Brazil recap: What we loved (and didn’t love) during our six weeks of Brazil travel!

Well, wow. Just wow wow wow. We have officially finished the first big leg of our trip – six weeks of Brazil travel. It’s hard to imagine that actually being true, having dreamed of and thought of this around-the-world journey for so many months. But, it is true. We have both started and finished our time in Brazil. And, especially since we spent so much time there, I thought it would be nice and fun to take the time to write a recap of our time in Brazil. So, let’s go!

Where we went in Brazil

Man, even writing this all out was stressful; this part of the trip was a lot of moving around, and probably the most that we will do on our around-the world adventure. But, it was our first location, and Damian’s home country and we were just too excited to be able to narrow down more than this. So, our night count for our Brazil travel:

• 3 nights in Iguazú Falls
• 5 nights in São Paulo
• 4 nights in Bonito
• 3 nights in Ubatuba
• 8 nights in Rio de Janeiro
• 4 nights in Barreirinhas (near Lençóis Maranhenses)
• 1 night in Parnaiba
• 3 nights in Jericoacoara
• 1 night in Praia de Baleia
• 2 nights in Natal
• 5 nights in Praia da Pipa
• 1 night in Olinda

Favorite moments in Brazil

Jyoti: Without a doubt, visiting Lençóis Maranhenses. This beautiful landscape of sand dunes and clear lagoons was the one place I had to go in Brazil and it did not disappoint. It was such a unique, gorgeous sight and it literally felt like being on another planet.

Damian: Damian loved going to Bonito, where we were able to do a bunch of different adventure activities, including snorkeling through a crystal-clear river, hiking waterfalls and ziplining and tubing down a river. I think he also enjoyed how “new” and eco-conscious tourism was to this destination.

The top thing we’d do again in Brazil

We both agreed on this one and it is definitely Iguazú Falls. It’s hard to describe the sheer power and size of these falls, which are 2x the height and 3x the length of Niagara, and we would head back to experience them again in a heartbeat.

What we didn’t get do in Brazil

Even though we spent six weeks in Brazil, it was not nearly enough to be able to do and see all the amazing things this country has to offer. I mean, it is as big as the continental United States and you’d never be able to say you saw “all of” the United States in six weeks! While we are so excited about all we were able to do, there’s still a few major open places on our list for next time.

Salvador: Salvador is another city on Brazil’s east coast and is knowing for having a strong, vibrant Afro-Brazilian culture. We weren’t able to squeeze it into our itinerary this time (it would have added another 8+ hours to our driving and we had a hard start and hard stop to our northeast Brazil beaches roadtrip). Next time it would be really fun to experience this culture and architecture

Bahia State’s beaches: Bahia is the state that Salvador is in, and as you continue down the coast there are a number of stunning beaches. Perhaps next time we will do a beach roadtrip part 2?

Pantanal and the Amazon: So, we purposefully skipped this, knowing we had limited time. There were a couple reasons – one, Damian had already seen the Amazon and, two, I am less interested in animals and more interested in adventure and water. But, given that Brazil has some of the most amazing and diverse wildlife of any country, this might be a fun thing to get on the itinerary for a future trip.

Brasilia: Brasilia is the capital city of Brazil and is located inland (I know, no beaches, gasp!). It was only created as a city in 1960 (Rio was the capital of Brazil before that) and has diverse architecture that was considered “modern” when it was established. It’s always fun to visit a capital city, and one with such a recent history would be even more fascinating.

Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina: This is an inland park (that also has a city named Lençois near it’ it is super confusing!) and, covering over 375 thousand acres, it has some (more) of the most beautiful natural sights in Brazil. There is hiking and waterfalls and caves and pools and adventure activities, and it just sounds awesome.

Things I’ll miss from our Brazil travel

There are so many things about Brazil that make it an amazing country. Here are some of the biggest things that I will miss.

The people and culture: The people we met were all so friendly and so proud of their country and their home area. It was really interesting to hear so many different stories and to feel so welcomed to Brazil.

Scenery and adventure activities: As I’ve mentioned over and over, much of the fun we had in Brazil (and that we have anywhere) is discovering beautiful views and then doing activities in/near/around them. Brazil has an abundance of these and I’m sure we’ve only explored the tip of the iceberg.

Being in Damian’s hometown: There is something that is so comforting and intimate in seeing your partner where he grew up, speaking his native language and getting to tell people he is a “Paulistano” (what São Paulo natives call themselves). I had never seen this side of my hubby and it was really amazing to be able to learn it about him.

The exchange rate: Not going to lie, the ~3.5 reais (Brazilian currency) to 1 US dollar conversion was awesome. We’re for sure going to miss that in Europe.

Kibon’s doce de leite ice cream bites: Ok, this is a little thing but whatever I loved it. When we were in São Paulo we stopped for a snack and I got these ice cream bites – caramel ice cream, covered in chocolate. I thought they were delicious but that they probably could be found everywhere. But, I was wrong and the next time we found them wasn’t until Praia da Pipa! And yes, I ate them everyday while we were there to get my share, yum!!

