Trip Report: Brazil
Visited in February 2015
Every traveler has at least one trip where almost everything goes wrong. On my mission to visit every country in the world, Brazil turned out to be my Waterloo.
Admittedly, at that time it was not even my goal to travel to every country in the world. Brazil was my 27th country and after several trips to South East Asia my first country in South America. Together with my buddy Yves I spent two weeks in the fifth largest country in the world. During this time we saw Rio de Janeiro, Manaus, the Amazon, São Paulo and Ilha Grande.
This itinerary was, in a sense, a compromise. Manaus and the Amazon didn’t appeal to me and neither did São Paulo. The latter was also more of a less-than-perfect solution, as Manaus is relatively poorly connected to the rest of Brazil. Therefore, it would have been complicated to squeeze Salvador do Bahia or Florianopolis into our itinerary.
The awful journey to Brazil
The trip to Brazil went wrong right from the beginning, because the first leg of my flight got canceled. My friend was not affected by that, as his first leg was different from mine and we were supposed to meet in Frankfurt for the second leg to Rio.
My new route was exhausting. Lufthansa rerouted me from Basel to Munich, Munich to São Paulo that included a 10-hour layover in São Paulo, and finally from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. An approximately 15-hour journey became a 28-hour one. This should already have been a sign…
After experiencing the worst turbulence ever on the flight over the Atlantic, I arrived at the Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo/Guarulhos the next morning. Since I did not want to spend the whole ten hours at the airport, I thought about going to the city for a few hours.
But I needed money first. That’s why, I went straight to an ATM just to watch the machine swallow my card. The card did not entirely disappear, as 2-3mm were still visible. Not enough to get it out, though. Maybe my consideration was wrong, but I did not want to leave my (only) bank card unattended in one of the most criminal countries in the world. So I had to stay there and wait for help.
Desperately, I asked some people passing by for help. That was the first time when I realized that the language barrier was immense in Brazil. By the time I am editing this text, I have already been to 120 countries and Brazil is one with the least amount of English-speaking people. As a result, most of them just shrugged their shoulders and then walked on because they did not know what I was asking them.
What happened next was that I tried for three hours to get the card out of the ATM. Of course, I had to leave the ATM from time to time, but neither the information desk nor the hotline, whose number I got at the information desk, could help me. In the end, it was the airport security who got the card out again when they just turned off the power.
So, I lost three hours of my layover and didn’t really have enough time for a trip to the city. Therefore, I spent the rest of the time at the airport before I could finally fly to Rio.
A canceled flight, a bank card temporarily gone and a long and boring layover at São Paulo airport. This was not how I had imagined my journey to Brazil.
Why Rio de Janeiro disappointed me
It was about 28 hours after I left my apartment in Switzerland when I arrived at my hotel in Rio. But anyway, I was in Rio! The city that has the reputation of being one of the most fabulous in the world. I didn’t care about the delay anymore.
What I expected from Rio were nice beaches, friendly people, non-stop party and an incredibly lively atmosphere. However, after three days, both I and my friend were a little disappointed as we continued our journey to Manaus. There were several things that we did not like in Brazil’s most popular city.
On the one hand, it was the first time we were both in a city that is considered dangerous, which limits you especially at night. As soon as the sun goes down, Rio, to put it bluntly, seems to be a battlefield. The crime rate is extremely high and claims many lives every year. For the tourist, this means that after sunset you can only get around in a taxi. Needless to say, certain quarters should be avoided at all costs, even during the day.
Although you have to be unlucky as a tourist in Brazil to be the victim of a robbery, this restriction bothered us quite a bit back then. We were used to countries in Southeast Asia where you are actually never exposed to danger. Now that I have seen 100 countries, Rio remains one of the few non-African city where you can only go from one point to another at night by taxi.
On the other hand, we were also a little disappointed by the nightlife. The trip to Brazil took place in our wildest time of life and our plan was to go out every night until the early morning hours. The first evening, it was a Saturday, that worked out perfectly. On the two following days, Sunday and Monday, the city seemed to be dead in the evening.
For a city with the reputation of Rio de Janeiro, I found that weak. Rio is usually mentioned in the same sentence with the most vibrant cities in the world. In terms of nightlife, the city lags far behind cities like Tokyo, Bangkok or even São Paulo. In these cities, you can go out every day of the year with plenty of options.
We also felt that it doesn’t really take long to see all the highlights of Rio. After two days we had the feeling to have seen everything worth seeing.
Another disappointment was that we wanted to watch a football match at the notorious Maracana Stadium, but it was moved to another city at short notice. This game should have been a highlight of our trip.
