backroads brazil


disneyland of woke, revisited 2 2

    Here is the second installment from a recent visit to Inhotim, in the interior of Minas Gerais.  (For the first installment, kindly go here.) Interestingly, when I asked if most of the hoards of youth who serve as guides and guards are from the local town of Brumadinho, […]


disneyland of woke, revisited 1 1

Sadly, one of the greatest Contemporary Art collections of Latin America, Inhotim in Minas Gerais, continues to slide into DEI and wokism.  On a cloudy December day I visited most of the new exhibits installed since my last visit – which were nearly universal in dwelling on victimology.  (The one […]


lavras novas, minas

  Lavras Novas, high up in the Serra de Ouro Branco mountains of Minas Gerais, is a discovery.  I spent a recent weekend there, a work-vacation, drafting an overdue edit (the 12th) of the manuscript for my fifth book. The town was until recently (around 2022) of difficult access, on […]


fofão retires!

After 25 years of faithful service, my old station wagon named “Fofão” (for “Big Cutie”) has retired into the nearby Royal Road Antique Car Museum in Bichinho here in Minas Gerais. She has driven over 270,000 kilometers (nearly 168,000 miles) entirely within Brazil, on several long and somewhat risky drives […]


insanity museum in minas 10

The Insanity Museum, in the interior of Minas Gerais, opened in 1996 as the first museum dedicated to mental health in Brazil.  It is a delicate subject, handled with dignity, reflection, and without excessive tut-tutting and hand-wringing. The site, on a hill outside the medium-sized city of Barbacena, encompasses a […]


the northeast’s ceará 11

Ceará is a state full of surprises, not all pleasant. From the bone dry caatinga (or semi-desert) interior to the altitude swamp of Ubajara’s high perch to the fleshpots of the coastal capital, Fortaleza (greatly expanded by the Yanks during WWII), the state marvels. My first encounters, after the trials […]


disneyland of art, take 6 1

Inhotim, a major gem in both Brazil and the contemporary art world, is slipping into woke muck. The few galleries with rotating exhibitions were, during a recent visit, all dedicated to victimology. A recent visit in São Paulo to the Pinacoteca, a museum specializing in Brazilian art, also evidenced the […]


brazil demands freedom 7

Brazil is at the center of massive spiritual battles world-wide. To any objective observer, the Brazilian Presidential election was stolen in October.  With Bolsonaro consistently ahead at a third of the vote tally, all subsequent data dumps went heavily for the Worker’s Party candidate and former convict Lula – a […]


brazilian zeno 2

Zeno (2005-2022) was born in the mountainous splendor of Brazil and, accordingly, was primed for adventure. His first major roadtrip in the wilds of Brazil was along the country’s remote southern and western borders, during a 3 month journey at age 6. Not only was he fearless, he helped me […]


brazilian zeno 1 8

Zeno (2005-2022) was born outside of Rio, in Teresópolis, and was a very Brazilian dog: full of life and very sociable.  He also was a literal gift, after some friends in Tiradentes learned of his predecessor, Atlas’s, early death at age 5.  One of their daughters has a kennel in […]