Hey guys!
Sorry for being MIA for the month of November! Anytime I go and come back from vacation there are many things to take care of around the house. Keeping a house hold running is not an easy task!
I went to Brasil for one week. Taking shuttle buses, over night shuttles buses around the country and local buses and subways is a very safe thing and not at once did I feel sketched out. Although everyone speaks Portuguese in Brasil my friend and I found the common language of hand signals works fantasically!
Do not go to Brasil thinking things are cheap because they are not! One night my friend and I wandered into a clothing store and the quality of the goods there were not so great but the prices were way higher than in Canada. We also saw many signs with 5x or 10x assuming it was an in store reward point system they had. It was not. The lady at our hostel in Sao Paolo informed us they were monthly payments, 5 months or 10 months. People in Brasil finance their clothing. This was something new to me and my friend. Imported products get taxed heavily and are prized in Brasil. Goods made in China are an everyday common thing to us Canadians but in Brasil they have a dedicated tag to themselves 'importato producto'.
Not everything is ridiculously expensive in Brasil there are street vendors and markets as well. My friend and I randomly wandered to a craft store that can rival those in Hong Kong. It was at least 5 stories high! A must see is the Saturday flea market in Sao Paolo, this is one true antique flea market. We were also lucky enough to catch the Sunday Hippie Market in Rio before I had to fly back home.
Side note: do not think you can tour around the fancy hotels in Rio De Janeiro. My friend and I decided to take a look inside the ballin' Copacabana Palace ... we did not make it past the second step inside the lobby ... we got escorted out not by one but two security guards in suits and ear pieces :D
Would I recommend traveling to Rio De Janeiro - yes. Sao Paolo - maybe. Beach town of Paraty - yes but one day is enough if you are not doing the wilderness excursions.
