Capital: Brasília
Language: Portuguese
Currency: Brazilian real
Do Indians need visa pre-arrival: Yes
Places I Visited:
• Manaus- Largest city by the Amazon River, suitable for street shopping and taking a boat ride on Amazon River.
• Rio De Janeiro- Amazing beaches, Excellent Nightlife, Have one of the wonder of the world Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Home for Rio Carnival every Year.
• SãoPaulo- Largest city in the country, good for shopping, walk in the downtown, walking on the Paulista Avenue.
• Florianópolis- Excellent Beaches, Amazing nightlife, walk in the downtown.
• Iguazú Falls- Largest waterfall system in the world between Argentina and Brazil border.
I took a flight from Philadelphia- Miami. I had a layover in Miami for 10 hours then i went to the south beach and hung out in a hostel where I lodged the last time I visited Miami. I had a flight early in the morning to Manaus with the layover in Barcelona (Venezuela), It was devastating. The hospitality I received from the airline staff in Venezuela was amazing. It was 3 hours of layover in the airport, but at the last moment the flight was delayed, and departed after about 7 hours at the airport. By the time I landed in Manaus, it was 11 pm. I got on a bus and then by the time I got into my hostel it was like midnight. Next day I was walking in the city, I went to the local market and visited the Amazon river. In the afternoon I was in the hostel where I met a few Brazilians who were traveling from the other side of Brazil.
City hall in the downtown of Manaus
Water readings on the Amazon River, Manaus
I had a flight to Rio late in the evening, after having a little conversation with the Brazilians I headed down to the bus stand to catch a bus to the airport for my flight to Rio, but students in the city had a strike action, so they stopped all the bus services. It was like hell in the streets of the Manaus. Students were breaking down all the buildings and all the cars. I couldn’t even find a taxi to the airport, but I was able to a taxi driver who agreed to drive me to the airport with some extra money. The taxi driver was smart and manoeuvred to the airport safely and I hopped into my flight and reached Rio de Janeiro.
I was really excited because visiting the Rio festival has been on my bucket list for a long time. I took the bus and went to my hostel and Surprisingly, it is located next to the stadium where the festival was to happen.
After a few hours, I met a French girl in the hostel, and we went out to get some groceries from the market. After lunch, we were able to interact with some Argentines, Chilean, Swedish, Australian, Brazilian and Korean people; we had few drinks together and then dinner.
Boys gang in RIO
We later went to the bloco party; it was a cool night. The next day, my Swedish friend and I went to Copacabana beach in the metro, and I had my first metro ride in South America. We enjoyed ourselves and came back to our hostel in the evening. It was the first day of the festival, and we met a Mexican guy in the hostel. We all tried going inside the stadium to watch the festival, but we didn’t have tickets for that day. So this Mexican guy found a person on the street who was selling tickets, and we bought the VIP tickets at a bargain price and finally got inside the stadium, and that was how I stroke my long time wish from my bucket list.
With mexican friend behind in Rio festival
After staying there for a while, we came back to the hostel to have a nap. The next day it was time to visit one of the world wonders “Christ de Redeemer.” People usually go up the hill in a car or a van, but my Swedish friend and I walked up the road. It took us around 2 hours as we walked through favelas but alas, we finally got up there, it was a fantastic view from the top. After the tour, we took a bus to our hostel. On getting to our hostel, we were told that it is dangerous to walk up the hill, people get robbed in the middle, but luckily enough, nothing happened to us.
With Sweidish friend at “Christ De Redimer”
Christ De Redimer
We were done for the day and later in the evening; I went out for rio festival again with my Korean friend whom I met day before followed by a bloco party with bunch of people. The day after, I left the hostel I was and checked into another hostel in the Botafogo.
Here, I met a lot of crazy party people. On the first day I met a person from New Zealand and another person (I didn’t remember where he is from). We went to the beach to catch fun. Consecutively, we went to a favela tour organized by the hostel owner. The next day I met 2 brazilians in the hostel we went to beach in the morning after we were back I prepared some Indian food for everyone in the hostel and next day we went to a bloco party for the whole day with the bunch of guys in the hostel.
View of a favela in Rio
I traveled to Sao Paulo the next morning. My Sao Paulo trip was kind of like a business trip, I stayed there for four days, but I didn’t do much. I just had a hop on hop off bus tour for the first day. I was occupied with some personal work on the second day, and why on the third day, I went for a walk in the Paulista Avenue.
Cathedral in the downtown of Sao Paolo
From Sao Paulo, I went to Florianopolis, and on the first day, I went to the beach with the English friend who happens to be my lodge mate. After I came back from the beach, I met some fantastic set of people from Australia, Ireland and England we had a lovely time hanging out in the bar few kilometers away from the hostel.
On our way back, we saw an unpleasant situation where a girl jumps out of the vehicle because she was forced to do something that she would not do. We thought of helping her, but the taxi driver warned us not to get down because people there may have weapons to attack us, so we called the cops to do their job.
Next day I went on a walking tour in the downtown and had enough rest in the evening.
I proceeded to Uruguay consulate the next day to get my Uruguay visa for which I applied for back in the USA. After some troubles, I got my visa, and later in the evening, I boarded a bus to Iguazu falls. On getting to Iguazu falls next morning, I had a problem with searching for my hostel but with the help of local school students I could reach hostel safely. After few hours, I discovered that the English couple I met in the Florianopolis also checked in. Wow, I felt happy.
The next morning, I and some of my new friends and English couple visited Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side. It was indeed a long walk and pretty much tiring as well. Next day, I proceeded with same guys and headed for Brazilian border and reached the fall on the Argentinean side.