Brazzil

You have even taken a "new" name or should I say attitude. It is beautiful and amazing and well I hope you find your way back.

Are we niave? The foreigners that go to Brasil and realize its not about the depravity or the wealth, but this feeling you leave with... Like something so wrong that feels so right. As if there was a secret and we just hadn't learned it yet or...

I cannot explain the reason for my intense "saudade" but it is real. I don't know how (not logistices, but emotional?) to make my way back there... but I leave my heart open to that very answer.

However.. again after departing from my "saudade" I hear thoughts repeated in your story (in what feels like, a hmmm... flip/inconsequential statement) regarding the taking of kidneys. And I know it is not a joke. And I know how niave and ignorant I am. And I wonder if what I felt (warmth, passion, intensity) is real or to what percentage it actually exists.

Is the life in Brasil SO much more horrific than say, New York? or are we fed negativity from the media? Or is it that the life is (as I suspect) so dangerous, each day watching and thinking about ways to safe/alive... as a second nature.

When you actually live there, I mean not a month or two, not with the knowledge in the back of your mind that you can just jump on a flight "home", I mean live there. Are my residual feelings fantasy? Or is it possible to live the way I saw/imagined/experienced, knowing that the atrocities are real, and without ignoring what is around you. Is life so much different than anywhere else in the world? I wish I had this answer because my gut says it is... My instincts tell me that a very huge price is paid each day just to survive.

Do those beautiful people with their beautiful smiles, energy and passions know a way to survive, or are these tools not required?

Most, if not all Brasilians I know that live away from Brasil all want to "go home", but cannot because of crime, fear, no work or opportunity, fears for their everyday existence.

What is the truth (both, I guess) BUT to what extent?

Of course we love you ! Now gimme your money , would you ? Show some love in return !

Of course the author experienced Salvador, and Brasil as a tourist. He had a wonderful time and I am pleased he enjoyed our country. Brasil is a country of remarkable beauty and depressing contrasts. But his "instincts" are correct, there is a huge price paid to survive in Brasil. In fact, Brasilians have a word for survival, Jeitinho. To answer the authors question...yes, you are naive. We like keeping you this way. We want you to come and have a great time and keep returning. But just keep in the back of your mind, that that lobster you paid a "fiver" for, could not be afforded by 3/4 of the countries population. And be really glad that those "muggers" that were so inept, where not carrying a rusted old 38 caliber. If they were, you could have made the third page in Globo. Yes, come back, but keep your common sense during your return visit.

Maybe you cannot know how hard it is for me to concieve of your "jeitinho"... For you it must be hard each day. When ( (obviously a foreigner) visit Brasil, I donot stay in hotels, I stay with friends (Carioca), and yes I know I am still removed from the reality. But I meet so many people, at the grocers, the fish market, the bus stops (well vans) the bookstores and cafes, the men at the launchenettes... and they "seem" so wonderful. I do not mean life is easy or that the reality you speak about does not affect them, I mean (I Think I mean) it has become second nature to them... BUT all these people "seem" so nice and with so many wonderful people, how did it all get so bad... How come it seems irreparable....

I used to think my friends were over protective and a part of me was annoyed. Now I realize they were not over anything. They were just being them, and these (to me) extra precautions were simple and ordinary ways of being. I thought it was to "protect" me. I guess it was ordinary behaviour to survive...

How I wish...

It is also helping me to understand the many immgrants that come here to my country from such beautiful places and it is just so wrong for them to be forced to leave thier homes...

I guess for me ignorance was bliss....

Please come again soon, you have experienced the warmth, and love of the Brasilian people. So many come and experience Brasil only as tourists, you came as a travler and saw Brasil they way it should be seen. We love our country, and are optimistic for our future!

If you could feel my heart, the tears and the confusion... When I read Paulinho's article I knew, he knew. However his time there sounds a bit more (hmm...) hedonistic then mine, I believe he knows and feels as I do.

When I speak with people about your country the general remarks concern sex, partying, the "good times"...

Brasil is not (to me) a theme park, a Carnaval for the good times. It was and is SO much more... The young girl who sat with me and talked to me. The men at the launchenette who remembered me six months later and continued to laugh at the way I said galinha...

