Brazil🇧🇷

The fourth South American country we visited was Brazil! We flew from Quito, Ecuador, which took nine hours with a stop off in Colombia. Our route is a bit off the beaten track as we had to fly from Argentina to Ecuador to meet Ned’s Parents for the Galápagos, and then we had to be in Brazil for Rio Carnival, as some of my home friends were meeting us there! These flights were one of the most expensive bits of our trip as we would have gone via land border instead, which is a lot cheaper. We spent around a month exploring Brazil before going to Boliva.

Safety
I was a bit nervous about Brazil as I heard a few horror stories about muggings, violence and just the overall safety. As a cautious person, I was extra cautious about being in Brazil, especially during carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Things to consider before going:

1. Take off all your jewellery, I took everything off except earrings and kept them in a safe place the entire time we were in Brazil. Wearing jewellery attracts unwanted attention.
2. We didn’t take our camera out with us apart from two instances (Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer), as these are both very touristy places with security. We also kept it in a backpack and not hung around our necks.
3. We bought a thin bumbag that goes underneath our clothes, quite small, but can fit your phone and some cash! Perfect for carnival as there is a lot of pickpocketing so having it hidden under clothes definitely saved us (especially for Ned).
4. I also have a strap for my phone which I have had the entire time travelling, it was extremely useful for this week as loads of people have had their phones snatched out of their hands so this somewhat prevents it.
5. Have a spare decoy phone that you don’t care if it gets stolen.
6. We splashed out on hotel rooms/airbnbs and not hostels. We have heard of people getting robbed in hostels, so I preferred paying more for our own private space and then locking things up in our rooms.

Even though we heard a lot of bad stories, and I did expect the worst, we personally did not experience any of this. I did see a couple of phones stolen but it was a very big surprise seeing loads of people wearing jewellery and having their phones out carelessly with nothing happening. However, we have been told that once you get comfortable and forget where you are, that is when you are most likely going to be targeted. More details of this will be in my Carnival blog here.

São Paulo

First stop in Brazil was São Paulo. We flew straight from Ecuador and spent one full day here to explore the city, museums and the delicious food scene:

• Catedral da sé Church São Paulo (first photo)
• Museu Das Favelas (third photo)
• Paulista Avenue
• Mercado Municipal de São Paulo - huge market
• Beco do Batman - famous for its high quality graffiti art
• Farol Santander Bank (middle photo) $45 USD
  Price: $45 USD
  Time: Tuesday - Sunday, 9am - 8pm, last entry is 7pm

Liberdade Japanese District
São Paulo has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. There is a whole area dedicated to unique Asian supermarkets and amazing food spots. Make the most of your stay here to experience authentic Asian culture with cheap (ish), delicious street food, restaurants and the best Asian snacks and treats.

Paraty

🏨Casa Visa Paraty (expensive but worth price)

Spend a few days in Paraty to experience the amazing area, we sadly did this quite rushed but we made the most of it! We did a waterfall tour, which was recommended to us. We went to three different waterfall, spending an hour or so at each one, jumping into the pools, sliding down the Tobogan Waterfall and relaxing. We then had a self serve lunch before visiting different distilleries and cheese shops with free tastings.

The main waterfall that you should definitely visit is Cachoeira Do Toboga e Poco do Tarzan. If you don’t want to do a full day tour, you can either get the bus or taxi to this waterfall. As it was included in our tour we had the transfer to and from it. The waterfall has two main swimming pools, one at the top where you can jump off the ‘Tarzan’ rock and at the bottom you can slide down the rocks like a tobogan into the pool. There is also a spot for lunch here, however, it is extremely expensive.

Ilha Grande

We spent four days here making the most of the gorgeous island and its numerous beaches! To get to Ilha Grande it can be a bit complicated and expensive to do, depending on where you are staying. We booked three nights on Araçatiba and it took us a bus to get to Angra dos Reis, where the port is and then a boat directly to Araçatiba.

