Carlos is an urban planning and policy researcher at the Federal University, and an assistant professor at the Rural Federal University, both in Rio de Janeiro. He has an MA in juridical science with an emphasis on South American politics and fundamental rights. His main fields of interest are urban/regional planning and policies, architecture, and Brazilian history. He is a native of the northeastern city of Fortaleza, the region of the first modern-age settlements in Brazil. This area has a diverse culture and is the birthplace of many influential Brazilians who have shaped the city, thus giving Carlos the perfect background with which to introduce travelers to Rio's rich history.

Amber is an architect, landscape architect, and author by trade, and an urban researcher, teacher, and adventurer by experience. She arrived in Rio de Janeiro and fell in love with the city after a thirteenth-month trek by truck, boat, and bicycle from San Francisco, CA, to Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, traveling alongside a seventy-year-old biking capoeira master. Her professional focus is on small-scale sustainable urban development for and by the public who will benefit from it. To these ends, she and renowned landscape architect Randolph T. Hester Jr. wrote <u>Inhabiting the Sacred</u>, a study of domestic spaces forthcoming from George Thompson Press. Today she calls Rio de Janeiro home, though she was literally born on the road: Rota, her birthplace on the Bahía de Cádiz, España, means in Portuguese 'route, circuit, walk.' Amber loves to share her knowledge of this incredible, beautiful, and interesting city.

Beth is Brazilian and a true 'Carioca da Gema,' or one who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Although she has lived in other places both in Brazil and abroad, Rio has always been her hometown. One of her favourite hobbies is walking around the city, noticing its physical changes and the new ways of life with them. She holds a degree in Brazilian history, and writes fiction. She has published a short-stories e-book entitled Sexta-feira, and is about to finish writing a novel. She has developed a love of different cultures, histories, and ways of life. Beth enjoys showing travelers Rio's living style and history, as well as its beautiful and unique natural landscapes.