My friend's family and the warmth of their home... The mountains and the energy that soars through me... The smells, the truths too. These things belong to Brasil.

Thank you for knowing (somehow) that you (and the people like you in Brasil) and your country fed my soul. I am optimistic too about your country. I am afraid at the universal issues, but I am not afraid, nor do I underestimate, what the energy and the insights of the very population can create.

To the person who says they "love" us and for us to give them our money? Well that attitude is everywhere. There are people all over this planet that feel exactly as you do and well, I guess that is just one other part of our world. No fears, I am sure if money is your first priority someone will "give" it to you... These thoughts and actions are your choices.

My choice is to continue to try and learn and just be grateful to what the people have Brasil have taught me, shown me and given me.

Thank you...

Everytime a euro-hippie comes to brazil and specially to the northeast a phrase or a paragraph has to be used to criticize the locals who have money. Be it to criticize the penthouse dwellers or to go on to futher sociological babble. Perhaps the problem is the more brazilians should desire to live in a penthouse or to at least improve the places where they live. I seriously doubt though that most people in salvador do not work hard. If you don´t work you wont make ends meet and won´t be able to feed yourself and since the overwhelming majority of the people of slavador look well fed.... well let deduction do the rest.
Europeans are a amusing lot. It is interesting how they " love" the brazilian states whose populace have dark skin and are poor in general. One gets the impresion that they like to stand out and preach to the locals on how " evil" the ruling " elite" is. The southern europeans are even funnier ( italians and spanish specially) since they finally reach a place where they have less darker skin and don´t have to feel so bad as they do in europe where the northern europeans don´t even consider them to be white. It is quite a trip for these people to reach whiteness, i comend them on their efforts even though it seems silly to me.
If the northern europeans were to vacation in the southern states they would just look like the general populace and that for them just won´t do.

I´m not sure what a "Euro Hippie" is, and I sure don´t know about dark Europeans touring the North to make them feel "whiter" this sounds pretty racist to me. I do know that we have lots of tourists from Spain and Italy here in Rio, and they all seem to be having a good time like everyone else. The author of the article is an unemployed grad student, whose "tounge in cheek" tale of his expereince in Salvador, was pretty good and non-offensive, I am educated and smart enough to take the artice in context. I don´t see where a true statement like "the rich in Brazil are very rich" or that these people seldom leave their high rise homes, constitutes overt critisizm of the upper class. One of the problems is, that folks from the developed north can not imagine that there are people in the world who value things other "than wanting to live in high rise condos". As for how hard Salvadorians work, well I suppose they work as hard as any other region in Brasil...and as for being well feed, well if you consider that over 20% of the children living in Bahia go to bed hungry well feed, I won´t argue with you.

If 20% of the children in bahia go to bed hungry as the post above states then that would mean that 80% do not. 80% is a majority and thses 80% must buy food hence either their parents work or they do. It is also important that the author of the article was talking about salvador and most of the people who suffer from hunger in bahia live in the countryside where there are droughts. Lets not forget that the number of people who are classified as not consuming the daily recomended amount of calories are overblown according to independent findings ( not those findings and numbers stated by shady ongs and politicians who want to turn hunger into a platform hence the larger the problem the more attention and in their minds more funds they will recieve).
As for italians and spainards in rio i would recomend you keep your children away from them given their propensity for pedophilia.

If it was written that " southern europeans like the northeast so they can feel white since in europe thay are not viewed that way by northern europeans" then how can this be a racist statement? it was not written that the should feel bad for being dark but that they go to the northeast because THEY feel bad about being dark in the european continent. This is not a racist statement.

How can you pretend to know HOW Southern Europeans feel about being dark? Are you Southern European? Typical yankee, thinks he knows how people of races other than his own think. Perhaps the Southern Europeans, like you are proud their heritage. Do you know what it is? At best, this is an uneducated sterotype, at worst it is racist (my pick). Maybe, they visit the beautiful North of Brasil, beacuse they will not run into obnoxious Americans' as little English is spoken there and most American's piss there pants they get so scared when taken from a tourist enviroment whre they can not find a McDonald's. I wish I could dodge all these uncultured fools here in Rio. As for pedophilia, based on Michael Jackson, and the recent news events in the US resulting in the death of children at the hands of pedophiles, I would be careful where I thow rocks.

