Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest country in the world, both in area (over 3 million sq miles) and population (over 190 million). It shares a border with every country in south America except Ecuador and Chile, and spreads over 3 time zones. It has the eighth largest economy in GDP and is one of the worlds fastest growing economies. It is the only Portuguese speaking country in the Americas.
Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil, and the 3rd most visited city in the world. It is known for its stunning natural landscape, carnival celebrations, and beaches such as Ipanema and Copacabana. Population over 6 million in the municipality and over 14 million in the metro.A new language - unfortunately our Portuguese was currently limited to please, thank you, yes and no, and few people spoke much English (much less than anywhere we went in Argentina). We seem to have a bit more luck trying to speak in Spanish....
We realise how used to speaking Spanish we have become, as we are finding it very difficult to ask questions / say thanks in anything other than Spanish! (Gracias even comes more natural than thank you!) - we are slowly getting used to "Obrigado".
The language (or lack of) seems to be more of an issue here than in Buenos Aires (and will only get worse as we move north). Therefore we are about to get on the internet and learn some new words!