Ecuador travel tips - Popular attractions

CITIES

Depending on which activity you intend to persue, such city of glamour or culture are available to your choice.

• Quito - Capital. Colonial City.
• Baños- In this city you can find an active volcano having small eruptions of ash and lava. Volcano Tungurahua. There are also many hot spring mineral baths as its name would imply.
• Cuenca- The third largest city in Ecuador. Cuenca was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site.
• Guayaquil - Largest city in the country and largest port city.
• Otavalo - Small town only two hours north of Quito famous for its indigenous craft market.
• Riobamba -- Starting point of the famous train ride down the Nariz del Diablo and gateway to Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest peak, whose summit is the furthest point on Earth from its centre.
• Esmeraldas - One of the most popular beaches in Ecuador.
• Bahía de Caraquez - Another popular beach.
• Loja - the oldest colonial city.
• Sucumbios or Nueva Loja - a jungle centered city.
• Manta - the most important seaport of the country.

OTHER DESTINATIONS

• Agua Blanca
• Babahoyo
• Canoa
• Cotopaxi
• Galapagos Islands
• Guaranda
• Mindo
• Montañita
• Papallacta
• Piedra Blanca
• Puerto López
• Puyo
• Quilotoa Loop
• San Miguel
• Tena
• Vilcabamba

Popular destinations in Ecuador

QUITO

San Francisco de Quito

Quito, officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in northern Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of the Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With an estimated population of about 1.5 million people as of 2005, Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador, after Guayaquil. It is also the seat of the Quito Metropolitan District, home to 2 million residents, and the capital of the Pichincha province. As the headquarters of the newly-formed Union of South American Nations, Quito is also the de facto capital of South American integration.

Quito is located about 15 miles (25 km) south of the equator. A monument and museum marking the general location of the equator is known locally as la mitad del mundo (the middle of the world).

GUAYAQUIL

Guayaquil

Santiago de Guayaquil, or justGuayaquil, is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador, as well as that nation's main port. Guayaquil is on the west margin of the Guayas River, which flows into the Gulf of Guayaquil in the Pacific Ocean. Guayaquil is at 2.21°S 79.90°W, about 250 km south-southwest of the capital of Ecuador, Quito. According to the most recent census (2001), its population was 2,189,865. However, the estimated metropolitan population was 2,908,338.

Guayaquil is the capital of the Ecuadorian province of Guayas and the seat of the namesake canton. (In Ecuador, a cantón (canton) is a second-order subnational entity below a first-order province.)

CUENCA

El Parque Calderón

Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador, capital of the Azuay province. It is located in the Sierra, the highlands of Ecuador at about 2500m (8200 ft) above sea level. Its full name is Santa Ana de los cuatro ríos de Cuenca. The city's cobblestone streets, towering cathedrals, and marble and whitewashed buildings give it a colonial air. Cuencanos, known for their traditional demeanor and conservative cultural values, match their 18th century surroundings. The city's history is well preserved , earning Cuenca the honor of being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are a small archipelago of islands belonging to Ecuador in the western Pacific Ocean. The islands are quite remote and isolated, lying some 1000 km (620 miles) west of the South American continent. The Galapagos archipelago consists of 13 main islands and 6 smaller isles, which together embrace some 50,000 sq km (19,500 sq miles) of ocean.

BANOS

Baños is a small city in de Andean highlands in Ecuador under the smoke of volcano Tungurahua. It's equally popular with foreigners as Ecuadorians. The streets are lined with hotels, restaurants, souvernirshops and touragents. Although it seems a bit touristy and artificial lots of people love it and it's definitely worth a visit. It's an important hub for outdoor sports and jungle tours.

Cuisine of Ecuador

Throughout the country there is a lot of variety, and what is typically eaten depending on where you happen to be. In the sierra rice almost always accompanies lunch and dinner, and in the coast it's potatoes. Soup is also a big part of lunch and dinner. Breakfasts often consist of toast, eggs and juice or fruit.

