Guest Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 Hi, I'm plannning a trip to Brasil over the Xmas/New Year period. Having never been to South America - anybody have any advice, places to see, tips both of the sanuk and non sanuk variety. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 I haven't been to BGrazil for about 16 years, so I won't waste your time with what was where when. But I will say, it is maybe a lot more open then other countries in Latin America. Generally, you can meet women in clubs, and have a good time. Drinks and hotels wereas I recall expensive, but you can always find cheaper. Paid encounters with ladies also varied, cheap for street, to fairly high for an "escort" but still cheaper than the USA, depending on what you wanted. Long term encounters will cost a lot! The beaches are great! Also a lot of sightseeing. It was fairly dangerous then, I think it still is. Problems with street kids still abound. be careful when going out of the mainstream areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycona Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 I was actually planning on going for sanuk to Brazil instead of to Thailand so I have quite some information about it. I might go to Brazil only if I can get rid of the BKK blues . Maybe I should have gone to Brazil first... Anyway, the brasileiras are really into sex. Very different from the thai girls. No "me shy" and towel scenes If it's your first trip to Brazil you should check out Rio. Rio is a dangerous city, lots of robberies take place. A friend of mine got robbed on the beach by a group of street kids. So beware. Prices are higher than in Thailand. I will post some more info below... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycona Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 General Brazil hints: These hints apply mainly for Fortaleza end Northeast Brazil, but are useful for all Brazil travellers. I wish someone had told me these things before, would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Which cities to visit I never understood why everyone goes to Rio. Yes, Rio has a unique beautiful landscape, mountains meeting the ocean, lots of beaches, boites and termas. But, prices are high, crime is rampant, most beaches are polluted. Most cities in Brazil are 30-50% cheaper than Rio and São Paulo. Reports of mine about almost all cities mentioned below should be in the archives. Even in Rio, you find a cheap, casa de massagem, for R$ 20 to R$ 50 for a quickie, but tourist rarely venture there. Good Brazil map If you like cooler weather, caucasians and blondes, cleaner, safer, more organized cities, head south. Southern Brazil seems a different, more European, country. Curitiba (world model city!), Porto Alegre are big cities. Florianopolis is probably the best, as it has beaches (careful, winter in Dezember is a bit cold for bathing), I will research this soon. I have read on tsm that the southern blondes find black Americans exciting. Foz de Iguaçu (needs tsm research) has the world famous waterfalls, shared between Brazil and Paraguai. The Brazilian north/northeast/northwest is much cheaper. Blondes are usually bleached fakes. People are very friendly; if you are caucasian you are very interesting to the girls, if you are blond and blue eyed they go crazy. If you go to places with few tourists, your chances of scoring with cute, nice, young "good" non-pro girls are very good. In Belem, Manaus, Porto Velho you stick out. Disadvantage: in Belem, Manaus, lots of girls are very short (under 5') and tend to have fat bellies, probably a mixture of Indian heritage and bad food/exercise habits. Still, cute girls can be found. Recife is a big city, has lots of cheap street action. Crime as about as bad as in Rio. Not many boites nor much like Rio termas. Quite decent beaches Natal: nice beaches are on the edge of town. Action mainly on the street, fairly subdued when I went there a few years ago. Very sunny, very clean, fairly safe. Fortaleza: my overall winner. Good beaches, lots of cheap and safe action. Modern city, good tourist infrastructure. Lots of Italian tourists, so you do not stick out so much (girls will not notice you so much either) Porto Velho (state of Rondonia) is fairly good, cheap, enough cheap good action. Definitely not a tourist destination. Even Brazilians think it is exotic. Equally exotic, and -according to rumors with excellent tsm potential- are the capitals of the states Roraima (Rio Branco) and Acre (Boa Vista) . Porto Seguro has incredible number of middle class Brazilan chicks and half naked sexy dance aerobics all day long on the beach. If you are young, hip, beautiful and good at picking up, do not miss. A friend of mine who has all these qualities, says he often shags several girls a night, right on the beach behind the outdoor party, during crowded and expensive