Brazil, a vast South American country, stretches from the Amazon Basin in the north to vineyards and massive Iguaçu Falls in the south. Rio de Janeiro, symbolized by its 38m Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado, is famed for its busy Copacabana and Ipanema beaches as well as its enormous, raucous Carnaval festival, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes, and samba music and dance.

Vibrant São Paulo is packed with shops, restaurants and cultural institutions including the noted Museum of Art. Brazil’s capital, Brasília, founded in 1960, is a planned city with modernist buildings by Oscar Niemeyer. The northeastern state of Bahia, known for beaches and dense Amazon rainforest, reflects African influences in its capoeira martial arts, axé dance music and moqueca (a coconut milk-seafood stew). Its capital, Salvador, retains its 16th- and 17th-century core. Farther north are Alagoas’ coral reefs, Maranhão’s sand dunes and Portuguese colonial town Olinda. Western Pantanal’s wetlands shelter caimans and jaguars.