Restaurants run the gamut in terms of menu, quality, hygiene, hours and price. Basic meals can be had for less than $2, or it is possible to pay close to U.S. prices in the tourist areas, especially for food from the American chains.

If you're on a budget, your best bet for a good and local meal is to order an almuerzo (lunch) or a merienda (dinner). These normally consist of a soup, a meat main course and a dessert for $1-$2.

More expensive restaurants (say, ones that charge $4 per meal or more) often add a 12% sales tax and a 10% service fee.

Coffee or tea (including many herbal varieties) is typically served after the meal unless you ask for it sooner.

Except at places that cater to foreigners, it is the custom not to present the diner with the bill until it is requested. While many servers are used to rude tourists, rubbing your fingers together isn't as accepted as in Europe although it's not considered downright rude as in the United States. The best way to get the check is to tell your server "La Cuenta, Por Favor".

Smoking is allowed in most restaurants.

Locro de papa is a famous Ecuadorian soup with avocados, potatoes and cheese.

Ceviche is a common dish found on the coast. It is a cold seafood cocktail that is usually served with "chifles" Thin fried plantains.

Encebollado is a hearty fish soup with yuca, also found on the coast: A tomato-fish soup filled with chunks of yucca, marinated vegetables with "chifles" thrown in for added crunch.

In the Highlands, Ecuadorians eat cuy, or guinea pig. The entire animal is roasted or fried and often served skewered on a stick.

Empanadas are also a common local food that are usually consumed as snacks in the afternoon. The most common varieties of this filled pastry are cheese and/or chicken.

FOOD

The food in Ecuador is very diverse, varying with altitude as do the agricultural conditions. Pork, chicken, meat or “cuy” (guinea pig) are popular in the mountain regions served with an immense variety of cereals, potatoes or rice. A street food in mountain regions of Ecuador is potatoes served with roasted pig (hornado). Fanesca is also a dish that has been made famous in Ecuador, it is a soup made during the time of Lent and is made with 12 types of bean (i.e. green beans, lima beans, lupini beans, fava beans, etc.) and milk and is usually served with codfish. The beef jerky was invented in Ecuador.

There is a great variety of fresh fruit available, particularly at lower altitudes. Seafood is popular at the coast, particularly prawns. Shrimp and lobster are key parts of the coastal diet as well. Plantain and peanut based dishes and foods are the basis of most coastal meals, which in general are served in two courses: a "caldo", or soup, which may be "aguado" (a thin soup, usually with meat), or "caldo de leche", a cream vegetable soup. The second course might typically include rice, some meat or fish in a "menestra" (stew), and salad or vegetables. Patacones are popular side dishes with most coastal meals.

Some of the typical dishes in the coastal region are: ceviche, pan de almidón, corviche, guatita, encebollado and empanadas; in the mountain region: hornado, fritada, humitas, tamales, llapingachos, lomo saltado, churrasco, etc.

In the rainforest, a dietary staple is the yuca, a root (elsewhere called cassava). The starchy root is peeled and boiled, fried, or used in a variety of other dishes. Many fruits are also available in this region.

DRINK

Aguardiente, often made from fermented sugar cane, is the local firewater. If possible, have some ground freshly into your cup from the sugarcane.

Bottled mineral water is very common and is guaranteed safe to drink; it comes in both carbonated (con gas) and noncarbonated (sin gas) varieties.

Coffee and tea are widely available. Herbal teas are also common. Probably needless to say, but Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other types of soda can be found everywhere in Ecuador.

Fruit juice is plentiful and good. Ask the server what kind of juice they are serving and you are often presented with a long list: piña (pineapple), mora (blackberry), maracuya (passion fruit), naranja (orange), sandia (watermelon), naranjilla (a jungle fruit), melon, taxo, guanabana, guava, etc. You can get them made with milk if you ask for a batido. Fruit juice and yogurt are available at some street stands. However, not all juices are served cold as many people expect; it's more than likely a lukewarm juice will be served to you.

