If you’ve read the last few posts you’ve probably figured out that I wasn’t crazy about Brazil. I’ll say it now: Brazil was for me the most disappointing place I’ve been on vacation. My opinion is based on 2 1/2 weeks of travel within a small portion of Brazil, so take my opinion for what it’s worth…but as equally as I can say that I loved Colombia during my 2 visits, I can also say that I really didn’t enjoy Brazil.
The biggest reason were the people. Maybe I thought the people would be “Latin”, like in Colombia, Cuba, or the Dominican Republic; happy, outgoing, and friendly people. They weren’t. I actually felt they were hostile, something I never expected when planning to go there. I’ve never felt people as unfriendly towards me as I did in Brazil.
I’ve thought about it a lot, wondering what it could have been. Is it because I’m Caucasian, and that they confuse me as being an American? (I’m Canadian). Is it because Lissette and I are a mixed raced couple? (I don’t think so because Brazilians are pretty mixed anyway). My best theory is that it’s political, specifically anti-American sentiment due in part to the whole Visa situation. I know Brazilians are upset about the Visa fees imposed on any Brazilian citizen wanting to visit the USA.We can all look at other countries and disagree with their policies or politics. That’s fine. But when I, as an individual, have some Brazilian woman intentionally hitting me with her luggage cart (twice) at the airport, I start taking it personally. I would ask someone a question and they would respond but would do it addressing Lissette (maybe because she’s brown?). I can count on one hand the number of people who would respond with a smile or who weren’t brusque in their manner. Brazil was the one place where I felt that I could be mugged in broad daylight and where locals and authorities wouldn’t even budge to help you.
We’ve argued about this; Lissette thinks it’s great that Latin people are, in her words, “Proud, they won’t bow to the white man. Most Latinos don’t stick together and Brazilians do”. I respond that I have no problem if they’re proud and I don’t ask anyone to bow down to me. But if I’m being friendly and people are rude towards me then I have no reason to like them. I’m not American, this “anti-Americanism” is a broader brush against any white traveler.
I left Brazil with memories of the unfriendly people I met along the way: the above mentioned woman intentionally hitting me within 5 minutes of arriving in Rio, the bartender staring at Lissette’s cleavage at the $260/night Sol Ipanema (right in front of my face), the useless dumb-asses laughing at us when we asked for information. We don’t have any great memories of the people we met along the way in Brazil.
But I’m not sure it was only this either. We took a boat cruise where almost all the tourists were Brazilian (most tourists we saw were either Brazilians touring their own country or Argentinians). They weren’t all that friendly towards each other either.
A few other points about Brazil;
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- “Hot Brazilian women”. I’ve seen tons of photos of beautiful Brazilian women but they must have all gone indoors when we were there. Colombian women are still the hottest Latin ladies in my books. They even smile at you in Colombia.
- Surprisingly, it’s the Brazilian men who are very good looking. Lissette suggests that Brazil would be a great place for a single woman. Or gay man. Maybe I’ll come back to Brazil if I’m gay in my next life. Yeah: dead, reincarnated, and gay – the only way I’ll come back to Brazil.
- “Caipirinha” is an amazing drink and I loved it. Wow!
- Despite my comments, there was incredible geographical beauty in all the places we went. Brazil is a beautiful country. I loved the combination of mountains/ocean in Rio province and was impressed by Iguazu. My dislike for Brazil has nothing to do with the geography. It is a beautiful country.
Again, this is just my opinion based on 2 1/2 weeks travelling within a small part of Brazil. I’m sorry to be negative and I don’t mean to offend any Brazilians reading this. Maybe our experience would be different if we returned tomorrow. But this was our experience and I think its important to tell it as it is.
Have you been to Brazil? What was your experience?
Related: Why we didn’t like Rio de Janeiro
Related: Why we love Colombia
Related: The Most Beautiful City in the World? Our candidates…and winner
Just spent a month in Brazil, two weeks in SP and two weeks in Rio. I was going to stay for Carnaval originally but ended up leaving right when the festivities were about to start. Why? Well, first off SP was cleaner in some areas (Liberdade) than the rest of the city, but the prices were ridiculous for the quality of food/housing/transportation compared to neighboring Latin American countries. Rio itself was filthy and felt like one giant Skid Row. The prices weren’t much better for the quality, which was surprising. Some of the locals were also rude (not the decent looking women, who were nice but it seems like the ideal “Victoria’s Secret Model” image is about two decades old), but talking one-on-one to normal people on average, they were somewhat more amiable. The beaches after dark were also advised to be avoided by the locals, even during the day it you are supposed to “be aware of your surroundings”, how are you supposed to relax at the beach then, on a holiday? One point of advice I can give is not to roll down your window on the way to the airport, it smells like an open air sewer.
The only strengths of the country would be Football/Soccer and MMA being popular – this is where they shine. The AirBnB experiences were hit or miss with the quality of Hosts, some who were dishonest and frankly somewhat stupid in regards to potential future clientele. I feel like the reputation/image of Brazil is one from a time long past, like the age before smartphones or mass adoption of the internet. Also coxinhas, the local fried potato treat, are horrible.
WHY BRAZILIANS HAVE BAD MANNERS?
I’m a foreigner living in Salvador, Brazil and I’m very observant when it comes to people. Brazilians I see out and about talk very loud especially when they’re on their mobile phones. I see them do that on subways, buses, restaurants, hostels, Inn, hotels, parks etc. Coming from the US we respect people’s personal space, here in Brazil is the opposite. There’s been times I’m sitting down at a bus stop or buying street food, Brazilians have a habit of getting extremely close to me and I find that very uncomfortable. Even strangers touching me is problematic. I can’t count the of number of times I’ve been touched by a stranger (usually a homeless person wanting money or food) while I’m eating a meal outside or if I’m walking down the street minding my own business. I feel like Brazilians especially those from the northeast have tunnel vision. How is it when I’m walking down the street they don’t move out the way? I constantly getting bumped and they don’t say sorry. Just rudeness I experience everyday by Brazilians. Funny thing is I didn’t encounter this type of behavior in the south of Brazil. Anyone experienced what I did?
I’m sorry, but not all Brazilians behave like this.
I don’t think they’re horrible, but I also prefer healthier foods, I only eat things like that once in a while.
BBQBoy and Spanky,
First off, I wanted to thank you for this Travel Blog! It has been a blessing that keeps on giving. I came here to read about your goal of setting up a permanent “Base Camp” in Spain so that you could continue your travels and enjoy life to the fullest. My wife and I were looking to do something similar now that I’m retired.
I’m sorry to hear about your journey being restricted by COVID and the realization that Nerja was not the place you wanted to remain in. However, I’m glad that Antequera has turned out to be the hidden gem! But enough with my sad attempt at a Social Media introduction and on to the reason I am writing on this post specifically.
Your experiences, dating back to 2006, not the dystopian COVID years for those who lack reading comprehension skills, are absolutely fascinating. Thank you all for giving a wide variety of personal experiences and lived experiences (for the actual Brazilians and anyone living in Brazil for an extended period of time).
On the other hand, I was surprised to see the “Brazilian Defense Squad” or (BDS) so active on a Travel Blog of all things. I have experienced them on multiple Social Media platforms reacting in the same manner to anything negative about Brazil. The only other groups I have seen react in a similar manner online would be the “Chinese Defense Squad,” the “Russian Defense Squad,” and the “Murika Defense Squad” (Ultra Nationalistic Americans not to be confused with the village in Estonia).
To shut the commentor down, BDS’ers inevitably call the commentor a “Racist” if they are non-Brazilian (which is odd as Brazilian is a Nationality/not a race). If the commentor identifies as a Brazilian, they are either insulted and chastised because they are an Expat and told never to return or they are called the equivalent of a “Race Traitor” if they are a Brazilian living in Brazil. If all of that fails to work, they will then go into a series of Portuguese only comments, which when translated, are usually too offensive to respond to, and generally end in the stereotypical “huehuehue.”
For a group that is promoting Brazil, in their own way, BDS’ers continue to miss the irony of their actions and reactions. If they have so much “Brazilian Pride,” why be so defensive? It comes across as both childish and insecure. In many ways, they have more in common with the Ultra Nationalistic “Murikans” than their fellow Brazilians. Especially the expectation that visitors to your country should master the language before visiting.
Protip, if you want to boost tourism/vacationing/traveling to your country (i.e. easy way to improve your economy) from other countries, don’t put unrealiastic expectations/obstacles on those willingly spending money to visit your country and within your country. If anything, make sure your travel/hospitality industry has plenty of bi-lingual trained employees. If they wont do it voluntarily, your local and national government should provide incentives ($$$) to encourage it.
Bottom line, I wanted to thank BBQBoy and Spanky for your service to the Travelers in all of us! Please keep up the good work and ignore the “haters” (I think the kids still use that term).
I can only confirm that I have never been to any country in the world (and I have been to 60) where the people were so unfriendly as in Rio de Janeiro. In fact I got offended several times. I cannot repeat here what I got told several times. And I am a very warm and polite guy. The final event was today when a girl some 27 years old told me “You are not welcome in this country”.
You can hear / be the target of rude / veryrude comments / actions in any country / city.
I’ve had several, the worst was directed at my 10 master degree business students by the female passport officer on arrival at Houston airport. My students all between 27 and 32 years old, all spoke excellent English, all had a masters degree in business admin. (2 from England, 1 from Germany, 3 from Australia / NZ, 1 from Singapore, 2 from their home country of Singapore.
I am entitled to get a Visa on arrival in he US. All my students had student visas to enter the US from the US embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. I went first, the overpolite US p’port lady stamped he in, the next in line one of my Thai masters students with visa and she had been to the US previously to complete her post graduate studies – p’port lady instantly became the dagon from hell; very rude and demanding, and said to the lady, (30 yrs old, weel dressed) “Why did you really come here we all know what Thai girls do don’t we.”
I intervened and asked for a supervisor to come. He came and listend an with a lot of laughing said “never mind, she’s *p’port officer) just having a rough day”
Supervisor walked away, dragon now ‘back on duty. Next a male student, (29 yo, well dressed, very masculine, very good looking young man, football champion). Dragon p’port oficer said loudly “Are you gay?”
