In a country 300,000 square miles bigger than the contiguous US, it’s no surprise we barely scratched the surface of Brazil in just over two months. However, our timing was impeccable…because beginning January, 2024, citizens of the US, Australia and Canada will again be required to attain a visa with a hefty fee of $160. This said, we won’t be making a repeat appearance anytime soon.
Below is a summary of our stats for Brazil, which include our personal upsides and downsides. Some are generalizations because it ranges from place to place.
Time Spent: 63 days
Money Spent: $3193.45 or $50.69/day
Itinerary: Nature Reserve (3) Amazon Slow Boat (3) Manaus (3) Brasília (1) Rio de Janiero (28) Mangaratiba (1) Ilha Grande (5) Paraty (3) Petropolis (3) Tiradentes (4) São João del Rei (1) Ouro Preto (5) Belo Horizonte (3)
Favorite Place: Paraty & Tiradentes
Least Favorite: Belo Horizonte
Best Stay: Pousada Santo Expedito (Tiradentes)
Favorite Experience: Palmari Nature Reserve, Amazon
Would we return? Only if and when the visa fee is dropped again
Next time: the Northeast—Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza
Upsides:
-Fantastic opportunities and culture for hiking
-An accurate and mostly idyllic weather forecast (June-August)
-Access to tasty Amazonian fish for very affordable prices
-Açaí bowls…which we ate almost daily
-Beautiful beaches, and we know we didn’t even access the best in the north
-Warm and friendly people who appreciate you trying to speak their language.
-They are also casual and down-to-earth. Tshirts, shorts and flip flops accepted anywhere
-Kilo & self service (buffet) restaurant options for reasonable pricing
-Dessert culture…and they do it REALLY well
-Some of the best cuisine in South America, especially Minas Gerais
-Access and quality of craft beer. Average price was $4.50. National beers $2.50
-Very accepting of LGBTQs
-A very diverse population. We were regularly assumed to be locals.
-Strong wifi everywhere
-Credit cards accepted nearly everywhere
-Charming colonial architecture
-We felt very safe during our time in the country, although we had to be more cautious in Rio de Janiero
-Availability of Uber and we loved the 99 taxi app
Downsides:
-Electric shower heads, sometimes known as suicide showers. We never got shocked, but we only had a few hot showers in two months
-We also never once had hot water in our kitchen sink
-We were very disappointed in the fruit selection and prices in Rio. This improved significantly when we went inland to Minas Gerais
-Cost overall. Although we were able to get close to budget, it was challenging and stressful because we had to work a lot harder than in other South American countries. This means the value we got wasn’t nearly as strong.
-Kilo bars could also be a downside because if we put something heavy on our plates, our wallet got burned
-A specific challenge in the budget department was long distance bus prices. They averaged $5-6/hour (compared to $1.50 or $2 per hour in Colombia, Ecuador or Peru.)
-Portuguese. Like most Americans, likely due to the size, most Brazilians seem to be monolingual. Our knowledge of Spanish was slightly helpful. It’s really useful to learn at least the very basics of Portuguese, especially if you plan to leave the big cities.
-Everywhere we went, we had teeny tiny trash cans. Along with this, we unfortunately encountered few recycling programs in the country.
-Housesits are rarely available
