A GREAT DANISH BROTHER AND A FANTASTIC RIO'S PROMOTER

Two years ago he came to Rio for the first time and he was only a tourist...One evening when Marcone and I got to BIP BIP, a very traditional samba and bossa nova bar in Copacabana, I was introduced to him and a great friendship started!!! We had a lovely dinner at home and I took him to one of the secrets of Rio, the trail of Claudio Coutinho, a nice green park surrounding the Sugar Loaf.

We had so much fun together that we kept in touch...because he had great ideas about Rio in a view of a foreigner, and he really appreciated my ideas regarding tourism in the countries and we have a lot of ideas in common about how to visit and how to explore properly a new destination in Latin America.

This person is called Jakob Toksvig...a real traveller and a genuine brazilian at heart. So accurate brazilian fan that he started studying portuguese in Copenhagen just because he would like to understand more about our culture. Now he is learning even more portuguese with Marcone's classes (yes our tour guide is also a teacher and also a nursery student!!!) Alone, he had travel to many different States from the Amazon to Salvador, from Salvador to Rio, by bus, by plane...simply walking, simply open his curiosity for real local life everywhere he goes in Brazil.

Thanks to that Jakob has made many friends in the country and we developed a plan together...he was really thinking to move to Brazil and stay for at least one year just for doing something different, something even more challenging. And he knew that I really want to increase my work as a tour guide, he knew my ideas and decided to help me and promote my tours in Denmark and all over Europe, and I thought he could be very useful for danish people when they come to Rio and find someone from Denmark very experienced about Brazil and Jakob could be also their guide in Rio and other trips to different parts of Brazil.

Jakob and I also work together, I give him assistence and he gives me assistence!!!

Now we share the same plans and also the same apartment here in Copacabana, a place that we choose to stay, also with the glorious company of our great friend Marcone. The 3 of us are really invoved in the travel business and we are the ones who indeed will make life easier for every visitor of Rio!!!

We have been working alot here and everything is working out fine, and Jakob decided to make a interview that I gladly accept to participate. This interview you can read in my blog!!!

In the pictures you can see that we really know how to have fun in Rio.

The pictures were taken in a very popular market, FEIRA DO NORDESTE with our fantastic Maltese friend Marie and the second picture was taken in one of our pleasant coffe afternoons at Copacabana Palace.

THE COOL INTERVIEW - JAKOB AND RAFAEL - VIEWS OF A TOUR GUIDE IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Jakob and Rafael are friends for more than two years, and they both have something in common; a great love for Brazil and Brazilian Culture. They are in Rio de Janeiro to promote the secrets of Brazil all over the World, specially in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia, and also in USA, AUSTRALIA and all the other countries of EUROPE.

Jakob Toksvig is doing a lot of travel research in Brazil and he is thinking to find a way to make life easier for all visitors and he is now in the tourism business and decided to make an interview with his friend Rafael, an experienced and talented tour guide in Rio and other spectacular places of Brazil specially the places where tourists never go!!!

Read the entire chat below:

JAKOB TOKSVIG - How many years have you been a guide?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – I would say I was a tour guide way before I knew the real meaning of a tour guide. Since my childhood I was always interested in different cultures, my mother put me in an english school and my world changed, it was a bilingual reality, and in a time where internet was less than a dream..I already exchanged letters to friends overseas, so they came to Brazil to visit me and I took them to all the places I really liked to go; then I had the chance to work for many international companies and I dealed with people from all over the planet and of course I made some good friends and they visited me and when they came to Rio for the first time I was always the person in charge to show the beauties of Rio. After such a long time always with foreign friends my mother came to me and asked: “WHEN YOU TAKE PEOPLE TO SEE RIO THEY GET SO HAPPY THAT THEY ALWAYS COME BACK...SO WHY DON’T YOU EARN MONEY WITH IT???”

At this time I was studying foreign affairs to be a diplomat and I worked in a busy attorney office, and thanks for that CLICK, I changed my life completely and decided to study tourism and I finally became a tour guide. I have been working as a tour guide for 7 years now and this will be my work for the rest of my life because I love what I do. It is great to provide happiness to people who choose your own land to visit and I really enjoy to give anyone the chance to see my land exactly how it is...something away from the touristic industry, something more local and genuine.