I called the local university and said we were withdrawing from the planned business srrategy competition. Uni quickly sent 2 admin officers to the airport to help us get to a point in the airport where we could change our return tickets to the next return flight (same day).
I never returned to the US.
Well… You went to the worst possible place in Brazil. I would never go to Rio myself, it’s rotten to the core. Should’ve gone to the mainland, simpler, friendlier folk
I am brazilian, carioca, born in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, and I love my city. My husband is canadian and we live in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, he absolutely loves here and he is learning to speak portuguese. I am sorry you didn’t have a nice experience in Rio and was unlucky to meet rude people. Brazilians are not anti north americans at all and yes we are proud of our country. I live in California for many years and was not every person who was nice to me there special the ones who are not exposed to foreigners calling me mexican and asking if we had clean water to drink in my country!!
First I love Mexico and I will be proud to be mexican but I am brazilian. Anyways has rude and ignorant people all over the world. Next time visit the northeast of Brazil or Minas Gerais.
Brazilians are most of time nice people I don’t think people smiled and was very helpful when I visited Manhattan in New York!!! Big cities people are more and more stressed.
New Yorkers have their own way of being and are friendly, but </b if you’re at a pizza restaurant (or any place that serves fast food which isn’t a sit down restaurant) and you take a lot of time looking at the menu board while the staff is waiting for you to order your food and there’s a line of people waiting behind you, or you stop in the middle of a crowded intersection to take a picture of a skyscraper, or anything else similar, they will get angry and let you know how inappropriate that is to do in their manner; they are not automatically rude or brusque. People in Berlin (or any other German city) who catch you crossing the street the wrong way will pull you aside and sternly lecture you not to do that. It’s just how people are sometimes.
I’m not interested in going to Brazil or Mexico.
They might have some nice scenary there but thats about it.
I would go to Thailand, but the humidity their is unbearable.
It’s 32 to 38 degrees with 85 to 95 percent humidity most of the year round during the day.
And it only drops to around 28 degees at night.
I know that a lot of countries are not welcoming to caucasions.
The Brazilians are a mixture of Portugese, African, native south American Indian, Italian German etc.
I don’t have any problems with other races, only when they come to the country where i live in Australia and they call white people a coloniser and a racist.
I didn’t colonise anyone, that happened way before i was born.
And their are other races that ancestors comitted colonalism, genocide and slavery as well.
But their not blamed for it or are made to feel guilty at what their ancestors done.
Most people don’t even know where the word racism came from, or who weaponised that word.
It was first used in a speech in 1930 by a communist butcher who killed over 20 million people.
It was created to be used as a weapon against political dissidents.
But other races know if they use that word they can get whatever they want.
I don’t need to go to another country like Brazil to see different cultures when Australia is aready a multi cultural country that changes it’s laws to suit other cultures.
I’ve been to Rio. Right now I’m spending some time in Salvador de Bahia.
Everything you said was pretty much correct. Brazil is basically a shit hole with incredible geophysical elements.
The women are comfortably the least attractive I’ve seen anywhere. You can say thats because Im racist but I’ve only been with black or mixed race girls for the last ten years. There are way hotter black and mixed race girls running around the UK than Brazil. The people aren’t particularly friendly. I’d put them a bit above the Balkans in that sense.
I’m still enjoying my experience but I agree, compared to the expectations and image that is sold of Brazil, anyone would feel a let down in my opinion.
Gosh, I dare say the worst place is Balneario Camboriu, SC state. I had the misfortune of growing up there in the 80s and 90s before leaving Brazil – German by birth- and its only gotten worse under some sort of hyper capitalism. Over the years, every time I have to come to Brazil to visit my mother, I encounter rude and violent people: if you understand Portuguese, I find it quite shocking how verbally vulgar and violent people are, no manners, and if you say something back, you will be lucky not to get slapped.
I honestly don’t understand what’s happen to the younger generation in this country who care only about looks and money, and I totally get some of the comments here, about the awful experiences in marrying and dating both male and female Brazilians. So many Brazilian women are in the business of wanting to marry rich men so they do nothing; they don’t learn a trade and are uninterested in working hard, let alone educate themselves. Men can be so misogynistic, no wonder Brazil has such a high level of femicide. Its sad. Sure, there are nice and good Brazilians out there, but it has become a rare thing to come across them. When I come here, I mostly stay indoors to avoid people, and I cannot say I enjoy being in Brazil when I come anymore. None of my foreign colleagues and friends has an interest to visit either, and it is mostly because of hearing similar accounts from what has been expressed here. I dont blame them.
I’m very sad about what you’ve been through, but not all Brazilians are like that, here in Brazil there are many nice Brazilians and it’s not uncommon to meet them and if your friends want to visit Brazil, know that they will meet nice people here.
i dated a Brazilian woman for 3 years and she destroyed my mental health. treated me like complete garbage and destroyed my professional life because of jealousy. i never cheated and was going to sell my house and start a life with her. I’m now doing psychotherapy. she was a contestant on the voice. I’ve never been destroyed more in my life than what this woman did to me. i paid for everything. nothing was ever good enough. treated me so horribly. she is worse than modern American women. I love Brazil and the people there, but i found a monster. i was in belo horizonte
I am Brazilian and I am glad that you liked Brazil and that you met wonderful Brazilian people here in Brazil. And about this horrible woman, I am glad that you were able to separate yourself from her. And all foreigners will always be welcome in Brazil.
I met and married a Brazilian woman like that but didn’t let her destroy me financially. I had a sing before out marriage to call it off but didn’t. noticed she treated all Brazilians she met along the way better. Nothing was good enough for her.
Rio has always been with worst ever experiences for me. I despise that place, crooked cops on 2 occasions, stench smells., got a skin disease from unclean shower, bad doctors, lazy bum in-laws, apt, manager threatening me with his buddies, red tape… After divorce she turned our kid against me too. It’s been the worst choice of my life and I’m still suffering.
I am very sad for the suffering that you went through with some people in Rio de Janeiro did to you and I am also very sad for the suffering that you went through with this woman.
I had this experience, but with a Brazilian male . Terrible . Extremely jealousy and possessive. No one ever treated me so terribly. Always took pleasure in putting me down and seeing me upset . Extremely cheap and narcissistic. Worst relationship/ worst treatment I’ve ever been around in my entire life .
Vem pro nordeste. E sinto muito pelo jeito que algumas pessoas do Rio de janeiro te tratou. Mais não generalize por favor, nem todo o povo do Rio de janeiro é assim.
Agreed. I met better people in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais.
I am glad that you met good people in São Paulo and Minas Gerais. But in the other states of Brazil there are also good people.
Oi Sabrina,
I am pretty sure we can find good people everywhere. I often say “we meet the people we are”…
Everything happens for something in this world, we always learn
We were in Brazil briefly before getting on a repositioning g cruise to Europe. The rudeness of the Brazilian women passengers was shocking. They also had no sense of personal space, like pushing my coffee mug across the table so they could crowd me out. I think the most telling trait was the obsession of having their photo taken in every situation, in every pose imaginable. Ad nauseam. No more cruises for us to or from Brazil.
come to bahia next time🙏🙏
hahaha. Man, it’s because you went to Rio. They’re extremely rude people and not representative of Brazil as a whole. Brazilians are incredible people all over the entire country but you just happened to go to the only part of Brazil where people are just not nice at all.
ele foi paro o Rio e os cariocas sao muito rude mas a resto do Brasil e otimo. A gente do nordeste e Sao Paulo uauu. Eu Amo os Brasileiros mas os Cariocas nao soa os melhores brazileiros
But which people ? When you generalize like this, you are just accusing every citizens of Rio of being bad people !
I’m brazilian and found your post on google by chance while searching for other perspectives on this theme.
I lived in Rio de Janeiro for a few years and it was a frustrating experience too. That’s a city where people behave basically by instincts and react very emotionally about everything they disagree. Rio de Janeiro is a jungle.
Many of us who realize we need to leave this country for better opportunities and to grow as a person feel very uncomfortable about the brazilian stereotype other brazilians show to the world. We turn tv on and every day there are local news on brazilians killing each other for nothing, being aggressive, not polite and so on.
Besides that, don’t worry about other brazilian replies who criticize you because more than half of brazilian population has functional illiteracy. Recent national surveys showed that almost 70% percent of the younger generation can’t distinguish between fact and opinion. That’s really sad and alarming. Unfortunately there isn’t any future for Brazil.
I am British and have been going to Rio at least twice a year for about 25 years because I absolutely adore the city: its beauty, its passion and its people. The overwhelmingly negative comments about Rio and Cariocas here truly amaze me. I can understand the negativity around bureaucracy and how hard the life is here for some (I wouldn’t choose to emigrate here) but, in general, I have found Cariocas to be helpful, joyous and polite. I get local buses everywhere and don’t always stay in the tourist areas so I feel I get a broad impression of life here. I speak Italian, and have a few words and phrases in Portugese – which is enough to get by.
Some examples of kindness/friendliness:
1. Offering seats to the elderly and otherwise in need of a seat on public transport is far more practised here than in London and other cities I have been to in Europe.
2. The community spirit on the beach, such as the mass clapping when a child is lost and needs reuniting with its family and people offering to help when someone has lost something on the beach, the fact that random people seem able just to join in any football kickabout on the beach and are welcomed.
3. I had a heart issue and semi collapsed on a street. People came to me to check I was ok and got me to a pharmacy. The pharmacy staff took my blood pressure and then directed me to the nearest hospital as it was off the scale.
4. Bus drivers helping me when I had no clue when to get off.
5. Staff from the baraccas on Copacabana remembering my name after not visiting their particular baracca for a couple of years.
The list goes on…. Maybe I am just lucky. Given the comments, it seems I am.
I should add in 30 or so visits, I have not been a stranger to crime. I have seen it and been a victim. I have had stuff stolen from the beach and a chain grabbed from my neck and stopped two young guys who were about to steal my camera. But crime happens in every big city and in all three cases I could have avoided the crimes if I had been more cautious.
So, yes, Rio has its problems but overall I feel embraced by the locals every time I go and i will keep on returning to what has become my second home.
