After graduating with my masters, my partner and I set out on a two-week trip to Brazil. Why Brazil? Because we wanted to be challenged. We didn’t want a vacation, we wanted an adventure—and an adventure we surely got.

Vlog from this trip: “Vida No Brasil”

We landed in Rio with less jet lag and more seasonal dysphoria—Rio is only 3 hours ahead of Denver, but in the opposite hemisphere, so we were going from the dead of winter to the life of summer. The city was bustling as we took our first of many Uber rides from the airport to our AirBnb.

Aside: I have always been interested in road networks and transportation in other cities; Rio provided an example of how driving etiquette can be wildly different than what we’re used to. In Rio, drivers are very aggressive, taking risky maneuvers, honking, and driving very fast—but that seemed to be the norm. No driver ever looked to be exhibiting these behaviors out of anger, like we see so often in America, but rather as a part of the driving culture. Eventually I realized that much of the honking was more of an emotionally-neutral communication tool, like “hey, I’m coming, look out”. Despite the sometimes gridlocked traffic, the aggressive driving did get us to where we were going quickly, albeit scarily.

The first couple of days was a smattering of severe culture shock and unfortunate experiences, which ultimately led us to some of the coolest, most life-changing adventures of our lives. On the beach, a group of older locals stared at us while we made many of the textbook mistakes, the biggest being leaving a phone out of sight. In an instant, a man cleaning up trash grabbed a nearby can and swiped my partner’s phone from our plastic table. Instead of letting it happen, the older locals graciously yelled, informing us of the ongoing robbery. The phone was returned to us, but we were left facing the older locals in embarrassment as they tried to explain our mistake in Portuguese and mime. By the good nature of the Universe looking after us, there happened to be three english-speaking, college students sitting next to us who witnessed the entire scene. The outgoing one of the three, Clara, who would become our trusted guide and friend, began translating the older locals’ sincere advice to keep our phones deep in our bags or pants. My phone rarely saw the light of day in Brazil after that first day on the beach. Conversation with Clara and her friends led us to find our that not only was Clara an english teacher, but they were all theatre students and either LGBTQ+ themselves or allies. It was their summer break and had come to Copacabana beach to soak in the sun, despite Clara’s desire to go to a different beach. How lucky we were that she was convinced to go Copacabana! The experiences and conversations we had with Clara and her friends throughout the rest of the trip could fill many thousands of pages. I am truly grateful for everything they taught us, most importantly how to be safe and have fun in their beautiful city of Rio. Below are a few of my favorite experiences with Clara and her friends, in no particular order:

• 🃏 Playing “Brazilian” Uno with Clara’s friends at one of her friend’s homes south of Rio: Clara’s friend’s parents brought in many delicious Brazilian foods. They were also watching the Brazilian Big Brother premiere, a very popular TV program (at least among the young Brazilians we hung out with 😄)
• 🎉 Going to a rehearsal for a Carnival performance (Blocos): Carnival was only a few weeks away when we were in Brazil, so the dancers and musicians were practicing in a night club. Clara put glitter on our cheeks and we danced the night away. I was very impressed with the dancers on stilts, who made it look effortless

Glittered face at the bloco
Advertisement for Cachaça de Jambú. Translation: "Drink and feel your tongue tingle!"
Drinking with friends on the corner

• 💃 Going to block parties: Brazilians work hard and play hard. At night, the parties spill out of the clubs and bars into the street where people dance and enjoy the moonlight. Traveling between block parties is a bit risky, as the shadows between parties can host criminals and muggers. But we always traveled in groups, keeping each other safe. We tried street food along the way, despite the travel books and websites warning against it; being with Clara and her friends gave us the confidence to know it was safe. The alcohol also made the decision easier. We had chicken on a skewer with farofa, a delicious bread-crumb topping that comes with many Brazilian dishes.

• 🥃 Trying Cachaça de Jambú on the street: Cachaça is a very popular liquor in Brazil made from fermented sugar cane. We consumed much of it throughout our time in Brazil, primarily in Caipirinhas, which are made out of Cachaça, sugar, and lime (a must-try for any citrus-enjoying sweet tooth reading this). During one our nights “on the town”, Clara had us try shots of Cachaça de Jambú, which has a numbing effect in the mouth. I took a picture of the advertisement for the liquor (see to the right). The text translates to: “Drink and feel your tongue tingle!” And tingle our tongues it certainly did! The liquor itself was hard to stomach personally, but the experience was worth it.