Hammock time is all the time: Guys, every place in Brazil has hammocks – inside or outside, one or a bunch, simple or fancy. They are so comfy and just give off the vibe of “beach town” and it was fun to be able to relax in one every night. Just one note for the motion-sick-prone: do not try to read a book in a swinging hammock, it never ends well.

Colorful houses: I mentioned this in detail about Olinda, but really there were beautiful colored houses everywhere. I’m really glad we drove so much during our travels, so we could see the little, more local towns. Besides seeing how “real people” lived, what put a smile on my face was the cheeriness of the colors we saw all over the place.

Beautiful beaches everywhere: I’m a beach girl and water baby at heart that there are just so many beaches to explore in Brazil. I wish I lived somewhere where there could be 80+ beaches within a 10-mile radius!

Things I won’t miss so much from our Brazil travel

But, any country has its issues, and one as big as Brazil is bound to have its fair share. Combine that with it being my first time there, and here are some of the things I won’t miss so much about our Brazil travel.

Bugs: I hate bugs. And there’s just no avoiding it when you are in a tropical country. From mosquitos, to flies, to spiders, they are just part of the natural atmosphere. It definitely wasn’t my favorite part of the trip.

Language barriers: This is one thing I struggled with a lot. I’ve just never been in a place where I was so unable to communicate with everybody. Let’s just say I’m beyond grateful that Damian is a native Portuguese speaker.

Less food diversity: One thing I’ve gotten used to in New York City is having the option to eat any type of food at any time. Thai at 2am? Yes, you got it. Pierogis in the afternoon? No problem. I’m guessing that this will be more common on our trip than I realize, but I missed the food diversity during our Brazil travel and got a little bit tired of the meat-heavy Brazilian cuisine by the end of the six weeks.

Early sunsets: The sun sets in Brazil around 5:45pm, what?? This was so difficult for me. I am not a morning person and my preferred wake up time is not early. So, by the time I got going there were not so many hours in the day to enjoy things. And, after it got dark we got tired quickly. One night Damian started crawling into bed and I had to say, um, it’s 7:53pm right now, probably not yet time for sleeping!

Driving with speed bumps and potholes: Man, is driving in Brazil a thing. The Brazilians are very serious about their speed limits, and strictly enforce the lower ones by huge speedbumps every 100 meters or so. And then, the potholes, which are more like car-sized divots on the road. Put these together and that’s how we ended up taking over five hours to go 200 miles on a highway.

Gas strike: This one made me sad and grateful more than anything. On the last leg of our roadtrip some truckers had started a strike to protest the rising gas prices. They blocked highways, which impeded our journey (annoying), but also kept many gas stations from having any gas at all, kept ambulances from being able to get through, etc. The strike ended soon after we left, but I’m still grateful that it didn’t start until near the end of our journey. We had to run our rental car to the last drop and return it on empty, and we may have had to change / cancel our whole trip if it had happened earlier. In fact, the gas strike was such an issue that our flight from Recife to Lisbon (to get to Greece) had to stop in a random island in the middle of the ocean to re-fuel!

The (at least perceived) safety issues: I still have to write a post on this, but most everyone has heard about the safety reputation of Brazil travel, and Rio de Janeiro in particular. I haven’t yet come to a conclusion yet in my research as to how safe (or unsafe) things actually are, but the perception was reality here. I felt trapped and unable to go places by myself, which was not fun.

Aggressive salespeople (aka hawkers) everywhere: And lastly, the sellers. Nearly everywhere we went, into town, on the beach, etc. there were salespeople in our faces. Do we want to see a restaurant menu? No? Are you sure? It’s the best restaurant in town. Do you want to buy a beach umbrella? Do you want me to guide you into the park? It got super frustrating, and especially for Damian since he was the only one who could communicate with them.

Wrap-up: Our Brazil trip in three words

Jyoti: Beautiful. Fun. Exhausting.

Damian: Sun-filled fun.

Some of our favorite pictures from our Brazil travel

All our posts about our Brazil travel

Finally, I thought it would be good, to have in one place, all our posts about our Brazil travel so they are easy to peruse. Here’s the list below!

• Brazil and Argentina – Iguazu Falls
• Brazil – Exploring São Paulo
• Brazil – Exploring Bonito
• Brazil – Touring in Bonito (river snorkeling and waterfall hiking)
• Brazil – Our first three days in Rio
• Brazil – “Professor-ial” thoughts on attending a game at Maracana
• Brazil – Volunteering with Project Favela in Rio
• Brazil – Three days in the beach paradies of Ubatuba!
• Brazil – Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain
• Brazil – The amazing landscape of Lençóis Maranhenses
• Brazil – Three days in the hippie beach town of Jericoacoara
• Brazil – Why we had to skip Canoa Quebrada
• Brazil – Six days in Praia da Pipa (my favorite beach town)
• Brazil – 24 hours in Olinda