Menu

Thursday, December 12, 2013

IN THE TOURS YOU DO NOT VISIT RIO - YOU MEET A FRIEND IN RIO


I know when you come to Rio looking for a guide, most of the time you expect a person who will be super formal, a little bit shy and the guide will talk to you immediatelly about what you will do during the whole day. Some guides will take you only to touristy places forgetting that you are also a very nice human being who love to meet people. In the very start of our emails I will always say...you will have a guide, but you will also meet a friend, and friendship in my business means a lot...So coming to Rio with Rafa, means that suddenly you will have a tea in a very local place with the best vibe in the World. This Eye to Eye conversation will make you feel so confortable that you will notice that time will fly like a rocket but all the memories will be forever in your heart!

Dilip was one of my guests that became a good friend and now I am sure that in Chicago I might have a tea with a good friend, but this good friend will have to choose the place where we will have a tea!


You will realize that being in Rio with a friend (and this friend is also a Tour Guide) will be much more fun and you will get in touch with the local daily lives and discover how wonderful Rio can be. And my job as a tour guide is way more interesting when I make friends!


The result of a good tour is what you are seeing above...no money pays the joy and the genuine laughs of my guests when they accept to go deep in our culture and visiting Rio beyond classical places!

This is how I realize that my job here is pure passion! :)





Do not worry...you will see Christ...maybe visit the Sugar Loaf...you will also do normal stuff but I do love the unusual...I do love to make all my guests at home...They come from USA, SCOTLAND, OR SINGAPORE...NO PROBLEM...they will always have a space in my heart!!!

And I thank everybody for making my work so special and unique!




It does not really matter how old you are...I am here...and I want to make Brazil your home and Rio your best weekend beach house, hehehehehe :)

Welcome and be sure that in Rio when you need a guide, you will get a guide, but a friend too....

LOTS OF LOVE, 

Rafael Torres Lopes
Tour Guide and Travel Planner

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

MY GOOD FRIEND SONIA CHAGAS - SHE WORKS FOR ME AND I LOVE HER WORK!!!


When you write for me request for a tour, not always I will be available to lead your family, friends or groups to see Rio, but I have wonderful friends that I work together and we make Rio de Janeiro a very homely and easy place for you. We know the secrets, we have a big love to show you our lands!

One Guide of my wonderful team is Sonia Chagas, a person that I trust enormously to be with you. She does a lovely work taking you to all places that I am in person take you.



Sonia is extremely kind with my guests and like me, she will be not only a guide in Rio de Janeiro, she will be your reference in Brazil and once you see Rio with her, you will became our friends for life and we will always give you reasons to come back to visit us and see more places. Carissa came with her husband James and we spend a wonderful day together.



IF I recommend you Sonia means that she is the perfect person to replace me, if I say that Sonia will take care of your day in Rio, that means that your trip to Rio will be something impossible to forget. She was mentioned on trip advisor many times and one of my favorite comments was writen by our friends from San Francisco, California:

My boyfriend and I went on a private day-tour with Rafa and his trusty friend Sonia Chagas during our week-long trip to Rio in early April. We chose Rafa to guide us around Rio because of TripAdvisor reviews, actually. What can we say but that we were very happy with our choice! After Rafa and Sonia picked us up, we started with a few stops along the way from our lodgings in Copacabana to Santa Teresa to take in a cool view of Sugar Loaf. He took care to keep us on a schedule that was a mix of classic Rio that we wanted to see and locals' Rio that we would have never thought to see on our own. It was perfect, from the obligatory yet breathtaking views from atop Corcovado, to the attention to the Rio street art between neighborhoods, to unmatched views of the city from Niteroi, to the scrumptious late lunch at a Brazilian buffet that Rafa's been frequenting with his own friends and family for decades. Rafa knows Rio like the palm of his hand and we could really feel his passion for his home city. The icing on the cake is how absolutely friendly and warm both Rafa and Sonia were with us, chatting like we had been friends for years already, when it had only been minutes. Sharing their own Rio with us, explaining the big things, and letting us in on the little things, that make this marvelous city tick. We had such a nice time that we took up Sonia's offer to visit her home town of Teresopolis with her a couple days later. What a gorgeous jungle-mountain town in Rio de Janeiro state! If you have time while in Rio, don't miss this area, it really is very pretty and there are a couple nice parks nearby that Sonia can take you to to enjoy the quieter, more nature side of Rio. And she's such a lovely and gracious host as well!

So, just to make things short...once with Sonia you will be in good hands, you will see a lot about Rio and you will funny brazilian insights about North Dakota!!!! hahahahahahahahahaha

BTW...she lived there for some years!!! :)


RAFAEL TORRES LOPES

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

RAFA IS BACK - AND RAFA IS ALIVE- BUT RAFA IS REALLY BUSY

I am back...I love writing...updating my blog is important because you know where I am and what I am doing; all this time of absence got me very busy...busy with the new house, busy with all my work and replying lots of emails that my guests write to request more and more tours. It is important that when you write me, it might take a little while to respond, also I can reply in less than one hour. But hardly I find time to be in front of the computer.

It is very important that you know that I will answer your messages no matter what and since all this time I have been off, I was giving a lot of joy to many travellers all over the World.



Rio is still magical and I am here to give you all this magic. I am ready to welcome you and ready to take you to some secrets of Rio. Ipanema is marvelous, Copacabana is famous, but we have so many things to discover, so just come!!! :)))

So count on me...I am here, I am your tour guide and I am also the friend you will find in Rio who will make the best of all the days you will spent!

I am ready!

Rafael Torres Lopes
Tour Guide and Travel Planner