RIO RULES!!!!!

[benjio]

The sights!!! Have mercy, the sights!! There is so much to see in Rio. It’s one of those places you wish civilization would have left alone. The skyscrapers, high-rise condominiums and all the statues and monuments somehow seem to be blemishes on the canvas of the masterpiece that is its natural beauty. The mountains are round there, and tinted green from the flora not an inch of the city can escape from. It seems even some of the cars have a green hue from what I assumed was some type of airborne algae. A human being can get accustomed to anything if the person sees it enough, but even after a lifetime of living in that beautiful city, one would still have to stop once in a while and take in the true marvelousness of the place they called home. A little more than 500 years ago, a Portuguese explorer strolled upon Guanabara Bay and his countrymen gradually begin to cut a hole in the jungle to create a little piece of paradise that everyone in the world should have the opportunity to enjoy.

I love Rio de Janeiro!!! If Barranquilla is my devoted wife of many years, Rio is the beautiful mistress I’m willing to risk my entire family to spend a night with. It’s one of those places you go and all you can think of is getting back as soon as you leave. And the women…Goodness gracious…THE WOMEN!!!!  During the past five centuries, an eclectic mix of Portuguese Nobility, African Slaves, and Native South Americans have created the most breathtaking feminine beauty on this planet. There’s everything from thin to voluptuous, the lightest Caucasian to the darkest black, green eyes, hazel and blue, hair that’s straight, curly and kinky. And that one thing that all Brazilian girls seem to possess. I don’t know if it’s something in the water, in their diets or in their blood. Those beautiful, perfectly well-rounded derrières. Colombia is a land of fashion models. Brazil is a land of bikini models…and I mean that with all the nasty, sexual and freaky innuendo that comes along with that statement. Two times even. Colombian women make me stare in awe of their beauty. Brazilian women just make me plain ol’ stare.

I arrived in Sao Paulo on a Sunday morning. It was freezing cold. I couldn’t believe it. It hadn’t crossed my mind for a minute that it was winter time in the Southern Hemisphere.  Luckily I had on a warm sweat suit. I always like to fly dressed as comfortable as possible. I had a few hours before my flight to Rio so I decided not to sit in the airport and explore the city a little. I got $200 Reales from the ATM in the airport and made my way outside.  A taxi driver said to me in perfect English, do you need a taxi sir? JACKPOT!!! You’re my guy! I know a little Portuguese but I’m far from comfortable enough to use it unless I absolutely have to. I jumped in the back of the taxi and he asked me what hotel I was staying in. I ask him how much it would cost me for him to drive me around a while to see Sao Paulo. He asked me how much of the city I wanted to see, because it was very big. I told him the best places not too far from the airport. Without another word he put the car in gear and pulled out into the street. After a moment of silence he told me $80 Reales for 3 hours. I didn’t know if it was a good deal or not, but I told him okay. I was just happy to be in Brazil. We drove around a while and I realized he was right. Sao Paulo was HUGE. Ridiculously huge!!!! Much bigger than Houston. We made it to the Brooklin Region of the city and amazingly it reminded me a lot of NYC. Skyscrapers, suspension bridges, etc. He would tell me little stories about the places we passed, most of the time focusing on how much Brazil was growing economically and how everything use to look 20 years ago. After a couple of hours we headed back for the airport. It had warmed up a little. He was a nice guy so I bought him lunch at a small deli before we parted.  I had seen enough of SP, and it was no different than most of the big cities in the U.S. I wanted to hurry up and get to Rio. We parted ways and I gave him $100 Reales…he was a nice guy and gave me a decent tour of the city considering the traffic and time constraints. Oh well, on to Rio I went.

[whitey]

Awesome post - you have a way with words, Benjio.  Looking forward to the rest ...

[utopiacowboy]

Sao Paulo would make most cities look small by comparison considering it is the world's seventh largest city.

[Alabamaboy!]

