[Zak]

I didn't see them in Rio airport, but Fortaleza airport has anti sex tourism posters on display, anti sex tourism posters can be seen in some hotels and even in real estate rental offices. There is a local Policegovernment unit there which has the aim of closing down bars, clubs etc that cater for the Gringo sex trade and their work has featured on local TV. People posting on this and other forums of course claim that they are not in to P4P (but some hang around where working girls are and talk about trying to have sex with them for free - aka "shoring"). But quite a few locals in Fortaleza and Natal and parts of Recife and in other tourist visited locations in Brazil often assume Gringos on holiday are there looking for sex whether you make this distinction or not.

Rio is similar in some respects, Help nightclub was closed down after years of resentment by the locals in Copacabana and there was a "Femen"style anti sex tourism protest at Rio international airport a few weeks ago which has had some news coverage and you can find photos online. Femen of course are essentially a handful of attention seeking loudmouths, but they have latched on to an issue that is real; they didn't create the situation on the ground, they just try to exploit it for their own ends.

These factors may or may not impact or bother many visitors and of course, each person to their own. But again , I find it silly when people flat out deny the facts or try to downplay them.

[Prosal]

As a side note, about the costs in Brasil, I've been last year on a business trip to Sao Paulo, the Hilton Morumbi that was 100 € per night six years ago is now almost 400 € per night. And even at those rates you need to book well in advance to ensure you can get a reservation. It is undoubtedly by far the most expensive in the Americas. I then wanted to spend a few days in Camburi (SP Litoral Norte beach), but couldn't find any nice pousada for less than 200 €/day (off season) .....a fucking pousada in Brasil is nowadays more expensive than the Four Seasons Jakarta or the Grand Hyatt Bangkok. Go figure !

And if it was just the hotels, but everything is overpriced.

Brasil has priced itself out of the market.

[Brosemite]

(05-12-2013 04:09 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

As a side note, about the costs in Brasil, I've been last year on a business trip to Sao Paulo, the Hilton Morumbi that was 100 € per night six years ago is now almost 400 € per night. And even at those rates you need to book well in advance to ensure you can get a reservation. It is undoubtedly by far the most expensive in the Americas. I then wanted to spend a few days in Camburi (SP Litoral Norte beach), but couldn't find any nice pousada for less than 200 €/day (off season) .....a fucking pousada in Brasil is nowadays more expensive than the Four Seasons Jakarta or the Grand Hyatt Bangkok. Go figure !

And if it was just the hotels, but everything is overpriced.

Brasil has priced itself out of the market.

As a tip for hotels, you might want to look at http://www.despegar.com for good deals on places to stay in Sao Paulo. The other is hotels.com for Brazil.

Off of despegar, I found a hotel for 4 nights $80.00 per at a 4 start joint in Itaim Bibi. Boo yah!

http://www.decolar.com/search/Hotel/Deta...Hotels=241

Too bad I will likely miss Sao Paulo in the next couple months but be in other cities. That deal is dependent upon staying 4 nights however.

The Brazilian version of despegar.com is decolar.com. I prefer booking off of despegar.com because it is more gringo friendly and doesn't ask for a CPF number, which is like a form of identification to Brazilians or foreigners who have spent enough time in that country to apply.

I have options for Curitiba off of despegar, airbnb, hotels.com but will likely go the route of airbnb for an apartment in Belo Horizonte.

[Brosemite]

(05-11-2013 04:45 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

Mid to upper class brasileiras, and especially if they are 8s and 9s, are out of league for 95 % of the gringos who are in Brasil on a few weeks vacations.

Agree also about the expenses. Cost of life in Brasil is now ridiculously high, and not only in Rio or SP.

If you've read on the forum, I think there were maybe two Brazilian guys from bigger cities like Sampa that have moved from SP to cities in the Amazonas region with great cash, careers, looks, and nice pads that have complained about having to work too hard to get chicks up there.

On the other hand, I've seen situations where guys with $$ again from Sao Paulo struggle to crack social scenes in a short stay with good looking local chicks in Floripa when I was there.

