A PLACE CALLED IBITIPOCA AND A GREAT CANADIAN COMPANIOR - SHERYL JOHNSON

The Story started with a serious challenge!!!! I had a special guest...a guest that wanted something unique. She wished to visit a place that I have never taken any person...and the first question I made: ARE YOU ADVENTUROUS?????

She promtply said: YES!!!!!!!!! :)

Well I simply took the car and chose one place that I am sure you know very well: IBITIPOCA

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHA

L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G O-U-T L-O-U-D !!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH :)

I bet IPITIPOCA is not even popular among brazilians!!!! But I am a traveller and deep researcher about my own country. When Brazil is your office you have to work hard to find all the time unique places for you to show your foreign guests and friends!

The challenge was accepted and we travelled 5 hours north of Rio until reaching the beautiful mountainous lands of Minas Gerais State!!!!

Ibitipoca is one very impressive region of the South of Minas Gerais State, the ecosystem is so unique with several rare speciels that our Government decided to create a STATE PARK, specially because this is the place where we can only find a very interesting kind of WOLF, the so called LOBO GUARÁ - check on google - http://www.google.com.br/search?q=LOBO+GUAR%C3%81&hl=pt-BR&biw=1024&bih=499&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8raRTtHoH6fo0QHx4fEp&ved=0CC8QsAQ

5 hours of beautiful motorways through the mountains of Serra dos Orgãos Range, passing in Petropolis, Juiz de Fora until reaching a charming countryside village of Lima Duarte...a place stopped in past, pace of life so slow that we remember our childhood times when we used to visit our relatives who live faraway!

Believe me, all the effort will be paid when you come across with majestic mountains resembling the mountains of Utah or Nevada....

It is hard to tell what made me happier...Sheryl laughs or the magnificent scenery that we came across every little corner that we found in the trails!!! Here you can see my foot that I love taking pictures everywhere I go. Water springs that suddenly desappear in a cave, sparkling water to satisfy your thirst...fresh water is plenty all the way you go!!!

Well, this not a picture of Taylor Lutner (New Moon) or the mature and nice guy Pierce Brossnan (007) or not even the charming senior Sean Connery...It is just myself having fun like a child in the wildness that simply fascinates me. But this is the kind of place that I am always ready to introduce to you!!!

RAFAEL TORRES LOPES

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

A FRIEND OF IBITIPOCA

GOOD MORNING NEW YORK

City of all cities, Good Morning!!!

Rio de Janeiro, one day after 10 years, as always, opens its arms, hearts, smiles to you!!!

I share all the emotions with every single person, like me, loves New York...This is the time when all the good eyes look to one direction...to the souls and hearts of all ones who lost their dearest people. I want to give to all of them my confort, my hope, my joy, my energy to help them keeping the everlast flame of freedom that New York taught to all of us!!!!

They tried to finish with our hope, but we got more energy to build a brilliant future, they tried to finish with our happiness but we still have joy in our hearts; they tried to make us weak but hand in hand we got stronger to start over and over again. Their terror gave us strengh to fight and energy to move on. they thought they would give us disgrace and sadness, but we got more enthusiasm and goodwill to overcome any difficulty. They have many people but we are billions!

They have the anger, and we have love!!!

This sunday I had NEW YORK in my chest!!!! Like everyone I wanted to show that we have strengh to resist and enough courage to carry on. They tried to kill our dreams but everyday we prove that we are powerful and New York will always remains the center of World, the Planet Brains (Brazil has the World's soul, eh?) and the Nation of all Nations. New york for me is not only USA in my opinion, New York belongs to all of us and we should assume a NEW YORKER SIDE in our lives!!!

One day they tried to shake the ground...My God we lost people...but they will never destroy all the dreams, all the happiness, all the love, all the hope of millions who are ready to resist.

Blacks, Whites, CHARMING LATINOS like me, YELLOWS, GREENS, BLUE, WHATEVER COLORS WE FIND, we should think to just one direction...THE DIRECTION OF PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING!!!!

