When the plate arrived at the table inside Gracioso, a well-reviewed restaurant close to the famous Pedra do Sal, we were both pleasantly surprised. We had ordered a steak dish to share and it did not disappoint. As well as having a tender 18-ounce steak that hung over the sides of the plate, it also came with plentiful rice and beans and a generous serving of what appeared to be thinly-cut french fries but was actually queijo coalho palito frito (fried cheese sticks).
The cost of the dish was R$80, which — even after Brexit — converts to less than £20. So that's around £10 each for a meal neither of us could comfortably finish. Throw in a couple of lesser-found 900ml Patagonia beers at R$22 (£5) each and the total bill came to roughly £35. Iain estimated a similar order in Dubai would cost around Dh400 (£80) — or £40 each.
Admittedly, Dubai is not the cheapest city on Earth so any comparison must be made with that in mind. Similarly, it should be remembered the minimum monthly wage in Brazil is just R$880 (£200), so to suggest an R$80 steak for two is cheap is certainly not the objective. What it does show, however, is that for foreigners visiting Rio, your money can go further than you might imagine.
You might have noted the aforementioned R$80 steak meal gained positive reviews and was able to satisfy two grown men, but did you notice it did not include a side of salad? It's commonplace in Brazil for meals to be served with double portions of carbohydrates: rice and chips.
Fruits and vegetables are plentiful and varied here. A trip to a feira (street market) is guaranteed to open your eyes to a host of weird and wonderful exotic foods, such as chuchu, caqui and jaca. Yet when it comes to your standard “meat and two veg”, in Brazil it’s more likely you’ll be served “meat and two carbs”, and some admittedly delicious Brazilian-style beans.
We visited several restaurants over the course of Iain’s eight days here, yet with the exception of the por quilo joints in which you choose from the buffet and pay by the gram, his choice of meal almost always required the ordering of a separate salad. Beans are of course a vegetable, but it remains a curiosity that more is not made of the smorgsabord of vegetables that grow here.
The creation of Uber has changed the way many people around the world travel. Gone are the days of smelly cars and grumpy taxi drivers; no longer are you constantly watching the metre wondering why it moves so quickly while you move so slowly; never again need you pay for your driver taking a wrong turn. Uber has revolutionised personal travel — and unsurprisingly taxi companies are not happy.
Despite hostilities between taxis and Uber in Rio, I almost exclusively use the US-based app: it is considerably cheaper, safer and requires no physical cash to change hands. Iain had never used Uber before he arrived here, yet he was very quickly converted. The drivers in Rio go the extra mile, offering ice cold water, sweets and even sometimes -- incredibly -- free wifi.
We did use a taxi once though, and very quickly regretted it. On the day of the European Championships final, we were seven blocks from our desired venue. We could have walked, but I suggested we grab a cab as there were plenty passing. It should have taken us five minutes. Instead the driver took us in the opposite direction for 20 minutes, despite my querying. Only when I insisted he was going the wrong way did he turn around — although never apologised.
In an Uber it would have cost no more than R$10. Our final fare was R$46. And we missed kick-off.
After eight days in Rio, living almost exclusively in shorts and Havaianas and even completing a hike to the top of Morro Dois Irmãos, Iain departed for Dubai having suffered only one bite, which was — given its lack of itch — quite possibly not even from a mosquito. He brought repellent, but never felt the need to use it.
The hysteria surrounding the airborne Zika virus has intelligent international media bathing their clothes in repellent before they even arrive. Such actions seem absurd to anybody who actually lives here. Aside from the fact it is winter and mosquitoes are not particularly in abundance at this time of year, the chances of not only being stung by a mosquito but for that same insect to be carrying Zika are slimmer than a fio dental.
That’s not to say there is no value in wearing repellent — if it makes you feel safer and puts your mind at ease, then by all means lather up — but it is certainly no reason to avoid the Olympics next month. Golfers using Zika as the reason to not visit Rio is a convenient excuse — and paints them in a better light than simply stating they feel indifferent to playing in an Olympic tournament, especially given it offers no prize money.
“I’ve never felt particularly unsafe here.”
Noted on his final night as we walked back along Avenida Atlântica, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that we stayed only in the “safe” tourist areas such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. Such an argument would be redundant for two reasons.
Firstly, even these apparently wealthier areas have been known to have issues. Only last week, a dismembered foot washed up on the shore next to Posto 2 in Copacabana and last month, over the course of only one hour, I saw three snatch-and-run incidents in Ipanema, close to Posto 8.
Secondly, we did in fact venture further from these areas. We visited two separate favelas — Vidigal and Babilônia — and spent Saturday night in Lapa, Rio’s notorious nightlife area. We also went to Maracanã, Botafogo, Flamengo, Catete, Centro, and other less touristic neighbourhoods.
That is not to downplay the dangers of Rio — for it is undoubtedly a dangerous city — but it does go to show that with a calm head and common sense, you can move around without living in a constant state of fear. ISWAS