Brings me to this conclusion:
1) If a Brazilian gal likes you, she'll be more likely to get with you but you gotta play your cards right with initiative & game.
2) It doesn't matter if you're a foreigner or visitor from another BRL city trying to get with a local chick as it is merely exponentially harder to do UNLESS you put in "weeks" and "months" of appealing to her immediate friends & social circles. This sort of thing is obviously much harder to accomplish if only staying in Brazil for 10-20 days of vacation.
3) It appears as if single Brazilian chicks might be looser when visiting other cities on vacation as appealing to the masses of their social cliques over an extended period of time may not be required.
4) If in a bigger city like Sao Paulo or Rio, you'll be able to score with good looking local chicks if you have the right game, etc while being able to fly under the judgement of social circles. In a place like Fortaleza or Florianopolis, the local chicks are more likely to be susceptible to those social circle red tape issues I alluded to. See pt# 2.
5) In a tier 2 city like BH, Vitoria, or Porto Alegre, a foreigner would need pretty solid Portuguese skills, approval from social circles, style, and good dancing abilities to appeal to the ladies down there. Can't stress how important the Portuguese is though for those places.

[OGNorCal707]

My passport and 5 year Brasilian visa are both nearing their expiration dates, so I was thinking about traveling there in January 2014, but damn some of you guys are really making it sound like a bad idea. I was in Rio 3.5 years ago and it was expensive then, but you're making it sound absolutely outrageous now. I figure it might still be a good idea to go because the country should only get more expensive after the World Cup and the Olympics take place.

Still I wonder if some of this Brazil hate is just hype, it seems over the past year, it's been nothing but bad reports that feminism has taken over, women are getting fat, and they are anti-gringo, etc. When I was there 3 years ago I thought things were pretty prime, I was only there for 24 days and didn't really kill it, but I did get my Brazilian flag from a pretty damn fine mixed-black chick from S.P. that I'd rate an 8. She was super sexy, sweet, feminine, nice, and pretty much better than any of the chicas I've messed with here in the states.

My Portuguese was pretty weak then, I had Pimsleur vol. I down, but I think if I had the language skills I could have done better and got more notches. Although, I got to say, while I liked Rio it did seem like it could be a hard city to get a SNL in, unless you have good Portuguese or the right look (tall, white, blonde, blue eyes), but there could be good potential if you stayed longer and developed some kind of social circle.

I'm going to have to give this some more thought because I really liked Brazil the first time around, but it seems like it really isn't going to be a good value, at least as far as compared to other cheaper travel destinations. I would spend a lot more in 6 weeks in Brazil than in Peru/Colombia, but maybe it would be worth it if I had a way better time there.

Anyone been in Rio or Brazil recently and give me a good breakdown as far as not only prices go, but gaming, the ease of picking up, women's attitudes, the fun factor of how the country is? TexasMade?

[TheBulldozer]

(05-12-2013 05:58 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

Anyone been in Rio or Brazil recently and give me a good breakdown as far as not only prices go, but gaming, the ease of picking up, women's attitudes, the fun factor of how the country is? TexasMade?

I will be down in Rio in July-August, for at least four weeks, if not longer. I will get a thread up in the coming weeks, and probably run a live update of my time down there, a la Fisto in SEA.

At the advice of some members here I've begun to prep for my trip. This includes some pipelining, learning Portuguese, picking up a very tight apartment on airbnb, and taking samba classes.

I plan on hitting the turf running.

[InternationPlayboy]

I think Rio will hands down be your best bet if you're new to Brazil. It's a gorgeous city and lots of people speak English. The night life is pretty good, it's just tough to figure out where to go. Honestly, the women aren't the top tier in Brazil, but you can work on that later, it's going to be easiest to do Rio, especially if it's a shorter stay.

[Prosal]

(05-12-2013 04:39 PM)yb13 Wrote:  

Off of despegar, I found a hotel for 4 nights $80.00 per at a 4 start joint in Itaim Bibi. Boo yah!

http://www.decolar.com/search/Hotel/Deta...Hotels=241

Too bad I will likely miss Sao Paulo in the next couple months but be in other cities. That deal is dependent upon staying 4 nights however.

The hotel you founded seems to be of great value for money. Nice balcony rooms, in the heart of Itaim Bibi, ect.

