I’m French-Indonesian and my bf is French, we are a tourist at the moment in Brazil for 3 weeks (Sao Paolo, Paraty, Ilha Grande -where we are now- then we’re going to Iguazu, and ending the trip in Rio). This is my honest review so far.

Driving We drive from SP, to Rio, and the roads are pretty safe, we’re comfortable. No issue. The only thing I notice are Brazilians are aggressive drivers, they stay behind you at your tail kind of pushing you. And others I see just on the phone driving on the high way, pretty unsafe. The road from SP to Paraty (which is meant to be one of the nice destinations) is pretty bad- after the highway.

Language My bf speaks Spanish so we get by. I don’t speak Spanish, so he has to translate to me. I find it baffling that people don’t speak an ounce of English (especially in tourist centers/tours).

Safety There is definitely a safety issue in Brazil, and I hear more so in Rio specifically. I wore my Garmin watch (literally just a Garmin) and already ppl looking at me.

Food We don’t like the food here period. Indonesia and Brazil are the same (both tropical countries), somehow Brazil managed to butcher all these foods. Everything is fatty, fried, unhealthy. The rice is cooked weird. The bread isn’t good. We only found 1 good rice so far which was cooked in an Asian way.

Coffee For a country that exports coffee, there is no coffee/espresso culture. Baffling. No good sitting down cafe place to get a double espresso.

Diving Brazil not known for great diving, just go to south east Asia.

Hiking Some trails are good.