I spent most of June and the first 4 and a half days of July in Brasilia and Porangatu, a city in the interior.
Brazil is one of the countries, I know best. I will probably have lots to say about it in future posts.
It has a reputation for being dangerous and there are many places where the reputation is deserved. It is the 5th largest country in the world (both in terms of land mass and population). If Alaska were not a U.S. state, Brazil would be larger than the USA. Like any country of that size, it is hard to generalize.
I spent most of my time in Porangatu, a city of 70,000 people in the state of Goiás not far from the border with Tocatins. I enjoyed the 3+ weeks I spent there very much. However, it is safe to say that if I told my friends to take a vacation there, most of them would come back and tell me that I am crazy. You would be hard-pressed to find someone there who speaks English. It was hot and dusty and I walked everywhere. It seems like they got Uber since last time I was there, but the one time I tried to call Uber, I got a message that it was not available.
So why did I enjoy it so much? I am fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, so the language was not a problem. In addition:
- The nature was beautiful, especially around the lake in the center of the city
- It was easy to find delicious food
- I could hardly believe how inexpensive it was!
I paid under $300 for 11 days for a room with breakfast in the hotel right in front of the lake.
Typically, I spent $5 for dinner with a large (600 ml), ice-cold beer. When I felt like splurging, I went to the Wembley Hotel for dinner where I had an excellent muqueca de peixe, a fish stew that is a specialty of the state of Espirito Santos. Dinner will all the fixings (rice, pirão, and farofa) and a beer cost $10.