Cuisine of Colombia

FOOD

In many areas of Colombia, it is common to have buñuelos (deep fried corn flour balls with cheese in the dough) and arepas (rather thick corn tortillas, often made with cheese and served with butter) with scrambled eggs for breakfast. Bogotá and the central region have its own breakfast delicacy of tamales - maize and chopped pork or chicken with vegetables and eggs, steamed in banana leaves, often served with home-made hot chocolate.

Empanadas, made with potato and meat with a pouch-like yellow exterior, are delicious and entirely different from their Mexican counterparts. Pastry is prevalent, both salty and sweet, including Pandebono, Pan de Yuca, Pastel Gloria, and Roscon. These vary in quality--ask the locals for the best niche places to indulge.

For lunch, especially on Sundays, you should try a sancocho de gallina (rich chicken soup, served with part of the chicken itself, rice and vegetables/salad). Sancocho is widespread throughout the country, with countless regional variants. On the coast it features fish, and is highly recommended. Another soup, served in Bogotá and the periphery, is Ajiaco (chicken soup made with three different kinds of potato, vegetables and herbs(guasca), served with rice, avocado, corn, milk cream and capers).

"Bandeja paisa" is common in most places, (the "paisas" are the natives from some departments in the North West, such as Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio). This includes rice, beans, fried plantain, arepa, fried egg, chorizo, chicharrón (pork crackling) with the meat still attached. It's a very fatty dish, but you can leave what you don't like, and if you're lucky enough, you could find a gourmet bandeja paisa in a good restaurant in Bogotá or Medellin. They are lighter and smaller.

There are a few chains throughout the country. In addition to worldwide franchises (McDonald's, Subway, T.G.I.F., which are specially focused on Bogotá and other big cities), Colombian chains are very strong and located in almost every city. Presto and especially El Corral serve outstanding burgers, Kokoriko makes broiled chicken and Frisby specializes in broasted chicken. Crêpes and Waffles, as the name indicates, is an upscale breakfast/brunch restaurant with spectacular... crêpes, waffles and ice cream. There are many international restaurants, including rodizios (Brazilian steak house style), paella houses, etc.

A great variety of tropical fruits can be tasted, and the corresponding variety in juices, from some of the oddest ones you can find around the globe (really) to the sweetest ones. You just must know how to find and prepare them. Anyway, anyone would be pleased to teach you. Some examples of those exotic fruits include: tamarindo, mangoes, guanabanas, lulo, mangostinos (really great and rare even for Colombians), and a great variety in citrus. In addition, you can find some of those rich and strange flavors in prepared food like ice cream brands or restaurant juices. Most of Colombians drink juices at home and in restaurants, they are inexpensive and natural everywhere.

In Colombia there are a great variety of "tamales" if you like them, but be aware they are very different from their most famous Mexican cousins. They differ from region to region, but all of them are delicious. They are called "envuelto", the sweet tamale made of corn.

Regarding coffee, you can find a lot of products that are both made commercially and home-made from this very famous colombian product, like wines, cookies, candies, milk-based desserts like "arequipe", ice-cream, etc.

Colombians are famous for having a sweet tooth, so you are going to find a lot of desserts and local candies like "bocadillo" made of guayaba (guava fruit), or the most famous milk-based "arequipe" (similar to its Argentinian cousin "dulce leche" or the french "confiteure du lait"). That just covers the basics, since every region in Colombia has its own fruits, local products, and therefore its own range of sweet products. If you are a lover of rare candies, you could get artisan-made candies in the little towns near Bogotá and Tunja.

Organic food is a current trend in big cities, but in little towns you can get fruits and veggies all very natural and fresh. Colombians aren't used to storing food for the winter, since there are no seasons in the traditional sense. So don't ask them for dried items like dried tomatos or fruits. All you have to do is go shopping at the little grocery stores nearby and pick up the freshest of the harvest of the month (almost everything is available and fresh all year). As for pickles and related preserved food, you can find them in supermarkets, but they are not common in family households.

Concerning potatoes, you must know the pre-Columbian civilizations had about 200 varieties of this plant. Well, Colombia as an Andean country, is not the exception. Even McDonalds recognized the quality of this product and buys them. But while you are there you don't want to go to McDonalds--you've got to try the local preparations like "salted potatos" (papas saladas) or "stewed potatos" (papas chorriadas).