Thank you for the comment Daniel. Yes, we didn’t much enjoy Rio. But it’s nice to hear stories like this from other visitors 🙂
I agree with Daniel and similarly have been there many times. That’s partly because my cousins are Brazilian by birth, but Germany by blood. I was 15 when I visited the 1st time.
I’ve always kept an observant eye on what’s happening around me and several times have walked from my cousin’s house in the Botanical Garden district of Rio down to Ipanema then all the way to the opposite end of Copacabana. I’ve never felt unsafe. I have friends in Rio that I’ve met on my own and they would give me the shirt off their back if I need it.
BTW, I’m gay, and I see attractive women and men, but like anywhere, there’s a mix. I might be biased, but most of my cousins’ children (my age) and grandchildren are attractive.
I’ve also stayed in other parts of Brazil and had similar experiences. My other cousin lives on a farm in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro, about 3 hrs north of the city.
BTW, just as I found in Cuba in 97 when the US was enforcing the embargo, the majority of people in countries negatively affected by US government policies differentiate between the govt and citizens. They know that there’s not much we can do to change the policies. I even asked people in Cuba about that. I’ve actually been told by many Brazilians that Brazilians love anything American. That includes a veterinarian friend of my 2nd cousin. During my last visit, my 2nd cousin called the vet to ask him if I’d be able to make a living there breeding American Paint Horses and/or teaching natural horsemanship. In response to teaching, part of his reply was that students would flock to me because they love everything American.
Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue why your experience was so different.
I’m brazilian. Don’t be so sure about we “loving anything american”.
I don’t, maaaaaany of us don’t. Some even despise those who do.
Hi!
Rio is not welcoming at all. And honestly, it’s not just because you’re Canadian, people are really rude. After living here for more than 6 years, I think maybe it’s because life is so terrible. Most people take super bad and crowded buses for +2h to get to their underpaid jobs, merely paying their bills to live in a Favela. Although it’s the only logical reason to explain why everyone is like this, because this city is a horrible place to live, I honestly don’t think that’s the case. I’ve worked at an exposition and most of the visitors were rich families and they were terrible!
Also, if you someday want to try and visit Brazil again, I recommend you go to the northeast, especially Alagoas during summer/dry season. I went there for the first time last year and except for a group of teachers (tourists from Iguazu!) everyone was really nice to us!
I can completely understand why you won’t be going back to Brazil. Even though I’ve lived here, I still think Brazil is a hell hole.
Hi Pedro…so…what do you pretend for a turist visiting Brasil …to learn Portuguese?…
I’m European…living in Brasil for 6 years….I visited a lot of countries in the world before … And Brasil is , with a big differe the worst. In special, your racism against white-foreigner people. And , on the other hand, a really low level o knowledge and intelligence in his people….. Basically becouse the really low level of quality in public’s schools…Wich create a high level of illiteracy distributed throughout the country. And on the other hand, becouse in Brasil nobody speaks or care about the inside violence, crimes, violations, etc etc…..
And so many things I shut up not for fear, indeed, but for respect to the honor of a few brasilians that aren’t not in that bad way.
You may think, that to be able to criticize any other place or culture outside your country, you first may go outside Brasilian borders ….. And people of Brasil, due to economics factors, never put a feet outside of Brasil….if that is your case I do not have any way to show you the true about Brasil AND you won’t understand, never, my point of view.
Brasil will be a great nation, but still needs two or three generations to achieve that goal .
Lots of Brazilians get out of the country and still don’t change anything in their mindset. That’s because #1- Brazilians are the worst tourists in the world (you will always find news of how a Brazilian broke something at some international museum, or some other stupid thing like that), and #2- they just go abroad to show off to other people, without learning anything about the place they’re visiting. To me, the worst thing about Brazil is that, no matter how much you prove that people can do better, and they can improve, or how much you show that there’s something better out there, Brazilians will make an angry face and argue that there’s nothing better than it is here. Stupidly proud.
Worst tourists?! Some italians or japaneses can be very annoying. i lived in Paris for a year and I experienced bad moments with them. I don’t think we can say in general any country has better or worse people than others.
I lived in the USA, France, Barbados, Costa Rica and I I learned has good and bad people everywhere.
Exactly!!!!!!
Hello Frank,
I’m from Brazil and I am here to support you because you have the right to tell what you think about my country. It’s not usual what happened with you… Any way, I respect your opinion and fuck the other Brazilians that is writing shit on the comments.
Thank you. I appreciate the support 🙂
Over the past two years, I have been to Brazil, specifically the City of Manaus. I have a Brazilian girlfriend who is educated and caring. My initial foray into the country was awesome as I have never traveled to a third world country whose language that I did not know. Every experience was unique and eye opening; I had one of the most memorable times of my life. For instance, I had Natal dinner with Peru, bacalhau, and Brazilian foods with my GF and her family. It was a great time!
However, when I returned the second time to stay with my GF for the summer, I grew to dislike it because I actually learned enough Portuguese to communicate with them and actually get to know Brazilian society. I grew to dislike the ignorance of the people in the city of Manaus.
People in this city treat each other like garbage, there is trash everywhere on the streets, the civil engineering is designed to stop motorists from making deadly turns, a trip to the grocery store is a chore instead of a jaunt, and I was always observant of my surroundings. In fact, when I returned to the States, I noticed that I had developed a habit of always looking behind my back to look out for thieves even though I live in a very safe neighborhood.
I got married with a Brazilian man… the same story…terrible experience, horrible years. Mentally I am trying to recover. In Brazil everything is about sexuality. One of my Brazilian friends said “we just wanna drink and fuck”. And to tell the truth… it’s true. The country is amazing and beautiful.
Rio is one of the worst place in Brazil, SP and South of Brazil are absolutely different. You can find really nice people there.
And about what happened to you, when you were married to your ex-husband, I am very sad. In Brazil nothing revolves around sexuality and about these friends of yours who do this, they are womanizers and not all Brazilian men are like them. So please don’t generalize, Brazil is a country with many neighborhoods, states and cities and regions in the north, northeast, center west, southeast, south. And I am very sad about what some people in Rio de Janeiro did to you, but don’t generalize either, not all people in Rio de Janeiro are horrible people.
Me too! I have been married for ten years to a Brazilian man. I am a very educated American woman from New England and he swept me off my feet and I am getting destroyed in this marriage. He doesn’t cheat, but he is unable to communicate or get deep or emotional on any level whatsoever. Very very macho and increasingly so in the negative characteristics as the years fly by. I never want to go down to Brazil again and our son has never been down there in 9 years of life. My husband moved here 22 years ago after being kidnapped out of his own home and kept in a car trunk. He learned about sex from prostitutes and cheated badly on his teenage to 30 girlfriend . We met when he was 44. He is a great provider but we do not connect on any interesting levels beyond small talk. He ignores my other bio son (his step son) who is 16. It’s so awful. I truly truly regret challenging my own ideals and norms to marry a foreign man from such a machismo culture . It’s awful. He constantly stonewalls me and I long for an American man who is kind and educated. I’m trying to put my life together so I can leave with my children.
Well your observations are pretty correct and that extends also in other venues when it comes to brazilians. Not only in person but also over the phone, online etc. They are pretty brash, you can call it. Brazil is a massive place with a ton of people and they are tightly crammed together as if they are out of land… They learn to ignore people from an early age. It is in sorts, very similar to china (who will be equally rude but hide it better due to their culture).
The other thing that you seem to be oblivious to is that random courtesy towards strangers in public is very very much uniquely american, canadian and to an extent british thing. Yes some countries such as DOMR cuba appear more in line with your cultural expectation, but it is mainly because they like your money. Brazilians are extremely nationalistic and feel they are the center of the world, and as such, generally do not care if you like them or how you remember the country. They also do not care if you spend money there. They are a unique breed.
I have no answer about the cart ramming but cleavage starring? Well, consider it a compliment. Bars, regardless of where they are, tend to employ and attract sexually active people (in every sense of the word). Many of us can write a book about such experiences if we go to enough bars/clubs.
As a fun fact, my worst experience, very much mirroring your brazilian one was in the netherlands. And im pale as snow…. but they could smell i was not local and it was only downhill everywhere. It happens. There are 190+ countries; you dont have to like or be liked in every one.
And all foreigners, rich or poor, are always welcome to my parents.
Brazilian people common do not go to bars and clubs. Bars and clubs do not represent Brazilian people. And rich and poor are always welcome in my country.
You’re not wrong, we kinda suck as a society…not being unfair with my people but we are not the same welcoming country we once were, not for tourists, not for locals. Still, I still believe you would trully love some of out communities if you got the chance to meet them.
I am an American of Latino descent, so I easily blend into Brazilian society when I go visit my Brazilian girlfriend in Manaus. I know that Brazil is a very diverse country with each region having its own color and flavor. Based on my experiences in the State of Amazonas, I feel that the people there are very reserved and not so friendly. I have visited other parts of the country like Sao Paulo and Salvador da Bahia where it is more friendly and outgoing than the Amazons.
Long story short, I highly recommend exploring and visiting the Brazilian Amazon Basin because it is a unique part of the world full of unspoiled nature and pretty much isolated from the rest of the continent. But at the same time, these qualities of the area make it one of the worst places to live a quality life: high humidity, intense heat, bugs up the wahzoo, and isolation.
Brazil has been a huge disappointment for me. I have lived here for almost 3 years and the longer I´m here the more I want to leave. Brazilians are by far the most self-centred people I have ever met, and this results in them being pretty lawless in their ways and incompetent in their work. On the upside, I have not found them to be unfriendly
or hostile in general, but the other negatives far outweigh the good.
Ok, let me clarify things for you, I am Brazilian, and you were treated badly at the port because of the following: for us Brazilians it is a HUGE OFFENSE when an American comes to our country and thinks that we have to speak in English with you, we are very friendly but not with Americans, for the simple fact that you think we have to communicate with you in English IN OUR COUNTRY! You haven’t even done the basics to take a vacation in another country, which is to KNOW A FEW OF THE LOCAL LANGUAGE, so you are the typical American that we don’t like.
Not American, you should read before making a comment.
