Thursday, May 5, 2011

When you take a trip to Rio de Janeiro, is it best to slumber in hotels or motels?

By Claudio Tostes


Virtually anyone who is a newcomer to travel in Rio de Janeiro ought to learn about some important things when you are on your vacation. One significant lesson to take note of is the difference between hotels and motels as it pertains to Brazil. From an American standpoint, you likely would think that the difference is price and quality of these kind of rentals and you may keep this thought for some time as you stroll the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. But you will soon realize that to Brazilians, there is a difference. A big difference.

What exactly is this difference you ask? Well, to put it blunt and straightforward, hotels are for slumber and motels are for having sex. There really isn't any other way to put it and this is a simple fact in Rio de Janeiro as well as the rest of Brazil. So if you are taking a holiday here, it's really something that you should know about. If you're sipping that martini in a quaint little bar of Copacabana or Ipanema and a person mentions a motel, you'll know exactly what they're talking about

One may be curious as to why this is. While in the United States, motels are generally rest stops for travelers who are looking for inexpensive quarters for the night. Just a place to nap. In Brazil, you need to look at things from a cultural viewpoint. Most people live in close quarters. It's not normal for Brazilians to have their own apartments, rentals or flats. Usually people can't easily afford these kind of accommodations alone, so it's very common to live with their families.

Now this may change after awhile as Brazil becomes economically more influential. As apartments and flats are springing up all over Rio. But then again, probably not since this notion is so imbedded in the culture. Privacy is certainly something hard to find. Usually people in Brazil who are travelling on business are going to gravitate toward hotels anyway. Though, as infrastructure becomes more enhanced, you'll have more people who have lower budgets. This lower middle class will likely be the kind that may make use of motels as a more cost-effective alternative and cause a cultural shift.

Even so, right now, during the time of this writing hotels mean sleep and motels mean intimacy. Simple enough right? Shouldn't be any more errors as to the reason for this type of real estate. Hopefully this has cleared up some confusion to anyone who might be coming to Rio de Janeiro and help them avoid a potentially unpleasant situation of which accommodations to use. But then again, perhaps you should look at some apartments instead.




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