Moca's Blog: Brazil Trip Recap

Rio_corcovado

It has been a few years but we finally had our Brazilian Holiday! We stopped in Miami for 2 days before heading to Rio. In total it probably took us about 37 hours to get to my home town but totally worth it. We had to fly Brisbane > Sydney > LA > Miami > Sao Paulo > Rio de Janeiro. Part of our tickets we booked with www.brol.com. They have pretty good deals and can also help with hotel reservations with a discount. Once we arrived in Rio we stayed a few nights at Hotel Praia Ipanema. All their rooms have the Ipanema Beach view for a good price compared to all other ocean hotels. Of course one of the first things I had to do was eat as many "pao de queijos" I could fit in my mouth to satisfy my baby cravings followed by an original açai... Here are a few other places we checked out:

Barril 1800: very old pub on the beach of arpoador. Great to have a few appetizers with beers or caipirinhas.
Zaza Bistro: this is a very cozy restaurant, ask to sit on the floor upstairs and have one of the crazy mixed drinks. The food is not Brazilian but a mix of all sorts of world stuff. I would not go there for the food itself but for the atmosphere and drinks.
Galeto in Ipanema: After the beach, sit on the corner of Visconde de Piraja & Farme de Amoedo and order a traditional galeto with french fries. This is our version of a small rosted chicken to be eaten with your hands and no shame!
CCC: Thanks to my buddy Jorge, he showed us a great night time at this venue. On Saturdays they have a band called Sururu na Roda that does not get any more brazilian than that. Great music and appetizers. Don't forget to drinks a few Skolls!
Rio Sul Mall: Great location and shops to grab a nice pair of brazilian biquini or speedo :)
Churrascaria Palace: There are tons of Churrascarias to choose from, you know the all you can eat meat Rodizio. This is not the best one but it was pretty good. For R$35.00 you can spend a few hours there "floggin" yourself on some dead beast. I hear the best one is Mario's but you'll be looking at R$100.00 per person. After that, walk off the food in Copacabana beach. There is a street market with some nice local art to take home.
Feira Hippie: On Sundays only until 5pm, take a few hours to walk around this fair. It is located on Praca General Osorio in Ipanema. This is the place to buy all the souvenirs and some cool pieces to decorate your home. Bring cash!
Sugarloaf: Must do, just grab a taxi and purchase your ticket at the door for R$35.00
Corcovado: Must do, go look at the big Crist and amazing views of Rio. It is a bit tricky to get there without getting ripped off a bit. Cars and taxis can only park until a certain point of the hill, so there are a few options: a) If you have a friend driving, drive until this meeting point and take a van from there for about R$10. This is probably the cheapest way. b) If you need to take a cab, make sure to grab it way out of the skirts of this area and ask the driver to take you there using the meter. Most cab drivers will try to sell a package where they wait for you. No need for that... you will need to take the van anyway since outside cabs cannot drive all the way up. c) if you don't care to save a few bucks, under the hill there are plenty of cabs offering packages. For R$ 35.00 per person, they will drive you all the way up there, wait for you then take you to another look out called Mirante. This is not a bad deal but make sure to wear our seat belts, these guys drive like maniacs. d) You can take the cable car for R$35.00, this is not a bad option.
Buzios: This is a small beach village about 2 hours from Rio. There are about 22 beaches there and the fun part is to rent a buggy for about R$50 a day and check out all of them. Accommodation is tricky because there are hundreds to choose from... at first we stayed at San Francisco Pousada on Praia da Ferradura. This was pricey R$230 per night but it had a gorgeous view. We did not realise until later this beach is considered the "high class turist" area so after a couple of nights we moved to a much more friendlier pousda called Casa Colina for R$140 per night and walking distance to Geriba beach which is considered a more local area. In both cases don't expect luxury accommodations :) Getting there: You can choose to drive a rental car from Rio, pay a cab driver R$300 bucks each way to drive you there or do what we did, jump on a mini tourist bus for R$50 a head. They do a few stops but it is a cheaper option and you don't need to stress. Their number: +21 2623 0021. There are so many things to do in Buzios I need to create a post just for that but make sure you go there with good weather because if it is raining there is absolutely NOTHING to do. My favorite time: Walk over to Geriba beach, in front of Pousada Pitu, there is a guy called Vava, he works for the restaurant up the road. He will setup a table, chairs and umbrella for you in exchange to order a few drinks and an appetizer. He brings it all to you. Order a caipirinha with some Frango a passarinho..life does not get any better than that.

5 Comments

Hello there!
How are you?
Cool! Are you still here?

Nice to see that you came to Brazil

Thanks

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Posted by: Brazil property | November 30, 2007 at 07:26 AM