Paulo,

I'm an American who also knows the wonders of Brasil. I lived and worked in Sao Paulo for six years, 1997 to 2003. Americans are well known for their desires for wealth. The average American is misereable and only knows birth, work, and death. I was no different when I went south to Brasil. I can tell you it completly changed my life for the better. I know hundreds of Americans who have fallen into the "rat race" and will only know work, retirement, and death. Now that I'm back in the United States, I'm actually having trouble re-adapting to what little american culture we have.

While I was there, I met and married a girl from Salvador. If you are still single, I would highly recommend it. Brazilian females are unlike any other in the world, they know their places in the house. I now have a wonderful daughter, Isabella. She is only three months old. My wife is raising her bem brasileira.

I hope you can post this e-mail on the web site so other Americans will hopefully get out of their dull routine and travel to Brazil and experience it's wonders and people. Always Brazilian, Rob

What does "know their places in the house" mean?

How scary many of the above sentiments are. From one judgemental statement to the next. Por Que?

??? wrote
Maybe, they visit the beautiful North of Brasil, beacuse they will not run into obnoxious Americans' as little English is spoken there and most American's piss there pants they get so scared when taken from a tourist enviroment whre they can not find a McDonald's. I wish I could dodge all these uncultured fools here in Rio. As for pedophilia, based on Michael Jackson, and the recent news events in the US resulting in the death of children at the hands of pedophiles, I would be careful where I thow rocks"

This sounds like an uneducated stereotype. I prefer american tourists to european and speacially southern european tourists because american tourists spend more money, behave better and don´t engage is sex crimes and leave offspring behind. By the way the brazilian government a few years back wanted to expatriate acused european child m******rs from europe to brazil so they would have to stand trial in brazil. Obviuosly no eurpean government agreed. Is this what you call " culture" ?

Have you been to Ave Atlantica in Copacabana lately, it is packed 24 hours a day with American middle aged men on the prowl. And American's spend more money? American's are the cheapest people on the face of the earth. Give me cultured Europeans any day over loud, obnoxious American's who get upset because the hotels they stay in don't serve pancakes, and they can't get a hotdog on the beach.

It was ONE European that Brasil wanted to extridite for a sex offense against a child, not "m******rs" plural, and he was a diplomat. I wish we could have brought the SOB back and hung him, but don't make it sound like there are many child m******r fugitives in Europe. And let us not forget, it is the parents of these children, our corrupt politicans, and our police, who not only allow this to happen, but profit from it. Lot's of blame to go around.

I once made a trip to Brazil with an American, it was bizarre. First he complained about the polution, this and that, while he stuffed his face with some of the best food he's ever had. Then he went to a club/whorehouse with some guys I know. They later told me he got drunk and was making out with a prostitute, for the longest time. They felt like telling him: Excuse me fellow, have you considered what was in this girls mouth some 15 minutes before she met you tonight ? When we went to the beach, he distanced himself from our group, just so he could perv around more frequently and unobserved. And when he came back to the US he made sure everyone knew that Brazil, and Brazilian playfulness suck.

Based on the response I received from my e-mail, the American who loves Brasil, it is obvious that Brasil has as many prejudice cistizens as the United States and probably every other country in the world. Fortunately, the six years I lived in Sao Paulo, I didn't meet any. Additionally, I'm one of the few gringos who speak portuguese and I spent a lot of my free time in the Nordeste. I wasn't intimidated at all, in fact, I liked the northeast better than the Sul. I found the gauchos too americanizados.

Someone wanted to know what the American expression "they know there place in the house." To the author of the question - If you only knew how gringas are. Basically American gringas exploit their husbands and treat them horribly due the the fact that the American divorce laws protect them. Eu vou explicar em portuguese. Elas sao muitas tranquillas em casa. Tchauzinho

Take it easy man. I'm gaucho and not "americanizado" at all, tche!

I visited Salvador two years ago and INSTANTLY fell in love with it. Who wouldn't? The physical beauty and warm smiles of the people were something you never experience in America where the average citizen in the US walks around grumpy and hostile, face screwed up as if smelling piss.

The Brazilian love of life was a refreshing change from the constant griping and complaining of most Americans. Brazilians have an optimism that is overwhelming. Also as a black American I felt very comfortable walking down the streets of Salvador (even in the so-called high crime areas ) being able to blend in with the population and not stand out as an offensive presence like we do in mostly white America.