All in all, in Colombia it can be fun to have the ingredients and the preparation of a lot of exotic recipes explained to you.

DRINK

Colombia offers an enormous variety of fruit and hence fruit juices. Do not miss them!

For breakfast, take a home-made hot chocolate. It is generally prepared with panela (dried cane juice), cinnamon and cloves, which gives it a special taste.

Colombia's national alcoholic beverage, Aguardiente tastes strongly of anise, and is typically bought by the bottle or half bottle. People usually drink it in shots. Each region has its own aguardiente, "Antioqueño" (from Antioquia), "Cristal" (from Caldas), "Quindiano" (from Quindio), "Blanco del Valle" (from Valle del Cauca) and "Nectar" (from Cundinamarca). There is also a variety of rum beverages, like "Ron Viejo Medellin" (also from Antioquia) and "Ron Viejo Caldas" (also from Caldas).

The water is drinkable right from the tap in most of the major cities, but be prepared to buy some bottles if you go to the countryside. Agua Manantial Bottled water is recommended, it comes from a natural spring near Bogotá. An advice make sure you do not use ice cubes, or drink any beverage that might contain no distilled water, ask if the beverage is made with tap or bottled/boiled water.

If you are lucky enough, and if you are staying in a familiar "finca cafetera" (coffee plantation) you can ask your Colombian friends not only for the selected coffee (quality export) but for the remaining coffee that the farmers leave to their own use. This is manually picked, washed, toasted in rustic brick stoves and manually ground. It has the most exquisite and rare flavor and aroma ever found.

Commercially you can find a lot of products made out of coffee too like wines, ice-creams, soda-pops and other beverages.

Cuisine of Chile

• 
• 
  
• Pastel de choclo: corn casserole filled with ground beef, onions, chicken, raisins, hardboiled egg, olives, and topped with sugar and butter.
• Empanada de pino: a baked pie filled with ground beef, onion, raisins, a piece of boiled egg and a black olive. Watch for the pit.
• Empanada de queso: a deep fried patty filled with cheese. Found everywhere, including McDonald's.
• Cazuela de vacuno: beef soup with a potato, rice, a piece of corn and a piece of squash.
• Cazuela de ave (or de pollo): same as above, but with a piece of chicken.
• Cazuela de pavo: idem, with turkey.
• Porotos granados: stew made with fresh beans, squash, corn, onion and basil.
  • con choclo: with grains of corn
  • con pilco or pirco: with corn thinly chopped
  • con mazamorra: with ground corn
  • con riendas:with thin sliced noodles
• Curanto: lots of sea food, beef, chicken and pork, potatoes, cheese, and potato "burguers", prepared in a hole in the ground ("en hoyo") or in a pot ("en olla"); a dish from Chiloé
• Southern sopaipillas: a fried pastry cut as 10 cm circles, with no pumpkin in its dough (see Northern sopaipillas in the desserts section). They replace bread. They are known South of Linares.
• Lomo a lo pobre: a beefsteak, fried potatoes, a fried egg (in restaurants you should expect two) and fried onions.

Besides typical foods, you should expect food you normally found in any Western country. Normal diet includes rice, potatoes, meat and bread. In central Chile vegetables are abundant. If you are concerned about the amount of food, consider that the size of the dish increases the farther south you travel.

With such an enormous coastline you can expect fish and seafood almost everywhere. Locals used to eat bundles of raw shellfish, visitors should be cautious on raw shellfish because of frequent outbreaks of red tides. Chile is the worlds 2nd largest producer of salmón, as well as number of other farmed sea products, which include oysters, scallops, mussels, trout, turbot. Local fish offer includes corvina (sea bass), congrio(conger eel), lenguado (flounder), albacora (swordfish), yellow fin tuna, etc.