Pizzaria Casa da Maria Amelia Restaurant & Viewpoint
One of the recommended restaurants to visit is Maria Amelia for their delicious, massive pizzas and gorgeous viewpoint over the island where you can see the sunset. Make sure to spend one evening here!

Boat Tour
There are a variety of different boat tours to choose from going to different beaches and viewpoints. We went with route four, which included going to three different beaches and cost us 180 BRL each. The most famous beach of Ilha Grande is Aventureio known for its growing sideways palm tree. This was our favourite stop, as the beach was huge, gorgeous, very sociable and had different foodie spots to choose from.

Rio de Janeiro

We spent eight days in Rio and got to experience the whole week of Carnival! To get to Rio we took a direct bus from Angra dos Reis, which only took three hours. Bear in mind the traffic into Rio, especially at carnival is awful so take that into account if you plan something to do in the evening as the time you arrive will definitely be at least an hour or so later than originally planned!

Christ the Redeemer
You must check off one of the Wonders of the World! Go early in the morning or at sunset, either way it will be very busy as they are the most popular times. Going in the morning you will see the sun shining directly on him, whereas when we went at sunset, he wasn’t shining as brightly. However, we did get to see him with a sunset surrounding him.

To get to Christ the Redeemer, we got a taxi to the train station, before getting the train shuttle up to the top. You can get a mini bus shuttle as well if there are no train shuttle tickets. Get your tickets ahead of time as they can get booked up, especially around Carnival, our tickets cost us $25 USD each. We booked the shuttle for 5:30pm, but make sure to go early as there are still long queues for the shuttle and you want to make sure you meet your time slot. Once at the top you can walk to different ledges and viewpoints to see Christ the Redeemer and the view over Rio, which was incredible. The sunset wasn’t amazing but it did make the sky turn a pretty colour as it went down!

The other way to see Christ the Redeemer is to do a helicopter tour. You get to choose different lengths of time, all at different costs and they take you around Christ the Redeemer. You can do these tours throughout the day with sunrise and sunset being the most popular times. We were very close to booking this activity, but decided against it just because of the price. People we know who did it said it was incredible and worth it, so if you want to do it, you definitely should! Funnily enough, this will also be the only time you will see Christ the Redeemers feet.

Rio Beaches
There are a few beaches that you must visit whilst being in Rio. At all of the beaches, you can pick different posts to sit at. Choosing a post will help you find friends a lot easier as Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are huge, so without a solid meeting point, it will be very tricky to find them.

You can then ask for chairs, umbrellas for shade and drinks throughout the day, which are then tallied up at the end before you leave. We definitely made the most of this and spent multiple days lounging on different beaches, and overall it’s not that expensive! The beaches we recommend are the following:

• Copacabana Beach - huge, there’s a whole strip of beach, nicer area to sit is towards the middle end, which is more expensive but a lot less crowded!
• Ipanema Beach - very big and busy, but really nice view of Two Brothers.
• Barra Da Tijuca Beach - our favourite beach! A lot further out from the main parts of Rio, but worth the trip. The sea is incredibly blue, a lot more than all the other beaches making it a much nicer place to swim.
• Joatinga Beach - recommended to us as a much smaller, hidden beach so not a lot of people there! However, if you go too late, it can get quite busy.

Sugarloaf Mountain
Make sure to go up to Sugarloaf Mountain for sunset! To get there you will need to purchase cable car tickets. Get them on GetYourGuide and choose a timing between 3-4pm. Once you are at the top, you can stay for however long you want, even till sunset! If it is very busy, you can also choose the Fast Pass, which is a bit more expensive. We did this and personally it wasn’t that much quicker going up, but as we went down after sunset there were huge queues, so we were able to skip that with them! There are two parts, the cable car goes to Moreo da Urca (Urca Hill) first. During the summer and certain dates, they have a DJ performing from 5pm onwards at this level. Make sure to check their instagram page for DJs so you can go when they are there, as sometimes there are really well known DJs and the price is included in the cable car ticket. There are also lots of places to eat, shops to browse, and different spots for photo opps overlooking Rio.

