If you are a regular reader of the blog, you probably know that I have been vacationing in Punta del Este since I was a child. I used to stay at my father's place every new year's, but this year I decided to change things up and rented a house in Montoya with the bf and the dog. We were thinking of staying in Jose Ignacio since we both love it there, but I didn't want to be too far from my family, so staying in Montoya seemed like the best solution. I promised myself to take as much as a break from work as I could, and didn't turn on the international data plan on my blackberry on purpose so that I could take a break from getting emails all day long or being tempted to twit pictures from the beach. I did take, however, pictures of a few of the homes by the beach, and posted some of them after the jump. I absolutely love the architecture here.

As most of you know, I took a little break last week and spent five days disconnected from the rest of the world in Fernando de Noronha, a small island off the coast of the northeast of the country. If you have never been there, I highly recommend booking a trip. Because of the limited number of tourists allowed on the island at a time, spending a week there may end up costing a lot more than flying to the Caribbean for a week from São Paulo, but it is absolutely worth it. The island is so beautiful  and surreal that several times I found myself thinking I was in Avatar's computer-generated Pandora.

I posted more information and pictures of Fernando de Noronha along with a few travel tips after the jump. Make sure to check them out. I already cannot wait to be back there.

I got back from my five-day getaway to Fernando de Noronha last night, and I am already looking forward to going back. Not only is it the most beautiful place I have ever been to, but it is also the only place where I felt completely in touch with nature and disconnected from the rest of the world.

I will be posting pictures and information about Fernando de Noronha as soon as I have a little more time, so in the meantime here is a short video I shot on a boat ride on my first morning in the island. I didn't quite catch the moment when dozens of dolphins where swimming right alongside the boat because I was too mesmerized by what was going on to grab my camera, but still you can see a few dolphins at the beginning of the video. We ended up seeing dolphins swimming and doing flips every when we went scuba diving every morning. It was pretty surreal.

If you have never been to Fernando de Noronha and plan on visiting Brazil this summer (meaning winter in the northern hemisphere), I highly recommend spending a few days there. I will make sure to post more information about flights and places to stay.

It is a holiday in Brazil on Tuesday, and I have decided to take a much needed break until Wednesday, when I get back from Fernando de Noronha.

As much as I love writing the blog, I have been very busy these past few months with several side projects, the development of a new layout and features for Made In Brazil, and the second issue of Made In Brazil Magazine, which we started shooting back in June and finally closed a week ago. I feel like I need to unplug for a few days to be able to fully relax and enjoy my trip to Fernando de Noronha, which is a place I have been looking forward to going to for years.

I promise a few picture updates on twitter @blogmib and tons of beautiful images once I get back. In the meantime, thanks for reading the blog. For those of you wondering, the second issue of the magazine will be out late November. We put it together with a lot of hard work and love, and I am very proud of the 152 pages of images we created. I truly hope that you guys will like it too, and cannot wait to launch it.

Models Felipe Anibal, Saulo Melo, Luciano Prado, Raphael Lacchine, and Guto Tonini in the country's famous lençóis maranhenses after the shows in São Luís. View more pictures after the jump, exclusively at Made In Brazil.

• Newcomer Bruno Da Gama from Florianópolis gets a nod from Models.com today.
• Shakira's new single Loca is out, and I like it a lot. Cannot wait for new album Sale El Sol to be released on October 19.
• The Wilderness Downtown. Brilliant.
• Shirley Mallmann in the new issue of Pop.
• Lanvin for H&M?
• Vote for Rio de Janeiro as the Sexiest Place On Earth in this year's TripOut Gay Travel Awards. The city already won the award for Best Gay Destination in 2009. The Week is nominated again this year for Best Gay Bar In The World. Make sure to cast your vote in favor of the club.
• This was New York's hottest summer ever.
• It is Restaurant Week in São Paulo. 210 restaurants are participating in the event.
• Watch the entire third episode of Katylene TV.
• Vote for your favorite candidate to the title of Mister Diversidade Brasil 2010 here. The finals will take place in São Paulo on September 6.