Board Members Comments on Rio

[dick_nyc]

I just returned last Saturday from an 8 day visit to Rio. I enjoyed myself thoroughly looking over the city, the beaches and just lazing around. I, like most of the posters, found the people amazingly friendly and helpful. They seemed to go out of their way to make a stranger to the place welcome and help me get around.

I wanted to do more than the sauna scene, so I would just get on a bus and travel around and look at the city and get off where it looked interesting. The one thing that struck me most about Rio is the vast stretches of park land and the way the trees and green were integrated into the city almost everywhere. It was really beautiful.

I did get to the saunas 2 times and found the guys there really nice and definitely worth looking at. Mavica commented on how good looking the guys on the street were. Well the guys in the sauna were not chopped liver either. I could have very happily spent the night in a room calling "next".

 

The other point I would like to make about my trip was that the things I read on this board, especially those from Trilingual, made my trip far more enjoyable and prepared me very well for what I found. The pointers to restaurants, what to watch out for, what to enjoy, things to see, etc all were right on target. Thanks for all you have written. It really helps when the people who have been somewhere help those of us who come after over the hurdles.

 

The one thing I found disconcerting was the coin money. It all looks the same whether it is 5 centavos or 50 centavos. It also is a mix of different metals and different thicknesses whatever value it has. I found that it was just easire to pay in paper money. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the change. I think I will probably give it to the grandchildren of a friend I am visiting next weekend.

 

To those who have not gone to Rio, start making plans now. It is a place not to be missed.

[trilingual]

During the years of hyperinflation, coins were virtually worthless. Besides, the currencies changed names and values every year or two, just to make things even more maddening. Coin materials and designs from that era reflect their infinitessimal value. You're right, they almost all are flimsy aluminum and only have "Brasil" on one side and the value on the other side.

 

The first coins issued under the real followed the same pattern, but since that time a new series of coins has been designed and are slowly replacing the old aluminum coins. The newer coins come in different sizes and colors of copper or "gold". They have more distinctive designs and have more heft, reflecting their greater value. A very attractive bi-metallic 1 real coin has been issued, which will probably replace the 1 real banknote in the same way the 1 peso coin has replaced the banknote in Argentina.

 

If it's any comfort, hardly anybody in Brazil knows all the coins by heart, except maybe for the cashiers on buses! Everyone else seems to have to paw through them and read the denominations, too, especially because the older aluminum coins are so similar in size and design. Just something else to get used to. . .

[+ Axiom2001]

This forum has definitely been quite helpful to me in inumerable ways since I have been coming to it. The information by the various respondents enhanced my trip in October as well as during Carnaval; the support here has been heartfelt, too.

 

In September/October I'll probably do some solo traveling then join a group from Riopride, a gay travel agency in Rio which will be sponsoring a tour to Manaus and the Amazon sometime in October. Their web address is: http://www.riopridetour.com.

 

But in conjunction with the COINS-- I merely kept them in an ashtray. I sorted them periodically and used when they amounted to 1 real or more; I didn't bother with them most of the time and left many coins for the maid in addition to the R$50 in an envelope with her name on it. I left this at the desk.

(I ONLY mention the latter to let u all know that I aint NO cheapskate.):-) nor am I grandstanding or bragging!