2022 Travel the World - Week 4

PLEASE NOTE: My Travel the World Card series cards are usually posted on Tuesdays, but the next four days there's going to be a special event here on my blog so I'm posting a couple of days early this week.

I started a 50-week series in 2019 that I called Travel the World. Each week of the series I visited a randomly-selected country, sharing bits of information about that country. I then chose one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. As I explored those 50 countries in 2019, I knew I would continue on until I've visited every one of the 195 countries in the world. By the end of 2021, I'd virtually traveled to 145 countries and plan to complete my journey to all 195 countries by visiting the last 50 this year. 

This week's country is...

Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in South America and the world's fifth largest country.

It borders all of the countries in South America except Chile and Ecuador.

Brazil is mostly a tropical country that has many geographical features in its territory, from desert to rainforest and mountain.

Brazil's name comes from the pau-brasil, Portuguese for Brazil tree, the country's national tree and a natural resource that played an important role in the economic development of the nation.

While other South American countries mainly speak Spanish, the people of Brazil speak Portuguese.

Brazilians are very optimistic about their future and always believe that tomorrow will be a better day than today.

Brazil is so big which means there is a big difference in when the sun sets across the country; therefore the country has four time zones.

There are 22 towns and cities in Brazil that have at least 500,000 people living in them.

Brazil is home to the second longest river in the world - the Amazon. The longest river in the world is the Nile.

The Amazon River is home to lots of animals including the Amazon river dolphin, electric eel and the green anaconda snake.

Some fisherman in Brazil get a bit of help from a herd of well-known bottlenose dolphins. In Laguna, a friendly pod of bottlenose dolphins herd fish toward local fishermen. The dolphins then use a series of tail slaps to signal for the fishermen to throw their nets in the water. This impressive collaboration dates back to at least 1847.

Brazil is home to a wide range of animals, including armadillo, tapirs, jaguars and pumas.

There are more species of monkeys in Brazil than in any other nation.

An island in Brazil called Snake Island has up to 5 snakes per square meter. Civilians are not allowed to visit the island.

Human activities such as logging, mining fishing and agriculture are important to the Brazilian economy but are also a serious threat to Brazil's diverse environment.

About 60% of the Amazon Rainforest is in Brazil.

The world's largest swamp is also in Brazil, known as the Pantanal Wetlands. It encompasses 70,000 square miles.

Brazil has the world's longest stretch of continuous coastline - 4655 miles.

There are approximately 70 uncontacted tribes in Brazil.

After the United States, Brazil has the second largest population of Christians in the world.

Brazilians value family and social connections. Friendship and hospitality are some of the key traits that the local people look for among themselves.

It is a ritual in Brazil for boys to bear the pain from Bullet Ants before they are declared adults. Their hands are put in gloves filled with these ants. Boys are required to withstand the pain for at least 10 minutes, and they have to pass this test 20 times before being declared adults.

The most popular type of music Brazilians listen to is the ‘Brazilian funk.’ The music has a constant and repeated beat, which never changes. Brazilians sing different songs with the beat and there are at least 1000 such songs that the countrymen couple with the beat. 

Brazil has the biggest carnival in the world. People take to the streets of Rio de Janeiro to enjoy dancing, music and parades in incredible carnival outfits. As many as 6 million people participate each year.

The largest free rock concert ever had 4.2 million attendees. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and featured a performance by Rod Stewart.

Brazil is home to the largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan.

Millions of tourists visit Brazil every year.

Corcovado is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is known worldwide for the 125 feet tall statue of Jesus atop its peak, entitled Cristo Redentor or “Christ the Redeemer”.

There are around 2500 airports in Brazil.

The capital city of Brasilia resembles the shape of an airplane when viewed from the air.

Brazil once listed an aircraft carrier for sale on eBay.

Brazil has the tenth-largest railway and third-largest roadway network in the world.

The most popular name in Brazil is Silva.

Feijoada  is often considered a national dish in Brazil, especially Rio de Janeiro. It is made from black beans, pork and beef stewed together.

Brazil is by far the world’s largest producer and exporter of coffee, accounting for 30% of the world’s production. 

The country has been the world’s largest exporter of coffee for 150 years.

Brazil is the leading producer of oranges in the world, which amounts to 30% of the world’s total output.

Interestingly, Bolivia, not Brazil, is the main exporter of Brazil Nuts.

Rubber made Brazil a wealthy nation during the late 18th century.

The world's highest vertical cemetery is The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, in Santos, Brazil. It stands 355 feet tall.

The Brazilian football (soccer) team has won the world cup a record 15 times.

The only national football team to have never lost to Brazil is Norway. They played four matches; two were played to a draw, while the other two were won by the Norwegian team.

Use of cell phones in banks is prohibited in Brazil in an effort to prevent robbery and theft.

The largest amount of money stolen from a bank by robbers occurred on Aug. 6-7, 2005, in Fortaleza, Brazil, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. A gang of up to 10 people dug a 256-foot long tunnel to seize five containers of currency estimated at nearly $70 million.

My inspiration for this week's card is based on this fact about Brazil... Brazilian prisoners are allowed to reduce their sentence by four days for every book they read. Prisoners can also pedal a stationary bicycle in the prison to provide electricity to a nearby town, thus reducing their sentence by a few days.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp/Die Set: Fun Stampers Journey Love Bandit stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Paper: Neenah 110# Solar White and SU Real Red CS

Dies: Impression Obsession Crazy Stitched Set, MFT Stitched Rectangles, and Simon Says Sentiment Labels