State administration

Governo do Estado do Tocantins
Assembléia Legislativa
Tribunal de Justiça
Tribunal de Contas
Sec. da Comunicação
Sec. da Administração
Sec. da Fazenda
Sec. da Indústria e do Comércio
Sec. do Planejamento e Meio Ambiente
Sec. da Agricultura.
Sec. do Trabalho
Sec. do Turismo
Sec. da Segurança Pública
Instituto Natureza
Polícia Militar

OFFICIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Prefeitura Municipal de Palmas
Câmara Municipal de Palmas

LINKS

Brazilian sites come and go much faster than we update this website.
Nevertheless, feel free to mail us links.
Some sites with general information, in Portuguese language:
http://www.portaldotocantins.com.br/
http://www.campusvirtual.br/cidadedoconhecimentopalmas/index.php
http://www.palmasvirtual.to.gov.br/
http://www.portaldocidadao.to.gov.br/

NEWSPAPERS

Folha Popular 
O Girassol 
Jornal do Tocantins 
TNA-Brazil 

The following site offers a lot of good information:
http://www.bitourism.com/travelsneeds/travelneeds.asp

PASSPORT / VISA REQUIREMENTS
Brazil has a "reciprocal visa policy," which means that it requires visas of citizens from countries that require visas of Brazilians. Americans, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealand citizens all need visas (UK citizens do not) which can be obtained by applying at Brazilian embassies and consulates. Visas are valid up to 90 days before your arrival, then another 90 once you have arrived.  If your visa expires while you are there, you can renew it for another 90 days.

These requirements are subject to change. Check with the embassy or consulate in your home country before you depart.

Australian and New Zealand citizens:
A passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry and an onward ticket are required. If traveling on business, a business visa is required.

Canadian citizens:
A passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry and an onward ticket are required. If traveling on business, a business visa is required.

EU citizens:
A passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry and an onward ticket are required. Citizens of France are also required to obtain a tourist visa. Visitors traveling on business must obtain a business visa. Japanese citizens: A passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry, a return ticket, and a visa (usually good for stays of up to 90 days) are required.

U.S. citizens:
A passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry and an onward ticket are required. If traveling on business, a business visa is required. U.S. citizens may be granted tourist and business visas good for stays as long as five years. 
Others: Nationals of countries not listed should check with the nearest Brazilian consulate in their home country. Visa and passport requirements vary.

Note: Those visitors who do not possess an onward ticket must have sufficient proof of means to purchase a return ticket to their country of origin and a reason why they do not have a return ticket. Also note that minors traveling alone or with only one parent or guardian must have special authorization from a Brazilian consulate.


PHONE CODE
Brazil's international telephone access code is 55. The city code for Palmas is 0633, for Rio de Janeiro is 021, for São Paulo 011, for Brasília 061, for Belém 091, for Recife 081, and for Salvador 071. Omit the 0 when calling from outside the country.

To place an international direct-dial call from Brazil, dial 00 plus the appropriate country code.
For information on placing an international call from Brazil, dial 000333, or, to get the international operator, dial 107 and ask for the telefonista internacional. To reach the operator within the country, dial 100; to get local information, dial 102.

OPENING HOURS
Basic hours for most stores and businesses are from 9am to 6pm, with an extended lunch hour from around noon to 2pm. On Saturday 9am–1 pm, and closed on Sunday.
In cities and larger towns, many shops—especially shopping malls—stay open past 6 PM in the evenings and are also open on Sunday.
Banks don't open until 10am, stay open all day, but usually stop changing money at either 2pm or 3pm; except for those at major airports, they're closed at weekends and on public holidays. Museums and monuments more or less follow office hours but many are closed on Monday.

Although plane and bus timetables are kept to whenever possible, in the less developed parts of the country - most notably Amazonia but also the interior of the Northeast - delays often happen. Brazilians are very Latin in their attitude to time, and if ever there was a country where patience will stand you in good stead it's Brazil. Turn up at the arranged time, but don't be surprised at all if you're kept waiting. Waiting times are especially long if you have to deal with any part of the state
bureaucracy, like extending a visa. There is no way out of this; just take a good book.

HOLIDAYS
There are plenty of local and state holidays, but on the following national holidays just about everything in the country
will be closed:
New Year's Day (1 January),
Epiphany (6 January),
Carnaval (February or March; dates vary),
Easter and Good Friday (March or April; dates vary),
Tiradentes Day (21 April),
Labour Day (1 May),
Ascension Day (May; date varies),
Corpus Christi (June; date varies),
Independence Day (7 September),
Nossa Senhora Aparecida Day (12 October),
Dia dos Finados (the Day of the Dead) (2 November),
Proclamation of the Republic Day (15 November), and
Christmas Day (25 December).