SANDWICHES

• Hotdog or completo. Not similar to the American version. This one takes mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, tomato, mashed avocado (palta), sauerkraut (chucrut) and chilli (ají). All of it makes a full sandwich, i.e. un completo. With mayonnaise, tomato and avocado it's un italiano with the colors of the Italian flag.
• Lomito. Cooked pork steaks served with anything that can go in a hotdog. Italiano is the preferred form but German purists prefer it with sauerkraut (chucrut).
• Chacarero: a thin beefsteak (churrasco) with tomato, green beans, mayonnaise and green chilli (ají verde).
• Barros Luco: Named after President Ramón Barros Luco. Thinly sliced beefsteak with cheese.
• Choripán: Bread with "chorizo", which is a highly-seasoned pork sausage. Named that way because the contraction of "Pan con Chorizo" or "Chorizo con Pan".

A common combination is meat with avocado and/or mayonnaise, e.g. Ave palta mayo (chicken with avocado and mayonnaise) or Churrasco palta (thinly sliced beefsteak with avocado). The strong presence of avocado is a Chilean standard for sandwiches that even makes it to the fast food franchises who include it in their menus.

DESSERTS

• Mote con huesillos: dried peach (huesillos) cooked with with lots of sugar (giving a fresh syrup) with optional mote added. Mote is fresh cooked barley with almost no flavor. Since the syrup is very sweet, the mix is good.
• Northern sopaipillas: a fried pastry cut as 10 cm circles, which includes pumpkin in its dough, and normally is eaten with chancaca, a black treacle or molasses. It's customary to make them when it rains and it's cold outside. Sopaipillas as a dessert are known only north of San Javier. From Linares to the South they are not dessert and they are made with no pumpkin. So, when it rains, Chilean Southerners must cook picarones.
• Kuchen (or cújen, pronounced KOO-hen). It's German for pie. In the South ask for kuchen de quesillo, a kind of cheesecake.
• Strudel (pronounced ess-TROO-dayl). A kind of apple pie.
• Berlín. When they translate John Kennedy's famous gaffe they say it's a “jelly doughnut”. The Chilean version is a ball of dough (no hole) filled with dulce de membrillo, crema pastelera or manjar. Powder sugar is added just in case you have a sweet tooth.
• Cuchuflí. "Barquillo" (tube of something crunchy like a cookie) filled with "manjar".

As a major fruit producer, in Central Chile you can easily get fruit for dessert. There is a broad offer that includes apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, watermelons, strawberries, raspberries, chirimoyas', etc.

DRINK

• Wine: Chile produces some excellent wines, competing with California, Australia and New Zealand for world markets. Notable are the Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere in red, along with whites from the Casablanca valley.
• Mote con Huesillo: Dehydrated peaches with stewed barley often in water or peach juice.
• Chilean Pisco: Brandy made from Muscat grapes. Popular brands are Capel,Alto del Carmen,Valle Elqui.
• Pisco Sour: One of Chile's most popular mixed drinks, this consists of Pisco mixed with lemon juice and sugar. It has a delicious tart sweetness.
• Mango Sour: Pisco mixed with mangos juice.
• Piscola: Pisco mixed with Coke
• Borgoña: Red wine and strawberries.
• Schop: Beer on tap.
• Fan-Schop: Beer mixed with orange Fanta soda. A refreshing alternative on a hot summer day.
• Beers: Cristal is the most popular (light). Several other main brands, Heineken, Brahma, Becker and premium Kunstmann.

Unlike other latin countries, in Chile it's illegal to drink on the streets or public areas, SO DON'T!. The alcohol laws also severely restrict vendors hours depending on the week day (in no case after 3 AM or before 9 AM). For Foreigners it's allowed to consume alcoholic beverages around the clock but only with their passport and in the hotel they're staying.

Cuisine of Brazil

Brazil's cuisine is as varied as its geography and culture. On the other hand, some may find it an unrefined melange, and everyday fare can be bland and monotonous. While there are some quite unique dishes of regional origin, many dishes were brought by overseas immigrants and have been adapted to local tastes through the generations. In Brazil, Italian and Chinese food can often be as baffling as Amazonian fare.