As a Canadian who has lived in Brazil for two decades I can assure you that to most Brazilians, Americans and Canadians are the same thing. Many even believe there is a “North American President.” Ignorance, yes, but it’s because the education system here is terrible and most Brazilians don’t read newspapers or books.
I read your post and, as a brazilian native i will try to explain your terrible experience with my knowledge of brazilian mind and behavior.
About the woman hitting you two times with her luggage cart: Brazilians, especially those who lives in big citties like São Paulo or Rio are closed (what might seem a rude behavior) and act like “they gonna miss the plane” every time. They’re also distracted and can hurt people without knowing that. And brazilians have a serious problem with the worlds Me desculpe (I’m sorry in english). They prefer to make excuses like: You was too close of me and made me do this.
And you’re wrong about the anti-americanism thought. Actually, Brazilians treat foreigns from North America and Europe better than us, the natives. Unfortunatelly, its not true when it comes to bolivians, colombians, peruvians, haitians, nigerians and angolans foreigns. I saw you pictures and its nothing wrong with you, but brazilians think that tourists from USA or Europe are all attractive young business adults, well dessed, fit and tall bodies, perfect blond or light brown hair and stunning blue or green eyes. Unfortunnately, Brazil is a place where looks and money are everything. I’ll take jobs interviews as an example. You can be the perfect person for the job, but if you dont have a certain appearance or a certain mannerism, you’re out. Many brazilians, expecially the young ones are much superficial and futile. I’m pride of my country but not of brazilian mind and behaviors. I’m sorry for your experience. If you are thinking of returning to Brazil one day I suggest you visit cities in the northeast of the country, like Pernambuco, Paraíba, Maceió e Alagoas. There are beautiful beaches there and the people are simple, totally devoid of class, racial and appearance prejudices. Just beware of thefts and other dangerous inconveniences common in poorer places.
And about the comment you replied, many Brazilians are fascinated by the United States and the American way of life, but are not known for being good at English. I suggest you try to learn some survival phrases/questions or hire a local guide/translator.
Not making a good argument for Brazilians there now are you? In fact responses as ignorant as yours only paint your country in a worse light
What about people whose first language is not English but use it when abroad because it’s widely accepted as the best language to use when travelling? It’s just not feasible for tourists to be expected to get to a decent level of the language of every country they want to visit.
Chris
Yes, but I think that out of respect one should learn some of the language of the country, it doesn’t have to be a decent level, but just a few useful words.
You’re right, i’m sorry, i was angry because he judged a whole country on the few people he met, that’s wrong, it’s the same thing as meeting an annoying German and then saying that they are all like that, how would he feel if they did that to his country? I am sure that what caused this treatment was that he spoke in spanish, instead of researching the language, we really hate it when a foreigner speaks Spanish to us. So again, i’m sorry i was just angry.
Pedro, I speak English, French and Spanish. I’m sorry I don’t speak Portuguese. But when you go somewhere you try to communicate the best you can. I don’t speak Italian either but throw in a few words of Spanish in Italy and they’ll understand that better than they would English. In Romania I used French which a lot of people speak a bit of.
Nobody is going to learn a language overnight, much less Portuguese. A few useful words won’t cut it. People do the best they can to communicate and if locals resent you for that, well maybe that says more about the locals than it does about travellers. Travellers chose to visit your country and spend their hard earned money there, they should be afforded a bit of flexibility if they’re sincerely just trying to communicate the best they can.
Hi, i think the worst part of your travell was the one you choosed Rio, it is the worst state by far in Brazil. Trust me, the whole RJ is infected with criminals, gangs, corrupted police and so much more on. But this is not the only problem in Rio, for ex: Vendors in the beach will sell you things 10 x then it would charge for a local. I know this cuz i went there, friends also reported this to me so i am not lying and also i am not saying this only happens in Rio, no but the states itself is a major problem. Last 5 gorvernors went to jail for fraud, money laundry and etc. Go to BA, MA, RN, avoid Ceará. PS: Sou brasileiro e qd quero ir de férias vou pra Bahia, mil x melhor que RJ.Nada contra os cariocas no geral mas q existem muitos la que nao valem nada isso é fato
Frankly Frank, you nailed it. I communicate in English Spanish and some Portuguese. No disrespect at all, simply trying to communicate. This guy Pedro is exactly the kind of guy I do not want to meet, too ignorant.
agree….100% right !
You’re proving the point of what the complaints are saying about Brazilians. You got upset because, “If you come here you have to try and speak our language.” That upset you?
Pedro, don’t waste your time. Typical foreigner that go to other countries and impose change.
Don’t like it… bounce.
That’s it.
Brazilians are not Hispanics. We take offense to be called Hispanics or if someone Ignorantly speaks Spanish to us..
Babble, Rosetta Stone, google translator for gosh sakes..
Stop complaining and accept that people have feelings and you were wrong.
{edited out} Pedro. I see how dreadful Brazil is just from watching horrible gore videos. If you’re anti American then perhaps you should direct your anger at the Portuguese WHO WERE YOUR COLONIZERS! Sheesh, such a ladyboy whining about Americans and having to speak English. You and I both know that if you could leave that filthy and ultra corrupt shithole for the U.S. that you’d bail immediately! 🤣😁
India took it pretty well. They adopted the English language and took advantage of the British via their education system and immigration policies. Hell, they even have their own international channel in English (WION). That doesn’t mean they didn’t forget what Britain did to them and sweeping those atrocities under the rug. They were opportunists, as most human cultures are. But still got to retain their 5,000 year old culture, languages, ethics and beliefs.
India is still not without it’s severe flaws and corruption.
However, they took the benefits of their colonizer and integrated into their own existing cultures. Then they kicked out the British post-WWII, but got something in return. Do they still hate and despite all white people? Why are there so many Indian diasporas in Western countries, lol?
I understand, indigenous Brazilians are not the Indians, and vice versa. I’m just saying that they could learn a thing or two from the latter.
Also, English is the international language for business, international events, and airline communication. Not Portuguese. Even the world leaders speak it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsapxDuyCJE
Though I agree with Pedro, “when in Rome, do what the Romans do.” Learn some Portuguese atleast. But locals; treatment of the couple was inexcusable, especially Frank.
There are better countries to see out there anyway.
You are clearly a self-centered Brazilian he’s talking about. Why should it be a huge offence when someone comes here and doesn’t talk Portuguese? I’m not talking about someone living here for 3 years and refusing to learn Portuguese. English is the universal language for tourists or for immigrants that just arrived and it’s Brazilians that should educate themselves and learn it. I doubt you’ll learn Hebrew if you should go to Israel or Polish if you go to Poland. I’m Brazilian too and I agree that Brazilians are becoming more and more selfish and impolite, even among ourselves. I live in a city famous for not greeting their neighbors and for looking down when meeting acquaintances on the streets. It’s not uncommon to see people mocking and disrespecting strangers too specially if they are not Caucasian. If you are offended by the simple fact that someone don’t talk your language than you are being very selfish and intolerant and that’s very sad.
Ah yes, the Brazilian who is self-centered. I have lived in Brazil now for 12 years. And for Brazilians it is about three things, me, myself and I. They ignore what you say, focus only on what they want, don’t keep to made agreements and blame you when things go to shit because they didn’t held up their end of the bargain. In general they are on the surface kind toward others, but get to know them for real and you will see it is a mask. Depending on where you go, you will find the common idiot who thinks a tourist coming to a tourist location should learn the language for that one time they are there. While in the rest of the world if you want to have tourism and growing tourism you adapt to a language most people in the world speak, as this increases your chances of earning more money. Everything here you need to calculate much more time for than normally needed. Simple things that anywhere in the world take 15/20 minutes can easily become hours, and it is not because it is crowded and busy, but because it is disorganized and nobody cares. Even simple things at the supermarket, I cant count the times the cashier waits till the very last moment to ask for change, they see they are running out, and instead of anticipating they react only when they can not give the customer his change.. At which moment it can take several minutes before it is solved. And this is just a little thing, but even at commercial offices they work like this. You have a claim against you from a worker because you decided not to pay what is in the contract and try to screw the worker over… Your lawyer tells you to send all the documents, then when the deadline is there they finally send the things so the lawyer has ample time to make your defense, when they dens it too late it is not their fault but the lawyer’s who asked for the documents for several weeks. Is there anything good about the country, yes the BBQ in the cattle states are amazing.
You nailed it.
Living in another country can be very challenging. I lived in Ecuador for 13 years, married to an Ecuadorian. Now I’m back in the States. Ecuadorians are in general happy, relaxed and friendly people, but strong cultural differences exist. There are certain attitudes that stand in stark contrast to American values such as the ‘vivencia crillolo’ which basically says,. you have to take an unfair advantage whenever you can in order to get ahead. After 13 years I was done and over it, and just wanted to come home. It makes you appreciate America more. Living in constant insecurity is also very tiring which is amplified by being a foreigner and not having cultural context to judge events. Three times there was a coup and the government was overthrown when we lived there, with mass riots and strikes. I really hated this but it didn’t seem to bother my wife at all.
I hope this isn’t too far off topic.
Nobody wants to know Portuguese because almost nobody uses it. Keep telling the English speaking tourists to stay home. There are far better countries for them to visit. And Brazil doesn’t deserve their hard earned money.
That’s the most stupid thing I have ever read in my life. Brazilians are rude, period. I don’t see a lot of Brazilians traveling to Germany and speaking German. Or even going to the US and speaking English. I am Brazilian, lived in a few countries abroad and everywhere it is the same thing, Brazilians are as entitled abroad as they are in their own country. Even in Mexico and Argentina, countries that speak a language that is not hard for Portuguese speakers, I’ve seen the vast majority of Brazilian tourists not making the minimum effort in communicating in the local language.
And the cherry on top of the cake is that in face of any criticism, instead of working to improve the issues pointed, they get super offended.
This reply was meant for some other reply, made by someone named Pedro. It’s not about the original post, with which I agree completely.