WEATHER
Temperatures are moderate in Brazil year-round, though some areas experience more seasonal variation than others. Along the coast near Rio de Janeiro, summers (December to February) are extremely hot, humid, and wet, while winters (June to August) are comfortably cooler, averaging temperatures in the 20s C (upper 60s and 70s F). In the northeast, temperatures are similar to those of Rio, but a tropical breeze keeps the humidity down. Further south, winter temperatures can
dip into the lower teens C (50s F), and some areas even see a bit of snow. In the valley of the Amazon, temperatures remain steady all year (between 27° and 32° C/81° and 90° F), though humidity is high and rainfall heavy. 


MONEY
The Brazilian currency, the Real, fluctuates widely. 
The real (R$) is the basic monetary unit, having replaced the former cruzeiro real in July of 1994.
The real is divided into 100 centavos; centavo coins are available in denominations of 1, 5, 10,
25, and 50; real notes are available in denominations of R$ 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100. For current international exchange rates, see the Currency Converter.

Traveler's checks usually can be exchanged at hotels, banks, and tourist agencies in most major cities and towns, but it's a good idea to keep a ready supply of cash on hand just in case. Credit cards are accepted by larger hotels, restaurants, and shops, but not all merchants accept them; if you plan to use a credit card, ask first.

Small change is in short supply in Brazil; be sure to ask for lots of small bills when you change money. If you are about to make a purchase with a large bill, ask first if the seller has change.

TIPPING
It is customary to tip 10 percent for most services. Bills usually come with ten percent taxa de serviço included, in which case you don't have to tip - ten percent is about right if it is not included. Waiters and some hotel employees depend on tips, so don't be too mean. Taxi drivers don't expect tips, but many people round up the fare as a tip.You are expected to tip barbers, hairdressers, shoeshine kids, self-appointed guides and porters. Parking assistants (who expect 25 to 50 centavos), gas station attendants, and restaurant servers all regularly receive tips. It's useful to keep change handy for them and for beggars.

TAXES
All consumer taxes (nonrefundable) are included in the prices of goods and services.

MEASUREMENTS
The metric system is standard throughout the country.

DRIVING
Road conditions vary considerably, from excellent to primitive. Although potholes and rough roads are common throughout some parts of the country, Brazilian drivers are the greater hazard. They regularly ignore traffic laws and break the speed limits—all of which are unenforced by the police. Be prepared.

A driver's license from your home country as well as an international driver's license are necessary for driving in Brazil. Traffic proceeds on the right. Parking in cities is very difficult. See Transportation for more details.

TOURIST OFFICES
In Brazil, facilities vary greatly. Popular destinations like Rio, Salvador and towns throughout the South have efficient and helpful tourist offices, but anywhere off the beaten track has nothing at all.

All state capitals have tourist information offices, which are open during office hours, announced by signs saying "Informações Turísticas". Most provide free city maps and booklets, but they are usually all in Portuguese, although you occasionally see atrociously mangled English. As a rule, only the airport tourist offices have hotel booking services, and none of them are very good on advising about budget accommodation. There are EMBRATUR offices in a few of the major centres, but the local tourist offices are usually more helpful; these are run by the different state and municipal governments, so you have to learn a new acronym every time you cross a state line. In Rio, for example, you'll find national (EMBRATUR), state (Turisrio) and city (Riotur) offices.



ADDRESSES
Trying to find an address can be confusing: streets often have two names, numbers don't always follow a logical sequence, and parts of the address are often abbreviated (Brasília is a special case). The street name and number will often have a floor, apartment or room number tacked on: thus R. Afonso Pena 111-3° s.234 means third floor, room 234. "R" is short for Rua, "s" for sala, and you may also come across andar (floor), Ed. (edifício, or building) or s/n (sem número, no number), very common in rural areas and small towns. All addresses in Brazil also have an eight-digit postcode, or CEP, often followed by two capital letters for the state; leaving it out causes delay in postage. So a full address might read: Rua do Sol 132-3 andar, s.12 65000-100 São Luís - MA.

BARBERS
For men, a visit to a barber is one of the cheaper luxuries Brazil affords. Wherever it says "Cabeleireiro" you can treat yourself to an old-fashioned, non-automated haircut and shave, invariably with hot towel and cut-throat razor, with Brylcreem and facial massage as optional extras, for no more than a dollar or two.