JAKOB TOKSVIG - Where have you been doing your guiding? Rio and Brazil?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – I started my career doing my tours in the city, so I always used my car and take my people everywhere in Rio, and I started going out of the city, showing them the surroundings of Rio, places like NITEROI, BUZIOS, PARATY, THE WATERFALLS OF OUR MOUNTAIN REGIONS SUCH AS MAGÉ, PETROPOLIS, FRIBURGO OR TERESOPOLIS.

My work mix daily informations, history and lots of information about fauna and flora..natural sites like beaches and forests, mountains and also cultural tours such as visiting the old town of Rio and also exploring the exciting night life of Rio with its samba houses and very informal snack bars that we call BOTEQUIM.

I was getting a lot of experience in Rio and way before starting to work with tourism I used to travel all around Brazil and some countries here in South America. I worked for VARIG AIRLINES and that helped alot for me to visit different states of the countries, and once I was visiting these states I always travelled to the countryside to get in touch with local cultures, with their traditions and of course I always wanted to see beautiful sites, unique places that there was not even a name, so I went deep to the brazilian lands, and I got to know alot about my own country and my own people!!!

Then thanks to my experience as a guide, I started to write travel articles for some independent websites in Brazil and also abroad, so they used to pay me to go to a certain place in Brazil and write complete reports about news areas for potencial travellers visit, then I travelled even more.

As a result of many years travelling the country and thanks to my tour guide official license, I could make tours specially in the Amazon which I have deep interest! Then I thought about starting the amazon journey exactly where the Amazon start, in the unknown State of Maranhão and also to explore the region where the Amazon ends in Brazil, at the also unknown state of Roraima, of course I also cover Manaus Area, but too touristy for my taste!

Then I also started to organize tours in the north-east coast of Brazil, such as Salvador, João Pessoa, Natal and part of the northeast coast of Maranhão too.

More in the south I am very keen on Iguazu Falls Region and the island of Florianópolis.

After a long time travelling in Argentina and Uruguay I also promote tours there and recently I am studying possibilities to cover Venezuela up north of the continent!!! I don’t stop!!!

JAKOB TOKSVIG - What do you think about Rio?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – Very simple!!! When you live your life in a very intense way and you simply love your life then you can understand when I say that RIO IS MY LIFE!!!

For you to understand Rio you really need to forget all your sense of organization, you have got to loose your way to think everything correctly, you’ve got to accept that not always things are like you are willing to be!!! RIO IS A LAND OF IMPROVISATION so open your heart to improvize and release your wishes!!!

Rio has a very informal way and you must be prepared for the warm and frank CARIOCA reception. You might get a kiss, or you might be squeezed by a tight hug by someone you have never seen in your life, but believe me, it is normal!!!

On the other hand you have to think that Rio is a great urban city, we are 6 million people here, so you will come across with crazy trafic, poor communities and lots of troubles that you know a big urbe can bring!!! On the other hand, in the middle of this endless confusion you will always find someone with a friendly smile ready to help you whenever you need; everywhere you look you will see something green, something beautiful and something spectacular, you know that when you get lost all surrounded by crowds of people, noisy cars and crazy city mess...if you just head anywhere in the city for half an hour you might come across with gorgeous beaches, incredible restaurant by a tranquil lagoon or somewhere in the mountains that you can play with monkeys!!!

RIO STILL HAVE ITS GLAMOUR, RIO KEEPS ITS CHARM...All you need is a positive mind and your open heart to understand this fabulous unique town in Latin America. Rio can be so informal that for sure you will feel yourself at home many times!!!

THE DANISH INTERVIEW PART 2

JAKOB TOKSVIG - In Scandinavia many people would be concerned about the cime in Rio. How do you look upon crime in your city?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – I hope our friends in Denmark would never expect to find the same peace and calm of Elbjerg in Rio...we will never reach this level!!! J hahahahaha :)

Something it is true, people really come to Rio with very bad expectations and they are really concerned about Crime, what makes me happy is that, anyone I welcome here goes back home with the impression that our situation is not so bad at all, and Rio is just like every enormous town in the World. Street Crime now is something very global, you just need to know how to avoid and you simply really need to know how to get best informed about the places you go everywhere you visit, you will have to act the same either in London or in Tijuca!!!!