In Chile, Brazilians just bark orders at you in Portuguese. The very least they can do is use a bit of Portuñol. And if you don’t answer in perfect Portuguese, they get frustrated. On a train in Argentina once, a Brazilian woman shouted at me, saying she didn’t want to share the compartment with a foreigner, despite her also being a foreigner haha
Man, you are judging brazilians based on cariocas
this is like judging texans based on travelling to NY. It does not even make sense
rio de janeiro is a piece of shiet place. cariocas are arrogant, violent, unpolite and empowered
most brazilians will never go to RJ. I lived there for 3 months and it was the worst experience of my life
go to places like goias (if you wanna see very friendly people), or south brazil (santa catarina), or upstate sao paulo
I’m Brazilian and I think you’re right lucas. Don’t come back to brazil you are a racist and in brazil there’s no racism we love each other and rio is the capital kkkkkkkkkk.
Of course I’m just joking brazil is by far more racist than America. I find your conclusions about brazil really funny.
You can’t talk about brazil if you just been to rio is one city. You generalised Brazilians to cariocas that’s the people from rio. Is like if I’m spend 2 weeks in Jackson Mississippi and talk about how Americas are racists and proud and backwards cunts. You been to a city in brazil and you came to the conclusion that all brazilians are the same but brazil is the 5th largest country and the population is 200 million people.
Everything you said is true but you can’t say that brazil or Brazilians ruined your holidays you have to say rio de janeiro. Fuck them I never been to rio and I’m brazil from são paulo. If you want a good holiday go north or south brazil or just go somewhere nice brazil has almost 5k miles of coastline you will find a small town with nice Brazilians I’m sure 😉 😀 👍
Arthur,
Your comment has a few items that make it problematic.
First, Jackson, MS is a city that sees very little tourism and is a small city. Rio is the biggest tourist destination in Brazil. So a negative or positive experience means much more for people planning to visit Brazil than a negative or positive review of Jackson, MS.
Second, Frank did not say all Brazilians are the same. So you are created a straw man argument out of something Frank did not assert.
Third, Frank did not make any racist comments. He said he felt he was the victim of racism. Although he left it open and said he was not sure. So that is another example of you imposing or projecting something that was not in his comment. What is further interesting is that you recommended Frank visit Southern Brazil, but you have to know that Southern Brazil is less black than Northern Brazil.
Let’s do a test. If Frank said he loved Rio and therefore Brazil, would have had a problem with his generalization? The answer is no. People take issue with generalizations when they are negative.
Your comment and the comment of many Brazilians on this post demonstrate thin skin. You seem to be reacting emotionally. I can’t speak for how things work in Latin America, but in the US people are allowed to write about negative experiences about their travel on public websites. And they should not have to get personally attacked unless we want that that information censored. And the number of personal attacks on Frank for his article seems out of line.
Thanks for the comment Shaun and for sticking up for me 🙂
Honestly I don’t care that much as long as comments don’t get too nasty or use a lot of bad language. If they do I delete them before they ever hit the site. But the thing people don’t realize (and I mention it a few times) is that this post was written a long time ago based on a trip in 2006. My own experience is dated but I appreciate the comments which bring a more up-to-date perspective on Brazil.
I lik this tip! Very helpful.. thanks.. brazil is sooooo huge.. there must be a distinct difference from between the pple from different regions.
I’ve travelled much but not in South America at all.
I find it interesting here all the people that say ‘Brazil is a wonderful country for tourists’ but don’t visit our most famous and beautiful city that everyone all over the world knows about.
Kind of like saying ‘visit Italy but not Rome’ or ‘France is lovely but Paris is a hellhole’.
Very sad to hear this, as you are not the only one in this page to declare the same things I must agree it must be true. I am a Brazilian, borned and live in Rio, it should really be the most tourist place in Americas but our infrastructure is very bad, I know, we all know, we have a lot of problems related to not speak English, bad services, politics, corruption… but to hear that our biggest problem is our peaple is really bad and sad for me. Hope you have a change to know us better.
I am Portuguese but live in America. I am sorry that you feel so bed obaut Brazilian people. I know lots of very good Brazilians that live here
Yep, I’m currently in Rio – I’ve been here a week as a solo Canadian and I don’t think I’ll ever be back. Super unfriendly place. Don’t know how it got such a good reputation?!
Peter,
I noticed the same thing. I think Brazil is living off of its previous reputation as a fun place. You can tell by looking at the buildings that Brazil used to be more civilized, and it is a society in steep decline since roughly the 1970s.
Maybe they hate Americans because we probably fuck with the political system
Oh lord, thank God I’m not the only one. I’m in Brazil right now and I cannot wait to leave. I’ve been all over the world and Brazil is by far the worst country I’ve been to. What a kip.
I’m from Southern Brazil and felt the same hostile vibe you described in Rio. I never understood that, I guess they’re stressed out? I felt much better travelling in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul than the famous touristic places that look amazing in pictures. Look up Gramado, Brazil. I can’t wait to be back there.
Very degenerate nation too. I’m Nigerian, my country is trash to hell, and we suck in every way compared to them Brazilians, but even I am taken aback by some of the wanton degeneracy and crime i see. While Nigeria is a nation populated by a bunch of morons because our brightest minds only ever run away(sad), but at least we still aren’t as degenerate as what I see in Brazil, and that sorry excuse for degenecary they call a cultural event known as carnaval, just backwards and unorganized.
nigeria had more homicides than any other country in the world in 2016.
but we’re the degenerates…
go to Belo Horizonte. Maybe Guarapari If you want a beach. Santos seemed ok. I’m in Brazil until March 31 and was here for 6 months last year. Ipanema wasn’t as friendly as the smaller places that don’t see many gringo tourists. Go by night bus and sleep. The bus I had to Guarapari 2 weeks ago only had like 7 people on it (Take warm clothes as they blast the AC and some snacks unless you want to buy expensive bus stop food). I’m currently in Porto Seguro for a week but we flew this time. I love Brazil except when I get chased by some kids in the favela when drunk af at a Bali funk party (don’t go to the favela in Rio as there are a couple really bad ones but Belo Horizonte is mostly safe). I’m not sure if I looked at their gf or brushed by them or what (muito bebido). I finally got robbed my first time last month. You know, I TOLD my friend I did not want to walk to downtown Sao Paulo at 1am (I was mostly just tired after a big meal but he also said it was pretty homelessy down there. I don’t even like going to downtown Belo Horizonte late at night). You walk past one dark street and bam. More kids and I think their gun was fake but I wasn’t chancing it for a couple credit cards I can cancel and a cracked screen old samsung a5.
I DO find that Brazil as a country is unfriendly to tourism with so many things requiring a CPF number and not having one. Luckily my friends here do–one of those friends an English teacher from Canada like I am, but he now has Brazillan citizenship as he has been here 6 years. Apparently I can easily get one at the post office but I need a birth certificate.
The Language is a problem. I have learned algumas palavras em português mais não muito. I pieced that sentence together and was so happy when I pasted it into Google translate and it was correct kkkkk.
7 months now and I probably only know about 150 words. Hey gimme a break my friends here speak english. Brazil has a very survival way of life for most people. Sometimes I walk in a poorer area and the looks on some of their faces when I look at them are very angry. usually I ask if they speak English or say não falo português and they lighten up. Sometimes they say, “gringo?” and even try to say some things in english. I will say I’m mid 30s adult single male and last week I was told I look 27. I do try to socialize with the younger people. I mean they’re the ones drinking on the beach in Guarapari on a Saturday night and then are very very friendly when an also drunk gringo shows up (only take out 1 or 2 credit cards out of 8 or so and 100-200 reals in cash in case of Roubo pronounced hobo… robbery)
Assault or a stolen phone will be your biggest issue at that point. Even before the screen was cracked people I’d meet would ask if my old a5 was going out phone. ouch. Nope. My only one lol. listen Brazilian guys,not every gringo has the newest iphone lol
I’m using my friend’s 2nd phone at the moment. I think I’ll pick up a samsung m52 for 1800 reals next week.
Anyway, I spend like $1300 a month here and get to do fun touristy stuff that would cost much more in 1st world countries. sítios, waterfalls, week long Beach trips. I bought a bicycle for 190 reals from a favela. The thing I hate most about Brazil is the thing I love about it .. the rich and poor divide which allows me to vacation cheaply but also fuels much of the crime. They do seem to have quite a bit of racism as well..at least by law enforcement. “law enforcement”. haha I use the words loosely. I’ve never seen a white guy sleeping on the street. you know, not even many latino…
You don’t need to be Brazilian to have a CPF number.
Good reputation?
Man, even amongst brazilians, Rio is the worst place possible to go.
I live here and i can’t wait for leave this place.
Idk why people got so mad on OP.
Having been to Brazil for a month, but also spent a lot of time living in Portugal, where there is a high Brazilian population, and also in the UK, so I’ve met Brazilians in many different ‘contexts’, I can say that most that I’ve met are really keen to get to know you at first, especially if you make the effort with Portuguese, but you are just a novelty item to them and eventually (either with time or after the slightest hint of a cultural difference, e.g. saying no to going out at 1a.m. on a working night) they get bored and revert to “sticking to their own”. Most Brazilians that I’ve met instantly want to connect on the socials and have at least 1000, most more than 2000, Facebook “friends”, which makes me think Brazilians have lots and lots of acquaintances but not many true friendships. In saying that, any birthday they share huge stories and pretty much every photo that they have of that person to show how good a friend they are, so I dunno…
I don’t know if this is maybe a little harsh? I’m from the UK, and I’ve been in Brazil for about 2 months now, travelling South to North. Nobody so far that I’ve met has been remotely unfriendly, it’s been the opposite actually! From people I’ve stayed with in hostels giving me lifts to go shopping with them within 5 minutes of meeting, to random locals on the beach or the bus that have struck up conversations with me despite the language barrier, and have spent whole days hanging out with me, introducing me to their friends and taking me on tours to gorgeous out of the way places. You might have just happened to be unlucky with the people you met and the places you stayed, but also could taking instant offence to a woman hitting you with her suitcase as soon as you arrived, maybe caused you to have a bad attitude in general towards the people here and made it harder for you to connect with people? Just a thought.
as a brazilian-american, i think this is a bit of a harsh assessment.
coincidentally, i’ve been to canada (the author’s home country). in fact, i went to the most visited city in canada: toronto. i was told that canadians are very polite and friendly and everything. i didn’t see any of that. instead, i had pretty much the opposite experience. i could write a blog about how canadians are rude, coldhearted, disrespectful, arrogant, and even racist; and it would be just as valid as this hit piece.
that said, i know everyone’s experience is different, and that maybe i just picked a bad time and/or place to go (or that i was really unlucky). i’m not gonna overgeneralize over my own experiences. the same is true with the op (author). he didn’t get to see enough of the country to really get to know it, so he should not generalize it based on where he went. brazil is a big country with a diverse population (just like the usa and canada, but more populous than the latter).
