Moving to Rio for a year!

Hi Missy,

What's a nice girl from "Saddle Dome Country" doing in a place like this????? LOL

Regarding Portuguese, it is essential that you start learning as much as you can and as fast as you can, so find a language school or private teacher there in Calgary (preferably a native speaker) and get started right away. While we all know that English is the international language of commerce that hasn't quite sunk in here in Brazil yet. There are two kinds of English spoken even in major corporations here - LITTLE and NONE. So, you've got to have a good grasp of Portuguese just to get by.

Accommodations in Rio are going to cost considerably more than you are budgeting for, unless you plan to live in a single room. Anywhere near a decent beach a 1 br. apartment is going to start around R$1500 and go up from there. This doesn't include condominium fees (which can sometimes be like another rent payment on top of the rent), utilities, property taxes IPTU which get passed down to the tenant unlike at home.

Zumba classes are super-popular all over Brazil and a quick Google of "Aulas de Zumba no Rio" will probably get you more info than you can handle.

A driver (especially one with a car) at your beck and call will cost you more than the payments to service Canada's national debt, forget that idea. Having a car even worse still so that's out too. The public transportation system while nowhere near being world class is sufficient and by OUR standards cheap. You can save up your pennies to pay for cab fare when you really need a vehicle. That's really the very best way to approach the problem. It's sure done well for me in the twelve years I've lived in Brazil and in the 5 different states where I have lived here.

Fellow Canucks in Brazil...... well I'm one and I live about a 3-4 hour (depending on traffic) bus ride north of Rio, in Macaé. I come into Rio once a month and when you get here I'll be only too happy to meet up with you and help get you oriented here.

Read all of my postings with a STICKY at the top of the first forum page, they will be of great help. While the one on the High cost of living in São Paulo was written with that city in mind it clearly applies to any major city in Brazil. For more detailed COL information for Rio (or anywhere else) try:

www.numbeo.com and type in the name of the city


Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil & Canada Expert, Expat-blog Team

Thank you!

Just one clarification . . . the apartment. You said it would be at least R1500? I had said I was budgeting 1000-1500US/CAN. Do you think that is still unreasonable?

I'm going to start looking into Portuguese now!

I guess, I will have to forgo the driver idea. I just thought it would be helpful for me.

I plan move in August 2014.

I will definitely go and read the posts that you have and I'm glad to be here and hope to get as much information and help because this is a really big move for me. Nervous and excited!

Hi Missy,

Sorry, I misread your first posting. If you budget $1500 USD/CAD per month then you should be OK in most parts of Rio.

Just remember that personal security is really a big issue, you must take a lot of extra precautions here.