We were so lucky to find Rio Gay Tours. Marcelo is the most energetic and charming guide we've ever met...anywhere in the world. And to have his expertise while navigating one of the most beautiful and enigmatic cities...well it was nothing but a pleasure. I sent Rio Gay Tours a list of what I hoped to do (it kind of merged three of his tours) and then we set out an accomplished all of it and more detours along the way. Neighborhood Juice corners, taxis to places the taxis did not know existed (Marcelo charmed them into going the best way.) We got to experience some of the "grit" we wanted but in a safe, very "executive" way.
We were so empowered by Marcello, the following day we took what we learned from Marcello and headed out on own and managed a few taxis, two ferries, and a bus. We learned that by taking a photo of the Ferry Station when we left it, we could show it to the cab driver when we were ready to head back to it. Simply knowing we now had a friend in town we could call if we were in trouble or lost gave us all the confidence we needed.
He charmed a stranger who was super knowledgeable about an art exhibit we stumbled upon to join us for 10 minutes of amazing discussion. Have I used the word "charming" enough?
Visited March 2013