Just like any place in the 3 Americas, Rio has many social problems but it does not stop Rio from being such a sofisticated destination with a lot of funny and fantastic things to do that will make you madly in love with the city...From the richest or poorest you will always have a nice time in Rio, you just need to be in the right places and follow the flow which I always talk about....

YOU KNOW THOSE OLD SAYINGS SUCH AS “IN ROME DO LIKE THE ROMANS”...so IN BRAZIL DO LIKE THE BRAZILIANS!!!

Always walk with the people, avoid empty places some blocks far from the ocean, never play the fool and make life easier for any person with bad intention, and never show that you are afraid....remember that if you come across with a dog and if the dogs even sense that you are scared, the dog will attack you!!! Act normal and have all the time positive mind!!! YOU ARE ON HOLIDAYS, YOU ARE IN ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE WORLD, AND YOU HAVE THE BEACHES, THE MOUNTAINS, THE SO EXCITING SAMBA MUSIC AND SPECIALLY THINK THAT YOU WILL BE ALWAYS WELL ASSISTED IF YOU HAVE REAL FRIENDS AND IN MY CASE WITH A RELIABLE TOUR GUIDE!

Besides that, it is good to know that Rio’s population is reacting against crime and demanding the authorities more actions and more attitudes to improve security and nowadays the police presence are REALLY OBVIOUS in the city, specially at the bach area!!!

JAKOB TOKSVIG - Why does Brazil have favelas?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – Because sometimes the establishment is not fair for eveybody, lack of opportunities, authorities who just ignore real people problems, lack of education, lack of self esteem sometimes. Favelas are not only a brazilian problem, we have poor communities in many places in the world, in the north and in the south hemisphere!!!

Our favelas comes from the slavery time..it is a social problem since our early years but we are reaching some improvements, such as giving structure to some poor communities, turning these favelas into real districts with minimum conditions of life, and there are many social programmes in the favelas to educate the children, to give people a new concern about health, about culture.

Thanks to the brazilian economy the situation is not as bad as it used to be like 40 years ago...We are getting lots of acchievements and we are slowly reducing poverty!!! Brazil is a great country and it has a great people!

THE DANISH INTERVIEW - PART 3

JAKOB TOKSVIG - What do you like the most about Rio?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – The vibe of this city is amazing!!! I like the informal way to see life that our people have. I like that no one really cares about how you are when they meet you, they treat you equally, our people are friendly and that makes Rio one of the most pleasant cities in Brazil.

I WILL GIVE YOU 5 THINKS THAT I LOVE IN RIO, it doesn’t matter if it is a certain place or something that I just enjoy doing in our daily life!!

1 – GOING TO NITEROI, a city in the other side of our Bay..there I have my favourite beaches, there I have some places where I meet with myself, I always get nostalgic when I go to Niteroi because I was raised there!

2 – LAPA – It is our bohemian temple...if you want to see all kind of people you must go there, if you want to experience the best of brazilian music specially SAMBA, you really need to go to Lapa. It has been our HOTTEST NIGHT SPOT since the imperial times, and this is about 200 years ago!!!

3 – COPACABANA AND IPANEMA – Well, If you wish to explain the soul of Rio in different places here in the city, well you have to go to Copacabana and Ipanema, very informal and popular coastline neighborhoods of Rio. This is where you can have everything without going too far from where you are. You get to understand more about Rio when you really experience these two places!!!! Walking in the “waving” pavement of Copa and have a beach day in Ipanema can simply be a simple and fantastic experience when you are in Rio!

4 – TIJUCA FOREST – This is my escape when I am dying of hear down here in the coast, I simply go to our mountains and I enjoy the fresh air taking a natural shower in the water springs of Paineiras (it is a very carioca thing to do), at this forest I can have even JESUS CHRIST to visit...the famous statue is there and I do love going to the top of Corcovado where you can have a privilege view of the entire city and this is really the place where you can understand clearly the map of Rio de Janeiro; in the forest I can meet monkeys and feed them with bananas, I learnt that it is better giving banana to them, otherwise they go to the bird nests and eat the poor bird’s eggs!!!! At the forest I can turn back time and think about the time when the indiginous made the trails that today it is very green roads leading to many incredible surprises that just Tijuca Forest can offer, and our spectacular BOTANIC GARDEN is part of the forest!!!

