Author Archives: kurczy

This is Sarah bouldering at Morro do Urca in October on a 30-foot-long horizontal called Travessia Rio Terê. I blogged about this bouldering area last month, with a video of my buddy Aloisio flashing the entire traverse. Sarah and I had a … Continue reading →

I don’t have a death wish (I think) but I often have the urge to jump from high places. At Niagara Falls, I wanted to wade into the rushing water and soar over the edge. Atop the Empire State Building, I … Continue reading →

In Rio, life’s a beach. Literally, the city is lined by miles and miles of beautiful sandy shore, from Flamengo to Botofogo to Copacobana to Ipanema to Leblon, and much of that is lined by a very unique sidewalk of black … Continue reading →

UFOs, killer polka dots, African presidents strolling Ipanema… Rio de Janeiro is unique for more than bikinis and beaches. ESCADARIA SELARON: So this was inspiring. In the 1990s, the Chile-born artist Jorge Selarón decided to fix up the steps in front of … Continue reading →

They eat better in Sao Paulo, but my preference is for the street food of Rio de Janeiro. Which is both cheaper and more unique than the Western-style pizzas and pastas and meat-heavy dishes at most Carioca restaurants. (By meat-heavy, … Continue reading →

I have visited the future, and it is called Sao Paulo. This city is overwhelming. In good and bad ways. Bad for its congestion, traffic, poor transportation, smog, sprawl, lack of greenery, lack of scenery. It resembles the backdrop for … Continue reading →

Barren rocks are great places for making friends. Several weeks ago during a work meeting, I segued the conversation to rock climbing and was put in touch with a Rio native named Aloisio Viana, who promptly invited me to climb … Continue reading →

This weekend and last weekend was “Rock in Rio,” which is billed as Latin America’s biggest music concert and featured Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Metallica, and many other US bands that I could have seen if I stayed in New York. Better … Continue reading →

Apparently it’s fairly common, and not just to foreigners. An American like me or a Brazilian like my language teacher might one day swipe their bank card at an ATM, withdraw cash, and the next day or week several thousand dollars … Continue reading →

My location: Rio’s iconic Pão de Açúcar, an island-rock jutting out at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. My mission: To summit the 1,299-foot-tall peak. The previous weekend I had hiked neighboring Morro da Urca, but summiting Pão de Açúcar (“Sugarloaf”) is a … Continue reading →

For 30 years, I was a virgin to live pro futebol. Tonight, after a three-decade-wait, I attended my first-ever pro futebol match, and it could not have been a better experience. Rio de Janeiro’s beloved home team of Flamengo was hosting … Continue reading →

Let’s head to the slums for some music and dancing! That was the plan tonight, as I was told it’s actually become a popular thing to do in Rio — a preposterous idea just a few years ago before the state … Continue reading →

This is the flag of Brazil, billowing atop Praça Engenheiro Bernardo Saião in Rio de Janeiro. On the green flag is a yellow rhombus — two colors of the old imperial Portuguese flag — surrounding a blue disc filled with 27 white … Continue reading →

One of the most interesting things about New Orleans is, I think, the doors. They’re colorful, slender and tall, each about 10 feet high (you can tell by how low the doorknob appears in the photos), as if constructed for some … Continue reading →