Brazil's national dish is feijoada, a hearty stew made of black beans and pork cuts (ears, knuckles, chops, sausage and pieces of beef (usually dried). It's served with rice, garnished with collard greens and sliced oranges. It's usually not served in restaurants, but the ones that do typically offer it twice a week (usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays). A typical mistake made by tourists is to eat too much feijoada shortly after arriving. This is a heavy dish, and you need to get used to it before you eat it. Even Brazilians usually eat it parcimoniously. While you are at it, try the caipirinha, Brazil´s signature drink made of wedged limes, sugar and cachaça.

Excellent seafood can be found in coastal towns, especially in the North East.

Brazilian snacks, called lanches, include a wide variety of pastries. Look for coxinha (deep-fried chicken balls), empadinha (a stuffed pastry pie, unrelated to Latin American empanadas: try out the palmito - heart of palm variety), and pastel (fried turnovers). Another common snack is a misto quente, a ham-and-cheese sandwich. Pão-de-queijo, a roll made of manioc flour and cheese, is very popular - pão-de-queijo and a cup of fresh Brazilian coffee is a classical combination.

REGIONAL CUISINES

• Southern - Churrasco is Brazilian barbeque, and is usually served "Rodizio" ou "espeto corrido" (all-you-can-eat). Waiters carry huge cuts of meat on steel spits from table to table, and carve off slices onto your plate (use the tongs to grab the meat slice and don't touch the knife edge with your silverware to avoid dulling the edge). Traditionally, you are given a small wooden block colored green on one side and red on the other. When you're ready to eat, put the green side up. When you're too stuffed to even tell the waiter you've had enough, put the red side up... Most churrasco restaurants (churrascarias) also serve other types of food, so it is safe to go there with a friend that is not really fond of meat.
• Mineiro is the "miner's" cuisine of Minas Gerais, based on pork and beans, with some vegetables. Dishes from Goiás are similar, but use some different ingredients such as pequi and guariroba. Minas Gerais cuisine if not seen as particularly tasty, has a "homely" feel that is much cherished.
• The food of Bahia, on the northeast coast has its roots across the Atlantic in West Africa. Coconut, dende palm oil, and seafood are the prime ingredients. Tip: hot ("quente") means lots of pepper, cold ("frio") means less or no pepper at all. If you don't dare to eat it hot you should try acarajé (prawn-filled roasties) and vatapá (drinkable black beans soup).
• Espírito Santo and Bahia have two different versions of moqueca, a delightful tomato-based seafood stew prepared in a special type of clay pot.
• Amazon cuisine draws from the food of the indigenous inhabitants, including various exotic fish and vegetables. There is also a stupendous variety of tropical fruits.
• Ceará's food in the coastline has a great sort of seafood, is known to have the country's best crab. It's so popular that literally every weekend thousands of people go to Praia do Futuro in Fortaleza to eat fried fish and crabs (usually followed by cold beer).

Brazilian cuisine also has a lot of imports:

• Pizza is quite popular in Brazil. In Sāo Paulo, travellers will find the highest rate of pizza parlours per inhabitant in the country. The variety of flavours is extremely vast, with some restaurants offering more than 50 types of pizza. It is worth noting the difference between the European "mozzarella" and the Brazilian "mussarela". They differ in flavor, appearance and origin but buffalo mozzarella ("mussarela de búfala") is also often available. The Brazilian "mussarela", which tops most pizzas, is yellow in color and has a stronger taste, which could be compared to the Emmental cheese. In some restaurants, particularly in the South, pizza has no tomato sauce. Other dishes of Italian origin, such as macarrão (macaroni), lasanha and others are also very popular.
• Middle-eastern and Arab (actually Lebanese) food is widely available. Most options offer high quality and a big variety. Some types of middle-eastern food, such as quibe and esfiha have been adapted and are available at snack stands and fast food joints nation-wide.
• São Paulo's Japanese restaurants serve up lots of tempura, sushi and sashimi. The variety is good and mostly the prices are very attractive when compared to Europe, USA and Japan. Most Japanese restaurants also offer the rodizio or buffet deal, with the same quality as if you ordered from the menu. Sometimes, however, it can be quite a departure from the real thing. The same can be said of Chinese food, again with some variations from the traditional. Cheese-filled spring rolls, anyone?