I am Brazilian traveller and I agree with you. When we visit a country of continental dimensions such as Brazil, the United States or Canada, we cannot generalize. Boring or rude people, arrogant or hostile people exist in every country. Whether in America, Canada, France, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany or any other country. This type of person is not only Brazil’s privilege. I’ve been in America for four months, in England for three months, and in Germany crossing the country from Switzerland going to Denmark by train. Just as I met friendly people, I also met arrogant natives. But I will never generalize that a country is horrible just because my personal impressions at times when I have encountered some difficulty or lack of education of some native.
Thank you so much for saying this. I’ve been to Toronto twice. Lived there for 2 months last year. Absolutely hated it both times. Not welcoming at all. Canadians are definitely NOT nice in Toronto or in Vancouver. Not to mention the hundreds of homeless people and junkies walking around every street, yelling at you from out of nowhere, and sometimes openly threatening you. I’m from Rio and I was scared when I was there. On the other hand, I had a great time both times I’ve been to Montreal and Quebec city. Totally different vibe and people. So, you can’t judge a whole country (especially if it’s huge) based on one bad experience. I still don’t like Toronto. But I love Canada. I think it’s a lovely place, and I’m sure Canadians are not all rude as they were in those places I’ve been. So, my point is, experiences are extremely personal and not necessarily paints a thorough picture of the country you’re visiting.
Brazil is for sure the most beautiful country in the world. Unfortunately our democracy is relatively young and most of the states were not prepared for this pandemic we all faced. I think a evaluation about Brazil during a sadness period of our history is not really wise. Give Brazil few years and the article will be rewritten. I wonder sometimes that some smart people would agree with this poorly article starts stating about a small portion of one o the largest country on earth. Anyway, some people that stay all day long on a tablet or cellphone playing games would not be able to appreciate the flower perfume or a sound of exotic birds, no that would be asking too much, before agree with any article we should at least think of what’s going on in 2022, unless some of us are living in a different context or planet. Sorry, but we can do better
Just a correction: the trip was in 2006, not during the pandemic 😉
Brazil is beautiful, Rio is beautiful, the people are beautiful, if you can’t see beauty then that is your issue and your problem not theirs x
friend, RIO is not a friendly city for Brazilian tourists and it is much worse for foreign tourists, if you have a friend from the city who can guide you, you will enjoy all that the city has to offer, it is a culture of malandrage that the city he has. We have no prejudice against whites, a significant part of our population is of white descent (Germany, France, Holland, Poland, Italy). Travel to any Florianópolis and you will be able to enjoy beautiful landscapes, polite people and it is a much friendlier city with foreigners
“Why I won’t be going back to Brazil”
k, please don’t come back, it’ll be highly appreciated in brazil.
“They were unfriendly”
it’s almost 2022, bud, and since 1822 brazil is a free country that don’t need to roll out the red carpet for a foreigner.
“I actually felt they were hostile”
we just didn’t like you. deal with it.
“Proud, they won’t bow to the white man”
I agree with your wife, but it’s really funny to read “the white man” looking at your pic and considering that I, a Brazilian, am whiter than both of you. Cool, isn’t it? There are things that only a highly mixed country can give to its people.
Honestly i agree with this. I am so sad about this. I have never seen nothing like this. People say Honduras people are the worst, the murder rate os high. I found Honduras people much friendlier than people in Brazil. I have been here two years and have a kid here and i am ready tô take my girl and child and leave. 99 percent of the people i have met have a Ghetto mentality. I have tô get you before you get me. You know i act like i am really wasted and drop money tô see who gives It back. Craziest things the homeless Man i let Clean my yard gave It back. I told a Guy here this who os Brazilian and Said even the Guy here worth millions kept my money. He gave me the best answer, you dont know what that Guy did tô get those millions. my god i cried
I’m brazilian and I say you were unlucky. The things you complained about are things i would have complained about too. There are stupid people in any country.
“My best theory is that it’s political, specifically anti-American sentiment due in part to the whole Visa situation.”
We just don’t like the way the United States deals with international geopolitics, not against the people of the United States. But truth be told, the United States only has two parties (two right-wing parties). The people there don’t have much choice…
For sure they were just jealous of you being with a colored girlfriend….In some minds which are the size of a nut the idea of a white man with a brown skinned woman just doesn’t fit it. After all “negroes belong in the senzala”…
I am Afrikan Americano, with a pinch of Latin. I agree with you Kiki. Both of America’s two party system is corrupt,.greedy and racist. The Republicans are just more open with their racism, and more extreme.
I vote only for Socialist and Green Party candidates, but they never win, because most voters don’t research and vote independently. They vote base on their peers choices or for the politician that seems the most popular and nice.
I vote based on who cares about the poor, who wants to increase minimum wages, who wants to create free education and free healthcare for all citizens. This is why I only vote for Socialist.
The thing is, the average Brazilian isn’t at the airport. In fact most Brazilians don’t even leave their State or region during their lifetimes, and when they do it is via interestate bus lines. Also Brazilians don’t go to cruises. And they don’t stay at expensive hotels at ipanema. And most Brazilians don’t speak English, albeit Spanish can be understood if spoken slowly. Most of those places you mentioned are upper classes spaces, and upper classes Brazilians are really exactly the way you described. But they’re a minority in the country. So the bottom line is that unfortunately you seemed to be trapped within a touristic bubble. But as I mentioned, the average Brazilian doesn’t really speak English, to know the country and people for real you’d have to learn at least some Portuguese or Spanish and try to get out of the foreigner money grabbing route.
I stayed 6 months in São Paulo
and I thought the people were
hard working cordial and treated me with respect. Lovely women …… very sexy. Learn some Portuguese… take a class
at a local language school.. in say São Paulo….intelligent people in São Paulo, great transit system, good dental and
medical services… Had a lovely
Brunette girlfriend who fucked like a locomotive hehe
I would concur Johann. I’m a single, white, American, male who loves Brazil and has been loved in return by the Brazilian people. A Johann said, your cross section of “Brazilians” couldn’t be less of an actual representation of a typical Brazilian. Get out of the tourist areas, specifically Rio de Janeiro and find what Brazil is really like. Would you Judge France soley on Paris? The US soley on New York? Canada, soley on Quebec City? Talk about Aholes. Also, your assumptions of to why they may be rude to you and your innuendos suggest the blame might be in your lap. I’ve traveled to Brazil 30 plus times and have made lifelong friendships and many good acquaintances in Brazil. My suggestion if you ever return, get out of the tourist traps and learning Portuguese goes a long long way. Please tell me you didn’t try speaking Spanish to a Brazilian. You’re better off sticking with English. Anyway, I think you just had some bad luck.
Kevin, why do I have to learn Portuguese to visit Brazil? Not everyone is moving to Brazil. People keep writing that people need to learn some Portuguese. However, I am bad with languages, so it’s not so simple. Another solution is to skip visiting Brazil, and go someplace that is more accommodating.
I’m Brazilian and must say Brazil is a piece of s.
Most Brazilians are selfish. We can’t organize a boycott of high prices of food items because nobody cares. The minimum wage(per month) is R$ 1100(very low).
99,9% of the politicians are criminals in Brasília and the people keep voting on them. Bolsonaro is the worst president ever, and guess who will be the next one? Lula, another criminal.
It’s funny how at the start of the 21st century, the West, eager to create propaganda for it’s liberal democrazy, made claims about how democratic brazil would develop into a superpower, but as all can see now, it failed miserably (currently at 13th on GDP, behind even Canada, a country with a population 6 times smaller) meanwhile China the “dictatorship” surged ahead on every level : lower levels of corruption, higher GDP per capita (15,000 vs 8,000), advanced military industry, electronic industry (Huawei, robotics, quantum comp. development etc…) space tech (native space stations, Long March 9 rocket…).
At the same time, brazil became even more backwards, growing even more dependent on agriculture, suffering from massive brain-drain/deindustrialization, with a growingly obsolete native technology, with a productivity level stagnant since the 1980’s, with an stagnant economy since 2013, and soon, a stagnant population (brazil’s population is predicted to start decreasing already by 2040).
It will continue to lag behind even as a few african countries start to catch up (e.g Botswana, Gabon…), and eventually surpass it .
From an arrogant country who always claimed to be “the superpower of the future”, it turned into a sh*thole, that has no future (and maybe shouldn’t even have a past).
Wow! China, less corruption? Yeah, because if you do you’re dead. Well, for the average Chinese citizen, not the “Ruling Class” communists. They are easily as corrupt, not to mention genocide that takes place along with uncountable human rights violations, plundering of their and all other countries resources. But continue to romanticize China, commmunism, Che Guevara, et al. I’m sure you’ll be welcomed by their ilk. SMH.
“advanced military industry, electronic industry (Huawei, robotics, quantum comp. development etc…) space tech (native space stations, Long March 9 rocket…).”
Yes, cause they either buy up tech or outright steal tech. There is a reason for the Chinese loving open source development, makes them feel less bad about nicking it.
” plundering of their and all other countries resources”
Funny how colonialism is bad when the west does it, when China goes to Africa and
pisses around with the average shithole countries there then it’s totally fine. Gonna
laugh my ass off when China’s expansion into Africa backfires cause African’s have
yet to get out of the hunter-gather stage of development (they havn’t even discovered
basic metallurgy yet, or invented the wheel).
Too bad your last paragraph is based on complete lies. Source : french man who is doing business in various countries like Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania since 20 years now. Btw China’s model is better than Brazil, it’s a fact. One is getting out of its shithole statue while the other was, is and will stay a shithole country with garbage and stupid people. Compare IQ of both countries.
Sounds like what Blacks deal with in America. Brazil has a White Supremacy issue like in America. The poor in Brazil are the blacks and mulattos (mixed race people)
That is why Socialism is good, tax the rich and upper class to help pay the poor a respectful wage.