Radicalism will never defeat love!!!

New York is still there...super busy like Rafa's Tour Guide Life; always in a hurry like my time that never forgives me; smart like any one with good taste, daring like Madonna, charming like Marilyn Monroe, ellegant like Carrie Bradshaw and gorgeous like Gisele Bundchen (I am sorry, dear reader, she is brazilian!!!!).

Well, the truth is....New York is the World...

AS PART OF NEW YORK, I SAY TO ALL OF YOU...NEW YORK RAFA LOVES YOU!!!! :)))))

I try to live my life with joy, death is not important and it is a simply detail and we can survive if we have happiness in the heart, energy to fight and hope to build a better future!!! I am committed to life!!! Love feeds me and death must fear me. So if we hold on to life we will be better and stronger. Let's make our gladness a real weapon to face our sorrows and move on. Our heroes need us to make their stories shine.

Hey New York!!!! One day I will visit you!!! One day when my dream come true I will be part of your story. You will be very present in my book of life with so many happy ending chapters. One day I will wonder in all your streets celebrating life.

Thank you for all good people that you sent to me!!! Thanks to give me so many marvelous friends. Thanks for teaching me so many things...Thanks for the culture, thanks for the energy, thanks for daring, thanks for challenging...

Hope one day I could wake up in the city that never sleeps!!!! And I am sure when I open my eyes I will be the happiest person on Earth.

LOVE YOU, NEW YORK!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

A friend of New York

With thanks for all NY pictures that I could get on google...for the moment I could not take my own pictures in this vibrant megacity!!!

A TYPICAL SUMMER DAY IN COPACABANA

The beach is the most democratic space in my opinion....At least in Rio you can find everytime, no matter if you are rich or poor. There are people who adore privacy and they will think...too crowded!!! But there are people who would really have fun to spend the whole day in a beach like this!!!

Well, Copacabana is like that...Or you love or you hate it. In this case...I LOVE COPACABANA!!! And I am proud to live here! : )))))

It is one of the most beautiful symbols of my dear city Rio de Janeiro, it is very populated and one of the most popular beach among many other beaches that we can found in our coastline! Copacabana is now a very urban district but it gives you such an incredible notion of the city's landscape, from there you see the Sugar Loaf, Niteroi, the rocks of Copacabana Fort and the beautiful skyline of our famous beach.

BUT THE CARIOCAS ALWAYS GO TO THE BEACH....Just like football and Carnaval, BEACH is religion to our people!!!

And this is how a beach can be absolutely packed in a high sunny (and hot) SUNDAY!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

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

ONE MORE HAPPY DANISH FAMILY

I hope my so dear american friends don't get jealous, you can be sure that I love you all and I am always very grateful for all love, friendship and confidence that I always receive from the States, but the danish presence in my tours is growing bigger and I am honored to make so many incredible friends from Denmark, another country that I admire and another country that I am very interested!!!

DK gave me a fantastic friend, Jakob that also works here provinding so many ioncredible trips to all our visitors. And after the prestige to show Rio to Jakob's parent, Anita and Bent, he also recommended my tours to a very good friend, Dorthe and she wanted to make the visit of her parents special, so Hanne and Henning joined the group.

Dorthe lives in Rio and her parents came to Brazil to see her and visit many cool places in the country.

And I was in charge to show some secrets and little surprises of Rio....

As usual I focus our tour on lots of nature, so we saw the Forest, we went to our tiny ands charmous beach of Joá ( I love Copacabana, but nothing is better than a privacy of a wild beach, so Joa is a blast!), we went to the wetlands of Marapendi and we spent the rest of the afternoon in my beloved city, NITEROI.

We stopped in the Contemporary Museum which is not interesting inside, but outside you can see incredible views and you can take fantastic pictures; then we had lunch at A MINEIRA, a very exclusive brazilian typical food, all you can eat and you can have the best experience in our gastronomy in this local place. Then we went to PARQUE DA CIDADE, the famous view point to see the city of Niteroi and the skyline of Rio; and for a golden end, we went to the fishing village of Jurujuba where we interact with the locals, and they told us delicious fishermen's stories, we met Carlos and we played with the children. After that we went to the beaches of Adan and Eve close to the old fort of Santa Cruz constructed in 1565, one of the first construction in the Colonial Rio!!!

