Howdy Ho,

If my plan to go to Russia falls through, my back up choice would be Buenos Aires, Argentina or Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Now, I don't do much partying, but all I ever hear about Brazil is the great party atmosphere. What is their to do aside from experiencing the night life? If hold a limited enjoyment of parties should I even bother? Which Brazilian city would be better? Would Buenos Aires be a better choice?

Also, I am, most likely, going to do this thing solo, so do hostels in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Rio tend to be as friendly and nice as they are in Europe?

Oh man South America is my first suggestion for anyone who wants to begin travelling overseas. I love that place.

I spent two months last fall trippin around brasil with a brief stop in buenos aires and i skipped rio all together.

When you say you don't like parties you need to clarify a bit more.
Like you don't drink beer? or you don't like clubs?
Cause the beer flows freer than water down there and the ladies are very lovely. The clubs are fun but there is definitly tons more to do outside of the night time. From the beautiful beaches of the ceara state to the bustling Paulista Ave in Sao Paulo. Brasil is ready to satisfy any taste you might have!

Well, there are loads of things to do here in Buenos Aires. Although parties are good (:worship: ) there are also a lot of other things to do such as sightseeing (heck I lived here almost all my life and I still love to ride diferent buses to see different and new parts of the city). Architecture is extremely rich, going from colonial to art deco to modern.... some nieghbourhoods are just lovely to walk about, some lovely parks as well as the Cemetery at Recoleta. Theres really a lot to see.

If you're into art the MALBA (Museum of Latinamerican Art of Buenos Aires) has a beautiful collection, and so does the National Museum of Fine Arts.

There are huge nightclubs, or tiny bars (specially in the neighbourhoods of San Telmo and Palermo) to fit every taste.

You can take tango lessons, or just watch couples dancing in the streets in San Telmo (although during summre you can see tango lessons at many parks), there are tango shows... well... tango everything.

And to get into the culture you can even go to the country side and you can see the gaucho's (the Argentine cowboy) life, eat amazing asados (bbq) or just spend a weekend in the farmland.

Oh well... I could go on forever, and that's on Buenos Aires alone.

This is the City of Buenos Aires' web site it's very well updated and has valuable info.

In any case... you know where to find me!

I mean that I don't like to go to clubs and the like, but I love love love love to drink. :cheers:

Thank you both for your advice. Sao Paulo or Buenos? This is such a difficult decision.

Mm... that is a hard choice... but I can only tip it towards Buenos Aires since I've only been to Sao Palo's very boring airport...

Do some little research and see what you're more into.

Having been to both Rio and Buenos Aires just 2 months ago i would have to say that Rio was my favorite (sorry flo). In fact, Rio is probably my favorite city in the world. I found Buenos to be a little too much like any other European city, but Rio, well it's a culture unto it's own, and there's plenty to do other than party.

Some of the things i did in Rio that i absolutely freakin loved:
- The favelas. You can go on a tour through the small shanty towns scattered throughout Rio that are controlled by drug dealers. When i went it was trouble free, but i've heard some pretty scary stories from other travellers. It was an awsome experience.
- The nightclub in the favela. Now i know you said that you aren't that into nightclubs, but this is pretty freakin amazing!! There's only 2 tour groups in Rio that will take gringoes there, but once you move past the security guards with Ak-47s and into the club, you'll soon forget about any possible dangers in the area as you see 3000 locals (mostly freakin beautiful women) shakin' their thing to the techno music they have screaming loud enough to hear all the way back home. However, the guards on podiums in the middle of the dance floor remind you that you aren't in Kansas anymore, but the 30 cent beers should keep your mind at ease.
- Sugarloaf. It's a big rock in the middle of Rio that towers above the city. A quick cable car ride to the top will show you some of the best views you will ever see.
- Statue of Christ the Redeemer. Huge statue of christ with his arms outstretched on a mountian a couple of hundred metres above the city....simply awsome.
- Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. Two of the best beaches in the world, not only for the white sand and beautiful blue water, but also for the amazingly stunning, scantily clad women that sunbake on the shores.
- Maracana stadium. If you like soccer, hell even if you don't like soccer, you'll love catching a game of world class soccer in the biggest soccer stadium in the world. The atmosphere is freakin incredible, the fans are crazy, and the beer is flowing.


Now, about the hostels, yes they are as friendly as in Europe, if not more so. The best hostel i stayed in was in Rio (Newtons Rooftop Hostel), it was a very unprofessional operation with shitty beds, but the staff were the best, they got me pissed every night.....i love those guys.

It's pretty much a given that the hostel staff in brasil will get you pissed. :lol:

I'm from Brazil and I know this person up here... I'm around if I can help anyone out not only regarding Brazil but some other places around the world! Later everyone.. later Jake

^This guy has THREE passports filled with stamps. The single most traveled guy I have ever had the privelage of befriending. Ask him anything!

I also say go with rio. Sao Paulo is a 6 hour busride from Rio so you can do both if you want. I personally would skip Sao Paulo..wasn't terribly impressed.

LFB nailed it with rio. All I would add is the Jesus Christ statue (worth the money for the views alone) and all the hostels I stayed at were awesome and cheap. If you live to drink then caprihna's (spelling?) are an awesome local drink thats cheap, good, and gets you hammered easily.

Good luck!

Foo

:cheers:

PS: I am going to rio on June 15. When will u be there?

*caipirinha.

i think :P

DONT JUST GO TO RIO!

for the love of god my mom just told me to tell you that when she was looking over my shoulder. there's SO much more to brazil that is SO much cheaper than rio. GET OFF THE WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY TOO BEATEN TRACK!!

i suggest bahia (still a bit beaten if you go to salvador... the closer inland you go, the more country youll see and the roots of the brazilian culture).

I cant stress this ENOUGH!

im BEGGING you!

I completely agree. If you just want a party life then go to LA or some other US city. It'll save ya money on airfare. For a deep deep brasilian experience you can't be bahia or ceara.

Alright guys....as a female...will I be equally impressed with the men? :D

good lord brazilian men are hot.

hooooooooooooooooooot.

not hoot by the way. hot. :P

Lemme rephrase that actually. Not EVERY single guy is hot (the Ronaldos are perfect proof) but the ones that ARE... :drool:

^ Jejeje.

I did date a brazilian guy, briefly...and he is by far the hottest man I've ever been with. :wub:

Just wasn't sure if that was normal or not!

When i was in Rio i felt slightly inadequate, all the blokes were so freakin buff and tanned....stupid buff guys exposing me for the skinny white boy i am.

now, back to the Brazillian women :drool:

:lol: :lol: Too funny. LFB- You crack me up.

It was all gravy for me. I was like four times their size... puny lil tanned men.

That is, Kindra, excepting the Tpunkers you met up with the other week, right? Ummm...right??? :lol:

worldwidemike

"been with" Mike...."been with".. :whistle: :) Haha....oh, and his name WASN'T Ramon!