Santa Teresa Street Festival – Every Day is Carnival in Rio!

Santa Teresa Street Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Going to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a must-do experience (see this site for Carnival dates and details), yet you can get a taste of Carnival or at least a carnivalesque atmosphere somewhere in Rio just about any day of the year. It’s simply a matter of finding the party – or serendipitously running into one, as … Read more

Finding Feijoada – Discovering Brazil’s National Dish

Finding Feijoada - Discovering Brazil’s National Dish. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Ask a Brazilian cook or chef who makes the best feijoada, Brazil’s national dish, and they’ll say “I do!” Nothing is more of a source of pride than making a delicious version of this pork and bean stew. Well, perhaps apart from making a mean caiparinha with their own supply of artisanal Cachaça! A ritual that’s … Read more

Cooking in Rio de Janeiro – A Brazilian Cooking Class With a Difference

Cook in Rio cooking course. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

When we arrive at the compact, down-to-earth Copacabana eatery, Tasco de Lido, the other three couples in our Cook in Rio cooking class are already chatting away cheerfully as they sip drinks. Bob Marley is blasting on the stereo and the restaurant’s vivacious owner and Brazilian cooking course instructor chef Simone Theisen is singing along … Read more

Perfecting the Classic Brazilian Caipirinha in Rio De Janeiro

Perfecting the Classic Brazilian Caipirinha – Cocktail Recipe. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

In our years of being semi-professional barflies and checking out bars around the world, purely in the name of research of course, we’ve developed a repertoire of favourite cocktails that we always order to test out the skills of a barman. One of them is a Latin American classic so during our recent stay in … Read more

Gallo Pinto Recipe from Costa Rica for Weekend Eggs

Gallo Pinto Recipe. Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

I’m not going to lie. The only negative thing we heard about Costa Rica before our two weeks in the country on our yearlong trip dedicated to slow, local and experiential travel was about a subject close to our hearts: the food. But one rustic dish was very popular – gallo pinto, which translates to … Read more