Rio certainly had its good sides, but it was on one hand the already mentioned things and on the other hand many minor things that made our stay not so great.
For example, we only had bad food in Rio. We both found the Brazilian food relatively monotonous and the international cuisine was a disaster. Even the simplest dishes like pasta with tomato sauce were terrible. I don’t mean to say that you can’t eat well in Rio, it’s just that all (and I really mean ALL) of the 9-10 restaurant we went to were slightly below-average or really bad, even though they had decent ratings on TripAdvisor.
Manaus, the door to the jungle
Our next destination was Manaus, the door to the jungle, as it is the largest city near the Amazon rainforest. The flight from Rio to Manaus takes five hours, which is as long as a flight from Lisbon to Moscow, a flight across the whole European continent. First, they did not want to let us board the plane, as it was overbooked. Eventually, however, they found other passengers who had voluntarily given up the flight. Nevertheless, this did not help our mood in Brazil.
The flights were pretty expensive too. We paid almost $500 (multi-stop: Rio-Manaus-São Paulo) for it. Nevertheless, going from Rio to Manaus is like going from Brazil to another country, as it looks completely different and has a very different vibe too. Time moves slower in Manaus and obviously the people also look different than the Brazilians in Rio.
We only spent half a day before and half a day after our Amazon trip in Manaus. But this was enough to see the highlights of the city. The city has charm. It’s compact and we had a good night out there as well. However, I am not sure if Manaus would be worth a visit if you don’t visit the Amazon considering the long flight time.
Amazon Rainforest: welcome to the jungle
Three days and two nights was the perfect time frame for a trip to the second largest forest in the world. The tour is a very special experience, but it’s also physically challenging. The heat, the humility, the dirt, the mosquitoes… the Amazon ain’t for the faint-hearted but rewards the adventurer.
We did several activities in the jungle during this tour. Most of the time we were sitting in the boat floating down the small rivers while animals were observing us from the shore. As soon as our tour guide spotted an animal somewhere in the trees, the boat steered towards the banks.
At one point, the tour guide saw a boa constrictor. He didn’t hesitate and took a stick to get the snake from the tree. Another time, he spotted a tarantula that was hiding in a hole. Seeing animals like these from such a short distance was phenomenal.
However, you won’t see most of the animals that live in the jungle. The animals you will most likely see are pink dolphins, caimans, various birds and monkeys, but you have to be very lucky to see an anaconda or a jaguar for example.
Actually, there are only two dangerous animals for visitors: small, poisonous snakes and of course mosquitoes. Usually, you are moving by boat but when you walk, there is a possibility that you don’t see a snake and step on it. Mosquitoes are the bigger issue though, as this is a malaria high-risk area. Again, I am not exaggerating, but I got at least 100 bites in three days.
The three days passed very fast. Although I was glad when I arrived back in Manaus after these exhausting days, I will never forget the time in the Amazon. For me, it was a once in a lifetime experience and one of the most challenging tourist things I’ve done by then.
São Paulo
As I mentioned in the beginning, São Paulo was not our first choice as our third destination in Brazil. Our priorities were Salvador, Florianopolis or Fortaleza, but going from Manaus to these destinations was tricky. São Paulo was a compromise. Brazil’s largest city – and largest city of the Southern hemisphere – is not a real sightseeing destination.
The good thing is that nightlife in São Paulo is among the best in the world, you can go out every night of the week (which was not the case in Rio). I had one amazing night in a night-club called D-Edge, where a met a group of cool Brazilians who spent the evening with me. So if I had to name the best thing about São Paulo, it would definitely be the nightlife.
Apart from that, São Paulo was not my cup of tea. The biggest city of the Southern Hemisphere is just a gigantic concrete jungle that doesn’t offer much for tourists. We still visited the two or three places we were interested in.
For example Liberdade, the Japanese quarter of the city, as the biggest Japanese population outside of Japan lives in São Paulo. I expected a district like the many Chinatowns you see all over the world, but it had nothing in common with those. It was underwhelming.
Another place we visited was the football museum. But of course, it was not open on the day we went. Luck was just not on our side during that trip.
We even had a thrilling moment when we were about to leave the city. We were stuck in traffic jam on our way to the airport, as suddenly a guy approached the car, looking at us and said “I want your money!”
Was this the moment we always wanted to avoid in Brazil? It was around noon, many pedestrians were walking around and we are getting robbed in the middle of the street? The guy did not look like gangster though. And it soon turned out that it was a joke. “I am a student and we are collecting money for our prom,” he explained. He got a few coins from us.
