Sights & Sounds of Brazil

I fist visited Brazil in 1992. I joined friends one hour south of Florianopolis. The beaches are like no others I've seen. The sound of the waves and seagulls, people laughing, children screeching with joy. The smells of grilling fish and shrimp assaulting your senses. It's a 10 hour drive from there to Sao Paulo. The scenery is amazing, from beauty to down right poverty. Favela's lining the landscape.

My friends Ruth & Karsten decided to move back to Brazil and several years later had a large wedding on the beach two hours out side of SaoPaulo. On this trip I decided to travel around Brazil. I went to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador Bahia, Forte de Iquacu and the ancient city of Manaus.

The poverty in Sao Paulo was bad, but it paled in comparison to Rio's massive hillsides of favela's. Hundreds of children begging on the streets doing what ever they could to make money for food. Children sleeping in doorways with ragged clothing and if they are lucky have shoes on their feet. These children are known as urchins by the locals. Many of these children have run away from abusive parents or the parents are drug addicts or alcoholics. You see many of these children huffing glue, a cheep high or pick pocketing and trying to steel purses.