Rio de Janeiro Trip Report

[Hector_Lavoe]

I just got back from a one week trip to Rio de Janeiro. This was more of a vacation than a wife hunting expedition. Always wanted to visit Rio so I finally just did it. I went down solo, no wingman or anything like that. I also went there with "caveman" level Portuguese. The first few days were rough given I am used to getting around on pretty decent Spanish.

Rio is blessed with a gorgeous physical setting: tropical mountains, lakes/lagoons ringed with bike paths and miles of beautiful beaches. I did all the big tourist attractions: Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf mountain, Tijuca National Forest, Maracana stadium, museums/cultural buildings on rainy days and of course the beach. And Yes, the women are beautiful. The city itself is no Paris or Barcelona or Buenos Aires but with Rio's natural bounty who needs it.

Had some prior exposure to Portuguese in the past but I had forgotten most if not all of it. So I was starting from scratch. I studied and practiced Portuguese nearly every day for six weeks before my trip. Also, had a few Skype sessions with a native speaker in Brazil. All this helped. But it was still hard. Portuguese is harder than Spanish. First few days were rough but I got better every day. By the end of the trip I had locals giving me nice compliments on my Portuguese. Lots of gringos (especially those from the USA) go down there without ANY Portuguese. The Brazilians really appreciate it when they hear someone trying to speak their language.

Brazil is a HUGE country. Take a away Alaska from the United States and Brazil is actually BIGGER than the USA. So my visit to Rio was really just scratching the surface of Brazil. Lots of places to see.

I stayed in Ipanema a few blocks from the beach. This is one of the nicest parts of Rio. Lots of restaurants, bars and shopping all in walking distance. And this area is loaded with attractive women. Think South Beach or Santa Monica or any warm, high-end coastal district. That combination will always attract beautiful women. Rio is no exception.

Met some really nice people including the cab drivers. They were really helpful and friendly. I mostly spoke to them in Portuguese to boost my language skills. But plenty of them also spoke some English. Had a scare one night coming from a Samba club in the Lapa district. Lapa is located away from the beaches and near some sketchy neighborhoods. I left in a cab but shortly after we left the club the cab driver pulled over for no apparent reason to be next to an ATM. I figured, "Ok, the guy is going to have me pull all my money out and maybe even worse." It was in a sketchy part of town on a quiet side street.  Actually, the cab had broken down and he could not get the engine to turn. So he waited with me until another cab came by to pick me up. So I was on my way again soon.

I did see one petty crime incident in Rio. In the nicest part of town on a busy corner. Sitting at a sidewalk café I saw a guy grab some guy's gold necklace. He just ripped it off the guys neck in broad daylight with TONS of people around. The security at the restaurant tackled the guy immediately. The victim was a Brazilian guy and he jumped on the guy too. It was all over real quick.

I did meet some nice Brazilian ladies during my trip and exchanged contact information with a few of them. Just met them out in public at bars or cafes, etc. I was going to meet one woman in Rio from Latin American Cupid but she flaked. Brazilian Cupid looks like a joke to me. Not a lot of women and most are not very attractive.

One of the women I did meet is actually coming to study at a university near where I live in Southern California in the summer of 2015. She is finishing up her MBA in Brazil and it includes doing a one-month course at a U.S. university. She is attractive but we met on my second to last day there. So there was no time for a date to test any physical chemistry.

On my first night out in Rio I met a Brazilian lady from northern Brazil. She was in Rio on vacation. We had nearly instant physical chemistry. But she had to leave Rio the very next day. She has invited me to visit her in her city. We are supposed to talk on Skype soon. I will have to see how it plays out.

Overall, Brazil has a lot of appeal:  great women, beaches, beautiful landscapes, great music and a friendly, open culture. Still, the distance is a killer for me (13 hours in the air from the west coast of the USA to Rio). Also, I've already got pretty good Spanish skills and it is more widely spoken than Portuguese. So I will probably stick to Spanish speaking Latin America for my future wife hunting endeavors.  That said, IF I ever had a great job opportunity waiting for me in Brazil I'd jump on that in a second.

[Hector_Lavoe]

Was going to post a few photos of Rio but doing so messes up the columns/spacing.

[robert angel]

Wow--That's a nice trip report. Refreshing to see another, as there haven't been many lately here. Bet there's more stuff still coming back to your mind from the trip.

Cool you had the courage to do it solo, even w/ a steep learning curve on the language. Looks like taking chances can lead to romances...

[whitey]

Great trip report ... Rio has been on my bucket list for a long time ... some day, some day.


Interesting you mention Barcelona ... that is place we want to visit next ... after family trips to Barranquilla ...

[Hector_Lavoe]

Great trip report ... Rio has been on my bucket list for a long time ... some day, some day.


Interesting you mention Barcelona ... that is place we want to visit next ... after family trips to Barranquilla ...

Yes, Whitey, I highly recommend Barcelona. I've only been once but I loved it. Beautiful city. You and Nazly will love it.

