Paraiba, Brazil

[Slughorn]

Hi,

I just want to share my experience of this wonderful place. I stayed in a really small town (about 500 ppl) with just one hotel. The beaches where clean wast and incredibly deserted, except for the weekends when the town people went there. Still they where far from crowded. The surroundings were increadebly lush and beautiful. The villagers were very friendly and hospitable. Food was probably the best I have eaten. Amazing steaks and fresh fruit was served at almost embarrassing low prices.
Paraiba is the poorest state in Brazil where a normal worker makes about 90 $ for hard labor 6 days a week. Of course the backside of this is high crime rate but that's mostly concentrated to some areas of the bigger cities.

The weed we bought was ok but couldn't be compared to "dutchweed". Although it was perfect for smoking at the beaches just looking at the sea. We payed about 1.5$ for 10 grams (0.3527 ounces), and the guy we bought it from was really sorry that all he got was expensive weed

I have promised myself to go back there some day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraiba

Has anyone else here had any good experiences with Brazil?

All the best!

/Sluggie

 

[boroboro]

Lived in Brazil for a few years. The small beachside towns are fantastic -- the farther off the beaten path the better. Once I learned Portuguese I was welcomed literally everywhere I went. Brazilians for me seem to be the gold standard of Happy People.

The cities, though, are another story. Traffic, smog, glue-sniffing kids on every corner, chaos, death, and destruction. 19 out of 20 co-workers had their cars jacked while they were driving them (we drove nice cars). Glad I was #20.

 

[Guest]

Do they hace coke there?

 

[Slughorn]

Yea they do.
Lots of coke from Colombia which is really cheap as well.
I never tried it though since I'm not interested in that drug.

 

[mysticls]

i want a brazillian wife they are usually smoking hot

 

[rubber_chicken]

brazil is cool slughorn, once you are willing to jump on the bus and wing it, put that lonely planet brazil-portuguese phrasebook in your hand, there is a near limitless expanse to see. the north, the beaches, is probably more dangerous and expensive than brazil in general. i think that the 'eco tourism' stuff here is kind of off the chain sometimes, if you are into that kind of thing.
the attitude, the open people, the joy, that shit is real, and it's everwhere.
if you are traveling, always pay attention to your surroundings very closely, and use some common sense (of course.)... those smoking hot women and kind little fellows can be poorer than you can imagine, and willing to play a fool.
having said that i don't think it's any different to the kind of care you should move with in any tropical destination where anything goes and you are the stranger.
preparing yourself with some portuguese will go a long way too, the brazilians are really unsnobby about people who are making an effort to speak their language.

if you get far enough south out of sao paolo along the beaches, you get past all that to a fishing city from 1502 called cananeia. we had an awesome stay here:
http://www.hotelcostazul.com.br/phpsite/site/page.php?go&key=10&lng=2
not cheap really for brazil, but the joint is dropped right in among flowers and mangroves, and (the owners are nice people, didn't take them for stoners tho) they
have boating and fishing, of which at least the kyaking is included.
with a little luck you can find some mouth exploding fish in cananeia, and it's a short ferry ride across the river to ilha cumprida, where the beaches are. we took the dirt highway from there all the way up the coastal mountains through the cloud forest to the old gold country that's up there above it all. sick shit, dinosaur looking flowers growing right out of rock faces, real eye popping stuff all around.

be careful driving in brazil, it's like nyc, sf, dc and baltimore beltway and la all together some of the time, and can provide surprises. it's probably better to stick to the bus for most people.

i'll blather on all day about brazil, pm me if you are going to go.