That is my only real regret with my life. I married a Barranquillera, but a client of mine told me to hold off for a year or so and just go to Rio once and I would change my mind forever. Especially in that I am kind of obsessed with the darker skinned gals with a lot of "A" and not concerned too much with the "T".

[benjio]

If you ever actually have the chance to go to Rio, fly into the regional airport from another city in Brazil…not the international one. I forget what both of them are called, but the runways of the regional airport stretch out right alongside the bay. So you can imagine the view when you’re about to land. That view is worth going through the trouble of visiting another Brazilian city first. The international airport is not even within the Rio de Janeiro city limits. That was the vision right outside my window about 4 p.m. as the plane slowly approached the runway. The few women I saw in Sao Paulo definitely gave me a taste of what Brazil had to offer, and the gorgeous flight attendants only buoyed my expectations (although Avianca very rarely lets me down in that department....those people simply do not hire unattractive women).  There are no words for what was waiting for me when I stepped off that plane though. It seemed like every girl working at the airport could have been a model. Female Security Personnel, Duty Free Shop Clerks, Fast Food Restaurant Cashiers…I wanted to shake the hand of the hiring manager at the airport and tell him or her “thanks for the warm welcome!”

Luckily I had handled all the Customs and Immigration BS in Sao Paulo. Took me about 10 minutes after I got off the plane to get outside the airport. My company had a driver with a sign waiting for me. He didn’t know a letter of English but he was trying. I had a meeting in the Corp. Office that evening so I couldn’t even take my bags to the hotel first. The trip through the city was nice. The upper class of Rio all live along the beaches that hug the bay and the class of living gradually decreases the further away you get from the water. This is why the ghettos of Rio are almost all in the mountains. More on those later…

We had a fairly productive meeting considering the hour. After we finished one of my bilingual co-workers escorted me downstairs to catch a cab and told the cab driver which hotel to take me to in Portuguese. It was only about a 10 minute drive away from the office. The Hotel was called the Leme Otho Palace…right on Copacabana Beach. They called themselves a 4 Star establishment, but I’ve seen better 3 three star hotels in the states. I didn’t really care though. I’ve roughed it with no hot water, questionable food and dirty clothes in Colombia too many times to be a snob. The staff was nice. I tried my hand at some Portuguese I had picked up but no one could understand me. My second option was always Spanish which was usually even worst. Surprisingly, almost everyone that worked there knew some type of English. I got up to my room, put my bags down, tipped the bellboy and got on the elevator with him to go back down.  First time, first night in Rio de Janeiro…you’d better believe I’m not sitting by myself in some hotel room.

[Colgando]

B, this is awesome stuff, I can feel the wonder and excitement in your words, I always wanted to learn Portuguese, I know 0, I can't even say hello. Your job sounds freakin fantastic, and you are 30 if I remember right, dude, living the dream, do the thing man.


I wonder how the women compare in general as far as wifey material is concerned in Brazil? What is the situation with that pond? In any event, I think I need to get on the plane and check out Rio. How much Portuguese do you need to get by there, is there a lot of english spoken?

[braziliangirl]

I wonder how the women compare in general as far as wifey material is concerned in Brazil? What is the situation with that pond?

Benjio,

I'm insterested in hear your views about it. I've read a lot in this forum about Brazilian women being too promiscuous to be considered good wife material. You can say the truth. Promise I won't take it personally.

By the way, I'm really enjoying your report.

[utopiacowboy]

Benjio,

I'm insterested in hear your views about it. I've read a lot in this forum about Brazilian women being too promiscuous to be considered good wife material. You can say the truth. Promise I won't take it personally.

By the way, I'm really enjoying your report.

The Brazilian women are too promiscuous? I don't know how they could be more promiscuous than the Colombianas who, to hear the PL vets tell it, are flat on their backs waiting for any passing gringo to do them. Amazing how they always exempt their own wives from this.

[OrlandoGringo]

The Brazilian women are too promiscuous? I don't know how they could be more promiscuous than the Colombianas who, to hear the PL vets tell it, are flat on their backs waiting for any passing gringo to do them. Amazing how they always exempt their own wives from this.