I love Salvador and am planning to visit much more frequently. I hope to soon return and purchase a place there along with some friends.

Very few people can resist the magic and beauty of Salvador.

I read both postings above with interest, there is large difference between blacks in America and Blacks in Brazil. I am a white American who has live in Rio a little over two years, with a year left on my assignment, I will be sorry to leave. While I would agree with the above poster that racisim is still very much alive in America, I would disagree "that the average citizen in the US walks around grumpy and hostile, face screwed up as if smelling piss". This is a bit extreme, but the comments the poster made about Salvador, can be made about Brasil in general, it is a warm, hospitable town, with great beauty and great culture. In Brasil, the line between "black and white" is not so clear. Brasilian's, even white ones have a heritage that includes African blood. The Portuguese ships did not bring women, but slaves, large families were created between the dark European's and their African slaves. Because of this, a "white" Brasilian, is much more comfortable living along side blacks and indio's here in Brasil, this is not the case in America, where whites will steer clear of blacks when ever possible. African traditions and culture are still alive in Brasil, witnessed in food, clothing, religon and traditions. Brasilians of all colors not only accept this but nurture it. You will see this next week in the Carnaval's of Salvador, Rio and Olinda, were African traditions are displayed in samaba, the beautiful Bahania's of all ages, in their traditional dress. Carnaval will be celebrated by both dark and light Brasilian's. I am not so blind as to not see the poverty that people of color live in here in Brasil, but this "bluring" off colors, might indeed make Brasil a very special place one day for people of African heritage. Boa Carnaval!

You're right, Salvador is the best!!! Do not forget to wear the jersey of the Esporte Clube Bahia (soccer club) next time you are in town! It'll open many more doors...
Bahia eeeeoooo!!!!!

There is a beauty and charm to Salvador that is hard to find anywhere else in the world. I bought a t-shirt there that says "Bahia - No Stress". You don't realize the stress you're under until you visit a place like Salvador where the pace of living is slower, softer and more laid back. I did not notice the tension, fear and hostility in Salvador that is so common to American society. People of all races tended to be more comfortable with each other and with strangers than is common in the States.

Salvador is a city rich in culture, tradition, natural physical beauty and spirituality. Salvador is a true treasure and I have never met anybody who visited there that did not want to return or relocate there.

Salvador has added another attraction. A 16 lb baby boy was born there last week - the largest baby born on record in Brazil born to a Mrs. De Santos. The baby was born healthy at a whopping 16 lbs.

That baby can already wear an official E.C. Bahia jersey!!!
Bahiiiiiaaaa!
P.S. Vitoria time de viado...

i am pale, blond, blue eyes, brazilian. I have researched my ancestry and found no africans nor indians. Now i feel bad since i know many brazilians like myself. Seems we are getting in the way of the stereotype that whoever posted " the difference" wants to nurture.
I do love soccer though and am practicing samba dancing in my basement. Does this help?

Any answers? still down here in the basement trying to learn how be a subservent white brazilian that fits into other white ( european or american) views of how brazil should be.

why do brazilian whites bother foreigners? We are at least half of tje population. Do you guys neeed poor darl skinned people to make brazil woth visiting?

Hello again. Nice to see I unwittingly stimulated some debate.
Coupla quick points: I wasn't personally having a go at the Brazilian upper class - it's just that the only people I met in Brazil that didn't think it was the best place on the planet were the rich kids, who couldn't wait to leave. They were lovely people but their attitude to their own city seemed a little odd, and in some ways (the not ever going to pelourinho bit) a bit sad.

As for the Americans/Southern Europeans debate, I can't speak in general, but the Americans I met on the beaches just seemed to want to get laid and didn't seem to mind paying for it or indeed speaking the same language... I didn't meet too many Europeans, but the of the ones I did, some were just lookign to make the most of the Brazilian promiscuity, others were there to drink and kick a football about. Make of that what you will.

