What's it like in Brazil?

Have you been on holiday to Brazil and what's it like?

• Answer:

  Yep, went to Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, a rather obvious destination for a first time visitor to Brazil. I went in June so the beaches weren't busy. I found it to be a little pricey, not extortionate but more than I was expecting. I'd read before I went that English is not always widely spoken, even in tourist areas and I found that to be the case but it's always good to get your phrase book out and try your best at a new language. Guide books etc. can fill you with crime paranoia, I experienced and saw nothing untoward at all. A funny thing but the hotel breakfast had the best fresh fruit I'd ever had, almost like it had just come off the tree that morning, massively better than the stuff that gets picked unripe and shipped for weeks halfway around the world to us here in Britain. The world famous sites like Cristo Redentor and Sugar Loaf get VERY busy, so get there early if you want to go but they are worth it. Rio at carnival time (around February) is apparently another world to how I found it in June. It wasn't the hedonistic, wild and gregarious place I thought it might be