510 – The Brazilian state of CearáFrom dazzling beaches to verdant mountains to parched scrubland, Ceará exhibits many of the attractions and also the contradictory currents that Brazilians face. We visit the old sections of the capital city of Fortaleza, a once-isolated beach town, the sweltering inland semi-desert, and the lush mountain range that forms the… |
505 – The Mata Atlantica: Brazil’s Other RainforestOne of the world’s most diverse forests, the Mata Atlantica once covered Brazil’s southeastern coast for over a thousand miles and still blankets the steep hills of Río de Janeiro. Now less than ten percent remains, much of it in protected parks. Within the Mata, runaway slaves established their villages,… |
504 – Brazil’s Pernambuco: The Forgotten Interior504 – Unlike much of Brazil, the interior of the northeastern state of Pernambuco is an arid semi-desert. Away from the great Río San Francisco, the countryside is called the sertão, an often drought-stricken scrubland. The inhabitants have fashioned their own culture and history, and still commemorate their fabled bandit-hero,… |