The comment about Bahians not working was solely in relation to my observation that the beaches were packed all day every day. Obviously lots of people do work, as they got significantly more packed on the national holidays and the day before each national holiday. As the author of HUH? pointed out, a lot of it was tongue-in-cheek, I'm clearly not in the position to be analysing the socio-economic situation of a country from a month in one region of one state, I'll leave that to the Yanks

Paulinho se contradiz e não vence seus preconceitos na mensagem que aqui deixou.
Ele escreve
Hello again. Nice to see I unwittingly stimulated some debate.
Coupla quick points: I wasn't personally having a go at the Brazilian upper class - it's just that the only people I met in Brazil that didn't think it was the best place on the planet were the rich kids, who couldn't wait to leave. They were lovely people but their attitude to their own city seemed a little odd, and in some ways (the not ever going to pelourinho bit) a bit sad.

Eu ja fui ao pelourinho e vi muitos brasileiros de classe media para cima. Na verdade muitos dos bares e restaurantes do pelourinho são caros impedindo o consumo ali de pessoas que não possuem uma certa renda. Isso quer dizer que a maioria das pessoas endinheiradas de salvador vão ao pelourinho? Não. Apenas quero dizer que o contrario tbm não pode ser afirmado.

Ele então continua escrevendo
"As for the Americans/Southern Europeans debate, I can't speak in general, but the Americans I met on the beaches just seemed to want to get laid and didn't seem to mind paying for it or indeed speaking the same language... I didn't meet too many Europeans, but the of the ones I did, some were just lookign to make the most of the Brazilian promiscuity, others were there to drink and kick a football about. Make of that what you will."

Aqui se enxerga uma tendencia ati-american que se revela em seu ultimo paragrafo que veremos em seguida. Não se pode discernir que os americanos em gerla que vão a salvador buscam prazer sexual. Pode ser + o anti-americanismo do autor deixa duvidas na sua capacidade de entender o que os americanos que ele TENHA CONHECIDO em salvador estavam la procurando pois parece que ele ja tem uma visão negativa dos americanos. Tbm se nota um preconceito vulgar contra os brasileiros pois paulinho diz que os americanos estão a busca da ' promiscuidade BRASILEIRA". Oras aqui ele afirma que os americanos que são os americanos que estão buscando a promiscuidade entretanto usa o adjetivo " brasileiro" para definir promiscuidade. O mesmo preconceito ele revela quando diz que parece que ninguem trabalha em salvador. Resumindo paulinho acha que os americanos estão a busca de sexo e que os brasileiros são os promiscuos eestão la para fazer sexo e não trabalhar.

então ao ultimo paragrafo
"The comment about Bahians not working was solely in relation to my observation that the beaches were packed all day every day. Obviously lots of people do work, as they got significantly more packed on the national holidays and the day before each national holiday. As the author of HUH? pointed out, a lot of it was tongue-in-cheek, I'm clearly not in the position to be analysing the socio-economic situation of a country from a month in one region of one state, I'll leave that to the Yanks "
Pois è. O autor finalmente se toca que suas observações , quando ele presta atenção, estão cheias de vicios. ora bastava notar que as praias nos fins-de-semana estavam significamente + ocupadas . O estranho tbm é que o autor afirma que se formou ( trabalhou durante seus estudos)? e que depois de completar a pos-graduação foi a salvador sobre a desculpe de aprender o idioma. A maioria dos brasileiros não fazem isso pelo simples fato de que precisam TRABALHAR. Justamente o que o autor, não trabalhando, escreveu que soteropolitanos parecem não fazer muito. Aqui de repente a razão de sua observação é que como ele nunca trabalhava naturalmente se juntou com pessoas que não trabalham ou trabalham pouco e acreditou que tais pessoas eram a norma. Era de se esperar que depois de feita sua observação sobre como as prais tendem a encher nos dias de folga e que por tabela as pessoas em sua maioria trabalham que não repitiria um erro tão grave para quem se propoe seguir uma carreira de jornalista entretanto o mesmo repete o erro quando usa o adjetivo " brasileiro" para a palavra promiscuidade e depois diz que deixara analises socio-economicas aos " yank< americanos". Como se fosse dizer que os americanos se interesariam + em analisar a situação brasileira do que um ingles por exemplo. Pq isso? para indiretamente dizer que os americanos gostam de se meter nos assuntos de outros? Ora não foi ele que escreveu um artigo sobre salvador tão cheio de vicios e preconceitos? e ele é ingles não é?