We had a tour full of culture and laughs. Dorthe is such a clever girl and in the future she will work with me providing even more quality in our tours, her knowledge about World's Fact and her view about Brazil is absolutely interesting; Hanne and Henning were so happy to see real things and dealing with genuine people.

YOU CAN VIEW THEIR OPINION ABOUT MY TOURS IN A VIDEO THAT I RECORDED IN JURUJUBA.

Please have a look and tell me what you think, right???

The address is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb-62xIZe-U

And to see more of this visit in the fishing village, we also have two more videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm8QMZQ8-FA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0dMWU8sYP0

They are amazing and again I am making more and more fabulous friends from Denmark!!!

TAK TAK,

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

ANOTHER DANISH FAMILY VISITING - BUT THEY ARE SPECIAL!!!!

It seems that swallowing the Sugar Loaf is a sort of fashion among my guests, eh????

But they really swallowed the HEART AND THE MAGIC OF RIO, and now the city is in their heart!!! : )))))) More danish guests, but these ones are REALLY SPECIAL...I mean, absolutely special people...if you read about my brother Jakob in my blog, then you have the main clue....THEY ARE THE PARENTS OF MY BIG BROTHER AND GREAT FRIEND JAKOB!!!!

Yes...I had the honor to show Rio to my friends Anita and Bent, and I did my best to show every little corner of this city, and they went to so many unique places that no tourists go!!!

We saw the forest, the natural springs of Paineiras, we went to the tiny little beach of Joá and we saw the oldest monastery of our State, São Bento with its incredible barroc architecture, and of course we ended our day in the so hidden city of Niteroi!!!! We also went to the Christ!!!!

To see more about them, you can go to you tube and watch this following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXo8qWhzZlo

There you can see a very kind message from parents to their son in Rio, in danish of course!!!! :)

I am sure they will come back, right now they are experience the countryside of Brazil, maybe somewhere in Iguazu Falls!!!!

But they know that they are my danish family, people I will always admire and I am very grateful and honored that they had the chance to experience my tour that I full dedicate myself to show to my people what Rio de Janeiro really looks like!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

Tour Guide and Travel Planner

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

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!!!

HAPPY FAMILY FROM TEXAS WITH A COSTA RICAN TASTE

I am sure Maria got to their lives to put some AZUCAR taste to this already "sweet" family from McAllen,Texas - USA. A little southern town in the Great River Valley, famous for the Quinta Mazatlan, but also a very close stop point to many birding parks in South Padre Island, fantastic variety of birds in that coastal area.

So they came to Rio, Maria, her husband Jason and Jason's parents, my sweet friend Priscilla and the King and Almighty friend Will, they stayed at Marta's place, such a magnificent guests house on the beach of Copacabana, you can see more of her website at http://www.rioguesthouse.com/ - And I was in charge to show all of Rio in just one single day, and we did it, and I also made them "glyde" in the skies of Niteroi.

We started our day heading the Forest of Tijuca with a quick stop in my PLAN B...the Mirante Dona Marta where you can see the Christ Mountain and all over Rio but with no crowd, very few people know about this place but it is one of the options that you have to see the whole city and the access there is free, after that we finally reached the Christ, our famous and most important attraction, we had a ball there!!! but we headed to the Forest until the waterfall of Cascatinha but before that we had a baptism, Jason was baptized as Jason Brasileiro, hahahaha :) They have the pictures! When we finally reached the Falls they realized that Rio was much more than expected, but we had to continue because we had to see more of the city, and I took the to the gated community of Joa where the Atlantic Ocean with all its fury make a real surfing festival for the locals. We completed our visit to Rio and then we cross the Bay and visited Niteroi.

