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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The staging point for the majestic Sheets of Maranhão Nat’l Park is the tiny, dune-invaded town of Barreirinhas, itself an enigmatic gem. If the most rewarding and accessible parts of Brazil are at the end of long dirt roads, that dissuade most drivers from visiting, this also holds true for […]
Inhotim, a major contemporary art complex in the midst of extensive botanic gardens, is less than an hour from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. It is It is both far larger than the 500-acre Storm King Art Center in New York’s Hudson Valley, and much more tropically exuberant, […]
