I think there was some talk of passport renewal here (or maybe a different thread) but I just got mine back. For those curious, it took exactly 3 weeks from the time I mailed it out to the time I received my new one. I did not request it be expedited, just normal renewal.
Waiting for the old one to be sent back to me.
Yea, that is a bit surprising. What makes it difficult? You talking public transportation, booking hotels, safety, money issues, bureaucratic stuff?? I got around most of South America alright, so I assumed Brazil would be similar, but I can speak some Spanish. What percentage of Brazilians speak Spanish would you say? @Fossilkid93
Nearly all the Brazilians I know speak Spanish (actually might be 100%). But theyāre all college-educated and live in the US.
Itās not very high imo. Wiki says 4% speak Spanish and Iād say thatās about right. Youād probably have slightly better luck with English. The thing is though, if you speak decent Spanish and speak slowly to a Portuguese speaker, theyāll probably be able to understand half or more of what youāre saying. I did a 3-month Portuguese cram session before arriving and it was just enough to get by so we didnāt use hardly any English or Spanish.
As for your other question. Public transport seemed fine. Hotels not sure as I booked all AirBnbs and that was fine. The thing is, they seem to want the Brazilian national ID # or a Brazilian credit card for a lot of stuff. I had difficulty getting a SIM and booking flights, even random stuff like UberEats. A friend couldnāt even book a ticket to a local street party bc booking was done online and he needed the ID #.
As far as safety, we went thru Rio and most of the dangerous northern capitals and honestly didnāt think it was that bad, but our perception is a bit skewed and my gf grew up in some rough parts of CDMX. Iād say itās a bit worse than like Colombia, but then again a well traveled friend claimed it was ā10x more dangerous than Colombiaā so ymmv. I think it was likely more chill for us bc of corona, but nothing we saw would prevent us from wanting to visit again (apart from a couple of the cities being a bit meh).
Iām on all the FB expat and traveler groups for Latin America. Rio seems to come up a lot as a trouble spot. I donāt plan to do a ton of random walking there.
Damn I definitely thought there were more Spanish speakers in Brazil. Did you get a pretty good feel for the basics in 3 months? You seem to pick up languages really quickly. Where did you go in the north?
But yeah, most places people tell me are really sketchy usually seem not bad to me, so I guess Iāve got a pretty high tolerance for it too. But I think I have travel rungood because Iāve yet to have been mugged, assaulted, arrested, or really put in any really overly dangerous spots, and I carry around a big camera quite a bit and wander around in lots of random places. 
Sickkkk! Iāll hit you up for some advice if I do a heli-tour lol
Do the normies just usually do boat tours? Were there many people there from what you could see? How was it where you stayed, was it in Sao Luis?
Itās not a big enough deal to dissuade someone who has been to Africa, but mainly just annoying banking stuff (many ATMs not working for foreign cards) and terrible roads (imagine Mexico without toll roadsāthatās basically Brazil, at least as of 2013).
Each Romance language gets progressively easier. Like it took me about 18 months to get to intermediate in French, then 6 months to reach that same level in Spanish, and then 3 months in Portuguese b/c you can capitalize on vocab and structure similarities and also I think you just get better at the language learning process on each successive attempt. I suspect I could pick up Italian super fast if I ever needed/wanted to.
Yah, Iāve yet to be subject to any criminal activity either, but I tend to stay more on the well trodden tourist tracks than you and rarely look like I have anything of value. I think just the fact that I am never looking for drugs and rarely drink and am never stumbling home at 3AM probably protects me from like 80% of the normal stuff.
In the North our path was Fortaleza-Natal-Pipa-JoĆ£o Pessoa-Olinda-Recife-Salvador
Any preference of those cities?
Yea it really is drugs and being out late drinking thatāll get ya. Some people Iāve met traveling are just walking bullseyes. Although I have been pickpocketed twice now, but obv that happens so quick you donāt even realize it.
Of the big cities, Salvador was by far my favorite, then Recife is not too bad, JoĆ£o Pessoa has a nice/modern boardwalk area, but pretty limited, Natal is cool for the dunes just outside the city, and Fortaleza seemed kinda lifeless. But based on your type of travel, Iād say it probably comes down to which nearby areas you like the most. Iād check out Jericoacoara (near Fortaleza), Morro de SĆ£o Paulo and Praia do Forte near Salvador, Porto de Galinhas near Recife, etc. Youād probably get more out of the latter areas and just use the main cities as bases. Although Salvador is definitely worth it on its own merits. GIS the Pelourinho, itās a well preserved historic area.
Since my suitcase is slowly collapsing I am looking for something to replace it. Any advice? What do you rely on? Suitcases? My brother was on a āwork and travel yearā with a large backpack. Is that a better solution?
Backpacks annoy me. Probably because backpackers annoy me (the travel kind, not the hiking kind). But Iāll use one if it makes sense. Otherwise just something like below.
I had to buy an American Tourister suitcase at the Denver airport one time because I needed it to be technically overhead store-able, then transfer my stuff throw away my old suitcase. (I missed my flight, long story)
Anyway it was $200 which I was totally kicking myself for. But Iāve had that bag for 20 years and itās the best suitcase by far Iāve ever owned.
Basically one of these kind of things:
I travel a lot and I use a backpack. Wheeled luggage sucks if you ever do anything other than airport ā rental car ā hotel. Trying to navigate stairs, downtown sidewalks, cobblestone streets, or even the subway with rollers is a fucking nightmare.
current bag:
probably gonna upgrade to:
Whether for work or personal, I always have a small backpack as a personal/under seat item, so I always use a suitcase. Have had a Travelpro Crew 8 for about 9 years now and love it. An average of maybe 1 roundtrip/month and the bag still looks brand new. Very sturdy and holds a ton. Wouldnāt hesitate to buy another, or whatever the current version is. My understanding is itās sort of the consumer version of the bags you see all the pilots and flight attendants with.
The price point was good, above some cheaper options but below the Tumi/Briggs pricing.
Also, a curse on all 4-wheeled bags. Two wheels only, because I prefer my bag not take off on its own if Iām not on totally flat ground.
I have a few different bags I use for trips.
Wheeled luggage is for long-term trips and flights only. Beyond that, I have a large backpack for multi-day stays. If not fully packed, itās good for carry on luggage. I also have a small laptop bag with backpack straps that gets daily use from me.
That reminds me that I have to check my luggage bag to see what condition itās in.
Iāve had an Osprey Porter 46 for over ten years and put a lot of miles on it with zero complaints. Qualifies as carry-on if you donāt jam it full, but has lots of ways to lash moar crap to it if you need additional capacity. Best of all the backpack straps stow away when you donāt need them so it just looks like a duffel bag and suzzer doesnāt give you dirty looks when he walks past you.
Yea this basically what I use, mine is the Osprey farpoint at 40L, so a little better for carryon. Then I use a shoulder bag for my under the seat bag. Seems like a good combo. I canāt stand wheeled luggage as well.
Also have a small ultra light collapsible backpack for short trips when Iām flying lol Spirit and donāt wanna pay for a carry-on.