CINEMA
Most films shown in Brazilian cinemas are American with subtitles. These all reach Brazil very soon after they're released in the US (and often before the UK) and entrance is very cheap. Both Rio and São Paulo have a good art-house cinema network; in Rio the Estação chain, with branches in Botafogo, Catete, Flamengo and Copacabana, is especially good. If you understand Portuguese, look out for movies by two great Brazilian directors, the modernist Glauber Rocha, and the more conservative Nelson Pereira dos Santos. 


GAY BRAZIL
Gay life in Brazil still thrives in the large cities, despite a long shadow cast by the AIDS problem. The scene benefits from a relaxed tolerance in attitudes towards sexuality. Gay life is highly visible: female impersonation and transvestism scale heights unseen in Britain or the United States. Attitudes do vary from region to region: rural areas and small towns, especially in Minas Gerais and the South, are deeply conservative; the medium-sized and larger cities are not. The two most popular gay destinations are Rio and Salvador. Pointers to gay life for specific places are given herein. A refreshing point to bear in mind is that in Brazil the divide between gay and straight nightlife is very blurred: in the overlap you will find many places popular with both gays and straights.
There is as yet no national gay organization in Brazil.

LAUNDRY
There are hardly any laundries in Brazil, but even the humblest hotel has a lavadeira who will wash and iron your clothes. Agree a price beforehand, but don't be too hard - livelihoods are at stake. Larger hotels have set prices for laundry services - usually surprisingly expensive.

LEFT LUGGAGE
Most bus stations will have a guarda volume where you can leave bags. In cities it's usually a locker system, open 24 hours - there's a booth where you buy a key, and a token for every day that you want to leave things; you leave the tokens inside the locker. In smaller places it will usually be a lock-up room operated by a bus company, so check the opening hours before you leave anything. They're safe enough to leave your bags for short periods while you look for a hotel, but don't check money or anything really valuable, especially if you are leaving them for longer periods.

MUSEUMS
Many museums in Brazil do not charge for admission; when they do, entrance is almost always modest, $1-2 being typical, and as such, is unlikely to deter tourists. Brazil's few museums that have the international connections, financial means and security occasionally host special touring exhibitions from abroad and in these cases, entrance charges are somewhat higher than normal.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Only regular 35mm 100 ASA Kodacolor film is easily available in Brazil and even this is likely to be poorly kept, expensive and past its "use by" date. If you use anything else, bring it with you. In the Amazon and other forests, 400 ASA film and possibly a flash and tripod will be necessary as it can be surprisingly dark. Small batteries are also hard to get hold of and will be very expensive if you find them. A polarizing filter is essential if you have an SLR camera. If possible try to keep the film at a constant temperature before and after use, and process it as soon as possible.

STUDENT CARDS
An international student card, or a FIYTO youth card is well worth carrying. It will get you occasional reductions at museums and the like, but more importantly it serves as an extremely useful ID for bus drivers and hotels, saving you from having to keep your passport available at all times. Any official-looking card with a picture and number on it will serve almost as well.

TOILETS
Public toilets are not very common and often disgusting. The words to look for are Banheiro or Sanitário: where they're marked (less often than you might hope) Cavalheiros means men, Senhoras or Damas women. It's always a good idea to carry some toilet paper with you.

MAPS

Detailed maps are surprisingly hard to get hold of outside Brazil, and are rarely very good: there are plenty of maps of South America, but the only widely available one that is specifically of Brazil is the Bartholomew Brazil & Bolivia (1:5,000,000) which is not very easy to read. Much better are the six regional maps in the Mapa Rodoviário Touring series (1:2,500,000), which clearly mark all the major routes, although these, even in Brazil, are difficult to find.

In Brazil, a useful compendium of city maps and main road networks is published by Guias Quatro Rodas, a Brazilian motoring organization, which also has guides to Rio, São Paulo and other cities, states and regions. These are easy to find in bookstores, newsagents and magazine stalls. Very clear maps of individual states are published by Polimapas, and are usually available on the spot. At 1:1,000,000 these are the largest scale of all, though they actually have less detail than some of the above mentioned. Topographical and hiking maps are difficult to find, though very occasionally they are available from municipal tourist offices or national parks in Brazil.

VACCINES / MEDICINS 
Brazil requires all visitors to be vaccinated for yellow fever.
A very informative site regarding precautions:
http://www.mdtravelhealth.com/destinations/samerica/brazil.html

WATER
It is recommended that visitors drink bottled water. Ice cubes and fruit juices are not made with bottled water.