Brazil. I first traveled to Latin America in 1984. A Brazilian friend encouraged me to come, and to know Brazil, which he said, was rapidly changing and being developed, and soon would never be the same. "Geraldo Florsheim" met me in São Paulo, where I stayed for several weeks, and then boarded a westbound train through an area similar to the Florida "Everglades", called the "Pantanal", in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, and onward to Curumbá on the river Paraná, bordering Bolivia. I continued west to explore Bolivia and Peru. Some weeks later, I returned to Brazil via Cuiabá, one of the hottest cities in Brazil, then by bus to Brasilia, the new capital, built in the 1950's, and designed by the famous architect, Oscar Niemayer. The interior cities, were hot and dusty, with parched, red soil. Traveling to the northeast, "O Nordeste", by bus, and enjoying the beautiful beaches at Recife, Natal and Forteleza, I then descended south to Salvador da Bahia, and finally explored Rio de Janeiro, for my final few weeks. "On the rough" in South America, that first time in 1984, I've returned to Brazil many times. Brazil is a fun, chaotic, diverse and colorful place to travel.

Photographs and text by John O'Heron  ©2022

Tramandai Beach , Rio Grande do Sul, 1986

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Carnaval, Rio de Janeiro, 1986