I'll respond in English, if you don't mind. I understood the post perfectly well (I hope), but typing out with accents etc is too time-consuming. Sorry.

I think you misinterpreted a lot of what I said. Promiscuity is globally connected to the Brazilian culture, rightly or wrongly, and a lot of the Americans I met were there because of this supposed connection. Nothing anti-American or anti-Brazilian about it. As for a general air of anti-Americanism - they're just an easy target, and I'm lazy. It's all in jest, nothing I say should ever be taken too seriously - which is why I said I can't offer a proper appreciation of the socio-economic situation of another country. I gave some comments as I saw it, nothing more.

I can't see how I contradicted myself at all, if I did it was merely words being taken out of context. If you take everything I wrote as a light-hearted reflection on the small part of Salvador that I saw, as a good few people above have rightly done, then there shouldn't be a problem.

As for the Pelourinho thing, I obviously wasn't speaking for the whole of the mega-rich in Salvador, but the ones I did meet, who had lived not 10 minutes from Pelourinho all their lives refused to go there. I can offer comment on no more than what I experienced - which is what I did.

Sorry for any offence.

Existe um preconceito que os estudantes universitarios europeus raramente trabalham como fazem os americanos durante seus estudos por exemplo. O preconceito diz que tais estudantes europeus vivem do impostos de outros e de seus pais. Depois se formam e vão fazer uma viagem ao " terceiro mundo" para formular teorias muitas vezes bobas. Teorias que sempre culpam os americanos por tudo e trata os habitantes locais de uma forma pedante e paternalista. Isso é verdade no seu caso Paulinho? Vc pagou por seus estudos por exemplo como fazem os " terriveis" americanos?

O + ridiculo é quanto fazem tais viagens ao " mundo que precisa de nós". Sempre escolhem as situações + precarias dos paises onde escolhem visitar.É como se houvese uma competição entre eles( os euro-bobos) de quem consegiu sofrer + e por tabela estar numa sintonia + fina com os nativos. Vão por exemplo para a india e pegam os piores lugares nos trens, sempre classe economica ao lado do banheiro so para falar com um pessoa pobre achando que tal pessoa precisa de um suporte moral deles e de uma forma pedante dizem a pessoa que ela o ensinou muitas coisas durante a viagem de tren que fizeram juntos. Tão ridiculo e hipocrita essa celebração da pobreza. Nunca occore ao euro-bobo que o cara ali quer apenas viajar em paz sem um chato a vir " marcar pontos" ( acho que viajar num trem imundo na india vale 30 pontos entre os bobos, ter disenteria instestinal a causa de comida mal-cozida é o auge, 50 pontos). Tudo patetico.

Existe um preconceito que os estudantes universitarios europeus raramente trabalham como fazem os americanos durante seus estudos por exemplo.
I met a good few people at Cambridge who had previously been to Harvard and couldn’t believe how much people slacked over here. I guess the lack of beer leaves American students with little else to do. I dunno, but we can take it as axiomatic that Americans work harder. This isn’t a bad thing, or a good thing, it's a culture thing, and beyond taking the piss out of em for it, I don't care one iota.
Depois se formam e vão fazer uma viagem ao " terceiro mundo" para formular teorias muitas vezes bobas.
We still seem to be disputing the fact that I went over to Brazil to judge. This is completely misunderstood. I went to have fun, and I did, absolutely s**tloads of it - generally all done to the wonderful friends I met and still keep in contact with. In writing about it I made some glib generalisations (with caveats mind) of what I saw, which you are reading far too much in to. The piece was LIGHT-HEARTED: read it as such.
Teorias que sempre culpam os americanos por tudo e trata os habitantes locais de uma forma pedante e paternalista.
What did I blame the Yanks for? The state of the roads? Don’t think I did. And I’m sorry it came across as pretentious. I’m English. We do that. No, seriously, do people have a pop at Bill Bryson when he makes sweeping statements about the countries he visits? Course not, they know it’s just an opinion and he’s writing to stimulate some interest. I still can’t see who I’m supposed to have offended?
Isso é verdade no seu caso Paulinho?
No.
Vc pagou por seus estudos por exemplo como fazem os " terriveis" americanos?
Where did I call Americans terrible? And the government paid for my education on account of me being poor. Well, them and me running up a huge great debt.
But while we’re on Americans, when will they learn that the noun offence is spelt with a c? They’re teaching the world our language, wrongly.
It seems, sadly, that the one with judgemental preconceptions about other countries is not your author.
I’m not celebrating poverty or claiming that the average Brazilian cherishes it. But the Brazilians I met and talked to seemed genuinely happy – it was so refreshing seeing as most people I’ve met elsewhere are not. If we know anything in this world it’s that money does not buy happiness. This is seemingly a fairly pointless debate: I’m sorry you seem to be so troubled by what you think I wrote, but the tone of the piece clearly lost an awful lot somewhere along the way. Maybe I’m missing the tone of your reply (I can’t pick tone up in Portuguese) and you’re not that angry. I hope so.