new years or carnival vacations. If you are not an attractive pickup expert, you probably will remain a spectator. These are stuck-up middle class Brazilian girls who are very choosy. Promising cities I have not researched yet: Sao Luis-Maranhao, the capitals of the states of Alagoas (Maceió), Paraiba, and, of course Florianopolis. But, if you don't speak portuguese, you better settle for cities where a tsm report is available. If you have an airpass, try north and south. If you travel by Brazilian ticket or excursion package deal, you will have to settle for either north or south. Email me your Brazil experiences!! Taxi rates: anywhere in the Northeast, do not pay full rates. Always ask for a "descontinho" (a small desconto, discount) before you start any trip longer than a few miles. Two ten mile trips to an out of town motel set you back about R$ 35. For R$ 60 plus gas you can hire a taxi all day (at least 10 hours, I am not sure if this will do for 24 hours, especially if the guy is not the owner but pays R$ 50 per day in car rental fees). I usually offer R$ 6 per hour plus gas money, minimum 2-3 hours, and rarely had anyone refusing. At the end I always tipped R$ 5 extra, because it seems too cheap to me. As this math is a bit complicated, try instead offering like 2 hours R$ 20, 3 hours R$ 25, 4 hours R$ 30. Prepare to pay a few R$ more. This sure beats meter rate, if you go meter, prepare to hit R$ 30 in an hour. If you get your friendly taxi driver's cell phone number, you should get these rates. Otherwise it is kind of tiring to negotiate these rates anew with unknown drivers you flagged down on the street. Be aware that unknown taxi drivers can be muggers (very rare, though). Better getting a known driver whose regular stop is in front of your hotel You can get rental cars starting at about R$ 50 per day, in dollar terms less than a third you would have paid a few years ago, but with the taxi rates at R$ 60, certainly below R$ 100, why bother getting lost in town with your own car?? Note: in Rio the daily rate would probably me more between 100 to 150. I suggest you rent a taxi by the day (12 hours): lowest rates for $ 60 plus gas, to R$ 80 gas included, if you drive lots, add some gas money. If you do not want to push it, pay R$ 20 more than the rock bottom prices cited. Never pay more than 100 per day!! Better you pay gas extra (just verify the mileage), so the driver is not keen on minimizing his daily mileage. If you have a friend or 2, then this gets really cheap. This rental probably does not pay 24 hours (never tried) but should get you well over 12 hours daily. These rates are for town driving, stopping, and waiting. If you want to drive 400 km to another town and another 400 km back, expect much higher prices!!! Want to save money? Take the motorbike taxi, less than half the taxi ride. Free helmet included. 491 6000 radio taxi and motorbike phone number, so you need not search for taxis on dangerous streets. 2 days before I left town I found out this company has a discount card "Cliente especial" that offers discount on rides over R$5: 20% off bandeira 1, 30% off bandeira 2 (bandeira 2 costs about 30% more, it is charged is after 8 pm, saturday afternoon, sundays and holidays, and sometimes all of December as 13th salary replacement). Language Problems This is the biggest problems, most of you guys must feel in Brazil about as lost as I feel in Thailand. In Brazil, NOBODY speaks good English, except some very educated people and tourist professionals (this includes hardened pros). Most doctors and lawyers speak only very rudimentary english. I have two suggestion: 1) hire a taxi for long term. Even though he does not understand you, once he understands what you want he can help girl hunting, negotiating ... 2) contact several local language schools. For some small pay you certainly get a tourist guide there, an advanced student or even a teacher. Quite likely, lots of kids there would gladly practice their english with you for free, and show you around in exchange for a few beers. You might even score with a girl (but would severely curtail your whoring) or better have the (male?) student introduce you to all his female friends. I never tried this way, but if you go to a few schools in person, and talk to the secretary/receptiononst there, I am quite sure you would get your personal translator, or several of them. Do not forget, a normal secretary earns from 150-500 R$ per month only, so a couple of tens per day are very good pay. Cellphones cellphones are getting cheap. You can get prepaid cellphones starting at about R$200. You pay nothing to receive calls, but about R$ 1 per minute to make calls (better make your calls from a payphone). Whoever calls you, pays a lot (about 40 centavos per minute?), but they can also call collect (you pay exorbitant rates though, keep it short), or you can just