Riowakening

Brazil through an Australian's eyes

Why do Brazilians give hugs to complete strangers?

I was getting out of the lift in my Rio de Janeiro apartment building when the random Brazilian guy riding alongside me gave me a hug...

Normal one day, crazy the next. This would be the honest slogan for Rio favela tours, ripping off Queensland's era-defining "beautiful...

I had my insider's guide to Rio Carnival published on news.com.au. There is nothing better than writing about things you love, and this...

Technobloco? More like Cryptobloco. The legend of Technobloco spread so far and wide over the past year that it grew with as much hyped...

There's a great woman who works on Ipanema Beach that is impossible to forget. Vanessa Cabral dos Santos, or Vanessa Esplendorosa as...

I’M living in a city where the gangs are so out of control the army has been called in to keep the peace. Like many predicted before...

DOES Brazil’s Christ shed a tear looking down over the sadness below him? It’s a question Rio de Janeiro’s residents ask as they gaze up...

If you’re thinking of coming on a holiday to Brazil and Rio it's a great life choice to make, believe me. There can be a lot to get...

Hardly a country has needed Uber so much as Brazil. Between its huge traffic jams, chasm of social inequality, tumbling economy and...

"A good criminal is a dead criminal." That’s the meaning of the Portuguese words “um bandido bom é um bandido morto” on the lips of...

Ambushing the Sambódromo with hundreds of other Brazilian Carnaval party animals was one of the best moments of my life. The epicentre...

Heading to a music night in the back of an Uber through Centro’s grungy streets dotted with dilapidated, graffitied-covered buildings, I...

I've been living in Rio for most of the year, a city which suffers from some pretty bad problems. But for all its issues it doesn't...

An Italian tourist who took a wrong turn into a favela and wound up dead with a bullet in his head today is another reminder of the...

You'll see Aussie surf brands worn all over Brazil, from the beaches to the gangsters in the favelas just like Quiksilver above. In...