Roads to Brazil

Roads To Brazil: Cultural Immersion Through Community Service

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"Experience, travel—these are an education in themselves"

-Euripedes

Roads to Brazil opens a door for students to explore the culture of Brazil while making a lasting impression on the community and yourself through service.

Working with local high school students to restore an elementary school you will have the opportunity to build friendships and bonds that allow a unique viewpoint into the community.

Near the equator, on the edge of the Amazon, students are at the ideal perspective to explore the environment. The gateway, a spectacular desert in the middle of tropical Brazil filled with clear blue lagoons.

Cultural Immersion combined with Community Service and Environmental Education makes this trip an ideal spring break journey for travel, adventure and experience.

Maps

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Interactive Map

Maps

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Medical Information, Shots, etc...

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For up to date information on medical precautions please visit U.S. Center for Disease Control on Brazil.

Travel medications for Brazil are not dazzling but they can be confusing as the recommendations vary by the counties and regions. Malaria pills are not necessary for Sao Paulo. Yellow fever vaccine is also not required for Sao Paulo as long as you are traveling to Brazil from U.S/Europe and other areas which are not endemic for yellow fever.

-- Tetanus/pertussis/diphtheria (1 shot)--->if your last one was more than 10 years ago.
-- Measles (1 shot)--> one time booster if you were born after 1956 and if you cannot document that you are immune by having received either 2 doses of MMR(measles,mumps,rubella) vaccine, or by history of having had the disease. A blood test can also be done to see if you have had the vaccine. Please note that measles is a live vaccine and it should not be given to pregnant women or to those with immunosupression. Also women are advised not to get pregnant for 4 weeks after receiving the MMR.
----Typhoid ( 4 pills)--->which are taken 1 every other day, and will be good for 5 years. It should be taken at least 2 weeks before the trip. Note that these pills should be refrigerated and that this is also a live vaccine.
--Hepatitis A (2 shots)---> ideally the first dose should be given 4 weeks prior to your trip to be maximally protected. You will need a second shot in 6-12 months to be protected long term.
--Hepatitis B (3 shots)--> 2 of which are given 4 weeks apart and the third is given in 6 months. You should complete the first 2 shots before departure. This is especially recommended if you might be exposed to blood or body fluids (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, or be exposed through medical treatment. A combination shot of hepatitis A and B vaccine may be given instead of individual A and B shots. This follows the same schedule as hepatitis B shots.

--Ciprofloxacin or equivalent antibiotic to have just in case of traveler's diarrhea. If diarrhea occurs and is lasting more than 24 hours or is associated with blood or fever then take one tablet of Cipro twice a day for 3 days.

--Malaria pills-- See Malaria Information for Tropical South America. The 2 most commonly prescribed malaria pills are the following but only one is needed:-Malarone(atovaquone and proguanil hydrochloride)---taken one a day starting one day before entering India and continuing every day until 7 days after you have left India. -Lariam (Mefloquine)--- taken one a week, starting one week before entering India and continuing for 4 weeks after leaving India. This is not recommended for people with depression. It has also been associated with vivid dreams.

--Yellow Fever Vaccine -- See Requirements. These vaccines must be given at certified yellow fever vaccination centers. Refer to this link to find a location near you.

Depending on your itinerary another vaccine to consider is Rabies, if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas, such as might occur during camping, hiking, or bicycling, or engaging in certain occupational activities.

Over the counter medications to consider depending on your needs:
--Imodium for diarrhea.
--Diphenhydramine(Benadryl) for allergic reactions, motion sickness, nausea, and as sleep aid.
--Hydrocortisone for skin reactions.
--Sudafed for congestion, especially if before a flight.
--Acetominophen(Tylenol), Ibuprofen(Advil) or other anti-inflammatory medication.
-- DEET containing mosquito repellant.

Additional information: see the Safe Food and Water page for a list of links.Please consult your doctors for any specific questions or if you are pregnant.And if you really want to avoid the vaccines then check with your doctor, parents, or your old records to see if any of your shots are documented and up to date.

Pororoca

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The pororoca is a tidal bore, with waves up to 4 meters high that travel as much as 13 kilometers inland upstream the Amazon River. Its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, where it translates into "great destructive noise". It occurs at the mouth of the river where river water meets the Atlantic Ocean. The phenomenon is best seen in February and March.

