Author Description

Michael Palin reads his own bestselling account of his epic journey through Brazil. Michael Palin undertakes another of his celebrated journeys, to a vast country of unimaginable contrastsBrazil. An economic powerhouse, it is host to a staggering variety of peoples, from the hugely wealthy to the abjectly poor, from twenty-first-century technocrats to tribes who continue to live as their ancestors have for centuries. Michael starts his journey in the north, in the remote mountains and forests of the Lost World on the border with Venezuela, and finishes in the south at the legendary Iguacu Falls. He travels by riverboat, float-plane, and foot to visit tribes deep in the jungle. He samples life in the conservative agricultural and mining heartland of Brazil, experiences the startling modernism of Brasilia and the heady mix of Rio de Janeiro, as well as venturing into the once-feared slums, the favelas. He travels down the northeast coast with its African-inspired culture; to Sao Luis as it hosts one of the biggest festivals outside Rio; to Recife and Salvador, where Michael is swept up in Candomble, with its myriad saints, animal sacrifices, dancers, drummers, and shamans. He heads to Sao Paulo, where the superrich commute by helicopter. Heading south Michael tastes German beer served from a motorcycle sidecar and tries his hand at being a cowboy before journeys end in a boat beneath one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world.