5 – A SATURDAY NIGHT AT FEIRA DO NORDESTE

In a glance it seems a huge STADIUM, but it is not....it is a big place where our people coming from the north go to live their own traditions...it is a place full of colorful stores selling typical food from different parts of Brazil, it is a place that in one single weekend can get together about 20000 people. There are two nice stages where FOLK MUSIC isperformed for free and the population and including us have a blast!!! The restaurants there simply provides the best of our national cuisine. Going to FEIRA DO NORDESTE is a real journey to all over Brazil!!!

THE DANISH INTERVIEW PART 4

JAKOB TOKSVIG - How would a perfect one-day tour with you look?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES - A CLEAR DAY HELPS A LOT, and the weather is always great almost all year round..though once in a while cold fronts coming from Argentina can finish with our days...but you can enjoy Rio come rain or come shine!!!

But a perfect day for anyone who comes to Rio for the first time would be:

Starting as early as you can, but I usually start at 9:00 am

So a visit can go west to see our less famous beaches which beauty are equally or way better than the famous Copabana, Ipanema or Leblon. So we would visit places that you will never see in any travel books, we would go to a private condominium called JOA, they have a lovely and very wild private beach there with the same name, then we would go to the Forest from the west part of the city driving through Alto da Boa Vista, we would explore the whole forest visitin some unique jungle corners, then we can take the road to the Christ where each curve is a lovely surprise.

We can visit the Christ and after that heading to the first portuguese settlement of Rio, the pleasant district of Santa Tereza.

That day we can cover te whole bay area with a quick stop in our city centre to see the old town of Rio with its narrow street and barroc churches and also amazing cultural centres.

After that I would recommend a quick drive to see Niteroi and its fantastic surprises such as all the coast to the Modern Art Museum MAC and continue the way to the mountains of Niteroi, visiting the military fortress of Santa Cruz and a genuine fishermen village called Jurujuba.

This would be a great introduction of Rio that you would never have in your life!

JAKOB TOKSVIG - How do people react after finishing a tour with you?

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES – Something I know for sure, every guests I have more my number of good friends increases!!!! : - ))))) hahahahahhaa When I have my guests with me, I simply forget that I am only a tour guide, my friendly side speaks louder and I am just one more person in this complete tour through out the city of Rio. During my tours I give the best of me and I try to give ina very relaxing way some cool information of the city with a little history and some current facts of our own reality. I know that when I finish my tour my guest have a big idea about the city and they always feeel ready to explore the rest of Rio by themselves. For this reason I created a blog where I write about my guests, and there we can read about funny moments they spent here, they can have all kind of different information. It is indeed a way that I found to always keep my guests updated about my activities here!!!!

Any one can access my blog, the address is:
http://donrafaguestsinrio.blogspot.com/

I also have another blog where you can understand more about my tours, the address is:
http://braziliantours.blogspot.com/

I really have to thank you again, Jakob for such a cool chance to talk more about me and also more about Rio, to tell people that RIO IS EASY, all you have to do is coming here and have the most of your time just to have fun!!!!

I must finish this interview sending a message to all my friends and future friends from Denmark...and of course all over people from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland that Brazil is a magnificent land, rich in culture, very diverse in nature, it is a country where people will welcome you with wide open arms.

I want all the people know that once come to Rio, you will have a guide, but much more than a guide you will have a reliable friend that will take you to the best places and to the unique places that only locals know!!!

SO COME TO RIO AND MAKE RIO YOUR HOME OUTSIDE SCANDINAVIA!!!

HISTORICAL GUESTS - MY FIRST GUESTS FROM WALES!!!

Menna and Glyn made history in my tour guide career!!! They were my first welsh guests and of course I am honored to have now good friends in Wales!!! And I hope I can have even more welsh guests...surely Menna and Glyn will take care of my promotion in welsh lands!!!

We had enough time to explore Rio properly so we could see all over Rio, specially the Christ which was Menna's greatest wish and the forest and we had also a blast in Niteroi, visiting very unique places in the city, places where you will find just locals enjoying the city.

They stayed in Lapa and it was easy for us to explore the old houses of Santa Tereza. We also had a great time in our Botanic Gardens which is part of the Tijuca National Park.

At night we did what many tourists never do when they come to Rio, we went to the suburbs and we visited the huge FEIRA DO NORDESTE, a very local fair with a lot of interesting stores and lots of music, and surely, amazing food. ALL BRAZILIAN!!!