RESTAURANTS

Eating out is a great bargain and a pleasure in Brazil. Service varies in quality but is usually inexpensive. Even in expensive Rio and in touristy areas where prices are marked-up, you can have an excellent meal at a good restaurant with drinks for US$10.

• Note that the locals tip 10% of the bil. This value is usually included in the bill. Use this as an opportunity to make somebody's day for extra special gratuity. If you are going to stay for some time, choose a good reastaurant for everyday eating, make friends with a waiter (usually by giving him an extra tip) and you will enjoy excellent service.
• Most of the self-service restaurants offer two kinds of deals: an all-you-can-eat buffets (called "rodízio"), or a price per kilo ("por quilo"), very common during lunchtime throughout Brazil.

Many inexpensive restaurants are weighted self-service buffets, or por quilo. You pile up your plate with whatever you want, then place it on a scale at the counter, and pay by weight. These restaurants, being inexpensive, are those where many Brazilians prefer to eat daily. Service may be hard to get if you can't speak Portuguese, but this is the place to go if you want to eat good and cheap.

Even in the smallest towns it is easy to find self-service restaurants with good food. Brazilian restaurants can have varying degrees of cleanliness. Customers are allowed by law to visit the kitchen and see how the food is being handled.

• Some Brazilian restaurants serve only meals for two, and sometimes the portion is too large for a single person. The size of the portions are usually not indicated on the menu, so you may have to ask the waiter.
• Fast food is also very popular, and the local takes on hamburgers and hot-dogs ("cachorro-quente", translated literally) are well worth trying. Brazilian sandwiches tend to come in many varieties, including various combinations of ingredients like mayonnaise, bacon, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, corn, peas, raisins, french fries, ketchup, eggs, pickles, etc. The fast food chain Bob's is found nationwide and has been around in the country for almost as long as McDonald's.

Brazilians handle sandwiches with napkins and may use utensils to eat french fries.

Drink

LIQUOR AND BEER

• Brazil's most famous alcoholic drink is cachaça (cah-shah-sah), an extremely potent sugar-cane liquor known to knock the unwary out quite quickly. It can be tried in virtually every bar in the country. Famous producing regions include Minas Gerais, where there are tours of distillers, much in the same way as you'd tour vineyards in the Sonoma Valley or in France, and the city of Paraty. Pirassununga is home to Caninha 51, Brazil's best-selling brand. In a city near Fortaleza there is a cachaça museum (Museu da Cachaça) where you can learn about the history of the Ypioca brand.

The strong flavor of cachaça - also known as aguardente ("burning water"), pinga, and many other regional variants - can be tempered (hidden?) in cocktails like the famous caipirinha, a combination of cachaça with sugar and lime juice. The same mix using vodka instead of cachaça is nicknamed caipiroska or caipivodka; with white rum, it's a caipiríssima.

Another interesting concoction is called capeta ("devil"), made with cachaça, condensed milk, cinnamon, guarana powder (a mild stimulant), and other ingredients, varying by region.

Drinking cachaça straight, or stirring in only a dollop of honey or a bit of lime juice, is a common habit on the Northeast region of the country.

If you enjoy fine brandy or grappa, try an aged cachaça. Deep and complex, this golden-coloured spirit is nothing like the ubiquitous clear liquor more commonly seen.

