Brazil

Quote from Gringinho:

What he means is "infraestrutura de primeiro mundo" - which translated means roughly "infrastructure of a industrialized country" - not "third world" standard, although Brazil is considered a third world country - mostly because of lacking consumer empowerment. Exports are what drive the economy - along with extremely conservative capitalism to maintain the status quo and suppression. The safest way to get rich is to become a politician or bureaucrat so you can steal money from public funds - extreme corruption is the other suppressive factor here. You still have slave workers here (mostly around the amazon area) and roughly 5 mn kids under the age of 12 working.

Actually, all of Brazil is considered a tropical region, but with variations in temperature, plants and landscape. The northeast is very dry and has large sand dunes - and is the poorest region in Brazil, while Curitiba is considered the most modern city in Brazil with the best infrastructure.

I saw a survey showing Rio as the city with the worst crime followed by Sao Paulo and Recife. Although driving in Sao Paulo is quite daunting at times, I thought the craziest traffic was in Recife where my cab actually crashed a few hundred meters from the hotel. The cab driver changed lanes around 50 times, but used his signal only 2 times - then he smashed into the car in front of us at a stop signal. Fortaleza is the biggest "vacation/tourist city" in the northeast - while Natal is growing rapidly - although being a very poor city.

Remember Brazil is a developing country and things seems to not be moving along any time soon.

Rio is amongst the top 3 most dangerous cities in the world - murders wise etc., but very "alive".

A lot of services and luxury items etc. stop being transported north of Salvador, Bahia. Food is great in the big cities - Recife, Fortaleza included - not in Natal though.

80% of Brazil's coastline consists of sandy beaches - so there are lots of opportunities if you are looking for great beach life. If you want great living amenities as well - then you look southwards - if cheap living accommodations is what you want - then look northwards. A lot of things are much more expensive and of very poor quality - more so than people from industrialized countries are used to. Examples are fridges, micro-wave ovens, TVs, computer equipment etc. I always say computer equipment here is roughly 3 years behind and double the prices compared to the latest and greatest equipment abroad.

If you go through customs you only pay 50% taxes on anything you declare - and another 50% if you get caught not declaring what you should. Importing stuff from abroad is nice too - you only pay 60% on top of freight and value etc.

Living in the south you can get a lot of contraband items "cheaply" - digital cameras, computers etc. Otherwise, it's all going through the governments programs and ridiculous taxing system to insure everything possible is made in the country.

It's also illegal for banks to liquidate a family's home - so there are no credit lines on homes. The car loan rates are a low 3.3% - per month that is. Buying an imported car - second hand - in nice condition is the best buy if you want a quality ride - but crime and road conditions dictate some modesty in selecting your car.

Women have the typical latin temperament, but you will find more "moderate" women in the south than in the poorer areas. Also, there are roughly 17 distinctions of skin color here - compared to the 7 (?) distinctions in the US. Not every woman here is Gisele Bundchen to put it mildly - and the tropical climate makes for some very common hygiene complications where STDs are a lot more common than in colder countries.

How good is the high speed internet (ie for trading)?
 
Quote from FredBloggs:

...
we went to recife once - great place! especially o-linda. v beautiful place & people

one thing though - english is hardly spoken anywhere in brazil in my experience - and although brazilians are mostly really nice folk, the country as a whole aint too keen on americans - especially the brazilian banking system.
...
meat lovers paradise!

Olinda - the old town in Recife - is very beautiful indeed. They also have a nice and big waterpark outside the city and a theme park open at night.

One of the extremely annoying things here is that 1/3 of the population thinks that the US is trying to steal the Amazon area from Brazil. The problem is that quality control is not what is most prelifient in the schooling system - so even teachers and school books can have horrendous statements.

The common thought around here is that foreigners are full of money - and robbing them is ok - because they have been robbing the country for 500 years. So I would compare the attitudes a little to Jamaica for white people.

Rodizio de churrasco - the grilled meat buffet is the best value for money in most parts of Brazil - when you consider quality of food etc. The south of the country is most famous for their barbecue - the "gauchos".

Interestingly there are more "nordestinos" (from northeastern Brazil) in Sau Paulo - and there are frequently propaganda-type "lotteries" on TV where some poor family is booted back northeast with shopping bags full of clothes etc. Skinheads in Sao Paulo have included them on their hate-list and there are some truths to how poor people in the millions encumber every infrastructure in the south and contribute to slums/favelas and thereby crimes and other otricities towards them as payback.

Lack of land-reform, extreme corruption and lawlessness in parts of the country combined with poor educational system and conservative capitalism are frustrating to witness on news reports here. Normal people try to forget the misery they live in by having some parties and barbecues as often as they can.

