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Hello. Anybody out there can offer tips on backpacking in brazil, particularly around rio, sao paulo and salvador? looking to go june 1998. thanks in advance reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hello. Anybody out there can offer tips on backpacking in brazil, particularly around rio, sao paulo and salvador? looking to go june 1998. thanks in advance reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Yes, be very careful. Backpacking and hitching rides are definitely in the NOT RECOMMENDED class around Rio and Sao Paulo. I am not normally the harbinger of doom relating to these cities, in fact Rio de Janeiro is my favourite and I am always very supportive of them as tourist destinations, but you are about to commit the one NO-NO that I can think of. Take a bus, buses are generally cheap and often in most parts of Brazil. As for Salvador, it is outside my personal experience, but I imagine the same applies. Rio is a nice city, with a very bad reputation. Some say deserved, I personally don't agree. It is not the safest city in the world but there are five US cities which are more violent than Rio (statistically). You can have a good and safe time in this city as long as you are sensible. As a travel aganet and guide, I have found that most of the misfortunes met by travelers in this city are cases where they are the authors of their own problems. In Rio the best area to stay is in Catete, plenty of reasonably priced (by new Brazilian standards) hotels in the backpacker category. Also Catete is on the metro, most buses to Copacabana. Ipanema and Downtown pass through it. It is handy to the major tourist attractions, Corcovado (Statue of Christ) and Pao de Açucar (Sugar Loaf). Have a good trip. Paul

: Hello. : Anybody out there can offer tips on backpacking in brazil, particularly : around rio, sao paulo and salvador? looking to go june 1998. : : thanks in advance : reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : Yes, be very careful. Backpacking and hitching rides are definitely in : the NOT RECOMMENDED class around Rio and Sao Paulo. : I am not normally the harbinger of doom relating to these cities, in : fact Rio de Janeiro is my favourite and I am always very supportive of : them as tourist destinations, but you are about to commit the one : NO-NO that I can think of. Take a bus, buses are generally cheap and : often in most parts of Brazil. As for Salvador, it is outside my : personal experience, but I imagine the same applies. : Rio is a nice city, with a very bad reputation. Some say deserved, I : personally don't agree. It is not the safest city in the world but : there are five US cities which are more violent than Rio : (statistically). You can have a good and safe time in this city as : long as you are sensible. As a travel aganet and guide, I have found : that most of the misfortunes met by travelers in this city are cases : where they are the authors of their own problems. : In Rio the best area to stay is in Catete, plenty of reasonably priced : (by new Brazilian standards) hotels in the backpacker category. Also : Catete is on the metro, most buses to Copacabana. Ipanema and Downtown : pass through it. It is handy to the major tourist attractions, : Corcovado (Statue of Christ) and Pao de Açucar (Sugar Loaf). : Have a good trip. : Paul I agree with Paul about the dangers of Rio and have posted on that subject here several times, but there is one major proviso.  I only recently discovered that someone appropriated my debit card number and used it (I assume, though I don't know, by counterfeiting another card with the number) to go on a $2000.00 buying spree in Brazil.  Needless to say, this caused some major dislocations in my checking account.  I'm appealing and my bank is supportive, but beware that using a card to buy something in Rio CAN open you up to this possibility.  Were I to return

: Hello. : Anybody out there can offer tips on backpacking in brazil, particularly : around rio, sao paulo and salvador? looking to go june 1998. : : thanks in advance : reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : Yes, be very careful. Backpacking and hitching rides are definitely in : the NOT RECOMMENDED class around Rio and Sao Paulo. : I am not normally the harbinger of doom relating to these cities, in : fact Rio de Janeiro is my favourite and I am always very supportive of : them as tourist destinations, but you are about to commit the one : NO-NO that I can think of. Take a bus, buses are generally cheap and : often in most parts of Brazil. As for Salvador, it is outside my : personal experience, but I imagine the same applies. : Rio is a nice city, with a very bad reputation. Some say deserved, I : personally don't agree. It is not the safest city in the world but : there are five US cities which are more violent than Rio : (statistically). You can have a good and safe time in this city as : long as you are sensible. As a travel aganet and guide, I have found : that most of the misfortunes met by travelers in this city are cases : where they are the authors of their own problems. : In Rio the best area to stay is in Catete, plenty of reasonably priced : (by new Brazilian standards) hotels in the backpacker category. Also : Catete is on the metro, most buses to Copacabana. Ipanema and Downtown : pass through it. It is handy to the major tourist attractions, : Corcovado (Statue of Christ) and Pao de Açucar (Sugar Loaf). : Have a good trip. : Paul I agree with Paul about the dangers of Rio and have posted on that Hi Greg We have probably been opponents in this argument before... Usually I am fully supportive of Rio, but this is a case where a warning was appropriate. BTW I have been robbed twice (once at knife point) in Rio in the five years that I have lived there, both times I was robbed away from the tourist areas, and robbed as a Brazilian in a residential area. I have never been molested or threatened as a tourist.   Incidently, both times were in Ipanema, generally considered to be the (or at least one of the) safest areas in the city... so go figure.... I agree- and I don't have the experience Paul has. The only time someone tried to mug me was on the Copacabana beach, I was coming back from a club, and I was pissed, and it was 4am so one could say I had it coming. But I digress. Now, I had been in Brazil for 1 month could speak reasonable Portuguese and looked the part. He asked me in Portuguese for 'change' (troco). When I replied I didn't have any, he drew a knife on me. Now I was pissed and my manhood sort of got challenged by that emaciated fifteen- year-old, (I am 6' and athletic) so without thinking I made a lunge at him and he fled away. I ran across to a garage where the attendants were watching the scene. They said: 'Lucky that his friends over there in the corner didn't shoot you'.  

: ONLY use your card for cash advances, or to pay hotel bills (generally : safe), never in markets or restaurants of a lower standard. : If your travel agent never warned you of this I would suggest finding : one that nows his stuff  about where he/she sends clients. : regards : Paul HI Paul