Gringo-izing Brazil: An American’s Guide to Carnival in Rio

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This is the first in a six part series documenting my trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Carnival in February 2009.   In this series we will cover everything from expectations, places to see, what to do/not to do, and hopefully share some of the more interesting stories from the trip.

Well lets see, where to begin.  Carnival in Rio is the biggest party in the world.  We had no idea what to expect when we headed down there, and to say the least we, were not disappointed.  Whether it was dancing in the Sambadromo for the parade, hang gliding over Rio, or visiting Iguassu Falls down south, nothing was as expected, but everything lived up to expectations!

However, with that being said, there are definitely some things to consider before you leave.  In this first post, we will discuss ways you can make your trip better, before you even leave the country.  The absolute, most important thing you can do to add the most value to your trip is this:

Meet a Local

Ok, so I know what you are thinking…how do I meet a Brazilian before I even leave.   Well this is the 21st century.  I am sure by now you have been a witness to the immense popularity of sites like Facebook and Myspace.  Why not use them for something really useful?  Do a search for people in Rio de Janeiro that share your interests, and try and make a new friend online!  Another great source for this is Orkut.  This is basically Brazil’s version of Facebook.  It definitely helps to speak a little Portuguese, but it is totally not necessary.  The other way to meet some one is to get really lucky.  I happened to have a travel buddy who met a girl named Mariana during a short stay in Prague in 2007.  After spending three days touring the city, she extended the offer to come down to Rio for Carnival.  Biggest. Mistake. Ever.  Little did she know less than two years later, we would be coming down to Carnival in full force, and taking over her life for two weeks!  Well as much as she may have become sick of playing tour guide by the end of the trip, she is the best thing that happened to us.  We were the envy of our hostel mates, after they heard of all of the cool things we had done.  We did all sorts of things that wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for our local friend.

Alright, so now that you are off on your journey to meet a Brazilian, whats next?  Well you have to get down there.  So Carnival tip #2 for before you leave:

Plan Ahead

The biggest mistake you can make when planning a trip to Carnival, is just that, not planning.  We started almost a year ahead of time, and are very glad we did.  The closer you get to the middle of February the more expensive flights, hotels and hostels all get.  If you are hoping to use air miles, as we did, the sooner you can book the ticket the better.  You shouldn’t expect to find much in the way of saver miles to Rio any time near Carnival.  However, there are some airports close by that you can take advantage of.  We used our United Mileage Plus account to fly in to Buenos Aires for 55,000 miles.  We then booked a $300 flight from BA to Rio.  All in all, the whole thing cost about $340 bucks (our second round trip flight plus a $40 booking fee in our mileage account).  This also gave us a full day to spend in Buenos Aires during a layover, a nice added bonus.

Another thing to consider is what else you want to do besides Carnival.  I am going to assume that most of you arent going to fly down to Brazil for nothing but a 4 day binge.  You probably are going to spend atleast a few extra days if not weeks in Rio or other parts of South America.  So the next thing you should do before you go is figure out:

What Else do you Want to See?

In later parts of this series I will go in to much more detail about some of the things we did and throw in some recommendations, but if you are planning on doing any other major traveling within the country, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start planning before you leave.  We went down to Iguassu Falls on the boarder of Argentina and Brazil.  It was about a three hour flight from Rio, and unless you want to spend 20 hours on a bus both ways, you are probably going to be flying.  NOTE: If your schedule allows, I have heard the bus ride is beautiful and allows you to see some of the countryside that is definitely missed while flying.  However, with only 2 weeks, we just couldn’t spend 2 days on a bus.  In the week preceding and immediately following Carnival, you can expect there to be a lot of other people heading to some of the outlaying areas of the country, so booking in advance will work in your favor.  You should be prepared to look outside the typical travel outlets though.  When we initially checked out Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak and other sites of that sort, the cheapest flight we found was about $600 round trip.  Pretty ridiculous.  This is another way where tip #1 in meeting a local can come in handy.  Through a Brazilian travel agent, Mariana booked us round trip flights and hotel for about 800 real (about $325 at the time).  I can’t stress enough how valuable local knowledge can be.

One other thing you may be wondering about before you leave for Brazil is:

What should I bring?

A logical a question that is usually at the forefront of anyone’s mind before leaving.  Here, I am going to give the same advice that any hardened traveler would also suggest: LESS IS MORE. While I didn’t have an exorbitant amount of clothes by any means, what I brought ended up being more than enough.  Lets say you are going to be down there for about two weeks, and even if you are going to be down there longer, some of these same goals still apply.  It is summer; although you might be stuck in the middle of a snow storm back home, you DO NOT need to pack for every imaginable weather condition.  I was actually in a long sleeve shirt and jeans when I left PDX.  By the time I reached Buenos Aires I couldn’t get my clothes off fast enough.  Here are my recommendations:

-4-5 cotton t-shirts

-1 pair of shorts

-1 pair of jeans

-1 Pair of swimtrunks or bathing suit

-1 good pair of walking shoes and another pair of sandals (Or you can save yourself some trouble and buy a pair of Havianas when you get down there.  I am not exaggerating when I say that EVERYONE wears these in Brazil.  Buy a pair without the little flag on them if you don’t want to scream tourist)

-Small bag of toiletries (toothpaste, tooth brush, travel shampoo etc)

-Sunscreen.  I cant stress the importance of this enough.  Don’t just tell yourself you will buy it when you get down there (like I did). For one, it is more expensive.  Two, you will be burnt long before you have a chance to buy any.  Or at least you will if you are as pasty as I was.

-Immodium.  One of the most valuable, if not the most valuable thing I had on the trip.  While food there is good for the most part, it is just different enough to send my stomach spinning off and on for the duration of the trip.  I never thought two little pills could be so magical.

I could go on with the typical travel stuff, like your ipod or a book etc.  But really when it comes down to it, everything you need is readily available in any of the more toursity locations (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon etc).  Bring a few changes of clothes, immodium and sunscreen and you will pretty much  be all set.  If you have any specific questions on things to bring feel free to comment and I will get back to as soon as I can!

You can look for part two in a couple of days.  This will be titled Gringo-izing Brazil: What to Expect When you Land.  If you enjoyed this article or found it useful, please comment, or sign up for my mailing list.  I would love to hear what you have to say!

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Part 2: What to Expect When you Land

Part 3: The Parade

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