Ilha Grande, silence before the storm
The last destination before heading back to Rio was Ilha Grande, an island between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. We had the choice of either going from São Paulo directly by bus what would have been an 8 hours ride, or taking a flight to Rio and continue by private transfer from there. We chose the latter.
Ilha Grande was the perfect place to spend the last three days before our last night in Rio. The island is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The water is clear, the beaches among the best and the atmosphere just relaxing.
A must do-activity is visiting famous Lopes Mendes beach. We reached this part of the island by boat and spent an afternoon there. As Ilha Grande is pretty relaxed, you can leave your valuables unattended and enjoy the ocean. That wouldn’t be possible at the Copacabana.
Our bad luck also hunted us in Ilha Grand, though. Respectively on our way back to Rio. Yves forgot his small backpack in the minivan that drove us back. His tablet, camera and other things have been inside the backpack. He tried everything to get it back but the stuff was gone for good, which was not really a surprise.
It was just another set back on this trip. There have been others, which were minor in the end so that I didn’t mentioned them, but our mood reached rock bottom. So many things went wrong and now we had also lost a backpack.
The big finale: Carnaval in Rio
There was only one thing that could cheer us up: CARNAVAL! We didn’t know that Carnaval was during our trip when we booked the flights to Brazil. We found out just a few weeks before.
Our last day in Rio was the start of the party of the year in Brazil. I booked tickets online for Sambódromo, where the parade takes place, via an apparently trustworthy company. We agreed that they would deliver the tickets at the reception of our hotels. Of course, things went wrong again…
When we checked in, the front desk staff told us that the company was at the hotel but did not leave the tickets as we weren’t there. They would come back though. It was still early afternoon. However, I got a bit nervous when I still did not hear from the company at 5 PM. I sent them an e-mail. One hour later, I tried to call them but no one was answering the phone. I sent another e-mail and called again. It did not look good and we had to find a plan B.
The receptionist of our hotel told us that there would be no chance to get a ticket now. Not even on the black market. Now I was more than upset and Yves had to calm me down, but it did not help, I was so frustrated. We went for dinner and our hopes for Carnaval disappeared. When we came back to our hotel, another front desk manager told us that it should not be a problem to find tickets and he could organize it for us.
Phew, he rescued us. However, we were also mad about the stupidity of the first receptionist who gave us false information. Meanwhile, the company that should have delivered the tickets called and told us they will send someone. I declined and told them to go to hell.
Sambódromo is in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood. It is highly recommended not to go by taxi, as they will not drop you just in front of it. Then you have to walk a while through that shady area. An organized transfer cost us another $70, but then we finally arrived at the parade. It’s hard to describe in words how amazing this parade is.
The experience was just phenomenal and all travelers should be part of that ceremony once in their lives. Carnaval is like religion in Brazil. Some people spend half of their yearly income on their costume. It was a worthy end of a trip that had many ups and downs.
My travel experience in Brazil
Can I recommend Brazil to other travelers? To be honest, it’s hard for me to answer this question with yes, as too many things went wrong in Brazil. I didn’t even mention all of the things by the way.
Back in Europe, we said that Brazil would never see us again. But in hindsight, we had some great moments too. The trip to the Amazon was a once in a lifetime experience, Ilha Grande has been one of the most awesome islands I have ever been to and Carnaval was fantastic as well. It was just a trip full of bad luck for us.
However, every time I speak to people who have been to Brazil, they tell me they had the best time of their life there. Every time I hear that I ask myself what we did wrong. How can it be that all these people enjoyed Brazil while our time was marked by many unfortunate moments?
The more time passed the more I thought I need to give the country a second chance. And that happened almost six years later with my second visit – albeit a short one. I entered Brazil from Paraguay and spend a day to see one of the country’s biggest attractions.
The Iguazu Falls are 80% in Argentina and 20% in Brazil. However, visitors go to see the falls from both sides, which makes sense since both sides are different. However, I would call the Brazilian side the more awesome. They say Argentina has the falls, Brazil has the views. And the views from the Brazilian side were the better ones in my opinion.
What also speaks for Brazil is that the falls can be seen in a short time. On the Brazilian side, there is a path that is just under 2km long. With photo stops, you can see the falls in about two hours. In addition, the Brazilian side offers helicopter flights, which in my opinion are a must.
On my second visit to Brazil, I spent only 24 hours in the country. Besides the falls, I visited the bird house Parque das Aves and had dinner in a churrascaria. Although the stay was short, it was a beautiful day in Brazil. With that, I made my peace with the country and look forward to my third visit.