That's not been my experience.  Colombian women dress sexy but they are not sluts. 

[benjio]

There are promiscuous women in every Western Culture. And although laws prevent women from sexual liberation in many Eastern Cultures (especially in the Middle East), I sometimes tend to wonder how crazy and freaky women over there would be if given the opportunity without circumstances. With that being said, while I was only there for a week, it is my opinion that Brazilian women are a lot more "sexually liberated." Promiscuity is an idea closely associated with a lack of virtuousness in a woman, and I don’t think that’s necessarily true sometimes. There’s definitely that double standard. I think a lot of traditional Catholic Values still have a grip on Colombian Culture. Brazilians on the other hand have started to place a lot less importance on the classical idea of how a "lady" should behave. If you believe that Colombian women generally will not sleep with a man they don't know well, you are definitely mistaken, BELIEVE ME!!!! But I believe girls like that in Colombia are fewer and further between. I won't go into detail about why I think this, but I will say this. I think of myself as a relatively handsome 30 year old man that's single and I like to have fun. I do not believe in mongering, and I have a sincere distain for gringos that take advantage of women in poor countries in that respect. But if you go to Brazil, meet a young, good looking girl that's into you, and throw a little sweet talk in the mix, I can promise you that making you wait will be the furthest thing from her mind.

"Now that's all I have to say about that..." -Forrest Gump

My Spanish is perfect. My Portuguese is horrible. However, I did find the website below very useful in my attempts to speak the language in Brazil. The hardest part about Portuguese is the pronunciation and rhythm of the language, which are both extremely difficult to learn without constant practicing with a native speaker.

http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/brazil_proj/lessons/soc/port_span/port_span_full.pdf

[benjio]

When I got downstairs there were about five taxis waiting out in front of the hotel. I had a momentary debate with myself about whether or not it would be more advantageous to walk. A couple of co-workers had told me Copacabana Beach had a great night life, but I needed to stay away from the end opposite of the one I was staying on. Supposedly all the “termas” and whore houses were on that end, including the criminal element that usually accompanies an area like that. I decided to walk. I only had about 80 Reales left after my little adventure in Sao Paulo, paying for the taxi and tipping the bell boy. I figured I could find somewhere along the beach to buy a beer and find an English speaker. Even though it was well after dusk (this time of year it gets dark in Brazil around 5 p.m.), there were hundreds of people on the beach playing volleyball and soccer. No girls in bikinis but definitely some talent in revealing clothes. I made my way down to a beer stand near the sand and ordered a cold one. The guy selling them seemed to understand me when I asked, “What brands of beer do you have?” I decided on a Brazilian beer called Eisenbahn. It actually sounds German, but he assured me, it was “Feito no Brazil!”
After a couple of brews I began walking away from my hotel along the beach. Unfortunately every woman I passed was with a guy. The people there were kind though. Everyone I passed almost always said good evening or asked how I was. I spotted a place that looked relatively crowded and decided to walk over. It actually wasn’t even a building. There was a storefront cut out of the bottom of a Condominium building, transformed into a long bar, and there were dozens of chairs and tables sat out on the sidewalk in front of it. There was a huge plastic makeshift wall (kind of like a giant tarp) surrounding all the chairs and tables with a couple of cut outs for entrances. I know it sounds bootleg but the place was actually well put together. There was a decent crowd. Usually when I walk into a place in Colombia, everyone looks at me. They always know I’m not from around there no matter where I go. Disco, Gym, Exito…doesn’t matter. This place wasn’t like that. I don’t know if it was because so many Americans and Europeans come to Rio, or no one gave a damn but that was kind of a relief. That kind of attention sometimes makes me feel awkward. I walked up to the bar and asked for another Eisenbahn. The stuff was actually pretty good. My heart belongs to Guinness but I’ve been known to cheat. I leaned up against the bar and spotted an absolutely beautiful brunette texting on her cell phone. She was alone. Probably texting someone to join her I figured. I will never forget her hair. It looked so shiny, long and healthy. Really pretty face too…entirely too much makeup though. Sometimes you can tell a girl has a great ass even before they turn around. Something about the way hips are shaped. She was definitely one of those girls. I decided to try and make a new friend. I walked up to her and said good evening in Portuguese. She looked up smiled and spit out what seemed like 10 sentences. I couldn’t understand a word. “DAMN!!!! LOST IN TRANSLATION,” I thought.  I asked her did she speak English. She shook her head no. “Are ju fra dee Uni Stays?” she asked me. I said yes.  Velcum ao Brazil. She smiled and shook my hand. She was nice…but definitely did not have the patience to sit there and babysit my Portuguese. I also got the idea she was waiting on a guy. I walked around that place for a little longer, had a couple of more beers and decided to walk back to the hotel. As soon as I walked out the plastic hole a group of about 8 girls were walking in…a couple I didn’t see very well but I probably would have married them all just based on looks. Brazilian girls are soooooooo darn sexy. I didn’t want to leave but not being able to speak Portuguese kind of had me down. Similar experiences in Colombia are why I learned Spanish fluently. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night. I went to the hotel bar for a while and watched a documentary on a high school soccer team. Got to bed around 11 p.m.

