Beaches, history, great cities; the remarkable diversity of beautiful Brazil

Miles of beautiful beaches. Exciting cities. An Italian area where they make all kinds of wine, including ice wine when weather permits. A German area where they make great beer and rich chocolate. A Spanish area with historic missions. And a wide grasslands region with horses and cowboys.

Sounds like a pretty cool country. To my surprise, I found it that’s just one state in Brazil, and one I'’d never heard anything about; Rio Grande do Sul, at the southern tip of the country.

The folks from Brazil Tourism held a big event at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto on Thursday night, laying out all the charms of a massive country nearly the size of Canada and playing up the FIFA World Cup in 2014. Of course, they’ll also host the 2016 Summer Olympics but that’s another story.

There were booths from states all over Brazil at the event, plus some tasty food and drinks, including luscious caipirinhas. They also, of course, had some Brazilian music and some fine-looking dancers that got plenty of attention from men and women alike (see photo below right).

I've never had the pleasure of visiting Brazil and haven't spent a lot of time looking at the options for travel there, to be honest. Like most Canadians, I know about the Amazon and Rio de Janeiro'’s beaches and Christ the Redeemer and a bit about Sao Paulo. I know they have great beaches and some nice resorts and I'd read something about Fernando de Noronha, an island group off the northeast coast that looks about as beautiful as anyplace on earth (see photo at left).  But that’'s about all I could’'ve told you until last night, when I sat down with representatives from a couple of states and also chatted with Marco Antonio de Britto Lomanto, director of products and tourist destinations for the Brazilian Tourist Board.

Lomanto told me Canada has been selected as one of Brazil’'s 17 worldwide priority countries for travel marketing for 2013. It marks, I believe, the first time we’'ve been in their crosshairs, which is only fair enough as Toronto and Canada have been pursuing Brazil for some time.

“I think our countries have something in common,” Lomanto told me.

“"We'’re both very large, with great natural resources and tremendous diversity.”"

FIFA and Brazil are planning soccer/football games in 12 cities around Brazil, from Manaus in the Amazon region to Recife in the northeast to Porto Alegre, and, of course, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which will host the finals.

Tickets for the general public will go on sale at www.fifa.com next year. But folks can buy packages at this point through Great Atlantic Travel and Tour, the sole Canadian representative for packages.
Tickets will be limited to four per person for up to seven matches, meaning one person could order up to 28 tickets. Tickets also will be sold in groups so folks can buy seats for games in a particular stadium or to follow a particular team.

Jean-Edouard Courcier of FIFA said no sporting event in the world, not even the Olympics, can compare with the passion and energy of a World Cup. I've seen six Olympics, and if the World Cup tops that I'd be hugely impressed. I somehow suspect it probably would given the world's passion for soccer and the fervor of patriotic fans rooting for their teams.

The World Cup runs from June 12 to July 13, 2014 and they've created a mascot and a slogan, which is "All in One Rhythm." The World Cup would be great. Based on last night's performance at the Ritz, however, I'd go just for the dancing.