hand out payphone cards worth a few Reals to all your girlfriends (cheapest to buy cards at the post office or Telemar phone company office). When you go to another city, you can just register the phone anew and get a new number there, on the same old cellphone. The phones that work in the northeast (TDMA system) do work in Rio with the ATL company, not with the (better) Telefonica (CDMA system)!! When you leave, keep your phone, or give it to your girlfriend or taxi driver. (If you give it to your girlfriend, make sure you change the number first, so the other girls will not call her) After a few months of non-use, you lose the phone line, when you come back you buy a phone card for R$ 25 or so, and get a new number. Airline ticket hints To Brazil: You should find a Brazilian travel agency in the US or your country. Their rates are usually much better. Plenty such agencies can be found in Los Angeles, Miami, Connecticut, New York, ... Example: Cheviot Hills Travel in LA, mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Cheviot Hills travel 310 202 6264; FAX 837 2214; "MS Mincho";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">800 585 8023 (valid only in California?? Or only outside California??). Brazilian consulates or coffee houses usually have local Brazilian newspapers that are full of ads for these agencies. Inside Brazil Airpass: You can buy a Brazil airpass, if you come with certain airlines. You must buy it in your home country. Usually it is valid for only 3 weeks travel from inception of the airpass, to about 3-5 cities, for about US$ 450. It is worth buying if you want to go all over Brazil, South and North and do not stay very long Transbrasil: If you go for a longer time, or only in one general direction, get a Transbrasil (airline) ticket, buy it in Brazil. You can have half a dozen stops, as long as they are on the way, and you only add the airport tax. Ticket is valid for an entire year, can be rebooked with no penalty. Book it with plenty of stops, you can always skip one, if you add one you have lots of bureaucracy. Fly charter There are some little know charter airlines, like Fly that has aprox 1-2 flights per week Between Rio, Recife, Fortaleza for about 30% less than other airlines Package deals: go to travel agencies, buy package deals (pacotes). Hotel plus airfare. with 5-10 days of hotel you pay about the same price as you would pay for the airfare alone. In exchange, you lose flexibiltiy, you have a hard time changing flight dates or changing hotels, if you don't get along with the one assigned to you. They often go to several cities, a few days in every city. Try for example fabio, in Rio, travel agency and money changer. Phone in Riomso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 239 3422, Visconde de Piraja near Anibal de Medonca in Ipanema. Fabio is hard to find, just talk to the employees there. Tell Fabio you found his address on the internet. Charter flights Fly http://www.fly.com.br/ offers (in June 2000) Rio Sao Paulo one way for R 49 (US$ 30), Rio to Fortaleza for R$ 240, plus a few more cities (Recife, ..). They fly to their destinations a few times per week. Also ViaBrasil (021) 224 1600, 021 398 3551, they fly from Rio to Natal and Fortaleza. I heard Fly's planes are a bit old, but verify yourself. Airpass You must buy the airpass in your country, it is valid only for a few weeks. You only qualify if you fly to Brazil with certain airlines (Korean air does NOT qualify, for example).. An airpass is only valid for 3 weeks of flying. To take advantage of an airpass, visito far-apart cities, go all the way south and north. Transbrasil Transbrasil allows you to buy a regular ticket and stop over as many times you want on their route. You pay only the airport tax, no other stopover charge. You MUST request all stopovers at the time of ticket purchase. You may later decide to skip stops, but you get no departure tax refund. You may change the reservation date at no cost. These rules were valid in 1998,1999, 2000 and hopefully will continue Here is their main route PVH MAO BEL SLZ FOR REC BSB VIX RIO SAO CWB FLN POA Porto Velho-Manaus-Belem-Fortaleza-Recife-Brasilia-Vitoria-Rio-Sao Paulo-Curitiba Florianopolis- Porto Alegre or the following partial replacements BSB UDI RAO SAO Uberlandia, Ribeirao Preto or SAO CPQ POA Sao Paulo - Campinas - Porto Alegre To get an idea: Porto Velho Rio was R$ 601. (plus airport taxes, Mai 2000) Porto Velho- Rio - Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Porto Alegre was 641.