[benjio]

Hmmmmmm....

[Kiltboy1]

Good Stuff Benjiio. My bigest regret in my travels was I never got to Rio
 
Keep it coming
 
KB

[STM]

Sao Paulo is not that far from Rio , looking at a map,  why Sao Paulo so cold?
How cold was Rio?
I assume its basically December in Rio?
When will the the water and beach get warm , so its flooded with women?
 
I can sum up what little I know about Brazil women, is that the "glass is always half full".  Seem to be in a good mood all the time.
 
Colombian men in general are not that good looking, what about Brazilian men?  tougher competition?  Eupean guys sgo to Brazil all the time.
 
Tall blonde Germans fled Europe WWII, and now though sevarl generations have a genetic mix  German with Hispanic/African quite a beautiful girls.
 
 
 
 

[benjio]

After two really boring nights of watching soccer and kicking back Jack and Cokes in the hotel bar I decided to explore again on Thursday night. I threw on a nice thin fabric, long sleeve shirt with and some slacks and my suede loafers. I wanted to look nice enough to get some Brazilian girls attention but not so nice Brazilian guys would smell the “foreigner” on me.  This time I was going to take a taxi. “Oh, but that’s right!”…I thought to myself. “I don’t know Portuguese!!!!” There were again five taxis in front of the hotel when I came down from my room. It was about 7:30 p.m. and already dark outside. The streets of Copacabana Beach were jam packed with pedestrians. The music was blaring in the background; and the waves were crashing against the beach front. I figured this was going to be a good night from the vibe I was getting. I got into the first taxi and asked the driver did he speak English. He told me, “no.” I got out, and got into the second taxi and asked the same thing. The driver said, “Yes, I speak English” in a robotic like voice. I asked him to take me to the ATM and then I wanted to go club hopping. “What,” he said. “ATM? Cajero? Plata, DInero, Efectivo, Cash?” He looked very puzzled. After about five seconds of us staring at each other he said, “You pay for taxi?” I got out. Not to be a rude Gringo [snip] but the simple fact is I don’t know how to speak Portuguese; and he and I would have had a very long night trying to understand each other. Besides that…SERIOUSLY?!! Who doesn’t understand ATM. That’s like universal! Third taxi was a no. The fourth was on his laptop when I got in. I took that to mean he was not in service. I got into the last one and asked the driver did he speak English. “Very little but I can talk to you, okay?” Well, better than nothing. It’s always the last one, right? This guy actually knew a [snip] load of English. I don’t know what he was talking about when I got in, but we were talking until I parted with him after he took me to the ATM. Just a little tidbit of information…there are NO, and I mean NOT ONE 24 hour ATM’s close to Copacabana Beach, and the banks in Rio close at 6. I didn’t believe him when he told me that night. I thought he was trying to run up his fare. But I asked around during the rest of my time there and it ended up being the truth. I know, crazy right?

