Originally Posted by
newyorkgeorge
Rio in particular is as expensive as New York although at least the foreign currency exchange rate to the US dollar has gotten better. Moreover, the OP wants to go about prime time.
Too true, the OP's budget would have been tough even when Brasil was cheap 10 years ago. To give him an idea on "prime time" costs I normally rent my firend's apt. round the corner from the Marriott for US$50 a night although he normally charges US$100 a night. For NYE and Carnaval it's US$2,500 for 10 nights and even for me it's still US$2,000 for next NYE.