- (plus tax) You get frequent flyer miles!! Ticket is valid for a year!!!! You can buy them one way!! If you come back in less than a year, you can keep the second half. So I go from Fortaleza to Rio, and half a year later I go from Rio to the South, for an additional R$ 50. I wish someone had told that to me earlier!! Package deals Inquire at travel agencies: they offer package deals, airfare plus hotel. Examples: Rio Recife Natal Fortaleza. They usually are for 3-20 days, stop in one or several cities. Advantage: price is very low, basically you get GOOD hotels plus airfare for the price you would pay for airfare alone. Usually they even throw in transport from airport to hotel, city tours etc for free. Disadvantage: no flexibility, it is hard or impossible to change flight dates or hotels once you booked. If you find out the hotel is not tsm friendly or does not have the phone rates you would like for your laptop, bad luck. NOTE: you may book a package deal with 5 days hotel included, and, at booking time, book for 6 additional days without hotel. So you are free and on your own for theses 6 days, but also your hotel rates will be considerably higher. Best for people with limited time and limited knowledge of language and country (i.e. most of you). Internet In my experience, best is homeshopping: http://www.ruralrj.com.br/, they have dialins in most capitals in Brazil. Most dialins: http://www.uol.com.br/, but speed and quality in small towns is not great. Also try zaz.com.br (?) and terra.com.br (?). You might have trouble signing up, as most providers want you to furnish Brazilian tax ids. Internet cafes are still rare, but getting more popular and more reasonably priced. start at these links for lists of providers http://www.cade.com.br/intprr.htm http://www.cade.com.br/intpro.htm A general problem in Brazil is: local phone calls cost about 1 pulse (R$ 0.09) every 3 to 5 minutes (midnight to 6 am, saturdays after 2 pm and Sundays 1 pulse per call, no matter how long). Most hotels charge you MUCH more than these rates, so I usually spend an entire day calling all over town, negotiating phone rates. Apart-Hotels tend to have honest phone rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycona Posted December 8, 2001 Report Share Posted December 8, 2001 I also found a great Rio trip report. It's a single mht file (for Internet Explorer) and is about 400 KB. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can mail it to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 quote: Originally posted by tylerdurdan: Hi, I'm plannning a trip to Brasil over the Xmas/New Year period. Having never been to South America - anybody have any advice, places to see, tips both of the sanuk and non sanuk variety. Thank you I went to Rio, Sao Paolo and Fortaleza last year to spend some time with my brother who at that time lived in Sao Paolo. Accomodation in Brazil is ridiculously expensive compared to LOS. The overall knowledge of english is virtually non-existent. Crime and violence are issues that just about anybody staying in Brazil will face sooner or later. We had two very unpleasant incidents during only two weeks of vacation. Fortaleza is as another poster suggested the place to go if you wanna pick up non working girls. My blond friend sure had the time of his life. The beach in Fortaleza is rather polluted though but there are nice beaches some 15 km to the north of there. Eating out in Fortaleza is very nice. A number of restaurants are placed right next to the beach and they serve well prepared reasonably priced dishes. Don^t forget to try out the national drink the Caipirinha! This is good stuff. Comparing Brazil to Thailand? Well, in my book there is no comparison, Thailand wins in just about any aspect I can think of. But I admit that I am probably being prejudiced here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycona Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Also, the X-mas - New Year period might not be the best period to go to Brazil (or any other christian country) for sanuk. Many girls spend X-mas with their families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadaBing Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Hey TD ; I found this reccomended by another member of this board....www.clubhombre.com , your 49er / raider confidence is so good your leaving ? Traitor... Have fun Badabing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadaBing Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 oooops...wrong TD...lol..well check the site anyway BadaBing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 9, 2001 Report Share Posted December 9, 2001 Brasil is by far my favorite sanuk spot, especially Rio. Dangers are vastly overstated. I've been 22 times and never had a problem. It is more expensive than LOS, but if money's not a big issue, then go for it, because as many others have noted, the garotas de Brasil are to die for. Sex is wild and uninhibited. I love BKK and LOS, but I make about 3-4 trips to Brasil for every trip to LOS. I've posted a large FAQ on Rio at www.wsarchives.com that you might check out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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