[Hector_Lavoe]

Wow--That's a nice trip report. Refreshing to see another, as there haven't been many lately here. Bet there's more stuff still coming back to your mind from the trip.

Cool you had the courage to do it solo, even w/ a steep learning curve on the language. Looks like taking chances can lead to romances...

Thanks Robert. Actually, lots of English speaking tourists down there (Australia, Canada, Europe, USA, etc.). And a fair amount of English is spoken in the main tourist districts (Ipanema, Copacabana). So it is pretty easy to get by with just English. I just figured I'd get more out of the trip if I went down with some basic Portuguese. Certainly helped me talk to more locals.

[kai #2]

Nice report, glad to see a non Colombian report for a change. Tell Neymar I said "Hi" ha!

[michaelb]

Very good report, Hector. Thank you for the interesting information.

[robert angel]

Heard things are more expensive there than they are compared to other countries. Did you find it relatively expensive?

[Gato4Astrid]

Nice report, glad to see a non Colombian report for a change. Tell Neymar I said "Hi" ha!

You need "subtitles" to say "Hi" To Neymar da Silva Santos, Jr !!!

[Gato4Astrid]

Great trip report ... Rio has been on my bucket list for a long time ... some day, some day.


Interesting you mention Barcelona ... that is place we want to visit next ... after family trips to Barranquilla ...

Barcelona is STILL in my bucket's list.   I'll go there when the time is right!


My next trip will be 3 weeks holiday in March - SOUTH AFRICA!  Nothing to do with looking for a woman!!!

[kai #2]

Been there. Awesome place with dope street performers and graffiti no less. FCB owns a club there, the clubs don't pop off till about 0200.

Barcelona is STILL in my bucket's list.   I'll go there when the time is right!


My next trip will be 3 weeks holiday in March - SOUTH AFRICA!  Nothing to do with looking for a woman!!!

[Hector_Lavoe]

Nice report, glad to see a non Colombian report for a change. Tell Neymar I said "Hi" ha!

Actually, I saw Pele standing in front of Maracana stadium. Not the real Pele. A very cheesy imitator in uniform. 
Not much different from what they do on Hollywood Blvd with celebrity imitators (Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, etc.). Pretty amusing how some people eat this kind of stuff up. I personally think it's really stupid and cheesy.

[Hector_Lavoe]

Heard things are more expensive there than they are compared to other countries. Did you find it relatively expensive?

Air fare was dirt cheap: $800.00 US dollars round trip from the west coast. Hotels in Rio are relatively expensive for what you get in return. Many have not been renovated in years. 
 
As I mentioned before, the cab drivers I met all complained about the cost of living. Very tough to make it in Rio on what they get paid.  Rio and Sao Paulo have routinely been ranked as very expensive cities by the Mercer Survey. They were ahead of NYC a few years ago. But think they have since falllen a bit. 
 
The increase in the value of the U.S. Dollar and the decline of the Brazilian Real (since the end of the World Cup) worked in my favor. So meals and drinks were not too bad.  Was about 2.40 (U.S. dollar) to 1.0 (Reals) during my visit.   
 
Tourists that visit Rio during peak periods like New Years or Carnival can expect to get hosed. Hotel room rates supposedly double or triple from already inflated rates.

[fathertime]

Thanks Hector for the report.  I'm under the impression that your Spanish is pretty good, based on that I would have thought that Portuguese wouldn't have been too hard to pick up, although that is just me thinking to myself, as I haven't tried it myself.  During your 6 weeks of study did you feel you made a lot of headway? 


Fathertime! 

[benjio]

Thanks Hector for the report.  I'm under the impression that your Spanish is pretty good, based on that I would have thought that Portuguese wouldn't have been too hard to pick up, although that is just me thinking to myself, as I haven't tried it myself.  During your 6 weeks of study did you feel you made a lot of headway? 


Fathertime!

This is exactly what I was told when I set out to start learning Portuguese because I'm already fluent in Spanish. The truth is Portuguese is an extremely difficult language to master for the native English Speaker. Immersion is not only the most efficient way to learn. It is absolutely necessary. The two languages technically have many aspects in common. I'd say about 65% of everyday vocabulary between Spanish and Portuguese sounds (and sometimes is even spelled) the same. Verb conjugation is a little different but it also follows a similar structure. Portuguese utilizes the future subjunctive tense, which is very difficult to wrap your head around as an English Speaker. I won't even go into detail about it.


The problem is the accent and the unforgiving ear of native Portuguese speakers (at least in Brazil...I've never been to Portugal, Angola, etc.). There are a few, but very important sounds in the Portuguese Language you have to learn to make that a native English speaker wouldn't have ever imagined without hearing them first hand. When I say words as they would be pronounced in English and not as they are pronounced in Portuguese (because no one has taught me how to say them), I very often get a blank stare from whomever I'm conversing with. Many Americans I've met here have told me they've had similar experiences. A coworker of mine that lives in Recife is relatively fluent in Portuguese after living here for 3 years. But he is very often misunderstood. He will say something, and the person will ask him to repeat himself several times, then his Brazilian Girlfriend will say what sounds to him like exactly the same thing and they'll understand perfectly. The regional dialects only make things more complicated.


