BRAZIL (South America)

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For hundreds of years, Brazil has symbolised the great escape into a primordial, tropical paradise, igniting the Western imagination like no other South American country. From the mad passion of Carnaval to the immensity of the dark Amazon, it is a country of mythic proportions.

A large proportion of Brazil's huge population do not have much to be happy about, and yet the image the country immediately conjures up is of care-free colourful crowds dancing in street parades at Carnaval. It is joie de vivre and explosions of passionate gaiety that make this gigantic country, larger than the continental United States, so attractive to visitors. Tourists flocking to the fabulous cities, like hedonistic Rio de Janiero, can enjoy the five-star hotels, shopping malls, beautiful beaches, sunny skies and inspirational restaurants without being forced to confront the hundreds of shanty towns (favelas) where the poorest of the poor scratch a living in the shadows of the skyscrapers.

Brazil should be an incredibly wealthy country, but institutionalised corruption and mismanagement of agricultural and natural resources are two of the reasons why prosperity has been denied to the mass of the people. Never mind, for most Brazilians life is a sensuous adventure and visitors cannot help but get caught up in the rhythm of the samba.

Being so vast, Brazil can offer a variety of cultures and topographies from the Amazon rain forest to the mountain towns of Minas Gerais, the urban jungle of Sao Paulo, the vast central plateau around Brasilia and the world-famous Rio beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. It all adds up to an exotic and exciting Latin American mix where the common denominators are samba, sunshine, sultry smiles and soccer.