Brazil is my 7th country to visit since I migrated to Canada in 2014. Whilst I would love to visit more countries and proudly mention a country as my 20th country, I am bound by time and financial resources but I remain grateful for all the many opportunities I have to travel. This was a group travel with the first being Trinidad and Tobago and the second Hong-Kong and Thailand. Like all our group travels, there is usually a lot of anticipation to get away from the freezing winter to the tropics.
This time we had a much larger group of 6 individuals, 4 of which were the usual and the other 2 were new members of the group I like to now call “The Chop Life Gang”. What makes the new members of the gang a big deal is because, in the past we have all traveled without partners/lovers but this time the 2 new members had ongoing relationship with 2 other folks. It was uncertain how this dynamics will change our enjoyment as we typically get pretty risque in our travels. Fortunately not much changed. We sure know how to have fun and influence those around us.
We departed Canada on the 14th of February, usually a way to escape the valentine craze. Unfortunately we were dealt with a different craze at the airport with multiple flight delays and cancellations. Luckily for the group 9 seats became magically available for us to successfully leave Canada on the 14th to arrive Sao Paulo on the 15th. Our goal usually on our trip is to maximize our travels. Because there are no straight flights to/fro Rio, we decided to spend a few days in Sao Paulo exploring the city. We stayed at the Capital hotel. The staffs were friendly, the rooms were beautiful and the hotel location was the best. We were situated close to restaurants, clubs and malls. It was hard to determine if we were in the downtown area but honestly that did not matter. We meet Italian vacationers in our hotel and soon became buddies.
I quickly realized that Brazil is known for good meats and so we took full advantage of it by going to a steak house atleast once every day. Another observation was the quality of cocktails and dessert. In comparison to Canada or any country I have visited, cocktails were richly made at pretty good prices.
Prior to our travel we got a lot of caution on security in Brazil. However, the picture created in our mind was not the reality we experienced. The people were nice and welcoming. One-time I forgot my phone in a restaurant and got it back in one piece.
Rio
Rio De Janeiro felt quite different. The city is a beach city with over 10 beaches and the popular beaches being Copacabana and Ipanema. We stayed at Ipanema beach. Being the carnival season, there were lots of tourist during this time. The weather was a tad too hot so we planned our movements accordingly. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Cristo- Christ the Redeemer (one of the seven wonders of the world) The effort put into a development like that is quite fascinating. we also visited the sugar loaf and some members of the group had a road trip and subsequent helicopter ride which did not pique my interest at the time till I saw the pictures.
The final lap of the fun was the carnival. Unfortunately it started to rain the day of the carnival and the weather forecast predicted that it would continue to rain for another 5 days. Despite the rain, we made an attempt to get to the stadium but I was too irritated to see any performance in the rain and decided I needed to catch a nap since our flight was to leave at 4am.
I am happy to continue sharing my travel journey with you and I cannot wait to visit Europe. Below is summary information on the places we visited, the survival words we learnt in a country where little English is spoken and a rough idea of the cost of the travel.
Hotel
Sao Paulo- The Capital
Rio De Janeiro – Praia Ipanema
Restaurant
Sao Paulo
Mania De Churrasco, Madero, Botego Sao Bento Itaim, Coco Bambu Sao Paulo
Rio De Janeiro
Malta Beef Club, Garota De Ipanama, Elias Gourmet E bar, Fogo De Chao, Pato Com Laranja
Other Tourist Activities
Sao Paulo
The History Club, Sao Paulo Cathedral, Pinacoteca De Sao Paulo Museum
Rio De Janeiro
Sugar Loaf, Christ the Redeemer popularly known as Christo
Survival words
As always we had an arsenal of words to help with the language barrier. Here are the ones that kept us from getting killed or kidnapped.
Goodmorning- Bom Dia
Goodafternoon- Boa Tarde
Goodevening- Boa Noite
Restroom – Sanitarios
Water- Agua
Thank You- Obrigado (ta)
Please – Por Favor
Tea- Cha
Yes- Sim
Cost
I like to provide a rough estimate of cost of travel to help readers plan similarly
Flight (round trip) – $700- $1200
Hotel for 7 days -$350-$600
Transportation- $100-$300
Tourist attractions- $200-$400
Food and others $840-$1000
Total Cost – $2200-$3500