RAFA MOMENTS - WORKING FOR NINE YEARS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY

The African Side of Rio - GREAT SAMBA BAR IN LAPA

With the swedish beauties Gio and Wendy in a Samba House - Marcone was there too!!!

Radical Adventures in Niteroi

History where the facts took place

Trying to survive under Rio's Heat - IT'S FUN

Just want to share you my great happiness to meet people from many different part of the Planet. My work allows me to show the best of my country, my work gives me a lot of friends.

I am not the kind of guide who will act in a very formal way...you will never see me in a bus telling like a robot the beautiful views in your right and in your left. I will not be worried to take my people to the next jewelry.

If you want to have a real experience in Rio, you can expect that you will have friends here. Me and my guides here will give you the soul of Rio. You will see closerly how the locals live and you will see places that Cariocas love to go!!!

I am Carioca and my friends are "cariocas" too.

I am teamed with incredible informal guides (officially registered) who will show you a deep casual profile of the city!!!

Here I want to take this opportunity to thank all my guests to make possible so many wonderful things in my life.

And my life here is to make RIO DE JANEIRO your home!!!

MUITO OBRIGADO,

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

BY THE WAY...THESE PICTURES SHOWS MY VERY INFORMAL MOMENTS IN MY TOURS!!!

FLORESTA DA TIJUCA - THE TIJUCA FOREST

I am sure that before you come to Rio you should start planning the places you want to see and in your research you will read TIJUCA FOREST.

Okay, in my tours...TIJUCA FOREST IS LIKE PEANUT BUTTER FOR AMERICANS...MORE THAN ESSENTIAL!!! HAHAHAHAHA : ))))

And you can see more in my tours during the day...the Christ at Morro do Corcovado is part of the Forest, we will drive through the woods in Paineiras where you will see the showers (where some RAFA'S BAPTISM HAPPENS - well, you can ask some guests what it means...) and you will see the HEART of the Forest visiting the place where the park was created in 1816, and you will come across with a gorgeous waterfall, THE CASCATINHA, and we will end up in a little lake with some beautiful fish and lush green all around. Not only the forest,, then we will head to the West of Rio looking for some incredible surprises, places where just locals go, beaches and wetlands. So many hidden gems will be waiting for you.

Myself and our guides are much more concerned to provide you the best experience in Rio, to take you to places away from the touristy traps.

Join us and be part of our group of friends who really love BRAZIL!!!

Vanessa, my best friend in Canada and one of my best cultural embassador in Montreal, we are dreaming about making an informal Brazilian consulate there, hahaha : )))))

Anyway...here it is registered all my love for Canada and my gratitude to have so many wonderful friends like Vanessa, (she has a website: http://www.vanessarodrigues.com/), Pierre and David.

SO....WHEN YOU REQUEST A TOUR IN RIO TO ME, BE SURE THAT THE FOREST, THE CHRIST AND SO MANY SURPRISES WILL BE PART OF YOUR ADVENTURE IN RIO DE JANEIRO.

Happy travels!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

AGUA AGUA AGUA AGUA!!!

It is high summer in Rio and everywhere we go it is better to find EVERY way to refresh yourself and this afternoon we decide to take our wonderful, super, incredible, gorgeous, fabulous, hilarious, brilliant friend Vanessa to see our Forest.

After seeing all the forest and learning all about the Nature in this forest located right in the middle of the city, it is our green shelter, a place that I will always keep in my tours. it is a place to see Nature, to see the birds, to see people walking to relax or just to have a good time with their dear ones.

In one part of the Forest we reach a place called Paineiras where we find some natural showers which is way better than my shower at home, so sometimes we just decide let's go out!!! AND WE HAVE MANY DIFFERENT OPTIONS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!! :)

Marcone and I love to welcome our friends and guests, we work together and we are always thinking about taking our people to new places and let them experience the real flavor of our city!

Vanessa is our great friend from Montreal and she always come to Rio to learn more and more about our culture, this is the best resource for the music. She has some incredible contacts with the best musicians of our Samba. She had a concert at SANTO SCENARIUM, one of the most traditional MUSIC HOUSES in Lapa, nest of our bohemian life!!!

She is not Canadian anymore!!! Vanessa is our great CARIOCA SISTER.

What we are doing, you can do it as well! Come and see our natural showers and have the best summer ever!!!

REMEMBER WE NEED AGUA (water) TO SURVIVE IN THIS SUMMER! :)

Contact us!!! And find more about our tours on YOUTUBE if you type DONRAFATOURS and you can reach me at donrafainrio@yahoo.es

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

FERNANDO BOTERO IS HERE

I am pretty sure that Fernando Botero has visited Rio to feed his inspirations in so many sculptures and paintings that we see in the most important museums in this planet and in so many squares in many different countries!!!

And he was walking here in the Summer when Copacabana is OVER CROWDED!!!!

One sunday I was walking in the beach side and Copacabana has so many funny characters that I could not help registering our people and our local custons and present it to you in form of curious facts, people's behavior and real information of my own land.

But I had to make a comparison and I think I am right....

BOTERO HAS SPENT SOME TIME IN RIO!!!!

By the way, Fernando Botero Angulo (born April 19,1932) is a Colombian figurative artist, self-titled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists". Botero's work includes still-lifes and landscapes, but Botero tends to primarily focus on situational portraiture. His paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated, or "fat" figures, as he once referred to them.

My intention here is not to offend people, I just want to show you some different aspects of this fantastic and so diverse Rio that I want to make it your home!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

ILHA GRANDE - A TREASURE THAT RIO PROVIDES YOU :)

People always laugh when I say that I am busy...but yes I am, here I am in this wonderful island!!! Taking care of danish students group who came to Rio for somedays before some important meetings in the countryside of Paraná State.

