Travel to Brazil on a Budget

Brazil, South America’s largest nation, covers nearly half of the entire continent!

Brazil extends approximately 3,000 miles from north to south, and just a bit less than that from east to west. The country borders every nation in South America, and it could be divided into the Brazilian Highlands (or plateau) in the south and the Amazon River Basin in the north. The Amazon and its 200+ tribes cover a third of the country. Southern Brazil is home to the Prata system – an intricate river network composed of the Paraguay, Uruguay and Paraná rivers.

As a World Explorer in Brazil, you will engage with the warm and fun-loving people who are waiting to share their love of samba, football, a yummy bean dish called feijoada and their delicious caipirinha cocktails with you! Can you think of a better way to experience Brazilian culture than being considered a part of the família?

World Explorers creates a safe and fun environment for you to gain experience teaching English in Brazil. CHI provides you with basic tutoring materials for casual English conversation lessons. Most Brazilians learn English in school and are eager for the opportunity to practice with a native speaker. That’s where you come in. You will be welcomed into your host family’s home and become a part of their lives, and in turn, they will become your friends for life.

Your number one priority is to spend quality time with your Brazilian hosts and to practice English with them for 15 hours per week. Your goal will be to help your hosts gain confidence speaking English with you. Ideally you will also want to practice speaking Portuguese with your hosts in return.

World Explorers is an ideal way for you to improve your Portuguese language skills. Cultural immersion forces you to put yourself out there and try communicating with the locals. You will be surprised at how quickly you can pick up new grammar, use the correct verb tenses and improve your accent when you are surrounded by native speakers.

CHI works with trusted overseas partners in Brazil to find the best host families possible. While you may request your desired location, we ask that you are flexible as we cannot guarantee specific areas. Please note that most placements are outside of the major city centers due to limited living space in urban areas. Recent placements have been in: Vitoria, Petropois, Tatui (in the state of São Paulo) and Cabo Frio (in the state of Rio de Janeiro).

Our local coordinators in Brazil are there to offer local support while you are a World Explorer. If you are interested in signing up for a Portuguese class, a dance class or even a cooking class, our partner agents can help you arrange different activities to get involved in. Many of our travelers find that meetup groups can be very helpful for meeting like-minded people.

Just remember that World Explores is first and foremost an independent travel program. You need to be a self-starter to make sure you find things to do in your free while your host parents are at work and your host brothers and sisters are at school.

Yes, you do need a visa to enter Brazil. It is easy to obtain a 90 day tourist visa through your local Brazilian Consulate. You will need to make sure you apply far enough in advance to make sure you have the visa by your departure date.

Most of our participants jump at the chance to visit Rio de Janeiro during their stay in Brazil. Seeing the infamous Christ the Redeemer statue looming over you while lying on the white sand beaches of Copacabana is an unforgettable experience. There are also wonderful restaurants, a beautiful botanical garden and a historical city center to explore and enjoy!

If you are looking for an even more urban adventure, a city like São Paulo may be exactly what you’re looking for! There is never a shortage of interesting diversions. Do you like street art? Go check out Beco do Batman and see some amazing work by Brazilian graffiti artists. Did you know that São Paulo hosts the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan? You can even hit up an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet in Liberdade. You will love exploring the historic downtown, riding the maze of metros, walking through the beautiful parks and getting to know the people of São Paulo.

But there is much more to Brazil than these two major cities. Comparable to New York and Los Angeles in the U.S., São Paulo and Rio only represent a small portion of this enormous, beautiful country. There is a lush coastline and a vast, tropical interior to enjoy as well.