up

to help if anyone has questions...

how important is learning Portuguese if one is to be there for say, a month? i can get by with some basic spanish but i don't know a lick of the former.

generic brazilian questions-

- how impressive is the pantanal? i'll be heading from santa cruz in bolivia, the main hub into brazil. should i do the pantanal by train (ie. head to campo grande if possible) or just skip it?

-i was planning on doing alot of southern brazil. i'll be there next week...will it be too cold? should i focus more on the north? i've heard the north is very rural.

-any ideas on multi-destination flight tickets for brazil? the lonely planet guide i have says that you must buy them outside of brazil...though, they seem like good value, given how large brazil is.

-any other travel tips would be appreciated, thanks.

- i think that for a month your spanish is enough.. these languages are very close.. so u will learn some necessary words very quickly too

- personaly, i dont know pantanal.. its not my kind of trip.. but everybody says that is amazing... i wouldnt skip it, since u r gona "be there" anyway..

- my english is very poor; i think i dont understood ur question... but ill recomend other cities to visit in brazil: Ilha Grande, near rio de janeiro.... morro de sao paulo, recife, salvador, natal, florianópolis.... etc.. u tell me what do u have in mind.. what u like etc.. and i tell u the best place... one of the best sites to find flight tickets is decolar.com , and it is expensive..(maybe for me).. the low cost companies here are not like 5 euro... its like 200 reais (100 usd)

- i think its better u tell me what do u wanna see and visit.. brazil is huge, and has pretty much os everything !!

ok...what you've provided is good. i like to do hiking, scuba diving, rock climbing, touristy stuff. will go out on weekends but not party every day.

is brasilia worth seeing? is northern brazil worth seeing? or should i just stay in the south (as i planned, since i'm heading into argentina later)?

thanks for all your answers!

Hey Orange

rock climbing u r able to do it in rio... in sugar loaf for eg... i never did.. but people say that is cool..

it worth visiti northern... many cities i suggest u is in northern...

personaly, i never visit brasilia and i dont have any desire to do it... its one of the most boring cities in brazil.. but if u like architecture u should go... specially after or before pantanal.. because its very far from the main cities like rio de janeiro..

cya!

Hi Orange. I am from São Paulo and I´ll give some hints:

- Pantanal is very nice - especially if you go to Bonito (is a town located in Pantanal).
- You can also go to the following cities: Florianópolis; Natal; Salvador; Fortaleza - the first is in the south of the country and the other is in the northeast.

if you need help when you're here in Brazil, just send an e-mail. If it is not too complicated we try to help you. - bgiamatei at gmail

thanks for the suggestions guys.

i've decided that i'm not going to do the pantanal...only because i recently went to rurrenabaque in bolivia and it sounds like alot of the same sights (cayman, piranhas, monkeys, etc).

i'm going to fly into rio today, hopefully do some stuff here. then i want to bus (or fly) down to sao paolo (which do you guys suggest? it's only 6 hours bus, so that isn't bad). then i want to go to florianopolis and then maybe porto alegre (or maybe just foz de iguacu).

I suggest you fly, you can find special offers:

http://www.voegol.com.br/
http://viajemais.voeazul.com.br/

there are big tournaments in the next days if you are planning to play poker, use your winnings to pay for your flights and journey!

I suggest www.descolar.com

this site scan for flights in all the companies and its almost 100% acurrated

---

Orange: have a nice trip !!
im just not sure if u would change Foz do Iguaçu per Porto Alegre..

the cataratas in Foz are one of the most beautiful places on earth

cya !

you mean: www.decolar.com/
enjoy!

exactly.. thanks !

Ive been receiving some private msgs
so im uping this to answear more, if u guys r interested.

What would the best way to find a short term (3-6 months) furnished apartment in Ipanema? Do you have any recommendations for language schools?

raaaaj,

i met some chicks in my hostel who found an apartment for $1500 a month between the three of them...it was furnished and pretty solid. they just went searching along ipanema and are only staying for like...3-4 months iirc. probably helped that they had some basic Portuguese skills too

the best thing about Rio is that prostitution is 100% legal. The brothels can be expensive but the best value is in the escorts which would give Amsterdam hookers a run for there money

NOT porn site.. but nevertheless NSFW

http://divasrj.com/acompanhantes-rj.php

hey orange..

r u in rio ?

Cya

lol at prostituition being 100% legal...
this is not serious, right ?

40s, nah, back home now. great time though.

orange,

cool.. glad that u enjoyed..

come back for the summer and carnaval !! best time !

I'm heading there next month, super psyched

rio is a lot cooler, a lot less dangerous and a lot more expensive than i would have thought. it's by far the nicest looking city i've ever visited though. hope i can move there 2014

Great.
Glad to hear.
If u need something, keep in touch!

Cya

If anyone else is pondering going to Rio or not, I went there a couple of months ago with my girlfriend and had a blast. I really recommend it, but if I had to choose I'd say travel December-March (best weather etc).

I am going to be staying at a friend's family's house. I will need to make some phone calls and would rather not pay the expensive international cell phone charges. So I was wondering if it is free to receive international calls there? (someone in the US using Skype to call me there). I don't want the house to incur charges for it.

as i told u on pm, if u receive the call, u dont pay anything !!

Cya