Six months ago today we set foot in the United States for the first time in over a year and a half. It was 5:55am on a Tuesday morning. Back in Brazil The evening before, our hosts had given us a ride to the airport amid some other errands they had to run. Everything we … Read more →

When our host for the month of June let us know days before our arrival that he was cancelling our reservation, a mad dash to find replacement lodging ensued. Were it not for World Cup tickets in Natal and flights booked to depart from Recife (two cities in the northeastern part of the country), we … Read more →

Just north of Recife, one of Brazil’s top 10 largest cities, sits Olinda, one of Brazil’s best-preserved colonial cities. One rolls straight into the other with Olinda being a large and highly visited part of Recife’s metropolitan area. Founded in 1535, the beautiful coastal town’s historic centre was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in … Read more →

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Rio de Janeiro as can be seen in our slideshow of favorite photos below. Its natural setting and the sea of high rises woven through protected, jungle covered rock formations make for a city of unsurpassable beauty. Happily wearing rose colored glasses, we gladly stayed an extra week in … Read more →

Our house for the month of May was perched amid lush greenery one street from the base of Morro Dois Irmãos between Leblon and Vidigal (more on the location itself in our Everyday Essentials post). It was a fairly large house split into a number of apartments, at least 7 that we know of, and … Read more →

This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.”  Location and Safety Rio de Janeiro is a big place with a lot of variation in neighborhoods. Our rental this month, which we … Read more →

Our home in São Paulo was a compact 1-bedroom apartment on a double-digit floor of a big bland downtown building with a fantastic view, many built-in conveniences, and a super comfortable bed. From the outside, things felt a bit chaotic. The building sits at the intersection of two main-ish streets with lots of foot traffic and … Read more →

This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.”  Groceries We were out for a walk with the dogs on our first Sunday in São Paulo when we stumbled upon a fantastic market … Read more →

Last Saturday marked six years since the day of our wedding. Our plans for celebration were loose at best, being generally outlined as ‘have a great day’, ‘go do stuff in São Paulo’, and ‘eat and drink whatever we want’. Well, not to brag, but we totally nailed it. After taking the dogs out to … Read more →

We cross borders by land in a CR-V with US passports and our two dogs. We do not carry drugs or weapons or disallowed fruit (usually). These articles are not a definitive guide to crossing borders nor should they be used as a sole source of information. They are our experiences. When, Where, and Which … Read more →