check out the Portuguese courses and get planning your trip to Brazil.

7. It’s just an amazing language. Portuguese is a beautiful and expressive language, and there’s a heck of a lot of passion behind each and every word. Despite being a versatile language, there are some words and phrases in Portuguese that literally don’t translate into any other dialect in the world. Take the word ‘saudades’, for example. It basically means that you miss someone and want to see them all in one word. Cool, eh?

If point 4 swayed it for you, check out this language school in London for details of courses near you. Once you’ve got the basics down, you can forget about shuffling around Brazil, squinting at signposts and consulting your phrasebook every five seconds – a brilliant new holiday experience will be open to you.

October 12, 2012
7 Reasons Postage Stamp Errors Are Entertaining

Last week you may have read that the US Postal Service have made something of a cock-up. Instead of an image of the Statue of Liberty appearing on their postage stamp, it’s actually an image of her Las Vegas based replica. Wondering if this was a one off the 7 Reasons team decided to do some investigating. We were surprised – and entertained – to discover that it has actually happen many times before. Here are seven of our favourites:

1. White House, USA. Incredibly, this isn’t the only error the US Postal Service have made this month. In the same batch of new postage stamp designs they also managed to use an image of a White House replica in Atlanta instead of the real McCoy in Washington DC. Luckily this error was spotted before printing began, but still a red face for the guy who has the shutterstock password.

2. Christ The Redeemer, Brazil. As recently as the start of the year the Brazilian Postal Service got themselves into a lot of trouble by using an image of The Angel Of The North on their postage stamp instead of one of the statue of Jesus Christ that looks down on the city.

3. Great Wall Of China, China. In 2005 the Chinese Postal Service made the catastrophic error of using an image of a replica of the Great Wall China on their postage stamp. The replica Great Wall Of China can be found in Splendid China – a theme park in Florida. Sadly, the head of the postal service paid the ultimate penalty.

4. Eiffel Tower, France. To celebrate France’s hosting of the Football World Cup in 1998, the French Postal Service released a collection of postage stamps showing images of famous French landmarks. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell them that the Blackpool Tower is very much in Great Britain. Printing was discontinued, but not before 10,000 had entered circulation.

5. Tikal Temple, Guatemala. The Tikal Temple which can be found in the Tikal National Park was supposed to appear on this postage stamp. Instead Mexico’s Chichen Itza turned up.

6. Big Ben, UK. As patriotic as we are, we can’t overlook this howler from our very own Royal Mail. They must have had the work experience boy in this week because 5,000 stamps depicting a straw Big Ben rolled off the printer.

7. Che Guevara, Cuba. Probably our favourite error comes from Cuba. This arty postage stamp was supposed to celebrate Che Guevara. Instead, it celebrates Tooting’s favourite son, Wolfie Smith.

April 18, 2011
7 Reasons I Shouldn’t Do A Mexican Wave In My Living Room

Ever wondered what would happen if you started a Mexican wave in your own living room? I did. I thought it through during the Brazil vs. Chile match last night. I won’t be starting one.

I love this picture!

1. I’ll look foolish. My wife won’t join in. As I enthusiastically stand up and raise my arms aloft, she’ll gaze disdainfully over her knitting at me while rooted to the spot. I’ll look like a fool.

2. She’ll look foolish. My wife joins in. As – in response to me – she enthusiastically stands, raises her arms aloft, and jubilantly hurls her knitting ceiling-ward, I’ll gaze at her contemptuously at her thinking why is she joining in? She looks like a fool.

3. We’ll both look foolish. Our cat won’t join in. He will gaze, apparently aghast, at the cretinous behaviour of the simpletons on the other sofa. Why are they not paying me any attention? What the hell are they doing? They look like fools.

4. The cat will look foolish. The cat joins in. My wife and I will gaze, slack-jawed, at the astonishing behaviour of the creature on the other sofa. The useless animal can’t even catch birds. Why is his only talent the Mexican wave? Wow! Okay, it’s quite cool though.

5. Our neighbour will look foolish. He won’t join in. He will, however, stare incredulously as he glimpses our Mexican wave through his living room window. When he says, as an aside, to his wife, “Have you seen what the weird couple from across the street are up to now…Good lord! Is that a cat performing a Mexican wave?” He’ll look like a fool. His wife will wonder whether to ration his port.

6. Our neighbour’s wife will feel foolish. She won’t join in. She will, however, glance furtively for the remainder of the World Cup – at her vociferously adamant husband’s insistence – to glimpse the Mexican waving cat through our living room window *. Having invested a substantial amount of time dubiously looking for something so incredible and unlikely, she’ll feel like a fool. What am I doing? I’m trying to see a cat do a Mexican wave. Is this how it started with Aunt Hilda?

7. South America will feel foolish. After all, if Brazil had played with a bit more flair, and Chile had more of a cutting edge in attack I wouldn’t even have been considering doing a Mexican wave in my own living room. I’d have been fixated on the football. Like I was during Mexico vs. Argentina. Or most of the other matches. Is this the most convoluted way of saying “dull match” ever?

*Our cat absolutely, categorically does not join in with Mexican waves. Please stay away from our windows during the World Cup. There is nothing to see here. Except for a man eating crisps, a woman knitting and a dozing cat.

June 29, 2010