---
type: Country
title: Brazil
description: Harry's Brazil is two weeks of Rio Carnival — a country everyone warned him about that turns out to be card-only beaches, no English at all, and the most uninhibited fortnight he has seen anywhere.
tags: [brazil, rio-de-janeiro, carnival, safety, language, inequality]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
---

# Brazil

Harry's only Brazil footage so far is [Rio de Janeiro](/places/rio-de-janeiro.md)
during Carnival — his first time in the country, and by his own admission a
single city seen in its least typical fortnight.

## Observations

### From [Things Got Out of Hand at Rio Carnival 🇧🇷](/videos/Rat94OD4lz0.md)

- **Nobody speaks English.** Not a word, in Harry's experience, and he is
  explicit that this is fine and it is their country. A friend who speaks
  Portuguese tells him that Rio is the easy case — in the north and centre of the
  country, travelling without the language would be close to impossible.
- **Everything takes card, including a man cooking on a beach.** A vendor working
  the sand with a portable oven has a card machine on him. Harry's reaction is to
  ask why the rest of the world hasn't caught up, and to name Mauritania as the
  opposite extreme.
- **It is a developing and very unequal country**, and Harry draws the line from
  that directly to the crime everyone warns him about. He also points at the
  people cleaning up after the parties in 35 °C heat and says what they are
  probably earning.
- **The warnings are real but not the whole picture.** He was told to bring a
  burner phone and hide his bag; he takes precautions, doesn't spend the day
  worried, and notes the armed police with AK-47s as the reminder of where he is.
- **A drugging method he is warned about specifically**: a powder blown into your
  face in a crowd. If you feel a sudden wave, that may be why.
- **The physical diversity of Brazilians** is the thing he can't get over on day
  one — every complexion and build, all in the same crowd.
- **Kissing is a greeting.** Hold eye contact for more than a couple of seconds
  and it is entirely normal to walk over and kiss someone, with tongue if you
  both want. Harry's comment is that most cultures judge this and here nobody
  does, and he thinks that's better.
- **Favelas have become a tourist destination**, according to a man who lives in
  one: people there worked out there is more money in showing tourists around
  than in stealing from them.
- **The two-week let-loose.** His summary is that Brazilians live in the moment
  most of the time, and that during Carnival they do it at a scale he has not
  seen anywhere else.

## Places

- [Rio de Janeiro](/places/rio-de-janeiro.md)