MY SIMPLE DAY OFF IN RIO - A COOL AFTERNOON AT PARQUE LAGE

I remember that I posted these lovely pictures a long time ago and I could not finish writing here. I am sorry...life is so busy here that I do not have theright to find some minutes to update this blog that not only tells you about my work, but it tells you about my life. It is a great pleasure to share so many funny moments in this city that you are going to explore!

Rio has this informal vibe, and part of the vibe is enjoying the city just like Marcone and I do...When we have time we choose a place in the city to relax and have fun and of course, taking a lot of pictures!

This time we decide to go to a park not so far from the Botanical Garden, we went to Parque Lage, a very nice green space which is part of the Tijuca National Forest, there we can walk in the trails, we can see one more property that used to belong to a very rich family in Brazil, the GUINLE family who were very powerful coffe farmers in a glorious period of our history!!!

Thank you for reading and thank you for your interest of experience our tours!!!

Now I am not alone, I also have wonderful guides to help me to make Rio a lot easier and way more local for your first experience in Rio!

A TRIP TO THE PAST

In Rio you can really experience the same places where your ancestors did years and years ago, and I am talking about nearly 130 years ago. A Walk to the City Center will show you lots of history and take you to a time where Rio was even more glamourous...You will see a lot of erupean influence in our past and some places you can still have the same coffee, the same pastries, the same delicious and unique food!!!

CONFEITARIA COLOMBO IS STILL THERE, ELLEGANT AND CHARMING... A fantastic place for a pleasant coffee in the end of the afternoon and a cool opportunities for you to taste one of the best SALGADINHOS in town!!!!

This paradise very close to the finantial center is part of my walking tour. I love to help my people to discover some nice hidden gems of Rio de Janeiro, and I love it!!!!


Rafa

MY SPANISH CHILDREN :) HAHAHAHA

This time it was serious...after a whole year of hard work a group of 1000 spanish workers had some days off in Brazil...YES RIO IS A FAMOUS DESTINATION FOR MANY MANY INCENTIVE GROUPS. They work for the spanish insurence company MAPFRE.

And I took care in person of about 40 people!!!!

They are from different places of Spain and when some spanish groups come to Rio, specially for official events in Rio de Janeiro, I am invited; specially because they know that my spanish is ver fluent and I am the official tour guide for the Spanish Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, thanks to that when the schoolship of their navy comes, DONRAFA is the one who will give them all the assistance.

They came not a long while ago, and a real samba party was prepared for them, I made lots of dear friends.

I just decided to share with you a very important moment in my career.

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Trip Planner

STREET FOOD IN RIO????? OHHHHH YES!!!!!!

Believe me, sometimes you can HAVE LUNCH just visiting the food stands that you find in every corner when you tour around Rio or even when you walk on your own in the streets of the city!!!! Amazingly some of them have great quality and you will have the opportunity to experience some unknown delights that produces in a brazilian person a real "food orgasm".

The Franguinho da Esquina, which is chicken barbecue with wonderful and very healphy salad that you can see Marcone eating with enormous pleasure, or the delicious baked corn that my friend Koonal from Washington and I just bought after our lovely afternoon exploring the Atlantic Forest in the local walk way Pista Claudio Coutinho!!!!

Being part of our daily life is another feature that makes your trip special.

And this is one of our concern!!!! Our visitors here are friends, and we do take them to the most curious secrets of the city!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Tour Planner

THAT'S ME!!!!

For those who don't know me, well, my name is Rafael Torres Lopes, I am a tour guide in Rio de Janeiro for 9 years and now many people also convinced me that I am also a tour guide and a travel planner for all over Brazil, specially for Iguazu Falls, the Amazon, the Northern Coast and the states of Maranhão and Roraima...And just for the record, I was also convinced that I can be a tour guide out of Brazil, so I started to organize tours in Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela.

I know what you are loooking for when you decide to go to South America, and I know exactly what you want to see when you choose Rio de Janeiro for the holidays of your dreams. I focus on places that no tourists can go, at least, the real researcher or someone who have contacts in Rio or elsewhere in Brazil, we also go to the places where I take my people. Of course I also do the classics but all this followed by a very special personal treatment. I see you as a person and also as a traveller.

Thanks to that, all over this year I have many incredible guests from mainly 5 countries: USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Israel; and of course, I have met many people from every little corner of this World, and I give them the same: THE BEST TREATMENT EVER!!!!!

No matter how fat or thin your pocket is, I will always make Rio, Brazil and South America easy for you. away from the high prices and for places when we obviously know that we can get commisions. I want my land to be simple, fascinating and special for each of my people.

I work with a lot of passion and the big majority of my guests are now wonderful close friends, and this is a result of so many reviews about my work at TripAdvisor.com; CruiseCritics.com, the web foruns at American Airlines; Virtualtourist.com and so many other spaces in our cyber planet that I can find no words to describe so many kind words coming from many different part of our fantastic planet.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT...

People write to me requesting tours around Rio and sometimes in other parts of Brazil, and they do that way in advance, and some times I am not available for everyone, but I am so blessed to work with five guides: Marcone, Cedric, Diana, Manu and Inez that can provide you such a blast in any destination you choose in the city. And I also have good and unique contacts all over the country who can assist you either in Amazon or in Iguazu Falls and the most spectacular places in our coast!!!

So all you have to do is writing to me and I will always find something special for you to do.

AND ALSO...I AM OFTEN QUITE BUSY WITH MY TOURS and it is hard for me to answer so many emails that I have in my inbox, so please please please, be patient, I will answer you and you will always find something amazing to do with you choose my tours...

Sometimes it can take less than one hour for you to have a message from me, but it can also take three or five days for me to write, I will always try to write back as soon as possible because when you write, you are trusting your dreams to me and this is sacred!!!!

Things are getting better and better, in the future I will be taking brazilian travellers to the Middle East in order to experience the best our the World's Heritage and to experience many adventures in the wilderness of the far east...I will be writing about it quite soon!!!

I know I am writing too much and I have a tour to attend and many emails to reply, but what really matters to me is that you will have fun here and I will be your friend in Rio de Janeiro and your best contact in Brazil!!!