First time to Latin America.
Beach in Brazil
My trip to this region of the world is not a recent one but still fresh in my mind. I had previously traveled extensively in Europe but South America was a unique and exciting experience.
It was a last-minute decision but you still need about a week to get a visa for Brazil. One of those countries that requires one for US citizens. We began our trip in Rio de Janeiro, then headed to Buenos Aries, and finished up in Uruguay. We thought about a trip to the Amazon but that trip alone would’ve taken a week alone. It wasn’t like we could ask to stop at the next port and get off, but I would really like to go back and cruise the Amazon river one day.
November in Brazil is not yet the big tourism season. Still a little chilly to go into the water and the beaches are not crowded. If you want to see the sights for a good price, this is a good time. If you want the excitement of Rio, wait until December. If you want to visit during the most exciting time, Mardi Gras, then wait and pay lots of monies to get there.
We stayed at the 5 star Marriott, right on the beach. On our last day there, a president of some South Asian country was visiting and the hotel was packed with security. Speaking of security, I had heard that you should not wear gold jewelery when visiting Brazil, but I had a very simple gold chain around my neck. Before walking out of the hotel on our first day, at 10 am, a lady working in the lobby of the hotel stopped me and recommended that I take that off before going out. You may become a target. Safest to just wear some cheap jewelery, silver, or no jewelery at all.
We spent about five days in Rio. It was both relaxing and had some good sight-seeing options. I jogged on the beach, got a massage on the beach and just loved the lively atmosphere. On a side note, every magazine cover in South America is exposing a woman’s rear end as opposed to North America, that cleavage is the big seller on magazine covers. That’s some useless trivia for you. 🙂
Juice bars are huge in Brazil and on every block, instead of a coffee bar, you could find a juice shop. Fresh juices were so tasty. Acai berry drinks and shakes were very popular. The food and desserts were great as well. In comparison to Argentina, where leather shopping is good, Brazilians had more style in fashion and better overall shopping experience.
Artwork on the beach
The sightseeing
Corcovado mountain is the most famous sight in Rio. It will take a full day but this is the sugar loaf mountain and where the famous huge statue of Christ is. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world. The statue stands at 98 feet with a 26 foot pedestal 2330 feet above sea level. It’s a great panoramic view of the city. You will take a cable car across from the sugar mountain to the statue. You can take a train through the jungle around the statue and on the way down if you want to take in more of the sights. We took a bus up but took the train down, I don’t recall if we had any other option.
This is one sight where visiting during the summer time is probably better. If it’s a cloudy day, you are so high up that the head of the statue can be in the clouds and your pictures will not come out great.
View from Sugar Loaf Mountain
Ipanema beach is a popular area, popularized by a song ” The girl from Ipanema”. Again, there wasn’t as hopping at that time during the days, but at nights, it was still a very lively place to dine and grab a drink. A lot of chic boutiques in this area as well. There are a lot of other beaches and similar to Los Angeles, each one is well-known for a particular atmosphere.
Visit the Palace Hotel, Copacabana Palace, and have a drink by the pool. You can pay to use the pool but just a lunch and a giant coconut milk drink will be very refreshing.
Almost have the same size feet as one of the most famous Brazilian soccer players, pele.
Football stadium, Maracanã, is one of the most famous sights for the soccer lovers. I don’t think I need to elaborate more. I think you know what memorabilia you can find in this place. We even got to walk through the locker room and showers but sadly there was no one in there. 🙂
H. Stern jewlery – if you have any fascination with jewels and stones, don’t miss a tour of the H. Stern gallery. All I can say is ‘wow’. Brazil is known for its gems. Many unique gems are the product of this country. You can buy beautiful stuff at a fairly good price in flea markets and shops around town, but if you are looking for that one special piece or designed jewelery, you will pay a pretty penny. You have to make reservations for this tour. They will send a car to pick you up and you can spend a couple of good hours walking around this gallery and museum. Amazing but you can also feel guilty if you are aware of how most of these gems are collected and sold. Although I think H. Stern claims to not condone the exploitation of diamonds – well, you do your own research and be the judge. I don’t really know. I couldn’t afford to buy most of their stuff anyway.
One of my favorite tours was the tour of the Flavas. Flavas are the poor neighborhoods typically run and operated by gangs. This is well-known and tolerated by the government. The history and facts around how the govt. discriminates and yet works with these neighborhoods is amazing. We took a local tour. What I mean by that is that we didn’t go through one of the tour groups that piles up the tourist in a bus or jeep and drives them around these streets as if they were visiting a zoo. That is how the people living there feel. We took a tour with a very nice lady who lives in the flavas and runs a walking tour company. We never felt unsafe and as she explained she must get the okay from the head of the flava – gang to give us the tour. We even heard a story about a purse snatching incident, where the purse and all its items were returned the next day. The gang leader ordered a search for whoever took the purse and to return it so that there would be no interference from the police. The only restriction is that we cannot go all the way to the top of the hill, where most flavas are built, where the biggest house, the gang leader’s house, is located. High security. These leaders are typically in their early 20s because they die young. The danger in these areas are not for the tourist, because they don’t want any trouble with the government. They crime tends to be between members of competing flavas for control, drug sale, etc.
We walked around these extremely narrow walkways, walked into some people’s homes, and shops. These neighborhoods are pretty self-sufficient and many are not as poor as it seems because their children, boys, join the gangs to earn more income and buy luxury items for their homes and families. The families struggle to put these kids through an education system instead but the glamour of owning ‘things’ when you have had nothing usually wins over the long and difficult road to getting a ‘safe’ job or education. However, she told us that becoming a gang member is a choice and not forced since there seems to be no shortage.
Narrow walkways within the flava neighborhood.
The people were kind and appreciative that we weren’t scared of walking around their neighborhood. I never even tried to keep a close eye on my purse or belongings. I am usually aware of my surroundings and take caution, because I’m so used to traveling, but there is a difference with being aware, and acting scared as if everyone is a thief. There is so much more I could say about this tour. Feel free to ask me for details.. it’s been a while but I have a lot of pictures to help jog my memory.
View of the flavas we visited
These were pretty much the sights we visited in Rio. Once again, I don’t have anything to report on for the nightlife as we were too exhausted by night-time after all the sightseeing but I’m sure Brazil offers some of the best nightlife. I also wanted to take a side trip to Salvador but the flight schedule just wasn’t accommodating to our trip’s itinerary. I’ve heard the city is also very colorful and lively kind of like visiting New Orleans. Brazil is huge and you could certainly spend much more time here exploring but we were headed to Buenos Aries next. See you on the next blog.
Copacabana Hotel and my frizzy hair - this is before the Brazilian treatment for the hair.
Travel Diaries 