From the moment you leave the terminal building, you can sense you aren't in Kansas anymore. Kansas is NOT THAT HOT. It was 94 degrees out and the humidity immediately turned my polo shirt into a wet rag.
Rio has a plethora of transportation options for you to leave the airport. There's the bus. There's the air-conditioned bus. There are unlicensed buses. There are cabs with meters and cabs without meters. There are cabs with air and cabs without. We were heading for Niteroi and given the massive amount of luggage we had in tow opted for an unmetered cab.
It is here that I got my first lesson in the great Brazilian tradition of haggling over prices. The cabbie quoted 50 Reais (for the rest of this travelogue I will simply use 'R' followed by a number) for the fare. Cecilia began a song and dance about how when she came home last year she paid less than 40 for the same trip. The cabbie pulled out his book listing standard fares for the trip which showed R 59. She continued to press her case and the fare was brought down to R 40 (US $17). The distance on this trip was about the distance of O'Hare to Chinatown for those who know Chicago. That would be ~$40 US.
On our arrival at the condo in Niteroi, I noticed a convenience store (this would become my second home). After dropping off my bags and while she made her phone calls, I went down to the store and promptly bought five bottles of diet coke (called Coca Light) At a convenience store in the U.S. you would pay $1.25 for a 20 oz. bottle of soda. These bottles were metric but they looked about the same size. They cost R 1.20 (about 52 cents). In general, food prices in Brazil work the same way they do in England. Whatever you pay in the U.S., you'll pay it in Brazilian Reais. In London, you do the same except in Pounds. So that bottle of coke which costs $1.25 in the U.S. can cost you the equivalent of 52 cents in Brazil or $1.90 in London. The ten dollar dinner at a typical restaurant in Chicago will cost you $4.35 in Brazil. If you go to fancier places, like Colombo (#1 #2), then you'll lose the value of the exchange rate.
