Brazil – the land of samba and carnival

OK, so the title doesn't even begin to sum up Brazil, the fifth largest country in the world. But Samba and Carnival are two of the four things that most people associate with Brazil – the others being the Amazon and the rain forests.

Anyway, I was in Brazil for mainly for the carnival but since I was already there, I decided to stay over for a couple of weeks to do some touring. Before coming to Rio, I had downloaded some apps about Brazil, Rio and the carnival for my IPhone. They really made my stay a whole lot easier with information, interactive maps, pictures, video and that great VR technology that identifies where you are and suggests things to do nearby.

Apart from some great apps with loads of tourist info for Rio, I also found an app that gave me a fantastic insight into the carnival, its origins and history along with hundreds of photos and video footage.

But when I decided to stay over, I needed some more apps, this time with more info about Brazil. That's the great thing about the IPhone, from anywhere and at any time, you can connect to the app store and find just the apps you need. For me, it was Brazil travel apps with info about travelling in Brazil, the main cities such as San Paulo and Brasilia and sites that shouldn't be missed. Another couple of essential Brazil apps were Portuguese phrase and language apps. As most Brazilians don't speak English and I don't speak Portuguese, these were a life saver! One app that I found through 10TraveApps.com included a Brazilian slang and travel guide and another was a Portuguese-English dictionary that has prerecorded words and phrases to choose from to make life a whole lot easier. I could even build up my own sentences from the audio data base – amazing!

Anyway, with my Brazil travel apps, I had a fantastic time at the carnival and then a great two weeks travelling around. I'm not saying I couldn't have done it without them – but it wouldn't have been so easy and convenient.