When I told the cab driver I was looking for a dance club, the first place he took me too was a strip club. It didn’t seem like one because there were women standing outside in club clothes. When we pulled up I asked him to wait for me, and he said, “of course!” Got out of the car and started talking with the door guy. When I walked in and took a look at the place (and all the gorgeous naked Brazilian Women..about 20 of them by the way), I quickly realized where I was. I caught about 10 seconds of a Samba show and walked out. I will admit, I didn’t want to leave, but I also wasn’t going to stick around that place. That’s not what I wanted to do my first time in Rio. I walked out and got back in the taxi. I told him, “NO, Dance Club! Dancing!” I’m not sure if he misunderstood me the first time, assumed because I’m American I wanted to monger, or was getting a kickback from the place for bringing guys by. He did know the door guy very well though. They were talking like bosom buddies when I went in and were still laughing it up when I came out. We pulled away from that place and he said, “Oh my friend, I have just the place for you.” After about 15 minutes of driving we pulled up to a place called Fosfobox.  There was a line outside full of beautiful girls. I could hear American music inside. I told the driver I was probably going to stay there, but to let me take a look around first. He said, Okay, but stayed in the taxi that time. Seemed pretty safe and if the outside talent was any indication of what the club had to offer…Hubba, hubba, hubba.

[Kiltboy1]

HUBBA HUBBA
 
Don't leave us hanging my man 
 
KB

[benjio]

Sorry...having a busy Friday. I'll finish up the report this weekend. I will tell everyone that I did go into the club, had a blast and met an absolutely gorgeous Brazilian girl I'm still communicating with. Let's just say her English was good enough...stay tuned.

[benjio]

I finally have some free time so I guess I'll go ahead and finish this report while it's still fresh on my mind.
 