Anyway thanks for the tip. The only city where I'd like to stay a bit if I'd go back to Brasil (which is unlikely) is Sao Paulo. It is a cosmopolitan and enthralling city, many districts are really nice and enjoyable, people are polite and cultured, girls are friendler, smarter and more wordly than anywhere else in Brasil and foreigners are not necessarily labeled as sex-tourists, restaurants are of world-class level and service is everywhere usually top-notch, if you are into art and culture there is great museums to visit, and nightlife is certainly one of the best in the world (SP vs Rio is like city vs village).

[InternationPlayboy]

(05-13-2013 01:21 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

(05-12-2013 04:39 PM)yb13 Wrote:  

Off of despegar, I found a hotel for 4 nights $80.00 per at a 4 start joint in Itaim Bibi. Boo yah!

http://www.decolar.com/search/Hotel/Deta...Hotels=241

Too bad I will likely miss Sao Paulo in the next couple months but be in other cities. That deal is dependent upon staying 4 nights however.

The hotel you founded seems to be of great value for money. Nice balcony rooms, in the heart of Itaim Bibi, ect.

Anyway thanks for the tip. The only city where I'd like to stay a bit if I'd go back to Brasil (which is unlikely) is Sao Paulo. It is a cosmopolitan and enthralling city, many districts are really nice and enjoyable, people are polite and cultured, girls are friendler, smarter and more wordly than anywhere else in Brasil and foreigners are not necessarily labeled as sex-tourists, restaurants are of world-class level and service is everywhere usually top-notch, if you are into art and culture there is great museums to visit, and nightlife is certainly one of the best in the world (SP vs Rio is like city vs village).

Itaim Bibi is one of the nicer neighborhoods in Sao Paulo. This is where I stayed while there. It was extremely easy to speak English with people, as where I was staying was only a few blocks from two universities. I bashed Sao Paulo at first just because it's such a monster of a city. It's tough. It's hard to figure out what to do, where to go, how to get there, and the traffic is absolutely terrible, not to mention it's dirty. But if you can look past that, Sao Paulo can be great. There are endless options. You could live there, start hitting night clubs every weekend, and it would take you years to hit every one, and by then new ones would have opened. The food is very good. I mean it has a lot of ups and downs, but I definitely recommend it. Of course, I would recommend Rio first for a week or two visit, just because it's such a beautiful city and so lively. It's pretty close to comparing New York and Miami. But honestly, I even thought Sao Paulo put New York to shame in sheer size and overwhelming-ness. I mean sao paulo really is a trip, and can be super overwhelming, especially if it was the first 3rd world city you've been to (Which is pretty much was for me besides small cities in Mexico).

[Prosal]

(05-13-2013 02:54 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  

Sao Paulo.

Agree with all you said, except for the "dirty" part. There is many highly enjoyable bairros in SP, and not just posh districts as Jardim America, Vila Nova Conceicao or Jardim Europa. I like Pinheiros, Itaim Bibi as you mentioned, Moema, ect. Even a bohemian bairro as the one that is now referred to as Baixo Augusta (between ruas Bela Cintra and Frei Caneca) is really nice.

Sao Paulo is a culturally sophisticated, pulsingly energetic, spectacularly social city with thousands of great food options and an endless party scene. Bairros like Vila Madalena, Itaim Bibi, Pinheiros or Vila Olimpia are literally swarming with trendy bars and clubs that are busy every given day of the week, and as you said you can hit three different cool and hip bars every day of the week during one year without even begin to discover what the city has to offer in term of nightlife. There is no such things in Rio. As I said above, Rio vs Sao Paulo is like village vs city.

Some people could object that there is no beach, but the Litoral Norte, that harbours some of the most beautiful and happening beaches in Brasil (Camburi, Mariesas, ect), is only at some 80 km and a 20 RS bus ticket.

Brasil is definitely not my favorite country for girls (Russia is) and I find that culturally, FSU is much more interesting, but if I had enough money to relocate and live somewhere "cool", happening, near the beach, ect without working, I'd live in Sao Paulo - definitely not in a dirty and dangerous shithole like Rio.

                  

[kazz]

Whats with the disparity in info on Brazil here?