Another very annoying thing is words that have two completely different meanings in Portuguese and Spanish. One that always gets me in trouble is "pronto." Is Spanish it means "soon." In Portuguese it means "ready." There are dozens more.


It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't spent time here. Most of the sounds I'm speaking of are difficult to describe. Words you have to send through your nose and unfamiliar things you have to do with your throat and tongue to pronounce many Portuguese Words correctly. I plan on taking a speech class next year and I think that will get me over the hump. As for now, I can get around pretty well but even after living here for more than a year I'm still far from fluent because of the accent. Here's a great webpage about learning Portuguese when you're already fluent in Spanish.


http://www.fluentin3months.com/portuguese-after-spanish/

[Hector_Lavoe]

Thanks Hector for the report.  I'm under the impression that your Spanish is pretty good, based on that I would have thought that Portuguese wouldn't have been too hard to pick up, although that is just me thinking to myself, as I haven't tried it myself.  During your 6 weeks of study did you feel you made a lot of headway? 
Fathertime!

Fathertime: Benjio summed it up very nicely. I'd say by P.L. standards (which I think are pretty high) my Spanish is middle of the road at best, especially compared to you guys living with a wife/significant others. But by U.S. standards my Spanish is pretty good. I am able to get by on my own in Mexico, Colombia, etc. without much trouble. But I am NOT fluent.
 
Yes, I definitely made headway in 6 weeks. Exposure to Spanish helps and hurts. Helps because they are both romance langauges which share quite a few words/verbs in common. But the pronunciation is often very different...rolling R's in Spanish are cake compared to the nasal sounds of Portuguese. Plus, if I want to say, "I am in Barranqilla "in Spanish I just say it as I think it in English:
"Estoy en Barranquilla."
 
But if I want to say "I am in Rio de Janeiro" the translation in Portuguese is:   
"Estou no Rio de Janeiro."  Confusing as hell but the "no" is a contraction which means "in the" Rio de Janeiro. Very counterintuitive.
 
One small example of pronucntion differences is "Rock" as in Rock music. In Spanish it sounds sort of like "Roc" and is not too different from English. In Brazil it is pronounced like "Hockey"...yes, like the game played on ice. 

[utopiacowboy]

When we visited Portugal, we noticed that the Portuguese did not like people speaking Spanish to them. In fact when we were in restaurants and asked the waiters if they would prefer us to speak English or Spanish, they always said English. One time we stopped to ask this old guy for directions and my wife asked him in Spanish. In Portuguese, he said no he couldn't give directions, they needed a translator. My wife then told him I can understand you completely, just give me the directions, we don't need a translator. Of course he refused continuing to insist that they needed a translator. We never did get directions from the guy.

[fathertime]

Hey Hector and Benjio,thanks for the explanation regarding Portuguese.  I didn't realize the pronunciation was so different.  I don't feel my Spanish is superior either, but it isn't too bad and I'm always making efforts to continue to learn more.  My boy interchanges languages beautifully.  I met a young German lady recently and she had 5 languages under her belt, Spanish being one of them. 


Fathertime! 

[Hector_Lavoe]

UC: Benjio probably has a better read on that situation in Brazil than I do. But I do sense it can be a sensitive issue in Brazil as well. See the story below published during the world cup as a reference. I had 5 Skype lessons with a native speaker who lives in Rio. My first few lessons I would accidentally break into Spanish in place of Portuguese. She seemed to get annoyed and offended every time that happened.

http://wlrn.org/post/rivalry-spanish-speakers-flood-portuguese-speaking-brazil

Finally, I met a guy from Rio on the plane who is about 45ish. He told me when he was a kid all the schools in Brazil focused on teaching English and French (the diplomatic language). He said over the past ten or so years the Brazilian education system has changed the emphasis to English and Spanish.

[utopiacowboy]

UC: Benjio probably has a better read on that situation in Brazil than I do. But I do sense it can be a sensitive issue in Brazil as well. See the story below published during the world cup as a reference. I had 5 Skype lessons with a native speaker who lives in Rio. My first few lessons I would accidentally break into Spanish in place of Portuguese. She seemed to get annoyed and offended every time that happened.

http://wlrn.org/post/rivalry-spanish-speakers-flood-portuguese-speaking-brazil

Finally, I met a guy from Rio on the plane who is about 45ish. He told me when he was a kid all the schools in Brazil focused on teaching English and French (the diplomatic language). He said over the past ten or so years the Brazilian education system has changed the emphasis to English and Spanish.

That was a funny article!

[benjio]

My first few lessons I would accidentally break into Spanish in place of Portuguese.

It's impossible to avoid doing this at least sometimes when neither is your native language because they are so similar.

[Hector_Lavoe]

Yep, and I did it many times.