Hey, I'm a Brazilian student living in NY, have been for the past 5 years. It's incredible to see how many times I've encountered people who know nothing about Brazil, and yet worship us because of our soccer anf fun times. Others who are jealous or really know their grounds and disagree with our lifestyles. The truth of the matter is, we are rich in culture, but then again so are other countries. How can people assume they know one's culture and judge it better than others if they have never experienced anything better?!
And to all thee people on this site complaining about the Europeans and Americans who visit Brazil, you should be ashamed because they a re contributing to our economy, and plus, you're all making points about how they talk s**t about us Brazilians, and look at what you're doing, talking s**t about them! How does that make you better than them?
This is just a thought, people should be more open minded.... not everyone in Brasil has the same opportunities or are raised different. These differences start even depending on what state they were born... WE discriminate amongst ourselves, so please... Stop this nonsense and look at your own selves before analyzing gringos and other people.
Juliana (Brasilia, NY)

Odiar outras e destruir vida é fácilíssimo.
Criar vida e promover tolerância é difícil.
Havendo paciência com outras pessoas é Amor.
Havendo paciência com nós mesmos é Esperança.
Havendo paciência com O Deus é Fé.
O finalidade da vida é buscar nossa Grande Amor, e pôr verdade, coragem, e alegria nas vidas das nossas crianças.

Wow -- this has gotten nasty.I can only offer my own perspective and experiences.

I am an American who has visited Salvador about 5 times--3 in the past two years. I love the city for its rich culture, the beauty of its landscape, and the kindness of the people. I am very aware of the huge economic gap between the wealthy and the poor--although I might point out that it is pretty darn big and getting bigger in my own country too.Yet I do not assume all kindeness is to get hold of my money, just as I'm not stupid enough to assume that everybody is sweet as caldo de cana, either. I just depend on my well-honed instincts to judge who is who.

My Portuguese isn't perfect, but it is functional; I am not ignorant of the language or the culture of the country.Nor do I do "piss in my pants" at the idea of going to Pelourinho: in fact, as a woman, I went there several nights, even alone, to hear music at various venues. It's all a matter of using your smarts about what you take with you and what you wear And that, incidentally, is true for EVERYPLACE, including my own New York City..

Regarding the article: I understand that the writer was trying for a lighthearted tone and meant no deliberate harm. But it's impossible to make comments about "no one working" and everybody just hanging out on the beach without activating a whole host of long-held stereotypes. One must take historical context into account: charges of "laziness" have been leveled at the poor-- especially poor blacks and mulattoes--for centuries.So anything that seems to feed into that just cannot be an innocent statement, no matter how well-intended--and even if not meant to be taken seriously.

Any, that is my own humble opinion.

Salve, Bahia! Axe.

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I am an African American that has visited Brazil several times. After my first visist to Brazil, I loved it so much I vowed I would always be connected to it till I die. I saw a lot of poverty in Brazil which I blame on inequitable laws, and I believe things will get better only when the rich(who are so often white) recognize that the country belongs to Brazillians of all colors, and not just whites. It is only a question of time before the poor and the underclass rise to seek equality. The issue is whether the rise will be via non violence or the way of Malcom X.

I am looking for a place to begin chapter two of my life after a 30 year career in the US.I am 60, want my own business and am looking for new turf. I am curious about gun laws, fishing, hunting, and owning land in Brazil. I most probably stay there if I find the right site. I am done with I-95, and the fun and games of LA