[Brosemite]

It appears as if the shift has turned as we've unintentionally convinced Tuthmosis to consider Sao Paulo now. In the trendy nice areas of western Sao Paulo, you're going to find mindblowingly gorgeous women that are on par or more beautiful than what say Porto Alegre has to offer.
At the same time, Sao Paulo offers the traditional and even more cultural options than say a Rio de Janeiro with a more cosmopolitan vibe.

At the end of the day I'm a more introverted guy who can be just as happy say watching sports on a weekend or say studying at a library. But if I'm going to live somewhere and pay one of the world's most expensive rent to be there, I want to have as much energy and big city options as I can get. Places like Sao Paulo or Hong Kong would offer that. Rio on the other hand would be too underwhelming for my tastes.

[InternationPlayboy]

Prosal, you're right, there are some very nice parts of São Paulo. Parts where u think you'd be in an upscale part of NYC. But there are also so VERY grimey spots. The sketchiest area I went to in brazil was in São Paulo. If you're in itaim bibi or somewhere like that it's nice, but on the other end it can be real sketchy and dirty. It just depends really. But overall, São Paulo is a great place after you get over the overwhelming aspect. I would say rio for a first timer though just because of the logistic in sampa. Like I said, it's a tough city to figure out. But to add to that, with so many options, you'll find plenty to do regardless.

[Prosal]

(05-13-2013 10:43 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  

But there are also so VERY grimey spots. The sketchiest area I went to in brazil was in São Paulo

I agree with you there, there is very very grimey areas in Sampa, and not only in the periferias. In the center the "cracolandia" zone is dreadful. About periferias, I was once invited at a party in Grajau (south) by a bouncer of Love Story, where I was a regular (as a side note, the BEST after-hours venue on the planet), and I wet myself as we drove to his place. That said, I saw maybe even worse in Rio's northern suburbs - especially in Duque de Caxias. Belem old town (the whole area behind the Hilton) is dirty and scary as hell also.

Talking about SP Zona Sul, from the (excellent) movie "O Invasor":

[Prosal]

(02-08-2013 03:51 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Sao Luis

Been two times in Sao Luis and really enjoyed. The Projeto Reviver (colonial renovated old center) is gorgeous - a kind of Pelourinho, but nicer, safer and without the touristic shit. Great bars also.

Girls are not that cute nevertheless.

At Projeto Reviver:

   

[scotian]

Have any of you ever been, or know anything about the Brazilian city of Macaé? There's a chance that sometime in the future I may end up there, just wondering if anyone has intel on that place?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maca%C3%A9

[Brosemite]

(05-13-2013 03:46 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

Brasil is definitely not my favorite country for girls (Russia is) and I find that culturally, FSU is much more interesting, but if I had enough money to relocate and live somewhere "cool", happening, near the beach, ect without working, I'd live in Sao Paulo - definitely not in a dirty and dangerous shithole like Rio.

I'm also a big fan of Polish and Russian women. They're sharp logic-oriented mentality gets me goin too.

I do however have a very special fascination with Sao Paulo chicks and they're strange nasal accents...esp the ones of Italian/Lebanese descent, which is very exotic for me. Every time I meet a Paulista here in the US, she's pretty cool but already married to some random American dude who only speaks English. I've slept with chicks that have had boyfriends in the past, etc but I'll probably stave away from a dude who has a foreign bride because I myself would hate to bring back a foreign chick to the US for things to not work out because of that.

I messed around with this Paulista milf in Madrid this past December, but couldn't seal the deal because she was apparently concerned about going home to her kid. But one day... I will get that Paulista flag...

[Lief]

I think Prosal is spitting a lot of knowledge about Brazil.

a) It is probably the most overpriced country in the world
b) Sampa is highly underrated. It is ugly and most people hate it on their first trip. However, it is probably the best bet for meeting Brazilian girls. I find the girls there to be less conforming to their social circles
c) Brazilians are friendly but xenophobic. I don't think you get any value from being a gringo in Brazil. If anything, it's a disadvantage.

I would vote for Sampa as being the best bet for Brazilain newbies.

[InternationPlayboy]

(05-17-2013 06:22 PM)Lief Wrote:  

c) Brazilians are friendly but xenophobic.