I have no idea what your problem could have been. I’m an American who bought a place in Salvador. I say hi to most people I walk past and most expect it to be the beginning of a conversation. Yes, people seem surprised and I am a hack at Portuguese but a little goes a very long way. Most people I have any conversation with request my phone number and we usually do meet again. Keep in mind that my experience in the United States is exactly opposite! Salvador is known as the happy city and I have yet to find anyone that doesn’t seem happy with a oi (hi)!
PS. WE LOVE AMERICANS. (you are the ones people here didn’t like for whatever reason. Sorry about that)
Ouch!!! All that hate…
It almost hurt.
I have never visited Brazil. I watched The Idiot Abroad in Brazil. The sense I had of the place was noisy, colourful, vibrant, hostile, aggressive, dangerous, poor, beautiful, and very very proud. The show was done for comedy, but there was a lot of complexity coming through between the lines. It seemed like a place you’d have to watch your back in as a tourist but also like you’d meet some real gems. The people were intriguing and seemed to be putting on a show for everyone they met. I liked them, but how much of it was real and how much was for the camera is anyone’s guess. A Brazilian I know in the USA is one of the friendliest and most open people I’ve ever talked to in the city here.
Ha! Thank you for mentioning the Idiot Abroad. I saw it a few years back and enjoyed it, I’ll have to re-watch the episode on Brazil because I can’t remember it. But you’ve well described the complexities of the country. I’ve described our experience but I know many people who’ve enjoyed their time in Brazil. Like anywhere, it all depends on who you meet and on your individual experiences.
Thank you for your comment.
I’m in Brazil now, have been to Sao Paulo, Sao Jose dos Campos, Ilhabela and Ubatuba and would have to agree that there are some people who fit what you describe, but I can say the same of every place I have been, including Canada where I also live. I came speaking very little, basically none, Portuguese and still only know the basics of greetings and have found most people to be very understanding as long as I make the effort to communicate not expect them to. By in large I’ve found most to be very accommodating and get very friendly when I make any effort to be friendly with them. Also they’ve most loved that I’m Canadian and want to ask me tons of questions, and many women become extra friendly when they learn I’m from Canada. Yes I know it’s not about me on a personal level, but their seeing me as a potential escape…lol.
Anyway, my main point is that in my opinion it’s like anywhere else in the world and there are good and bad people and places and depending on the choices you make and the effort you give while here you experience could be very different. I do thank everyone about their comments about Rio as I was thinking of making the drive there while here, and now I don’t think I will bother and stay where I know it to be much friendlier! I do think you should reconsider never coming back to the country as a whole, as I do think you would like other parts much better. I found learning to say “Sorry I speak very little Portuguese” then using google translate to talk with people worked very well for me and I had mostly positive experiences as a result. Without having to learn the language. Just saying Bom Dia to people as a clearly foreign white guy I found often changed their frowns to smiles…lol.
Thanks for your comment Kevin. Glad to hear you’ve enjoyed your time and appreciate the feedback.
I have to point out that this trip dates back to 2006 – long time ago. Somehow get more comments on this post than ever.
Will we ever be back to Brazil? I don’t think so. Too many places in the world, 95% of which I have zero complaints about. I speak Spanish and can get by in any Spanish speaking country…honestly I’d rather re-visit places like Argentina and Colombia.
Very sensitive sight, puddleglum. I am pretty sure the writer above had a very narrow experience here in our country and no justice at all before spreading so nasty comments about us. That was unfair. Thank you so much for your consideration. For whoever it matters: we are proud (YES) but also very fond of everyone from overseas… It’s our “weakness”. Love, Fernanda (Itapetininga, São Paulo… Brazil!)
That thing is really a mockumentary, most Brazil couldn’t be more different that that. By the way, I don’t believe there’s a typical “standard” Brazilian though. We as a culture, although somehow cohesive, tend to be quite fragmented and even more unpredictable from person to person. If there’s anything more or less common between Brazilians it’s the habit of drinking coffee at least once daily, and I’ve noticed this among ALL classes, colors, ages, regions and incomes.
i would never visit the USA for the same reasons: they are unfriendly, they dont think i am a human being.
maybe i should visit colombia myself?
Except Americans have a noted reputation for being friendly, and how ridiculous is it to claim that Americans “don’t think you’re a human being”? Americans are polled as one of the friendliest nations, and receive the highest rates of tourism and immigration of any country. So no, Americans are friendly. Doesn’t sound like you are though.
Exactly, Declan.
You see, these are the typical “american haters” – not only in brazil but present in other countries too… the typical leftist brainwashing tactics done for decades.
These are the people who say “amerika evil” but they are the ones spending holidays and vacation in Miami at the first opportunity they get. LOL Hilarious
I find it so sad to see such a huge country with lots of potential basically destroyed and handicapped by a bunch of ignorant people. The young suffer the most with lack of opportunities. The older ones are already have their little bones to chew, with a secured house to live or a state job that gives paycheck stability. Sold their souls for a paycheck. Selfishness 101
Brazilians don’t like Americans because the US has ducked over the rest of the Latin American world for so long. Also, it’s a very machismo culture, so yeah they’re gonna stare. And women will hit on you. It’s a thing. Just roll with it, it’s pretty flattering. Also, there’s a lot of animosity between Brazilians and between Brazilians and Argentinians. The latter think they are the superior groups because they are whiter (thats just the Nazi speaking). Also, southern Brazilians like to put themselves above the northerners. Brazil is a badass country. Just like everywhere else it’s got the goods and the bad. I suggest coming to Para. I’ve lived here for two years in Belém. People here are always nice. I’ve had people laugh at me in the south for things I’ve said but that’s just because they are dickheads. Learn to say fuck it and have a good time. Thays what the Brazilians do.
My husband was born in Brazil and we are planning on moving back to his country. He still has family there and we have gone for a couple of visits. I tend to agree with you My husband always says if you have a problem with me that’s your problem. I always call Brazil my happy place and it’s not because of the people. It’s what you make it. I love the way I felt when we were there. People will be people no matter where you are. If you go anywhere for the people then stay home.
I’ve lived in the USA for 4 years, a long time ago, and I learned that people will treat us according to our behavior. You feel good here probably because you are neat, you have good eyes and you’ll be happy wherever you go. Thank you for your consideration. I love Americans (I am thankful for all you guys made for me), I love being Brazilian and I love being a mix of nationalities in one. That’s what we are.
Don’t you think Para is very dangerous ?! I read about a lot of crimes on the news.
um, i beg to differ. i’m brazilian american. you’d be surprised how many times i’ve been told to “go home,” even though i was born in the states. see? everyone has an opinion.
now yes, americans are friendly people. so are brazilians. i’m mature enough to know not all americans are racist based on a few bad experiences. my point is, stop generalizing based on one person you met. some of you need to grow up.
It is a well-known story. The “gringo”, especially European or North American with a strange image of Brazil, arrives here and has at least two reactions: looking for “hot women” praises the country; When he becomes disenchanted, he is furious and definitively excludes Brazil from his destiny, when he learns that the stereotypes he carried do not work. Please be civilized and see that Brazil is a country to live in, not just for tourism!
Cariocas looooove americans and Canadians!!! You happened to meet unfriendly people, that’s all. 😉
I found this post rather shocking because I’ve been to Brazil five times, spending a total of about three months there, and I’m absolutely in love with the place and I tell everybody that Brazil is the friendliest country on earth. I’m obviously very white and very American, but I also speak Portuguese so maybe that was what colored my experience. Even in public if I would start to talk to a Brazilian in Portuguese they would stop what they were doing and be very helpful to me. I felt like everywhere I went everyone wanted to be my friend and my teacher. Sorry you had such a bad experience there. It’s amazing how two people can have such different reactions to a place. I stayed in Brazilian homes, sat at Brazilian dinner tables. My experience is if you make a Brazilian friend within a short period time you’re friends with all of his friends and his family. I feel bad that you never got to see that side of Brazil. But I appreciate your honesty. I agree with you that people need to share their negative experiences as well as positive experiences to have a more authentic idea what a place is like. Also, I am a gay man so I chuckled when you said maybe in your next life you would go if you were gay. Maybe that has something to do with my experience as well….the guys are hot as hell LOL
Hi, I’m an exchange student living in brazil and honestly coming here has been the worst decision I’ve ever made.
I have lived both in the US and Mexico (I was born there) and have visited multiple countries in North America, South America and Europe, and brazil has been the place where I’ve felt most unwelcome, have in mind I have experienced racism both in some countries in Europe and in the US and even considering that my experience in brazil has been the worst. I live in Minas Gerais in brazil in a small city but have visited the north and south of brazil, big and small cities (because my exchange progam organizes trips so the exchange students can get to know brazil) so I can very comfortably say I have experienced both the “tourist brazil” and the “real brazil” as a foreigner and neither of them are good. Have in mind I do speak Portuguese so I know my experience has nothing to do with me not peaking the language.
But I have found that Brazilians are extremely self centered and ignorant and have no interest in learning about basic geography, general history or other languages.
Now thinking about this in their government’s perspective it’s the best thing, but also me as a Mexican (Mexico struggles with a lot of things brazil struggles with, like corruption, poverty, etc) makes me think that the people would want to overcome their struggles in any way they can but the most Brazilians I’ve met are so uninterested in doing so, I think its so sad because you can see how big of an impact the government has on them.
Now to understand these kinds of behaviors I think its good to know Brazil’s history but still I don’t think it should be a excuse for them being rude at foreigners, because if we were judging on the past struggles a country had I can 100% assure you there are countries that have had it worse and don’t act the way Brazilians do.
If you as a foreigner want to understand just what the political situation is in brazil right now, just read the various comments, many of which are extremely racist, basically saying that only white Brazilians are civilized.
Seriously, i’m Brazilian and i would say that you should throw away everything negative you read here written before me by those who say they are brazilians. Believe me, if there is one thing that Brazilians love to do on the internet, whenever the opportunity arises, is speaking badly, no, worse, literally throwing at the mud the image of the country.