But I come to Ilha Grande very often, I always take my guests to see this magnificent island and also this is the place where I come to rest and to have fun; I like exclusive and quiet places to relax and there is not place like Ilha Grande for you to enjoy life, enjoy Nature and have a great time.

To get to Ilha Grande, we have two ways, either getting to the small piers of Mangaratiba or Angra dos Reis.

There are few options from Mangaratiba, but if you want to get to the island easier, taking the 8:00 am ferry boat is a good option, but it means that you will have to leave Rio by 4:00 am. Once you get to the island, you are at Abraão Village by 9:30 so that you can enjoy the whole day and even taking the boat tours that starts from the private pier at 10:00 am.

Another handy option from the continent is getting to Angra dos Reis, in the pier called CAIS DA LAPA where the BARCAS leave, you have the official ferry boats and also other boats that takes you to the island!!! So more or less from time to time you will have some boat going to Ilha Grande. From 1:30 pm on you will find a way to go to the island, if you get to Angra by lunch in front of the main square there is a nice local restaurant called FOGO DE MINAS, marvelous country food, actually the best of simple Brazilian food can also be found there!

In a way, if you want to go to ILHA GRANDE from Rio and you do not want to get up soooo early, so the best way is heading to Angra, but when you get to the island you will be there by the afternoon so there will be no choice but strolling around Abraão village, which is nice in a way because you can hike many trails that leads you to a nice waterfall called POÇÃO, you can also visit the old aqueduct and see some beaches like Preta and Feiticeira, it is nice to walk in the forest and see the enormous palm trees in the way, and from corner to corner you’ve got such a cool view to the main village!

By 10:00 am, it is always better to get the boat tours from this pier…you can reach the most distant beaches like Lopes Mendes or you can take boats that covers a good number of beaches and inlets going to two lagoons, one is called LAGOA AZUL and the other one is called LAGOA VERDE. I really prefer the boat ride that goes to LAGOA VERDE, but it will always depend on the tides and ocean conditions, and this kind of information just the pier staff will let you know.

All busy life in the island concentrates in the main village called Abraão, there you will find nice local restaurants with delicious sea food, home made food made by fishermen’s wives, you will find the bars where all people sit to have a cool time drinking the famous caipirinhas, sucos and our famous and fresh Brazilian beers, normally the most porpular beers here are the BOHEMIA, SKOL and ITAIPAVA.

Ilha Grande in my opinion is one of the best escapes when you spend all days in Rio and willing to find a different place in the State, the island has more than 100 beaches, you can find the privacy that you are looking for in such a delicious paradise atmosphere, the pace of life is very slow, the locals are kind and happy to see you there, and from the pier you can reach the best beaches like LOPES MENDES, DOIS RIOS, SANTO ANTONIO. For more professional hikings I know the right people who can take you there and believe me, the endless beauty you will find there will forever stay in your mind, so many birds, so many green, so many animals and such an energy that will make you feel one of our first European conquerors.

Ilha Grande is still untouched in many places of the island, if you are looking for a place in the wild where you can see what Brazil really looks like, Ilha Grande is the place!!!

Between Buzios and Ilha Grande, the island is my favorite decision. I strongly recommend my guests to see the island, people who are looking for a pleasant and peaceful place to spend at least two days with comfort and privacy; people who are looking for adventures in the wilderness; people who love the ocean and open air activities, romantic couple in honeymoon or simply romantic people who want to give a spacy taste in their lives (Like I usually do…hahahahha!!!!).

For the record, I can meet my guests when they come to the island in the cruiseline ships and take my people to some places where no ship tours can cover, so it can be a cool chance for you to see this incredible island in a very unique way!!!!

ILHA GRANDE IS THE GREATEST DESTINATION WHEN YOU CHOOSE RIO TO SEE PART OF THIS INCREDIBLY ENDLESS COUNTRY CALLED BRAZIL!!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

NOW YOU CHOOSE - VERY SUPER FULL DAY

We will start our tour at 08:00 am. But of course you can choose what time we will start, but remember to see everything in this itinerary, the earliest we can move on is better for us!!!!

We will go to the Christ Area, we will explore all over the Forest of Tijuca, a road full of lush green and with some nice surprises in local areas such as natural showers, waterfalls, some incredible views of the city and a beautiful lake in the middle of the jungle; then we will visit a very unique place, our big area of wetlands with seven islands and intense bird life, this area is called Marapendi, it is a real success in my tours.

THEN AFTER VISITING THE BEST OF RIO WE ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE THE GREATEST SURPRISE OF ALL TOURS: NITEROI

After that we will drive to the other side of the Bay, crossing the bridge, we will find Niteroi, another city very close to Rio which will give you a very different perspective of Rio, you will see all over the mountains and the interesting skyline of the city, plus different beaches with beautiful coastline, we will visit the MAC, our interesting MODERN ART MUSEUM, a project of our famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer, the same one who projected Brasilia; then we will see a wonderful fishing village that will give you an exactly idea of a real pace of life in a different Brazil, we will also see a military fort on the edge of the Bay with the huge mountain of Sugar Loaf right in front of us and we will end our day in a fantastic viewpoint that will convince you that Rio de Janeiro is one of the most sensational cities in the World!!!

VERY INTENSE DAY THAT IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO EXPLORE BY THEIR OWN!!!!

A day that will make HISTORY in your life and you will be able to tell to all people that you know and all people that you love that YOU REALLY HAVE BEEN TO RIO!!!!

You will see the classic and you will see a lot of new and off the beaten path places and I will use a lot of space for improvisation, if we have just one day, so I will have to make two days in one day, you know what I mean???

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es