Uru-Gays' Holidays in Brazil 2024/2025 Photo Essay
- Jack Richards
- Jan 6, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 14, 2025
As avid travelers, we made a goal to spend the holidays away from home each year. The idea began in 2019 in Santa Marta, Colombia where we met before embarking on our hike to the lost city (a good story for another time). While we would have loved to keep the tradition to international destinations, we've mostly met the goal with staycations:
2020 – Travel restrictions (and Hudson) led us to a couple of nights at the Standard High Line.
2021 – We planned to be on the beach in Chile but flight delays landed us at a Laguardia Airport hotel with views of construction and then catching covid resulted in canceling the trip all together.
2022 – As part of our farewell to the US, we ventured down the Jersey Shore to spend time with some chosen family, just a couple of weeks before we made our move to Uruguay.
2023 – Holidays are extremely familial in South America and most of our friends were home. We opted for a couple of nights at Hotel Montevideo, a chic dog-friendly hotel with a gorgeous rooftop bar and pool.
2019 - Santa Marta, Colombia 2020 - The Standard High Line, New York City 2021 - Laguardia Airport Hotel, New York City 2022 - Mermaid Cove (Ocean Township, NJ) 2023 - Hotel Montevideo, Uruguay
Finally, in 2024 we were able to re-ignite the international tradition by getting more than just a few miles from home. We spent 18 days in Brazil!
I had been to Brazil twice in 2019 (March for Carnaval and December for New Years). January of 2020, I actually had a flight booked from Rio to Montevideo to explore Uruguay a bit but at the last minute decided to take a more relaxed holiday and stayed in Rio (pool-side) a few extra days—little did I know then that I was missing my chance to experience my future home...
Austin had never been to Brazil and was eager to explore our neighbor to the north. We started the journey in São Paulo for a few (rainy) days, then rented a car to drive to the colonial, coastal enclave Paraty, and then onward to Ilha Grande before finally reaching Rio de Janeiro where we spent a week enjoying the sites, the beach, and the biggest new years celebration.
The first half of the trip we were accompanied by my friends Rachel and Angela, foodies considering expatriation to Taiwan and then our friend Michael joined us for the final week in Rio as the start of his South American sabbatical from work.
Check out the photos below—about 7% of the total photos I took—for more details on our trip.
Always leave the middle seat open—worst case scenario if there is someone, they'll be happy to swap. MVD from above – our small but chic connection to the outside world La Avenida Paulista as seen from the Instituto Moreira Salles Lunch break at Banco de Sao Paulo Eco by Richard Serra, the first public work by Serra in Latin America Relics Comedy & Tragedy Theatro Municipal de São Paulo Banco de São Paulo Austin, Angela, & Rachel in front of the Banco de São Paulo Pattern A Pattern B Art & Desire Art & History Train barn Former train station turned museum and office space Wet Wetter Dry Facade A little bit of Uruguay in Brazil Does the all seeing eye still cry? Willkommen Bienvenue Welcome Art & Death Architecture & Death Bound for the coast The model The artist Friends since 2017 Friends since 2014 South American pasture Wettest Paraty The streets are built with nature in mind, flooding and draining as needed The flooding keeps them clean, and keeps water way from the structures And makes for picturesque moments Color inspiration Paraty party/excursion boats Dryer Paraty Ilha Grande bound Aqueduct of Ilha Grande Austin for scale I Love Ilha Grande Christmas morning hike across the island Non native bamboo has taken over parts of the forest Christmas day on mostly empty beach Hot hiker Nature's pattern Just us and the birds And a few other humans And non-humans The restaurant in town was empty, but fortunately open Architecture & nature Hike back to town before sunset Ferry back to the mainland Rio bound (thank Austin for driving!) Escola de Música UFRJ Touristy things Clocks & columns Rio de Janeiro - Centro I don't read much, but I love public libraries, especially pretty ones Leo Roof ornament of the Opera House as seen through the columns of the public library Reminder to look up Rio Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro Brutal Brutalist Architecture & decay Portuguese reading room—beauty without climate control Clocks & Glass Clocks & Bells A more solid look at Calatrava Consumerism Brothers & Lovers (plus silly head gear) Perfect sunsets & photo bombs Sugar The other option for mounting Sugar Loaf Good view for Rachel & Angela's final day Michael arrived and first stop was beach Ipanema vibes Ditto Final glimpse Oscar Niemeyer part 1 Oscar Niemeyer part 2 The jumper Contemplating the jump Final sunset of 2024 Sugar Loaf - horizontal Sugar Loaf - vertical A glimpse of Jesus He's quite coy Copacabana apartment buildings were like watching a million simultaneous games of the Sims Millions of people living independent lives, together Why go in the potty when you can pee on the potty? Best fireworks show in the world Best companion to the best fireworks show The after math First sunrise of 2025 (Austin went to bed) 4 hours 48 minutes into the new year First sunset of 2025 Punto G part 1 Punto G part 2 View out the window of our Airbnb Rio architecture part 1 Rio architecture part 2 Rio architecture part 3 Urca Urca & Jesus POV: Jesus Sunset haze Final sunset of the trip
Comments