The wave has become popular with surfers. Since 1999, an annual championship has been held in São Domingos do Capim. However, surfing the Pororoca is especially dangerous, as the water contains a significant amount of debris from the shores of the river (often, entire trees). In 2003 the Brazilian Picuruta Salazar won the event with a record ride of 12.5 kilometers during 37 minutes.

Bem Vindo! Welcome to Sao Luis!

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Since being established, São Luís (Saint-Louis) has had a long multicultural history. Founded in 1612 by a Frenchman, Daniel de la Touche, and proclaimed capital of Western France under Louis XIV, the city was quickly conquered by the Dutch, before falling under the dominion of the Portuguese.

Through the centuries, successive mixing of African, Native Indian and European populations give Sao Luis a contemporary feel and a most important historical and cultural heritage. In 1997, UNESCO declared the city World Heritage Listed.

But how should São Luís be classified? Are we in the North or the Northeast of Brazil ? Is the environment tropical, barren, marine or all three, this being in effect, quite impossible?! Nevertheless, São Luís exhibits all these three aspects.

An entanglement of small narrow streets that sometimes end in an unexpected square or fountain of the era, decorateThe historical center of São Luís and its 3.000 constructions of the era, partly rebuilt, offer a beautiful voyage back in time. It is a first class trip, if you consider the fantastic homogeneity of works performed by painters, sculptors and other architects who, for centuries, have contributed to the beauty of the city. Colorful façades, impressive constructions with high windows, and with glazed tiles. São Luís has preserved its monuments, its diverse influences and thus, undeniably, its colonial seal.
As for the local population, they are not European, but Brazilian, and consequently strongly Mestizo. The city is especially lively in the evening. Different groups gather in the streets, dancing, playing music.

The local legend says : he who falls asleep in São Luís, wakes up as a poet.

Barreirinhas and Parque Nacional Lençois Maranhenses

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The area shown here (10 km across) is a small part of the dune field which is now protected as the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, on Brazil’s north coast, about 700 km east of the Amazon River mouth. Persistent winds blow off the equatorial Atlantic Ocean onto Brazil from the east, driving white sand inland from the 100 km stretch of coast (upper margin of the image), to form a large field of dunes. the strongly regular pattern of these dunes is a common characteristic of dune fields. The basic shape of each sand mass, repeated throughout the view, is a crescent-shaped dune. In an area with a rich supply of sand such as coastal Brazil, individual crescents coalesce to form entire chains many miles long. The wind strength and supply of sand are sufficient to keep the dunes active, and thus free of vegetation, despite 1500 mm (60 inches) of rainfall annually. The dark areas between the white dunes are fresh water ponds that draw fisherman to this newly established park.

The characteristic regularity of the dune landscape can be detected downwind (west) for more than 100 km, beyond the present dune field. Now covered by dense forest, the greater extent of this dune field indicates that climates have been substantially drier at the Equator in the recent geological past.

Astronaut photograph ISS007-E-15177 was taken from the International Space Station on September 21, 2003 with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera equipped with an 400mm lens. Interpretation is provided by M. Justin Wilkinson (Lockheed Martin / Earth Observations Laboratory, Johnson Space Center). The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Sao Luis: The History

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Originally the town was a large village of the Tupinambá tribe. The first Europeans to see it were the French, in 1612, who intended to make it a French colony. They made a fort named São Luís ("Saint Louis"), after Saint Louis IX of France as a compliment to King Louis XIII. It was conquered for Portugal by Jerônimo de Albuquerque in 1615, leaving little time for the French to build a city. This has led to some controversy to the actual founding of the city by the French or the Portuguese. In 1641 the city was invaded by the Dutch. They stayed until 16 45 and did not manage to influence the city's archtecture or to leave any sign of their invasion, mainly because they did not build, and f0cused instead on violent domination. São Luís has one of the largest and best preserved heritages of colonial Portuguese architecture.

The island is known as the "Island of Love" and "Brazilian Athens", due to its many poets and writers, such as Aluísio Azevedo, Graça Aranha, Gonçalves Dias (the most famous), Ferreira Gullar, among others.