We danced, we laughed and we had the best!

Menna is such a sweet person and Glyn a wonderful bloke, very down to earth who appreciate simple things with great quality...so I just showed the informal way of Rio and I am sure my great couple friends will come back here one day!!!

I was so fortunate to be with them that they brought me ANOTHER welsh guest...Mark who happens to be my SECOND WELSH GUESTS who came to Rio for business with his friend from Bristol, Richard, another very bnice fellow from our old and good England!

AND WE ALL WEN T TO THE STADIUM TO SEE FLUMINENSE AGAINST CORITIBA....

Fluminense owned the house but lost for the supporters dispair!!!! But we had such a ball at the most famous football stadium in SOUTH AMERICA, the MARACANÃ STADIUM!!!

I am happy that people can read about me in Wales, in the two Irelands, Scotland and also England!!! I wish one day people from the ISLE OF MAN could also write to me for some guidance in South America, I would be really happy!!!

BUT THANKS MENNA AND GLYN FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, FRIENDSHIP AND CONFIDENCE AND BE SURE THAT WHEN YOU LEFT BRAZIL, YOU LEFT A LIFE TIME FRIEND!!!!

LONG LIFE TO WALES!!!!!

SOME GREAT WORDS FROM A SWEET IRISH INVADER! :)

"In august of this year I travelled to Rio from Ireland with two good friends and made some new friends in our week long holiday. We had such an amazing time and made some very special memories with our Guide and now friend Rafael. When you meet Rafael he greetsyou with a big warm smile and you immediatley know you have made the right decision in contacting him.

Having Rafael as your guide means you will spend the day being shown around by a friendan he will bring you to places off the beaten path like Niteroi. Definatley a place to watch thesunset by. If your looking for the real Samba experience then a night spent in the samba house Carioca de Gema escourted by Rafael is the way to go. Remember to bring your dancing shoes!

Rafael is professional and reliable and makes your trip to Rio really special.

Elaine Birkett from the Irish Invasion August 2008!! "

Is there any word to say when you come across with such a generous comments like that???? Thank alot, Elaine... You, Joann and Charlene just made my work even more special and that shows me I am in the right way!!!

I feel honored to have great friends in this WONDERFUL ISLAND (AND BIG NATION) CALLED IRELAND!!!

Thank you very much and be sure I will always work very hard to make Brazil a home for all irish in the world!!! :)

Rafael Torres Lopes
Tour Guide

skype: donrafatours
email: donrafainrio@yahoo.es

AN ENGLISHMAN IN RIO DE JANEIRO

There are people who come to Rio for the first time and they feel that they spent weeks here. People who really fall in love with the city. Not only with the beauties of such a lively town, but also for its people and its way of life! Tristan Rafael, I named him RAFA in Brazil is one of them. He came here for a quick and relaxing weekend in Rio after days of hard working in São Paulo, and thanks to the help of a tourism agent and also good friend of mine Mauricio, he found me!

THE MISSION WAS....SHOW THE MOST OF RIO IN ONE DAY...

Rafa (Tritan) got a tour guide and left Rio with one friend, well actually not one...many friends...Including my best friends Marcone and Jakob, we are 3 people in charge to welcome such an english celebraty who lives in New Yorker!!! :) And all friends that he can invite to enjoy the best of the city DAY AND NIGHT.

All I could do was turning a day into around 37 hours!!! Believe me, Rafa (Tristan) is very active...we cover two cities...RIO AND NITEROI. And at night we went to a party in the docks of Rio with more than a 1000 people and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED???? Rafa (Tristan) used his POWER OF NY PR and got all of us free entrance in one of the most famous disco in Rio de Janeiro!!!

In turn I did my best to make Rio de Janeiro is home outside NEW YORK and in many places he reminds his childhood in Rio experience the simple things of the city. We walked in Arpoador and stopped for a local and delicious HOT DOG and many times we stopped in local food vendors just to have a natural taste of what cariocas really do in their own city!

My friend Rafa (Tristan) had the real taste of Rio and in one day he could see the soul of Rio!!!

Our day was so complete that he spend the next day visiting Rio by himself!!!

I think Rio very soon will get a FREQUENT VISITOR!!!

