Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte, hosts the largest micareta, or off-season Carnival, in Brazil. Carnatal 2009 (Dec.3-6) will have several top attractions from Carnival in Salvador, such as Banda Eva, Ivete Sangalo, Claudia Leitte and Chiclete com Banana.

In Carnatal, like in Salvador, you can join one or more of ten blocos, or Carnival groups. You can follow the bands playing atop trios elétricos -- sound-wired trucks -- over a 2.5 mile-course, or party in one of the mezzanin boxes along the Corredor da Folia (the "revelry corridor").

Joining the blocos in Carnatal is not free. In Natal, the abadás, or bloco outfits, are being sold at Natal Shopping (turn off the volume lest you listen to their Christmas ad). Your best bet if you're not in Brazil is to get assistance from a travel agency.

Find Natal Hotels on Kayak

Photo courtesy of Carnatal.

Discoteca Help, Rio's notorious disco/prostitution house in Copacabana, closed last Thursday. The disco will be demolished and, on the property, the new Museum of Image and Sound will be built, starting in 2010.

MIS has the largest collection of Brazilian music, as well as 40,000 photographs and over 1,000 recorded interviews. The museum is located in central Rio.

New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the authors of the winning project, were inspired by Burle Marx's designs of the wavy patterns on Copacabana's sidewalks. You can find MIS project details on the Diller Scofidio + Renfro website.

The Windsor Excelsior opened in the 1950s as Hotel Excelsior, when Copacabana was already a busy beach with lots of buildings (see this photo on the Saudades do Rio photoblog) and when Rio de Janeiro hosted World Cup finals.

One of a few Copacabana beachfront hotels, the Windsor Excelsior has already issued its rates for Carnival 2010 as well as New Year's Eve, when, from the terrace with a pool on the top floor, you have a superb view of the party and fireworks.

Photo courtesy of Windsor Hotéis.

November 20 is Black Awareness Day in Brazil, and during this month several organizations are engaged in seminars, meetings and other events which aim to foster Afro-Brazilian culture and well-being.

The date was first observed in the 1960s and has been on the school calendar since 2003. It honors the day in 1695 when Zumbi, the leader of the Palmares quilombo (a community of escaped slaves), was killed. Zumbi is one of the national heroes honored at the Nation's Pantheon in Brasília. Celebrate Brazil's black heritage in your encounters with our people, music, food, and traditions, and also as you visit:

• The Afro-Brazil Museum in São Paulo
• The Afro-Brazilian Museum in Salvador
• The Campinho da Independência community (in Paraty), where you can eat at Restaurante do Quilombo

This November is very meaningful to black awareness as the Câmara dos Deputados, one of Brazil's most important legislative bodies, recently passed the Statute of Racial Equality. The controversial document is being criticized for not establishing quotas for universities, for example, and praised for some of its points, such as the determination that children in Brazil's elementary and middle schools, public and private, learn more about the history of Africa and Brazil's own black history. The document is likely to be sanctioned by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva before Black Awareness Day.

If you would like to learn more about the advancement of black people in Brazil, Palmares Cultural Foundation in Brasília is a good place to start.