Over Christmas and New Year's Eve 2013/14, we picked eastern Brazil as our holiday destination. We started in Salvador de Bahia, went from there to Lençois and the Chapada Diamantina, flew to Sao Paulo where we picked up a car to drive via Paratí on the coast to Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi where we ended this 2-week trip. Colourful, diverse, but at times also quite unsafe, especially in Salvador and Rio where local police advises to avoid certain city districts.