10 things I think you should know before you come to Rio de Janeiro

As you may know, I live in Rio since the day I was born so I think I may have valuable information for you. As always, you can leave a comment below with your questions.

#1:  Rio is not a safe city but it is not that bad

The first thing I hear from my friends that come to visit me in Rio is “I thought it was worst”. Of course, as a city with a very serious social inequality, Rio is a violent city and I can not say the opposite, but I think that what they show about the city in other countries has nothing to do with the reality. My advises are: do not use jewelry, watch on your phone or camera and avoid walking with them apparent, use a money belt to keep money, do not walk distracted (it’s a horrible advice to give when you are traveling, but I’m being honest). If you take this precautions, your visit will be amazing :)

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Brazil: Quick Portuguese class

Hi, guys! Today I will help you with my language: Portuguese! No we Brazilians don’t speak Spanish, we get mad when you start to speak Spanish with us, but we always try to understand it because it is similar to Portuguese.

Unlike the other Latin American countries, that were colonized by Spain, we were colonized by Portugual. They arrived here in 1500 because they missed the route to India (hahaha it’s true). There were many indigenous people here and, like all the stories about colonization, you already know the end: something to do with slavery, killing and extortion of natural resources.Because of the influence of indigenous people and African who were enslaved, our language is actually different from Portugal’s Portuguese. So, if you speak Portuguese but learned it in Portugal, be patient because we will probably have problems understanding your message. The Portuguese I find easier to understand is the one from Angola.

When you get here, you will find out that most of the population don’t speak English so my first advice is: always ask something in English to young people. The reason is very simple: in the last few years, learn English at school became a rule in Brazil, so the probability of finding a young person who can understand you is higher than find an old person who can do the same.

This said, I love to learn words from the country I am going to visit, it helps me to feel safer. So I thought about teach you some Portuguese-BR words/sentences. Let’s do it?

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What you should eat in Rio de Janeiro

Hi, guys! Today I will talk about what I think you should eat in Brazil or Rio de Janeiro. We are well-known for our good food and our variety.  I would venture to say that in Brazil you will find any kind of food, our land is amazing for vegetables, fruits, grains and and my country welcomed immigrants from all over the world in its history so is easy to find typical food from other countries as our own. But today we will talk about the food we eat in our daily life in Rio and I think you should try once in here.

Oh, each state in Brazil has a different kind of food, I will talk about  the food from Rio or from other states in Brazil that we eat here, but know it has much more, Brazil is giant :)

BISCOITO GLOBO

Biscoito Globo is a icon of Rio de Janeiro, is really popular among us and became one of the “faces of Rio”, you will find it on patterns and souvenirs. I love it! Eat biscoito globo is almost an obligation if you are on the beach, especially with Mate (we will talk about it on “what should I drink in Rio” post). I don’t know how to describe it so you will have to taste and help me, ok? haha. Top #1 in Rio’s way of life.

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