The UN reported about 1 month ago that 40% of south-americans live in slums - so a good bet is that Brazil lifted that average a great deal. 1/3rd of Brazilians live of about USD 1 per day.

Most people with money value their security - so armed guards in front of houses and 10+ kV electric fences on top of 3m high concrete walls are the norm - as well as bullet-proof cars - if you have a nice car or get around a lot.

It's nice here - but there are some definitive drawbacks. The Brazilian Real is also among the world's most unstable currencies - although it made a run-up early in the year when everyone started talking about how stable the Real would be this year - because of improving economic conditions. Those come from exports though - and don't improve conditions for consumers or people here.
 
Quote from Gringinho:

1/3rd of Brazilians live of about USD 1 per day.


That's $30/month.

Then why cheapest monthly Apartments ($30-50/day)
and Hookers ($100-$50/day) are so fucking expensive?
 
Quote from chapabranca:

Gringinho. Do you live here in Brazil? Wich city do you live? Are you american?

Claro, vivei aqui ha 3 anos. :)

I travel around a little, have been in Curitiba, Sao Paulo some in the northeast. I have a house and an apartment in different cities, but I go back to europe where I come from - from time to time. You have to excuse that I don't give out my name or phone number here ...

You have to excuse my gripes about Brazil, but there are the obvious flaws with Brazil when compared to living in many other countries. If you live and work outside of Brazil, you would know this. Of course everyone "loves their country", so these kinds of things you only hear about when it makes the news, or someone complains about their situation. For me it's something that I take care to stay informed about.

One example was this 20-year old kid from europe whom I met at a bar. He had just been assaulted 2 days earlier by 2 guys from Policia Militar. Another tourist (a policeman from europe) witnessed the whole thing took a photo of the car and the guys where the PMs had parked behind the kid's hotel. They took about R$ 250 - but had put a gun in the back of the kid - after he had gotten his passport from the hotel room - which was their excuse for pulling him over when he was on his way back from a nightclub to his hotel.

These things make the country not so great. Just like the turmoil and lawlessness in Para.

Otherwise, the beer is cold, the girls are hot, the beaches are scorching and the guns are mostly loaded. :D
 
Quote from Nana Trader:

That's $30/month.

Then why cheapest monthly Apartments ($30-50/day)
and Hookers ($100-$50/day) are so fucking expensive?

I've heard they are around R$ 30 in the cheaper places - and most of them too young or toothless. It all depends on where you go I guess.

Otherwise, I would say that you are "out of luck" if you have to pay the girls here ...

In the northeast you can get apartments at around R$ 60 per day - around US$ 23. That includes a maid cleaning the place.
 
Quote from Gringinho:

I've heard they are around R$ 30 in the cheaper places - and most of them too young or toothless. It all depends on where you go I guess.

Are you saying you can't find much middle aged girls?

Otherwise, I would say that you are "out of luck" if you have to pay the girls here ...

"Out of luck" not easy too find or is it because they get paid
too much by Gringinhos?

In the northeast you can get apartments at around R$ 60 per day - around US$ 23. That includes a maid cleaning the place.

Are these prices for Rio and San paulo or less tourism attracted
places? Which cities has more number of tourists?
 
Quote from Ebo:

You pay the "NON pros" more!

Hehe, but that goes for any country.
It's called a "girlfriend" - or even worse "a date" in some countries - where you don't even get a pleasure guarantee. :D
 
Quote from Gringinho:

Claro, vivei aqui ha 3 anos. :)

I travel around a little, have been in Curitiba, Sao Paulo some in the northeast. I have a house and an apartment in different cities, but I go back to europe where I come from - from time to time.

You have to excuse my gripes about Brazil, but there are the obvious flaws with Brazil when compared to living in many other countries. If you live and work outside of Brazil, you would know this. Of course everyone "loves their country", so these kinds of things you only hear about when it makes the news, or someone complains about their situation. For me it's something that I take care to stay informed about.

One example was this 20-year old kid from europe whom I met at a bar. He had just been assaulted 2 days earlier by 2 guys from Policia Militar. Another tourist (a policeman from europe) witnessed the whole thing took a photo of the car and the guys where the PMs had parked behind the kid's hotel. They took about R$ 250 - but had put a gun in the back of the kid - after he had gotten his passport from the hotel room - which was their excuse for pulling him over when he was on his way back from a nightclub to his hotel.

These things make the country not so great. Just like the turmoil and lawlessness in Para.

Otherwise, the beer is cold, the girls are hot, the beaches are scorching and the guns are mostly loaded. :D

So you are a citizen of the world :D

Im very luck in never been assaulted here. My car do not have ballistic protection also. Thanks for god!
 
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