Fosfobox was a decent club. There was a good variety of music being played (Hip Hop, Pop, Cumbia, Reggaeton, etc.) and the sound system itself was impressive. Nice crowd, not too many shady looking guys and the women to men ratio was about 3:1 (from what I've heard not an uncommon occurrence in dance clubs in Rio). When you're trying to meet girls in a disco your number one problem is always noise. It's hard for people to understand what you're saying. The fact that I don't know Portuguese was obviously going to make that problem even worse. I made my way to the bar and ordered a beer. There were a few girls standing next to me talking. One looked over and smiled, whispered something to her friends and then they all looked over. I swear I could read their minds.."GRINGO!" I walked away from them. They were far from the cutest girls in the club anyway. There wasn't many people dancing because it was still pretty early by Rio Standards. I was sure the club could hold a lot more people and that fact would be confirmed in about an hour. Then...I saw her! There was an absolute movie star in the middle of the floor putting on a dance clinic. Guys would approach her every few minutes but they'd discover she was a little too much to handle seconds after. I made eye contact with her while I took a sip of my beer. She maintained the eye contact and gave me a warm smile. That's my cue. We kept staring at each other as I approached the dance floor. I was actually staring at her so hard trying to play Mr. Cool that I missed some steps and almost ate it on my way down to watch, but I caught myself, barely. I got next to the dance floor about 20 feet away from her. There were more people rushing in now. The dance floor was gradually filling up. I kept my eye on her. I just really didn't want her to give me that, "Come over here and dance with me" finger because I definitely had nothing for her. Had she done it, I probably would have tried, but thank heavens she didn't. After about 20 minutes a friend of hers finally came and whispered in her ear and she made her way off the dance floor towards me. As she got closer and my view got better, she got more and more beautiful (again, I need glasses but don't wear them so this happens to me pretty often...sometimes resulting in the opposite). She was about 5'4", beautiful long brown curly hair to the bottom of her back, flawless caramel skin, and a dancer's body. If you've ever been to an NBA game and sat down close enough to see the dance team you know what type of body I'm talking about. But what I'll never, ever forget for the rest of my life is those eyes. Piercing blue/gray. She told me later that night that they change colors with the seasons. When she got close enough to me I learned over and said into her ear, "You look like you could use some water!" I had completely forgotten no one knew English because I got so caught up looking at how fine she was. But alas, she responded! "YES! Berry stirsty!!! What luck! What swagger! I was the happiest man on Earth. She knew, even if only a little, ENGLISH!!! I asked her where they were hanging out (the club is a pretty decent size) and she pointed to an area at the corner farthest away from where we were standing. I went and bought a bottle of water ($11 USD!!!!) and took it over to where she had sat down. "Join us!" she said. They had found a little corner near the other bar where the music wasn't so loud. Her 4 friends were cute by American Standards but nothing like what I've seen in Colombia and was just getting a taste of in Brazil. My opinion of them may be a little skewed because the one I was interested in was so gorgeous. They were all nice though. All students taking English classes (now mandatory for any type of business degree in Brazil) so I could communicate with them all on some level. One of them even knew Spanish because her father was from Spain. We sat down for most of the night talking and I stuck as close as possible to my new friend,...well, let's just call her Mischa. They would take turns getting up to go and dance and get drinks every once in a while but Mischa always came back and sat next to me to talk. There was probably about 20 Brazilian guys trying to hit on her but she never showed anyone else interest. That flattered me to say the least. I could tell she was probably use to being the center of attention. She must have asked me about 150 questions about the United States. Her friends asked even more. It's always amazing to me how many stereotypes foreign people believe about the U.S. What's even more surprising is they'll argue with you about how right they are even though they've usually never been. This is especially true of misconceptions about the State of Texas. Everyone always thinks we all have guns and ride horses. The gun thing may be kind of true but the horse thing always gives me a laugh. I really enjoyed talking to her...AND LOOKING AT HER!!! Half of the time I had no idea what she was saying but I just nodded, laugh when she laughed and kept staring in those breathe taking eyes. The time flew and before I knew it, it was close to 2 a.m. I don't know what time the bars and clubs close in Rio, but I had to be at the office in 6 hours. I told Mischa I needed to leave and I was going to catch a taxi. Then she told me something I have never, ever heard a woman in South America say:
 

"I have a car!"

"What about your friends?" I asked. She responded in Portuguese and threw the occasional English word in the statement but all I understood was "they all live in the same apartments" and "someone else drove." SWEET!!! She told her friends something in Portuguese as we gathered our things and I saw the disapproval on their faces. I'm sure they were telling her she didn't know me well enough to be giving me ride and she should make me take a taxi. I think Mischa responded with something like, he's okay. I understood their apprehension but at the same time, I REALLY was a safe guy. We slowly made our way out of the club. Seemed like she knew about 20 people while we were walking out so I had to wait for her to give hugs, kisses, and hand shakes to everyone after every 10 steps toward the door. It was freezing when we got outside. "My cah is clothes" she told me. Took me a minute to get it but she was telling me her car wasn't far from the club. But it never fails to amaze me...the difference in our perceptions of distance and time. South Americans think a short walk is a mile, and a long drive is 20 minutes. It's completely the opposite here in the states in my opinion. Anyway, we got to her car about 20 minutes after walking out of the club. The neighborhood we were walking in seemed kind of shady but the streets were full of people walking to and from the clubs in the area so that made me feel more comfortable. I started to realize I was a little tipsy when we finally arrived at her car. She opened the door for me and I plopped in. Luckily she knew where my hotel was because I had no idea how to get there from where we were, and after almost a week I still had no idea what the address was. We were generally silent on the way home with the occasional giggle from one of use out of nowhere. We started to talk again for a little while longer after she found a parking space on the street on the opposite side of the hotel. I asked did she have a boyfriend, and she told me "No, how can I be here with you if I have boyfriend" Horrible English but some of the most beautiful words I've ever heard. After about 15 minutes she told me she was too sleepy to drive home. I told her she could sleep in my room...she did. By the way, all Brazilian girls have bikini lines year round. ALL OF THEM!

