Dear Brazil

We wanted to write and say thank you for having us. We came to you with a little apprehension: you are so big and we knew nothing about your language but this feeling evaporated as we got to know you better.

When we first arrived we thought that some things were quite peculiar. For example, eating cake for breakfast, food buffets that you pay for by the kilo, padded toilet seats that give a disconcerting pffft noise when you sit on them and strange electric shower heads (how people don’t get electrocuted we’ll never know). However, we came to enjoy and even rely on the many differences that we found and we were welcomed with open arms from everyone that we met.

The prices of most things in your country usually represented excellent value and we found spending money to be easy – too easy in fact. Your automatic teller machines were everywhere and did not charge us fees for withdrawals, plus everyone accepted credit card. You always had plenty of change available enabling us visitors to pay for bus and train fares in cash. If some of your neighbours followed similar principals they may be better off.

Your shops were open all day, when we needed them: you don’t feel the need to close for four hours in the afternoon for siesta nor did we have to wait until 8 or 9 o’clock for your restaurants to open for dinner.

Your roads were always in good condition with wide highways, overtaking lanes and lots of maintenance works. Your over-infatuation with speed humps and speed cameras made us feel safe and slowed us down to enjoy your country for much longer. It was clear that other motorcyclists felt safe on the roads too, safe enough that footwear and secure helmets were optional for many. Instead they wore their helmets on their foreheads like hats so they could ride one handed whilst talking on their mobile phone or smoking a cigarette. This was quite comforting. It was also reassuring to see that drink driving is not a problem amongst your people. Not enough, at least, to ban the sale of wine, liquor and cold beer from your service stations.

In the tourist attraction department you had a bit of everything: winding roads, beautiful vistas, historic ruins, mountains, canyons, jungle, wildlife, coastal beaches, waterfalls and, of course, Rio de Janiero. Whilst we were warned repeatedly about the safety of the latter, we even visited one of the notoriously unsafe favelas on a walking tour with no problems. The most threatened we felt during our whole time in Rio was when a monkey tried to share our wine on Sugarloaf mountain.

So after two months and 7,000km of travel (by road and boat), we realise that it is time to move on, but know that you will be sorely missed. We would like to come back one day and request only that you turn the air-conditioning down in your automatic teller machine centres – when the condensation is running down the glass like a shower, it is way too cold.

We wish you all the best and thank you once again.

Best Regards,
Fiona and Matt

P.S. Please find following a collection of photos showing the highlights of our stay with you. There are also more photos here. Our photo captions tell more of our story.

The impressive Jesuit mission ruins of San Miguel from the 18th century.

We met Omar and Gilmar in a carpark on the island of Chiloe, Chile in February. They were riding BMW motorbikes from Brazil, covering 7,000km in 17 days. Gilmar offered to mind our bikes whilst we travelled to the Amazon. We enjoyed a delicious BBQ with Gilmar’s family and Omar in Porto Alegre.

Matt taking a steep curve.

During the wet season, you can canoe through the tree canopy in the flooded forest. This was our guide, James.

Paraty, on the Brazillian coast, is a UNESCO World Heritage town.

Fi holding on tight and sampling life as a passenger on a mototaxi in Rio.

Looking down over Rochina, one of Rio’s largest favelas (shanty towns). Over 400,000 people live in this favela.

The cable car ride to Sugarloaf mountain. Watching the sunset here was a highlight of our stay.

Sunset – Christ the Redeemer is in the top left of the photo.

Antonio, Max, Fi and Rod. Antonio and Rod made us feel welcome at their motorcycle travellers hostel in Foz do Iguacu. Here we also met Max, another Aussie, completing a 360 degree trip around South America.

A blue macaw in flight.

And of course – Iguacu Falls, from the Brazillian side.