• 🍺 Drinking beer and chatting on the corner: A common pass-time in Brazil is to sit at a cafe/bar and drink/eat with your friends and family. On more than one occasion, Clara would invite us to one of these gatherings with many of her friends, some new and some we had met before (Clara was very socially connected). Many of her friends were learning english, so they were more than happy to chat with us. They would always lean on Clara for help when they forgot a word and she’d always help. I also had a chance to practice my few Portuguese phrases, to the pride of Clara as she corrected my pronunciation. During these nights, we also learned about the practical way Brazilians drink beer. Instead of each person getting their own beer, each group orders a larger bottle (long-neck) which is put into a cooler. Everyone then gets small glasses to share the beer. This way the beer stays cold and refreshing—essential in the Brazilian heat. You indicate that you need another bottle by taking the empty bottle out of the cooler, which signals to the server to bring you another one. Some nights we had groups of around ten people, so the collection of bottles on the table represented both a big group and an increasingly lively mood. This was actually the last event we did with Clara and her friends, drinking and talking and laughing so late into the night that we ended up staying up to watch the sunrise then head to the airport for our flight home.
• 🪘 Samba Party: Despite being quiet exhausted, I must thank my partner for convincing me to go a samba party one of the nights in Rio. We met Clara (and friends) in Lapa, an area known for its nightlife, to figure out how we were going to get last-minute tickets. After a failed attempt to buy some from someone online (scam), Clara found some for us. But, we needed R100 for each in cash, which we didn’t have on us. Luckily our hostel wasn’t too far, in Santa Teresa. I loaded the route on Google Maps and off we went, practically running. What I didn’t realize from the limited 2-D map on my phone screen was that we had been routed directly up the famous Lapa Steps (Escadaria Selarón). Let’s just say I felt a bit like Rocky when we reached the top. We finally made it back down to Lapa with cash in hand and proceeded into the venue. The samba party was all standing room with the stage in the middle. You can get a cooler of drinks to bring to the floor with you, but beware, they are like landmines!—step in one and you’ll have one very wet foot and a group of very dissatisfied Brazilians. Long streamers floated from the ceiling, dancing in the breeze as we danced in the music. Check out my vlog of this trip to see a few shots from the samba party—you can’t miss them.

São Paulo

Although we spent most of our two weeks in Rio, we did make a weekend trip to São Paulo, the “New York City” of Brazil. It really is a massive city. Known for it’s historic buildings, shopping, and highly diverse cultural backgrounds, São Paulo was made up of a different energy than Rio, more business-oriented than party-oriented.

Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo (City Hall) [white building]
Mercado Municipal

We stayed at an AirBnb in the famous Edifício Copan, a sinusoidal cement flag of a building nestled in the center of the city. Luckily, we found a local tour guide willing to show us around the city for free (found on Tinder!). He was incredibly knowledgeable of the city’s history, specifically the buildings. He was also a connoisseur of sandwiches and took us to many of his favorite spots. We got around mainly by walking, a refreshing and perfect way to truly sightsee. My favorite moment from the day on foot was drinking caldo de cana (sugar cane juice) in a busy market in Liberdade, São Paulo’s Japantown. We made sure to visit some of the must-sees, including Paulista Avenue (shopping district) and Mercado Municipal (famous indoor market). Much of the city is built in layers, with malls and community centers embedded in tall buildings, which introduces many stairs, escalators, and elevators.

Aside: I must again take a moment to talk about transportation. São Paulo is certainly built for cars, as is evident by the highways and streets tied in knots about the city. But, their underground rail system is also well-designed and well-maintained, akin to the Tube in London. There are many walkways, which we used heavily during our walking tour. My one grievance, which is also one I have in America, is the lack of rail between the major city centers (Rio and São Paulo). We took a bus, which despite some hassle in booking because we weren’t locals, was fine. Europe and China just really have a leg up on intercity transportation, with trains connecting much of the continent. There are plans for a high-speed rail between the two cities, but delays have set any hopes of an operational line to the 2030s.

Takeaways

Brazil is a vibrant and festive country with opportunities abound to be in both man-made and natural wonders. I am so grateful to have met such amazing local friends, whom without we surely would have experienced much less! As usual, sometimes things are better summarized in bullets, so here are my main takeaways from the trip:

• Being uncomfortable is necessary to traveling: No matter how much I travel, I always feel out-of-place in a new city or country. This is normal and means you have gone somewhere challenging! Lean into it and good things will come.
• Social connection is highly valuable: Our new friends in Brazil were a highly social group who all happened to speak English, be around our age, and be queer-friendly. Although it can be challenging to force such connections in a new place, I cannot recommend it enough. Tour guides are amazing and I am grateful for their passion to serve many tourists, but there is something in a friend that allows a deeper connection. Cities and countries have places and geography that make them unique, sure, but what really makes up a city/country is the people.
• Life is too short not to have fun: Please, go out and dance, be with friends, do something a little scary, and have fun! I had spent the better part of 5 years at a desk studying to be a computer scientist before this trip, and Brazil taught me that the world is out there, not on here. So log off and see it once in a while!

View from Christ the Redeemer

Special shoutout to my grandparents for gifting me two roundtrip tickets to anywhere for my graduation from college, which helped make this trip possible :)