And he is the one who will make the distance between Rio and New York shorter!!!

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES
donrafainrio@yahoo.es

THE SO SWEET IRISH INVASION IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Elaine, Joann, Charlene decided to come to Rio and they met me after many emails and one phone call. I did not realize that we would have so much fun..We went to a very nice FOREST DAY in Tijuca as we are very much into wilderness!!! And it is funny that a city like Rio has a huge forest in the middle of the town. So nice and we had a blast there!!!

One day at the forest was very interesting, we found a "new specie of IRISH BANANA" and we took pictures that we could easily say it was painted...We saw monkeys, we saw all kind of birds and we fed some fish in a lovely lake called Açude!

I had few time to show them everything of Rio and I think I managed to provide a very nice introduction of the city!!! And they met my friends Marcone and Jakob...We had lots of fun at Carioca da Gema...LOTS OF LAUGHS, SAMBA MUSIC AND FUN!!!!

Thank you my greatest friends to make my work so much special!!!

Rafa

SAMBA - MARANHÃO - IRELAND AND LOTS OF FUN IN LAPA

Carioca da Gema has always been our place for you to experience real samba, our national passion. Samba reminds the joy of living of our people and Samba reminds the our famous Carnaval, so every time when I want to show yo my guests what Samba really is...Carioca da Gema is the place where we go. This samba house is located in the heart of our most bohemian district, Lapa. Music is fantastic, the snacks are absolutely yummy and the drinks always at your disposal because the waiters are walking everythere in the tight little space that we have.

Yes!!! CARIOCA DA GEMA is so nice that many people go there and sometimes daincing can be a very interesting adventure!!! :)

But one night we had such a ball with our irish friends and guests Elaine, Joann and Charlote!!!

I AM VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE IRISH FRIENDS IN MY LIFE!!!:) Great happiness, great humour...so LONG LIFE TO IRELAND!!!!

My irish girls spend very few time in Rio and we are studying a way for a second visit now with more time and with more things to see in Brazil!!!

THAT NIGHT MARCONE AND ELAINE TRIED TO CREATE A MARAIRISH DANCE IN OUR SAMBA!!! :)))) Quite sensual as you can see in the video!!!

I explain, MARAIRISH it is a mixed of Maranhão (a state up north of Brazil) and IRISH style. maybe it can be a new World Style of Dancing!!!! Thanks to Marcone and Elaine, hahahaha :)))))

THAT WAS A GREAT NIGHT LAST AUGUST 2008!!!!

ONE SHORT MESSAGE TO MY FRIENDS IN MALTA!!! BEFORE FLYING IN THE FANTASTIC SKIES OF RIO!

We are preparing a very big surprise to my maltese friends!!! I was very lucky to welcome fantastic people from this ISLAND OF TRAVELLERS! I am pretty sure I am the only tour guide in Rio who welcome maltese travellers, and that is a honor for me!!!

Very soon Malta will know more about Brazil, very soon people will find out that Brazil is more than a destination. Brazil will be the source of all your dreams coming true. Wildlife, adventure, beaches, jungle and lots of parties will be waiting for you!

Now we will have one more option to find out the secrets of Rio in the beautiful beach of São Conrado, not so far from Leblon and Ipanema. As you could read, we can fly in Rio and we can do what some privileged cariocas do...hang-glyding in Rio!!!

Taking care of you while you have loads of fun in Rio is my absolutely most important task here!!!

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES
donrafainrio@yahoo.es

WORDS FROM MY MALTESE FAMILY

I just returned from my 2nd time in Brasil and was feeling saudade already and decided to read some Brasil related posts to compensate when I found this thread! I just couldn't not comment.

3 years ago my wife and I along with 6 friends visited Brasil and spent 10 days in Rio. I had hired Rafael to be our guide and when I say that he was impeccable it would be an understatement. Neither myself nor my friends are the type of travellers that require / like to have guides when travelling but Rafa's truly 1 of a kind.

His approach is different and the locations we visited when with him would simply not have been possible on your own. His knowledge does not stop at pointing out places to see but also places to eat, drink etc. For the first few days you might think Rafa's doing just a good job and giving you extra value for your money but then you realise that what Rafa does he does from the heart because he loves his work and his clients.