The second cable car, is the one that goes up to Sugarloaf Mountain and where you can see even higher, better views of Rio. There are different viewpoints, picture spots and an amazing restaurant overlooking the view, called Clássico Beach Club Urca.

Escaradia Selarón
Go to Santa Teresa and spend the morning exploring this area in Rio. Make sure to stop by the famous Escaradia Selarón, which are these colourful steps, covered in different artistic mosaic tiles. It gets very busy during the day, so it is best to go early in the morning before the crowds.

Two Brothers Hike
If you want to get your steps in, do the Two Brothers hike! To get there you will need to get an uber to the base, you can then either walk to the starting point, which is very steep to do and you will be walking through the favelas or get a motorbike shuttle for 10 BRL. Once at the top, you will need to pay for a wristband, and they only take cash so remember to bring some. It was only 10 BRL for the both of us! It’s a very chilled hike and took us 40 minutes to get to the top. Once you’re there you will see views over Rio’s largest favela, Rocinha and then Ipanema beach as well.

Rio de Janerio Carnival
The main reason we went to Brazil was to go to Rio Carnival with my friends from home. I hadn’t seen them for over a year and a half so I really wanted to make it work, and I’m so glad it did!

Rio Carnival is something you have to experience, even if it’s for just a couple of days. The whole celebration lasts probably a month but it begins at the start of the New Year. There is a week of pre-carnival, then carnival, which is a week in the beginning of February and then post-carnival! A blog going into detail about Carnival and what to expect will be here.

Salvador

If you want to explore East Brazil, add Salvador to your trip. After researching it we realised that it was named as the 10th most dangerous city in the world, which definitely made me a little bit on edge!

Even though that was the case, and we were warned by our uber drive to be careful, we personally didn’t feel unsafe at all. We spent two full days here, explored the Old Town with its famous cobbled streets and colourful houses and then explored the beaches:

• Elevador Lacerda
• Centro Histórico de Salvador de Bahía
• Largo de Pelourinho
• Casa de Carnival de Bahia

Lençois

🏨Buena Vibe Hostel

We then got a seven hour overnight bus to Lençois, which is famous for its gorgeous town, cobbled streets and hikes and activities to do. We spent three nights here and it was exactly what we needed. There are so many different tours, one’s going to waterfalls, hiking and hidden cave pools. To do these tours, they are extremely expensive, which Ned and I didn’t want to do. So we decided to rent a car instead, it cost 800 BRL to rent one for three days compared to the 900 BRL each for the tour we wanted to do, we definitely saved our money! We then were able to do everything we wanted here but on our time and freedom and for a much cheaper price. Adding in fuel, food and some entrance fees, we still managed to save a lot of money.

Waterfalls
Spend one day going to these two different waterfalls in Chapada Diamantia National Park. The first waterfall we went to was Cachoeira do Mosquito, which was a fifty minute drive away and cost us 20 USD for entrance fees. The waterfall is huge and pretty cool to see, but it wasn’t the nicest place to swim in as the current was quite strong and the waterfall was a lovely brown colour from the tannins. We also weren’t allowed to go underneath the waterfall unless we paid to have a guide with us, so that was a bit disappointing and wasn‘t worth the 20 USD we paid. There is a viewpoint near the car park which allows you to see the waterfall from a further distance.

The second waterfall we visited was Poço do Diabo, which was a thirty minute drive from Mosquito and was back towards Lençois town. When you arrive you will need to follow the path alongside the waterfall current. This took twenty minutes to get to the top of the waterfall, you can then walk further down to the bottom where you can swim.

Cachoeira de Fumaça
For our second day, we spent the day hiking up to Fumaca, which is the tallest waterfall in Brazil. The drive was an hour and a half from Lençois and once we arrived we had to check in and have a short safety briefing. You can also donate money towards the National Park but they only take cash, so remember to bring some if you want to donate.

