Brazil Summary

We’ve made it – we survived Brazil! We always knew that Brazil was going to be hectic. It’s well known that it is an expensive country and being on a backpacker’s budget, we had our concerns. We were also told on numerous occasions that it would be dangerous and we should watch our backs and possessions, especially during carnival. So now that we’ve done it, do we agree? Yes and no.

Firstly we found that the cost to visit Brazil was not as expensive as we had initially thought. If you are clever with what you spend your money on you can get away with spending time in Brazil on a backpackers budget. We bought groceries when we had a kitchen to cook for ourselves, saving tons on eating out. If we did eat out we would always choose the cheaper options. Often we took the leftovers home to eat for lunch the next day, which also reduced our food expenses. Food can get quite expensive. Almost every menu has options for two people, which work out cheaper than ordering that item for one person, but even this can be expensive. Also note that restaurants will almost always automatically add a 10% tip to the bill whether the service was good or not!

We stayed with a friend in Sao Paulo and couchsurfers in Rio for a total of six out of the 13 nights we were in Brazil. This saved us a lot of money on accommodation. We thoroughly enjoyed our first couchsurfing experiences and would recommend it to anyone backpacking. We also bought beers from the supermarket to pack in our coolerbag whenever we could which is about half the price than if we bought from bars/restaurants at the beach. You can see a breakdown of our actual costs under the “Budget” page.

Transport in Brazil is very efficient and the buses are very comfortable when travelling over long distances. The cost of travelling within a city can be quite expensive with a one-way bus, metro or train ticket being R$3.50. This can add up if you stay far away from tourist destinations like we did when we stayed with our couchsurfers. In Rio especially the metro and buses can also get quite packed, so if you are claustrophobic this can be a bit of a nightmare.

The language barrier in Brazil for tourists who don’t speak Portuguese is quite real! We really struggled to communicate with people. We would recommend knowing the bare essentials and maybe also having an app on your phone to translate things like we did. We found the Google Translate App, with the offline Portuguese language pack really helpful! Brazilians on the whole were really friendly and really tried to help as much as they could. Another observation was how well mannered the younger generation is. Whenever we were on public transport and an older, pregnant or disabled person got on the bus/metro/train one of the younger people would always stand up for them to have their seats. There are also specially allocated queues in busy shops for these people.

The beaches in Brazil were really something! When you think of Brazil you think of tanned beautiful ladies in tight-fitting bikinis with thongs showing off their derrieres, strolling the immaculate beaches of Copacabana or Ipanema. We found the beaches quite overcrowded at times although we were there during carnival so this is the busiest time of year. Most of the people on the beach were of (more than) healthy weight and were still wearing thongs, which made for some interesting viewing! We liked how free the culture is and how people don’t really care about what other people think. 80-year-old grannies were strutting their stuff in thong bikinis!

Safety in Brazil for us was not an issue but we do come from a country where crime is rife and so we automatically have a mindset of being careful wherever we go. If you watch you belongings and don’t flaunt what you have you should be fine. Don’t walk alone at night in dodgy areas and if you are going to a crowded area keep your wallet and cellphone in a zipped pocket or don’t bring it at all.

All in all we had a great time in Brazil but two weeks was enough for us. We would highly recommend backpackers to visit the country but be mindful of what you are spending your money on. Our top five things we did while we were in Brazil, in no particular order, were:

1. Trindade beaches near Paraty
2. Christ the Redeemer
3. Copacobana and Ipanema beaches
4. Bloco party during carnival
5. Escadaria Selarón (tiled steps)

If you would like to see all our photos from Brazil follow the link below: https://www.facebook.com/chris.botha.7967/media_set?set=a.10152535044376082.1073741834.671691081&type=3

Our first taste of Brazil – São Paulo

Our flight was perfect, we left and arrived on time and there was no turbulence. The pilot even commented on this, saying it was his smoothest trip across the Atlantic! The first thing we noticed as the plane descended upon São Paulo was how enormous it is. It is Brazil’s largest city and the sprawl stretches as far as the eye can see with hundreds of multi storey apartment buildings (30+ storeys). It is no wonder they need to build up though as 11 million people live in the city. We arrived in São Paulo at 5pm.  We had the address of our friend Luis where we would be staying the night. It could not be easier to get around in a city. Coming from South Africa, we are not used to public transport, let alone public transport that is so efficient! We literally walked out the airport, hopped on the first airport shuttle that takes you to the general bus terminal for free. From there we took a bus to the nearest metro station (Tatuape) for R$5.50. We then took the metro to the station closest to Luis’ house (Barra Funda). A metro ticket to anywhere on any line is only R$3.50 (~ZAR15)! The metro system is so efficient, you never wait more than 5 minutes to get the next train.

Flying into São Paulo

We arrived at Luis’ amazing flat just before 8pm. Brazil is 4hours behind South Africa, so for us it actually felt like 12am. It was still light outside though so our minds were completely confused. We had our first couple of South American beers and enjoyed chatting to Luis. He was very helpful with helping us sort out our plans for the next day to get to the bus station and catch the bus to Paraty (pronounced Pa-ra-chee). We went to bed at around 10pm (2am South African time) and slept like babies!

 

Luis and us in his flat

Chris enjoying his first South American beer (a 1L bottle from Uruguay nogals!)

The next morning Luis dropped us at the metro station where we caught the train to Portuguese-Tiete, which is also the major bus terminal in São Paulo. We bought our tickets to Paraty for R$54 each and an hour later we were on our way! Again we were so amazed at how efficient everything is! The bus ride was great, very spacious, with reclining seats. We stopped at two different refreshments stops and ate some amazing Brazilian street food. One of our favorites was a piece of chicken, wrapped in cheese, wrapped in potato and then deep-fried on a stick! We are struggling to understand people as no one speaks English, and our Portuguese is limited to what our translation app tells us to say! When the serving lady tried her best to explain to us what the main ingredient in the various dishes was, we could only muster blank stares in return. We were pleasantly surprised at our food delight (“Frango”, it turns out, is Chicken), as we had taken a gamble when picking it!

 

Chris waiting to buy our bus tickets

On the bus

Eating the “frango” delight

The bus ride took 6 hours in total but it felt much shorter as the scenery along the way was spectacular. We are now in Paraty, enjoying 7 nights in this idyllic seaside village. So far we love the chilled atmosphere! We’ll write about what we’re getting up to in the next post.