Definitely not true

[Lief]

Brazilians are the most nationalistic people I have ever come across. They honestly think that everything is better in Brazil. It's bubblehead thinking.

Xenophobic: deep-rooted, irrational hatred towards foreigners

IP - You are right Brazilians do not hate foreigners - I would say they are mildly curious and indifferent to foreigners.

[InternationPlayboy]

I guess we had different experiences while in Brazil. A lot of the people I met loved the fact that I was foreign, especially a foreigner that learned Portuguese. I also had a lot of brazilian "ins." You know how many Brazilians I've met that love coming to the US and buy all sorts of US crap. I know so many Brazilians that want to live in the US forever and never want to go back to Brazil. I almost never had any negative comments about being foreign. Out of my 6 months in Brazil, 2 girls mentioned something negative about me being American, but one of them expressed how she liked Europe more, so it wasn't even about being foreign, it was about being American. I got lots of love to be honest, especially being able to speak portuguese and making the effort to learn. People really respect that. If you were walking around trying to speak English to everyone and not making attempts at Portuguese I guess I may be able to see that. But how many people who don't speak Spanish would be pricks in the US to Spanish speakers that don't speak English. Half of them would say something like, "He should go back to his country. Still, I don't think Brazilians are even like that. I don't know how it is where you're from, but the US is 10x worse with this.

[Prosal]

(05-17-2013 06:22 PM)Lief Wrote:  

c) Brazilians are xenophobic.

I woudn't say that. They are simply suckers about their own culture, and don't have ANY proclivity for self-deprecating humour about the ridiculous sides of the "brasilian culture". I had an exemple recently...I was talking with a brasileira friend of mine (from BH for that matter) and wanted to tease her a bit about how silly are the lyrics of most pagode, funk and axe songs (which is true). She became berserk. Brasilians don't accept ANY criticism about their culture, whatever it is. For them, anything brasilian is necessarily great. This is the big difference with Russians for exemple, who ARE xenophobic but do have a lot of self-irony, especially about their own country, they love to laugh about themselves - in fact, Russian humour is, most often, self-deprecating. A brasilian will NEVER laugh about himself. BTW about humour, as I already said, try to make humour with a brasilian girl and most often you'll get the same stare than you get from your dog when you try to explain him quantum physics.

[Lika]

(05-18-2013 04:53 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

A brasilian will NEVER laugh about himself. BTW about humour, as I already said, try to make humour with a brasilian girl and most often you'll get the same stare than you get from your dog when you try to explain him quantum physics.

Personally, I've found that many Brazilian girls criticize their own culture but they don't like when a gringo does it...

On humor, although I agree that Brazilian girls generally have very little sense of humor, I relate ten times better with some of the Brazilian humor than the rest of Latin America (especially Mexico :-).

CF. a program like Panico na TV (that makes fun of Brazilian Tv stars and such) and a guy like Eduardo Sterblitch, a comical genius (Cesar Polvilho & Freddy Mercury prateado):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Idk1-jvsWY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPr3TYU5CoU

[Prosal]

(05-18-2013 05:45 AM)Lika Wrote:  

they don't like when a gringo does it...

About the word "gringo", what I have always found funny in Brasil (and in fact rather representative of the state of mind) is that contrarily to all other SA countries (I think, I'm not specialist), they call a gringo anyone whose "brasilianess" is in doubt. Brasilians make no differences between europeans, north americans or any other nationalities, including their South American counterparts. I heard gringo being applied to a wide variety of people, incl. colombians, bolivians and argentinians, and even africans !!!! (nevertheless asians are called "chines" or "japas" -wherever they come from- and arabs often "libanes").

Anyway thanks for the videos Lika.

[Brosemite]

(05-13-2013 12:48 PM)scotian Wrote:  

Have any of you ever been, or know anything about the Brazilian city of Macaé? There's a chance that sometime in the future I may end up there, just wondering if anyone has intel on that place?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maca%C3%A9

I don't know anything about that place...but I do know that there is about to be plenty of additional work in that part of Rio state and Espirito Santo (particularly Vitoria) because of oil reserves that keep getting discovered. Would be pretty awesome if you found work in Vitoria hommes...esp based on what peeps on this forum have been saying about it, haha.