The hike itself, took us just over two hours to do. The start was steep and involved a lot of steps, but after the first 1.5km it then levels out and the rest of the hike is pretty flat. The views along the way reminded us a lot of Australia with its huge cliffs, surrounding trees and dry, red sandy paths. Once you get to the waterfall, you can explore the different spots where you can sit and have your lunch. If you go towards the left and cross the stream of the waterfall at the top you can go to the viewing ledge which overlooks the valley from the waterfall (middle picture).

Moro do Paí Inácio
Stop here for a sunset viewpoint. You have to pay cash to enter but once you do you can spend as long as you want at the top. We sadly went when it was raining so we didn’t get to see an amazing sunset. You can imagine if the weather was good that the sunset over the surrounding views would have been insane.

Underwater Caves
We then spent our third full day going to two different cave pools called Poço Azul and Poço Encantado. Poço Azul is the better cave to visit as you are allowed to swim in the pool, it cost us $20 AUD for the both of us and you have to book your slot beforehand on their website. You then have fifteen minutes to swim around the pool when you are there. We decided to go there really early instead as our slot, which was at 10:30 and we went for 9am instead. Luckily we were the first people there and got to have as much time as we wanted in the pool before the first tour group arrived. This cave was insane, the waters were so blue, as shown in the pictures and it was pretty cool to see.

We then drove to Poço Encantado, which personally wasn’t that amazing. It took us an hour and a half to drive there and sadly you aren’t allowed to swim in the pool. You do get to do a quick tour of the cave, which also cost us $20 AUD so for us it wasn’t worth it.

Bonito

🏨Bonito Hi Hostel
A really good hostel, only a fifteen minute walk away from town! It is really big with great dorms, had a swimming pool, social area with a pool table and bar. It comes with a good free breakfast and has loads of tours which you can book directly with them.

Bonito is known for its famous clear blue waters and snorkelling tours. This was a spontaneous stop for us and it didn’t disappoint. We stayed for three nights and did two different half-day tours. If you are planning to go to the Pantanal, Bonit0 is a great stop over place from São Paulo and four hours away from the gateway to the southern Pantanal

Baraco das Araras Ecoturismo
One activity to do in Bonito is to see South America’s famous, largest sandstone sinkhole, learn about its history and see red and green macaws in the wild. We did this tour in the morning, got picked up at 7:30am and it was an hours drive away. Once we were there we were taken on a guided 1km loop to two viewing decks overlooking the sinkhole. As you walk through the park, you have the chance to see more wildlife, we were lucky to see a wild armadillo here, which made Ned’s day!

Rio da Prata
Bonitos main attraction is the gorgeous Rio da Prata. A crystal clear river system hosting an amazing array of natural plants and wildlife. The owners of the attraction have set up a brilliant eco tourism spot here, where they grant restricted access to tourists to preserve the wonderful natural ecosystem. The main activity here is the guided snorkelling tour, where you float down the stream for roughly three hours spotting all kinds of fish, and if you’re lucky other wildlife such as, Caimans, Anacondas and even Tapirs. If you’re adventurous like Ned, you can hang back from the tour group slightly and explore the corners of the rivers that people missed. Ned managed to find a huge adult Tapir hiding in the plants at the edge of the river, and coaxed it out allowing us to swim with it, such an amazing experience! After snorkelling you are treated to an included all you can eat buffet, with a variety of delicious foods made from the local produce of the surrounding farm. One of the best things we did in Brazil and would highly recommend Rio da Prata as a must visit.

Eco Park Port da Ilha
For our third and last day, we enjoyed relaxing at this Eco Park. There is also the opportunity to do variety of water-sport activities. However, we just booked the day pass to use the natural lagoon and sun bathe. They have different swimming spots, photo opportunities, food and drink places. You can also play volleyball, paddle, kayak, white water raft and see wild monkeys swinging through the trees. We made the most of this day, sunbathing, playing cards and doing diving competitions, before our long upcoming travel days.

Pantanal

🏨Pantanal Jungle Lodge

The Pantanal is another huge bucket list place for wildlife lovers. It is the world‘s largest tropical wetland, located mainly in Brazil, famous for its chance to see jaguars in the wild. Details on the four day tour we did will be in a separate blog here.