cariocas love to chat, and are renowned for being great speakers, whether it is about the sunshine, their children, or to give advice - it is difficult to go anywhere in the city without someone sparking up a conversation, blissfully unconstrained by language barriers, never seeming concerned about what to say next, each sentence and idea tumbling after another.

awkwardness is a common feature of the day-to-day lives of people from many cultures around the world - it is however, almost entirely absent from the lexicon and experiences of cariocas, whose characteristics of optimism, openness, and ingenuity have led to an empowering confidence in the world's possibilities and themselves.