[Colgando]

Benjio, good stuff man, well done. 

[STM]

Benjio,
If Brasil was so good, why do you retun to going back to Colombia?   what is the disconnect vs this nice trip report?
or is there something else that is wrong with Brasil , not mentioned?

[benjio]

1. I do not know how to speak Portuguese (but I'm learning).
2. Brazil is considerably more expensive. Food, Hotel Rooms, Taxis, etc...everything is at least twice as much as Colombia.
3. Rio De Janeiro is a 10 hour flight from Houston that cost 3X as much as a 4.5 hour flight from Houston to Bogota. Bogota is an hour or less from anywhere else I want to go in Colombia.
4. I'd describe most attractive Brazilian women as sexy. I'd describe most attractive Colombian women as beautiful. I prefer the latter. If you can, imagine the difference between Adriana Lima (Brazilian) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Colombian). There are of course plenty of exceptions to this rule.
5. Brazil was very fun for me. It would be a great vacation spot. But I'd prefer to live in Colombia. The culture appeals to me much more. I like the food, I like the music, I love the people. Colombia is like my second home.

These are all my personal opinions or course. Far be it from me to try and talk someone out of going to Brazil and going to Colombia instead. Brazil is a gorgeous country and there are attractive women EVERYWHERE!!!! I'm actually returning at the beginning of August and can't wait.

[utopiacowboy]

Great reports. After reading this thread I don't know why anyone would choose Colombia over Brazil. Can you imagine a group of Colombian chicks learning English? Hell they wouldn't learn English if there was a million dollar prize for doing so. Even the Mexicans learn passable English!

[braziliangirl]

1. I do not know how to speak Portuguese (but I'm learning).
2. Brazil is considerably more expensive. Food, Hotel Rooms, Taxis, etc...everything is at least twice as much as Colombia.
3. Rio De Janeiro is a 10 hour flight from Houston that cost 3X as much as a 4.5 hour flight from Houston to Bogota. Bogota is an hour or less from anywhere else I want to go in Colombia.
4. I'd describe most attractive Brazilian women as sexy. I'd describe most attractive Colombian women as beautiful. I prefer the latter. If you can, imagine the difference between Adriana Lima (Brazilian) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Colombian). There are of course plenty of exceptions to this rule.
5. Brazil was very fun for me. It would be a great vacation spot. But I'd prefer to live in Colombia. The culture appeals to me much more. I like the food, I like the music, I love the people. Colombia is like my second home.

These are all my personal opinions or course. Far be it from me to try and talk someone out of going to Brazil and going to Colombia instead. Brazil is a gorgeous country and there are attractive women EVERYWHERE!!!! I'm actually returning at the beginning of August and can't wait.

Hi Benjio...

It would just be nice to remember that you are talking about Brazil as a whole but you have just been to Rio, right? This country has continental proportions and it's hard to summarize so many differences about regions. And Rio... It's like another world. Just today a friend emailed me a post from other forum talking about the differences between women from Rio and Minas Gerais (the mineiras are more of the beautiful type, like Catalina). And they are both in the Southeast. So you can imagine how the Northern states can be different in terms of costs, looks and behavior. Even food, music, culture in general.

Are you going back to Rio in August, or some new place?

Anyway, thanks! It was nice to see someone (finally) talking about Brazil here.

[benjio]

I was in Sao Paulo for a day and in Macae for two days. There's really nothing in Macae except for the petraleros and the beach. When I return next month I have to spend a week in Recife. I'm looking forward to exploring the entire country.

[braziliangirl]

I was in Sao Paulo for a day and in Macae for two days. There's really nothing in Macae except for the petraleros and the beach. When I return next month I have to spend a week in Recife. I'm looking forward to exploring the entire country.

That's nice, Benjio! I hope you enjoy Recife and post about it too.