Above: Iguacu Falls, 20 times 

 Niagara, spreads in two giant 

 horseshoes in tropical forests; 

 Ouro Preto, the source of tons of 

 gold once shipped from Colonial 

 Brazil to Portugal. Contains ex- 

 cellent colonial architectural and 

 art treasures. Left: The Monkey 

 Puzzle Tree, Araucaris angusti- 

 folia, typically Brazilian, still 

 grows in forests near Vila Velha; 

 Vila Velha, near Curitiba, pre- 

 sents a strange landscape of red 

 ajid yellow sandstone eroded in 

 shapes resembling everything from 

 cathedrals to eggcups. 



Petropolis 



You are driven from Rio this morning, February 23, 

 through heavy forests, alight with flowering yellow Cassia 

 and pink and blue Tibouchina trees, to the cool highland 

 town of summer estates, Petropolis, where you stay at the 

 Quitandinha Hotel. During the afternoon you tour Em- 

 peror dom Pedro 11 's summer home and examine its rich 

 furnishings and imperial crown jewels. 



But Brazil is also a land of exciting modern movements 

 in the arts, and it is here that the first truly new ideas any- 

 where in recent centuries of landscape design evolved. 

 The guiding genius of this fresh originality is Roberto Burle 

 Marx, who paints living landscapes with the swirling lines 

 and vibrant colors of abstract art — creations completely 

 appropriate set among the brilliance of tropical flowers 

 and the unusual sugarloaf horizon. During a full day's 

 tour of Petropolis gardens, you are shown through some 

 of his most effective creations by the designer himself, 

 dom Roberto, and are welcomed by the garden owners, 

 some of Brazil's leading families. These include the Leite 

 Garcias at Fazenda Samambaia, Senhora Odete Monteiro 

 (whose fantastic garden was described by House and Gar- 

 den magazine garden editor, Ralph Bailey, as "one of the 

 most beautiful private gardens in the world"), the Carlos 

 Somlos at Retire Panonia and Alberto Kronforth at Rancho 

 Pedra Azul. 



You return to Rio and the following morning drive to 

 dom Roberto's own home, south of the city, for a day in 

 the country with this artist-botanist. His home is on a hill 

 overlooking a vast beach area where weird plants have 

 adapted to the dry sands. 



Sao Paulo - Curitiba 



You leave this morning, February 27, for Sao Paulo, 

 where during a four-hour stopover between planes, you 

 visit the Butantan Snake Farm, world famous for its col- 

 lections of snakes and its scientific work with venoms in 

 producing anti-venoms. Sao Paulo, you find, is a Portu- 

 guese-speaking Chicago with palms, for its skyscraper- 

 crowded skyline spreads for miles. 



By midafternoon, your continuing flight has reached 

 Curitiba, deep in southeastern Brazil. After seeing the 

 large collections of Brazilian animals in Curitiba 's zoo, you 

 visit some of the strikingly original small private homes in 

 this capital city of Parana State. You dine at your hotel, 

 the Moderno. 



An all-day excursion on February 28 takes you from 

 Curitiba to bizarre Vila Velha, where red-streaked yellow 

 formations of eroded sandstone resemble a ruined city of 

 cathedrals and skyscrapers. Plants of the area are as odd 

 as the strange stone spires and include some which parallel 

 African species and others belonging to the trumpet flower 

 family with four-foot spikes of lavender-blue blossoms. 

 There are forests of Brazil's strange monkey-puzzle tree, 

 Araucaria angustifolia. Hot springs complete the eerie 

 picture and a warm-water lake is so crowded with tetra 

 fishes as to appear mottled with moving silver clouds. 

 Your dinner is at Curitiba 's attractive Swiss restaurant, the 

 Matterhorn. 



Iguacu Falls 



An astonished Eleanor Roosevelt murmured, "poor 

 Niagara," on seeing Iguacu. In volume twenty times Ni- 

 agara, Iguacu has 21 cataracts and the average fall is 210 

 feet, though some are higher than 250 feet. The beauty 

 of the massive falls is only partly in its tremendous flow 

 and height and spread. Equally impressive is its tropical 

 setting, where flocks of green and gold parrots bathe in its 

 spray and colorful orchids, bromeliads, begonias and pas- 



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