Author Archives: kurczy

I was in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Really. If you watched the Opening Ceremony in August, you probably saw me. The internationally televised event began with a two-minute montage of Brazilians (or at least you thought they were all Brazilians) performing … Continue reading →

Tonight’s opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will feature, among many people and musicians, the supermodel Gisele Bündchen portraying “The Girl From Ipanama.” Bündchen, wife to quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, might be the most famous Brazilian alive. … Continue reading →

While in Brazil’s interior state of Mato Grosso researching a story for the next issue of Americas Quarterly, I took the chance to visit the national park Chapada dos Guimarães. It’s about an hour outside state capital Cuiabá, not far … Continue reading →

Movie posters for the film sequel of “Independence Day” are all around Rio de Janeiro, and it’s an easy reminder of the pervasiveness of American culture. The film title is in English, and it’s being released July 4. This would … Continue reading →

“Pode subir!” You can go up! That’s the Portuguese command from one climber to another when the belay is ready and the climber can climb. So when André yelled it to me, I climbed… Here we are climbing Pico Tijuca, which at 1,021 meters … Continue reading →

My go-to açaí shop these days is called BB Lanches in Rio de Janeiro’s zona sul (“south zone”) neighborhood of Leblon. Open from 9am to 3am and just a few blocks from one of the cleaner inner-city beaches, BB Lanches is a simple open-air place where the motto … Continue reading →

Since returning to Brazil last week, mosquitoes have bitten me at least a dozen times, and with each bite I wonder: Could this be the one with Zika, a fast-spreading virus that is strongly suspected of causing brain damage to unborn babies and has spurred some … Continue reading →

“A climber fell into the gorge earlier this week,” my uncle said as we stood at the edge of Flume Gorge in New Hampshire’s Franconia Notch. “He fell in?” I said. “The guide said that a kid was walking to the climbing area, slipped on the ice, … Continue reading →

This week I interviewed the Chilean filmmaker Gabriel Osorio, who just won an Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards for his animated short film Historia de un Oso (“Bear Story”). It really is a bear of a story. On the surface … Continue reading →

What’s more American than a bald eagle? That is, aside from “being great,” as Donald Trump would say. Featured on the national emblem of the United States of America (with its wings spread and its talons impossibly clutching a bundle of arrows … Continue reading →

After years of talking about it, I finally got out on Fishers Island Sound in winter to see the migratory seals that swim down from the Gulf of Maine and Canada every year to relax in the warmer coastal waters off Connecticut. … Continue reading →

I only intended to stay a week or so at the Brazilian park Serra do Cipó, arriving on Christmas Eve and looking forward to spending the holiday through New Year doing lots of rock climbing at this place that I enjoyed … Continue reading →

The Force is strong with Brazilian Star Wars fans, as I wrote in an article last week for Fusion. Along with being photogenic, not even Brazil’s worst recession in a nearly a century could thwart their Jedi-like powers to crowdfund a Star Wars … Continue reading →

It’s rainy season in Rio de Janeiro, which means it’s often cloudy, which means that the otherwise incredible vistas from the city’s clifftops and mountains are blocked by a thick white haze of rainclouds, which means that a long and steep hike … Continue reading →

Rio de Janeiro proudly boasts the world’s tallest floating Christmas tree — yes, that’s a thing — which normally looks something like this: But this year, days before the 280-foot metallic tree was scheduled to be lit up in the middle of Rio’s lagoon, an 85-mph wind snapped … Continue reading →