李明熙、Kimberlogic：惡名掩蓋的親切都市　遊走巴西歎街坊小食

Don’t judge Brazil by the cover／Kimberlogic

When planning this Home2Home journey, I spent many months doing my research on our planned destinations. I focused heavily on South America since neither of us had ever been and it seemed so different and secluded than any other continent (Antarctica excluded). After reading about the cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguacu, I was more frightened than excited to visit Brazil.

All of the travel websites warned about the crime and the dangers of being a tourist in Brazil. Most of the articles about Sao Paulo say how big and gray the city is and not to attempt it if you don’t know someone who lives there. The information about Rio focuses on the petty crimes, especially getting robbed in broad daylight on the street. The articles about Iguazu Falls tells you to stay on the Argentina side because the Brazilian side is dangerous and there isn’t anything to do there.

So, with all of these negative outlooks on this country, I was hoping to move quickly through it as a means to get to Argentina. We entered South America from Sao Paulo, stayed there for a few days, a week in Rio de Janeiro and then a couple days in Foz do Iguacu. By the second day in Sao Paulo (without knowing someone who lives there), I realized how much I was enjoying it and didn’t feel threatened at all.