In Niteroi, we did the classical tour of MAC, our Modern Art Museum. From this point you have very unique vistas of our Bayside, we can clearly see the island of Boa Viagem and the beach of Icaraí, them we had lunch in a very brazilian resturant with yummy food, A MINEIRA, and as a grand finale...

WE WENT TO PARQUE DA CIDADE, a privileged viewpoint that is a real highlight to any trip to Rio, and from there, thanks to my friends and paraglyding instructors, Jason and Maria jumped.

We had a perfect day and for sure they will come back for more! I had 4 interesting guests and I ended up with marvelous 4 Great friends!!!!

I am sure that everywhere they go and everyone they meet that will recommend Rio as a great destination to discover!!!!

Thank you my friends for a wonderful day!!!

Rafa

IS IT GORGEOUS OR NOT????

For fun, to work or just a simple day in the beach...where do I go???? NITEROI!!!!!!

Well, It is always a great reason to visit Niteroi when friends decide to take one day and have fun.

This time, Marcone and I took the day to spend the day with our great friends Marta, who owns a very trendy PENTHOUSE in Copacabana, the traditional RIOGUESTHOUSE. (http://www.rioguesthouse.com/) and her husband John Muller, the most brazilian aussie fellow that I know! And we visit the most beautiful ocean beach of Niteroi, ITACOATIARA, and we also went to the indian tribe of Guaranis in Camboinhas and end in our great finale, PARQUE DA CIDADE!!!!

I just want to take them to my favorite places in the city, my so dear hidden secrets...

ITACOATIARA WAS OUR FIRST STOP....UNIQUE BEACH - A REAL SURFER'S PARADISE IN BRAZIL.

Rafael Torres Lopes

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

IMAGES THAT STICK IN YOUR HEART - THE GREAT SURPRISE: NITEROI

Explosion of happiness in Niteroi - Parque da Cidade

An incredible overview of everything you visited

We know how to get there....

Words are useless to describe how much I love this city!!!!

Niteroi is part of my golden teenager times!!! And it is a very intense part of my own present!!!

Niteroi holds many surprises that a normal traveller will never reach....

There is a place in the Bay Side that very few people know, but all locals go there and I am going there since I was 10 or 12 in my way more adventurous times...Now I am just a simple adventurous tour guide...hehehehehe, in that time I was just a "daring kid"

PARQUE DA CIDADE is a place where every visitor fall in love, but how can't you????

True...best sunset in the State, I can tell you, this is one of the best places!!!

I can teach you the CAMINHO DAS PEDRAS to go there!!!

You must be asking yourself WHAT A HEC is caminho das pedras, right???

Caminho das Pedras is a way we have when we want to tell you a secret so badly....

But this is for sure the best way to spot all over Rio de Janeiro in a very privileged way...

AND IT IS MY PHOTOGRAPH PLAYGROUND.

Marcone and I usually go there in our tours and also in our free time, and I have to go there much more to continue a "certain course"...

Enjoy the images and let me know if you like it!!!!

Rafael Torres Lopes

donrafainrio@yahoo.es

YES!!!! WE DO HAVE ALLIGATORS!!! :)

The wetlands of Marapendi is for sure such a pleasant surprise for every guest that I welcome in Rio, for about almost two years I have taken people to see what very few people can visit when they come to our city. I know the region quite well and without the great help of my friend and boatman Laerte I would never be able to show to the World such a wonderful place where you experience a completely different life style in Rio and also one of the very rare place where you can really spot wild life in Rio!!!

And TODAY, May 18, 2009...We finally found the aligator, it was a baby alligator, we were expecting to meet the MOTHER, but I think she was very shy hidden within the mangrove roots!!!

Many birds...like so many different species of heruns, and now the ROYAL GREY HERUN...we can see alligators.

Marapendi is still a very local place, no tourists go there and that makes the place a real fantastic spot to be visited!!!

Surely I can take you there!!! :) My friends from Munich, Germany Michel and Leo were with me in this important discovery!

ALL THE BEST AND HAPPY TRAVELS,

Rafael Torres Lopes