F E A T U R E S

Come Home with Me
By Don George, Editor
Bahamians go all out for tourism

Riding High
By Cintra Wilson
Our resident enfant terrible does the Kentucky Derby

D E P A R T M E N T S

The Surreal Gourmet
By Bob Blumer
Dinner for Dali:
A palette to delight your palate

Passages:
"My Night of Candomblé"
Bewitched in Brazil
By Christopher Hall
- Books on Brazil
- Getting there

Postmark: Moscow
Every Man a Czar
By Arline Klatte
In Moscow, even schmucks from Detroit can savor Cuban cigars and bed Slavic beauties
- Getting there

Readers' Tips and Tales
Do grocery stores reveal all there is to know about a culture?

- - - - - - - -

Your virtual travel agency

- - - - - - - -

L A S T + W E E K

Tuesday April 29

Uzbek low tech
By Doug Fine
If you're big on telephones and such, the nations of Central Asia aren't for you. But if you have an iron stomach, a steel will and a bottle of Cipro, you'll be rewarded with priceless spectacles of ancient history.

A full list of all
Wanderlust articles

               B O O K S  O N   B R A Z I L

THE WAR OF THE SAINTS

BY JORGE AMADO | imagine a world where religion, dance, love and chastity clash in explosive rhythm. Famed Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado transports readers to this place in "The War of the Saints," an enchanting tale about two imprisoned women. The novel begins when a statue of Saint Barbara of the Thunder mysteriously comes to life and disappears into the streets of Bahia. While the whole city is looking for the priceless statue, the saint's presence casts a hypnotic spell on a woman named Adalgisa "to teach her tolerance and joy and the goodness of life." By freeing Adalgisa from her inner demons, another person is liberated: Adalgisa's 17-year-old niece, who lives under her roof and under her reign of terror. Amado weaves a tale as colorful as the Carnivalesque air that wafts through the city, capturing the true spirit of Brazil and the magical, multicultural region of Bahia.

THE BRAZILIANS

BY JOSEPH A. PAGE | brazil, the fantasy, and Brazil, the reality. James A. Page digs beneath the surface and debunks the myth of a Brazil filled with tropical fruit and Technicolor sunrises. "The Brazilians" examines the political infrastructure and ethnic and sociological influences that have led to Brazil's feeble and struggling economy. Page deftly dissects modern-day Brazil, tracing the rise of labor unions, violence and the spread of favelas (shantytowns) across the countryside. This is an engrossing historical account of the Brazilians, of the culture that binds them and the class system that enslaves them.

THE SADDEST PLEASURE:  A JOURNEY ON TWO RIVERS

BY MORITZ THOMSEN | “this is a self-portrait, but in this case the artist is painting himself naked," Paul Theroux writes in the introduction to this beautiful and moving book. "The Saddest Pleasure" is a candid memoir of one man's journey to another place, and a poignant portrait of his need to escape deep within himself. Moritz Thomsen slips into the Brazilian landscape and confronts painful memories from the past. As he travels from town to town, images around him trigger reflections of his dead father and the life he left behind in Ecuador. As his odyssey unfolds, Thomsen's narrative not only reveals his own rawness, but also illustrates the nakedness of the country: from the foul odor of the street corners to the soul-tugging sight of a homeless woman's slow decline. Thomsen marries past and present in this seamlessly written book, and in so doing exposes himself as a man rich in both humanity and grace.