Carlos Mendes
Travel Blogger & Content Creator · Sao Paulo, Brazil
Travel blogger from Sao Paulo. I travel on a tight budget and document the real cost of every trip — including the IOF tax and bank fees that Brazil doesn't warn you about.
2 articles by Carlos
Stories11 min readMar 10, 2026
The ATM that ate my card in Bogota (and what I do differently now)
It was 11:47 PM on a Sunday in Zona Rosa, and I was watching my debit card disappear into a Bancolombia ATM that had apparently decided to keep it forever.
Stories8 min readMar 1, 2026
I Paid R\$195 for a \$25 Hostel in Buenos Aires — Here's How IOF and Bank Fees Destroyed Me
How IOF tax and bank FX spreads turned a budget trip to Argentina into a financial lesson. A real breakdown of hidden costs when traveling internationally from Brazil.