• Beer in Brazil has a respectable history thanks to German immigrants. Most Brazilian beer brands tend to be less thick and bitter than actual German, Danish or English beer. The most popular domestic brands are Brahma, Antarctica, Bavaria, and Skol. Traditional brands include Bohemia, Caracu and Itaipava. Other international brands available are Carlsberg, Stella Artois, Guinness, Miller, Budweiser and others. There are two ways of drinking beer in bars: draft or bottled beer. Draft lager beer is called chope or chopp ('SHOH-pee'), and is commonly served with one inch of foam, but you can make a complaint to the bartender if the foam is consistently thicker than that. In bars, the waiter will usually collect the empty glasses and bottles on a table and replace them with full ones, until you ask him to stop, in a "tap" charging system. In the case of bottled beer, bottles (600ml) are shared among everyone in the table and poured in small glasses, rather than drank straight from the bottle. Brazilians like their beer nearly ice-cold - hence, to keep the temperature down, bottles of beer are often kept in an insulated polystyrene container on the table.
• While imported alcohol is very expensive, you may find a large assortment of vodka, wine and rum brands in any local supermarket. They come relatively cheap and don't taste that bad. If you really want imported vodka, gin, or Scotch, your best bet is to buy those at the duty-free shop at the airport (Brazil is one of the few countries where you can buy duty-free goods on your way in).
• Rio Grande do Sul is the leading wine production region. There are a number of wine-producing farms that are open to visitors and wine tasting, and wine cellars selling wine and fermented grape juice. One of these farms open to visitors is Salton Winery, located in the city of Bento Gonçalves (Rua Mário Salton, 300, Distrito de Tuiuty, CEP 95700-000. Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul. Tel: +55(54) 2105-1000).

The Sao Francisco Valley, along the border of the states of Pernambuco and Bahia, is the country's newest wine-producing region. Brazilian wines are usually fresher, fruitier and less alcoholic than, for instance, French wines. Popular brands like Sangue de Boi, Canção and Santa Felicidade and others with prices below R$ 6.00 are usually seen as rubbish.

• If you happen to be in Minas Gerais, look for licor de jabuticaba (jabuticaba liquor) or vinho de jabuticaba (jabuticaba wine), an exquisite purple-black beverage with a sweet taste. Jabuticaba is the name of a small grape-like black fruit native to Brazil.

COFFEE AND TEA

Brazil is known world-wide for its high-quality strong coffee. Café is so popular that it can name meals (just like rice does in China, Japan and Korea): breakfast in Brazil is called café da manhã (morning coffee), while café com pão (coffee with bread) or café da tarde (afternoon coffee) means a light afternoon meal. Cafezinho (small coffee) is a small cup of strong, sweetened coffee usually served after meals in restaurants (sometimes for free, just ask politely). Bottled filtered coffee is being replaced by stronger espresso cups in more upscale restaurants.

Chá, or tea in Portuguese, is most commonly found in its Assam version (orange, light coloured). Some more specialised tea shops and cafés will have Earl Gray and green tea available as well.

Mate is an infusion similar to tea that is very high in caffeine content. A toasted version, often served chilled, is consumed all around the country, while Chimarrão, the hot, bitter equivalent of mate, can be found in the south, and is highly appreciated by the gaúchos (Rio Grande do Sul dwellers). Tererê is a cold version of Chimarrão, common in Mato Grosso state.

SOFT DRINKS

If you're on the beach on a hot day, nothing beats coconut water, or água de coco - but be careful how you pronounce the word coco (hint: stress the first o as you would in the word oboe, otherwise it will sound to them like you are ordering poo!).

If you want a Coca-Cola in Brazil, ask for coca, as "cola" means "glue", in Portuguese (but if you say "Coca-cola", everybody will understand).

Guaraná is a carbonated soft drink made from a berry (the guaraná) native to the Amazon area. The major brands are Antarctica, Kuat and Brahma.

FRUIT JUICES

Fruit juices are very popular in Brazil. There are fruit juice bars at nearly every corner. Açai (made of a fruit from the Amazon) is absolutely delicious and very nutritious on top of that. It is normally served cold and has a consistency of soft ice. Don't let the crazy purple color stop you from eating it! Maracuja (passion fruit) Caju (cashew) and Manga (mango) are also great juice experiences. Don't be afraid to try what you see on the menu. Brazilians have great taste when it comes to mixing juices. Be aware that orange juice in Brazil is called suco de laranja, which can confuse Spanish speakers who aren't careful.