The largest country in South America and fifth largest in the world, Brazil is a treasure trove of biodiversity and resources alike, often in direct competition with each other.  The land was colonised by the Portuguese from 1500 and gained its independence in 1822.  Until 1960 the capital city was Rio de Janeiro, upon which the purpose-built Brasilia took on the mantle.  More than half of the country is covered by rainforest, but there are also extensive grasslands to the south, plus high mountains and savanna.  There is huge output from farming, with Brazilian exports of coffee, sugar, tropical fruits and steak amongst many others being delivered the world over.

I visited Brazil with friends in 2005 as part of a South American trip taking in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as well.  We started in Brazil itself having landed in Rio de Janeiro via Paris, during the Brazilian winter which was happily a glorious 27 Celsius on average.  We spent three nights in Rio then travelled by bus and boat to Ilha Grande for a couple of nights, then onwards to colonial Paraty (of which I have regrettably insufficient photos to generate a blog page), before a much-longer-than-anticipated bus to Sao Paulo to catch a flight to Foz do Iguaçu for a couple of nights, rounding off our time in country.  I liked Brazil a lot and am keen to return someday as of course our visit barely scratched the surface.