I cannot forget when we were going to spend our last night at the airport because of precarious flight schedules and Rafa packed us in his car and took us all to his mum's apartment (back then it was in Niteroi) to spend the night! Anyway, to cut a long story short Rafa remained in our hearts and we kept in touch.

This year, my wife and I visited again and spent another week in Rio. Rafael met us almost every evening, we did great stuff together, drove to far away places that couldnt have been possible without him, accessed exclusive places and more importantly he truly made us feel we have family in Rio. If I had to list all the right reasons for us to fall in love with Rafael some might think I'm exxagerating and maybe that he actually made me write this post but I just couldnt close this thread without lending my own lines.

Rafael truly makes your Brasil trip complete and you should definatly hire him as your guide because you will see Brasil from a different perspective... you will not be a gringo with Rafa.

John Paul (La Valetta - Malta)

FOR THE RECORD, MY GREAT FAMILY IN MALTA, THE MASTERS OF THE ISLAND, JOHN PAUL AND MARIE GAVE ME A PRESENT THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET...A MAGNIFICENT WOODEN CAT FROM ASIA!!! FOR THE ONES WHO LOVE CATS THIS COULD NOT BE MORE INCREDIBLE...THANK YOU FOR THE WORDS, THANKS FOR ALL YOUR CARE AND YOU CAN REST ASSURE THAT ALL PEOPLE COMING FROM MATAL WILL HAVE MY EXTRA LOVE!!! I AM VERY GRATEFUL TO WONDERFUL PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!! GRAZZI HAFNA!!! :)))))

IMMISSJAJTEK HAFNA!!!!!!!!!!!!
RAFAEL TORRES LOPES

MEETING WITH THE VULTURES IN RIO!!!

Oh yes!!!! YOUR TOUR GUIDE IN RIO ALSO LOVES ADVENTURES!!! And flying is one of his passions!!! My maltese friends (actually my dear Mediterrenean Family) inspired me to do that, after some paraglyding jumps and no hang-glydings...I asked to myself: WHY NOT???

Then in one tuesday morning I decided to go to São Conrado and talk with Ricardo, our most experience pilot which I always recommend if my guests want to do something special in Rio de Janeiro. Ricardo promptly prepared everything and some minutes after was on the top of Pedra Bonita Mountain at the Tijuca National Forest, a gorgeous national park that we have in Rio, and after some explanations I was in the sky of one of the most beautiful city in the World. RIO DE JANEIRO!!!

My heart was as excited as a samba school in the samba parade of Rio!!! Some minutes before jumping I was wondering that again I would meet my vultures friends!

Many people do not like them because they are famous for their eating habits..but few people know that they are master of our WILD LIFE AVIATION!!! And we have to learn alot from them!;)

As a bird I saw very different and amazing views of Rio. It is hard to describe in words how beautiful it is, but it is very possible for us to have such an unique experience that me, my friends John and Marie and some of my guests strongly recommend!!!

LONG LIFE TO RIO!!!!!

And Thanks to the instructors Ricardo and Paulinho for such a great and efficient assistance!

IN THE SKIES OF RIO IN SÃO CONRADO BEACH

For a long time in my life I have been watching vultures and sail doves and I wondered...Oh I love flying..then I started to travel by plane and from the window I was wondering...life of a bird is great!!!

Well I am quite adventurous I would say...I have travelled all over Brazil or at least a very good part of the country. Hiking in the jungles of Amazon and Missionera Forest, swimming in exotic and gorgeous long rivers. I also got to see wildlife in different countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Canada.

But today, tuesday, September 2nd 2008, from the top of Pedra Bonita at Tijuca National Park. I went hang-glyding as you can see in the video!!! IT WAS A GLORIOUS DAY!!!!:)

With the assistance of my pilot Ricardo, one of the best flight instructors in Rio and also with my danish friend Jakob filming this fantastic moment in my life, I can show to all guests and friends that Rio is easy when you know someone very keen on the area!!!

YOU SHOULD COME AND JOIN ME IN THIS RIO'S ADVENTURE!!!!

We are just starting to work full time with great experienced pilots. Now I know where to go if I have to PLAY THE BIRD again and of course all my guests will also have the great privilege to witness very unknow views of Rio.

AND FLYING IN RIO WILL BE ONE MORE FANTASTIC OPTION FOR YOU WHEN YOU COME!!!

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES
donrafainrio@yahoo.es