And I add even more, any comment in which you see references to bureaucracy, high taxes, “big state”-type talk, or that quote the word “capitalism” (look at the comments and you will find even some that talk about communists) is derived from the current political situation and the rise of Bolsonarism.
If you want to understand how it is, just think of Brazil as the United States and exchange Trump for Bolsonaro, you won’t be too far removed from the level of polarization that we are experiencing.
It is a common point of the extreme right to say that we have almost become a “communist” country, that Bolsonaro is bringing “capitalism” to Brazil, to look down on national culture (especially of the lower classes) and, what surprised me, this racialist discourse, that I, who always lived here in Brazil, do NOT see in everyday life, but sadly that the anonymity of the internet insists on bringing. Many are proud to say that they want to go away from here and never come back. Is it because we totally suck? No. It’s not because of the problems we have, but because of pure prejudice and irrational hatred. It wasn’t always like that, but I would say that we started to live a real kulturkampf since the last few years.
This user, “brutally honest brazilian” is simply the worst example of everything I mentioned, consider what he wrote simply as an attempt to demonize the country and the Brazilian people in their entirety, which he wrote with those clear political ends in mind.
Are we a perfect country? No. Are we that continental garbage can that my bitter fellow countrymen want to pass it as? ABSOLUTELY NO.
Seriously, listen to this advice i give because if you are reading this comment you will hardly find any with the same information here or in any other comment section on any other blog : when you want to read something about Brazil online, never ever give relevance to anything said in places as marginal as comment sections or responses, because a small bunch, but still far too many, of Brazilians are unfortunately ungrateful and detest themselves and other people in our country, and the worst of those are the ones who take the trouble to write such heinous and ridiculous comments such as those that flood here.
“if there is one thing that Brazilians love to do on the internet, whenever the opportunity arises, is speaking badly, no, worse, literally throwing at the mud the image of the country.”
Should we be “politically correct” or realistic?
I’m not satisfied with the minimum wage, the electric bill price, the food prices, the justice system, the laws, the freedom of speech smothered, the living costs etc.
Belive me, it was NOTTHING to do with you.
All you describe is the “”normal”” behaviour of majority of brazilians.
“the useless dumb-asses laughing at us when we asked for information”
Yeah, even that happens with native brazilians. Brazilians tend toward EVIL, we are similar to Drow elfs, but too lazy to do a lot of harm most of times, fortunatelly.
Do belive people who say “I am sorry”, no, no, no, they are not sorry for you. They are sorry that they lost reputation.
I’m very sorry you’ve had this experience.
As a Brazilian, I’m very proud of our country and of our culture.
But vacation is for resting, not to “make an effort” like it’s some wore out relationship.
We sure have problems (racism, misogyny, inequality), but I always expected the good things would surpass the bad.
I hope you keep traveling and enjoying yourself. Wherever you go.
Maybe someday Brazil will seem attractive to you again (but that’s seem to be uncanny even for us at the time…)
This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. I’m Brazilian and I’ve been to Canada and I also found some unfriendly people there. Did I write a text on my blog saying this? No. You are saying like all Brazilians are like that, all woman here are ugly. You barely knew Brazil when you went home. Looks like Brazil is not the main problem here. So do us a favour: Don’t come back. Make our day. Go to Colombia. Thanks!
querida, cala a boquinha, porque esse país aqui só se salva no cenário mesmo, o povo não vale a merda que caga, povo ignorante, preconceituoso e prepotente, igualzinhos você, mostra bem a identidade dessa raça maldita que é o brasileiro. O gringo tá certo, não deviam nem vir aqui a não ser pra curtir uma praia, porque de resto não tem nada de bom, a cultura morreu, o povo é um lixo, tudo caro e mal cuidado. Então fica quieta, vai lacrar em outro lado.
Sounds like you’re the asshole tbh. I’ve never had anything but positive experiences from Brazilians. Seems like you only went to tourist traps, no local is excited to see entitled tourists there. You should’ve spread your wings more in a country literally the size of a continent. Hopefully you’ll go back there with a more open mind, and realize Brazilians aren’t “Latinos” as conceived by Americans or Canadians, they’re a people unto their own. The friendliest I’ve ever met.
I won’t bother with most of your comment since it’s subjective.
But you’re not the first person to make the “Latino” comment. Encyclopaedia Britannica: In general, “Latino” is understood as shorthand for the Spanish word latinoamericano (or the Portuguese latino-americano) and refers to (almost) anyone born in or with ancestors from Latin America, including Brazilians.
It’s very different from “Hispanic” which is maybe what people confuse it with.
I’m here for three months and it really such a good guy that wrote it, and you probably already he began as brazill may not be in Rio and in particular they can be friendly
that true, dont go Rio , I am here 3 month, better go to village but not in Rio state…just orgot Rio))dont go there
Hey Sir Philip Dickhead Cambarco, you are the massive asshole. I’m Latin and find Brazilians to be the loudest, trashiest, certainly most aggressive, uneducated and most untrustworthy shitheads to blight gorgeous South America. I’ve interacted with them there and in America – only ONE good experience with one in the states and she was a doctor. And banging the local whores for pennies or going into a small town where they treated you well because they wanted your money doesn’t count as your “positive” experience. The police shoot kids and dogs in the streets because this culture is painfully uneducated, has zero impulse control and isn’t responsible whatsoever regarding sexual reproduction and spaying and neutering. This country, except for the gorgeous, priceless Amazon which these dumbasses are obliterating, is garbage. Brazil would be sincerely and absolutely amazing if only the indigenous people lived there. You know, those poor people that that shitty government if fucking over to steal and demolish the lands they have protected since millennia.
In all honesty, I’ve always found it to be simpleton, dumbasses like you who probably think horseradish is exotic to get so “wowed” by this mixed/whatever you want to call it culture. And no, they ARE NOT and SHOULD NOT be classified as truly Latin people anymore than people from Portugal should. The Portuguese are not Latin, and neither are Brazilians. They are no where near the real definition of a real Latin person. And yes, Columbians are off the charts. The loveliest, most gorgeous people.
So yeah, go and get stuffed.
i agree !
I can only define your post as racist and injudicious… so there is no point in even arguing any further.
Pois é, meu amigo… Discutir pra quê. Bora ser feliz que o pessoal aqui é puro ódio. Bj!
I am Brazilian and i agree with you. No wonder Bolsonaro is our president now! he is the face of most Brazilian people here. But our people still very racist xenophobic , they just love Bolsonaro… I am Brazilian and i know how rude and egoist people are here. And a very racist country indeed
The 2 biggest problems of Brazil are:
-The cult of falseness;
-The arrogance of dunning kruger effect.
Solve these two problems and at least 80% of Brazil´s problems disappear. But brazilians need to desire this change wich is not the case at all.
Well, you should come back here again. There are so many places to know. Try Goiás or Bonito (MS). You Will not regrets .
Yes, brazilians can be “friendly”, but it´s FAKE most of times even a scam sometimes.
I am a brazilian myself and I am VERY, VERY tired with all FALSENESS THAT BRAZILIANS ARE SOO PROUD.
YES, BRAZILIANS ARE PROUD ABOUT BEING FALSE, DOUBLE FACE AND LIE. I LIVE HERE AND IT´S DISGUSTING.
Um… I don’t think he’s an asshole. I think he’s just speaking his truth. If you show up to a country and people are unfriendly, laugh at you when you ask for directions, and were generally disenchanted then… that’s what it is. I wouldn’t take it personally; he had a bad experience in Brazil!
The days of “Having you been to Bahia” when Zé Carioca welcomes you into a wonderful land of exotic, beautiful nature with a diverse and friendly cultural heritage followed by soothing music are long, long gone. They were left behind in the 50s or 70s, depending on how demanding you are. The proverbial friendly Brazilian does not exist anymore. The last ones were my grandparents.
The average Brazilian is more worried about if he has the most expensive car in the neighborhood than he is about their kids education. I’m not joking. If you ask a father what their kids are learning in school vs. what is the car model of his neighbors, you’d probably get more correct answers to the second question. Besides, man are groomed to be 5 year old kids, going from their mom wings to their wife wings, which leads to a very paternalist society.
Meanwhile, there is blatant, in your face corruption everywhere. There is rampant street violence everywhere except in closed condos, which became home prisons for the rich. Police, as everyone already knows, does absolutely nothing to counter street violence. It is also very corrupt. In fact, it is a well known fact that (all?) police car units receive “help” from gas stations, bars and small dinners to help curb violence, and frequently they encourage criminal acts to happen if their patrons refuse to support them. This is kindly worded by policemen as “the kids lunch” (as in the policeman’s children) and similar obnoxious terms.
If you want to have your own business, good luck. If I were to talk through taxes, tax burden, corruption, inefficiency, unqualified workforce and so on I’d write a book.
Brazil, today, is a very stressful place to live. The rule of thumb in Brazil is that all rules are made ad hoc. So nobody follows no rules. Case in point: neighborhood noise has reached record levels because there has been a surge of bars, street parties and all you can imagine disrespecting any city zoning rules. So after a stressful week of work, you are rewarded with a noisy neighbor or bar or street party all day and all night with a very low quality “funk” (well, the carioca funk that is) with pornographic lyrics easily reaching 90-100 dB in your window. Day and night in, day and night out.
And education. The heritage of bureaucracy means that only law and medical careers are seen as worthwhile. The best basic education is private, and the best superior education is public. So only the rich can get the best superior education, and they get it for free, making the whole inequality problem way worse. But in true Brazilian fashion, public colleges are gradually being trounced by private schools, except when it comes to research because, well, research in Brazil, with a handful exceptions, is wasteful and inefficient and there is no accountability at all inside public universities about how grants are actually spent.
Honestly, I actually support the idea of breaking apart Brazil into multiple pieces. Brazil is too big to be manageable by the current establishment. The country only walks by basic life instincts, inertia if you will. Brazil certainly feels like a thousand people playing tug of war in multiple directions, and nobody going everywhere.
In short, imagine a very dynamic and rich country, except that nobody follows the rules for absolutely nothing whatsoever. The best word to describe Brazil is chaotic and unpredictable.
Living here 7 years and from the US, i cannot agree more with you. Brazil is great for tourism. Apart from that, i tell people that there are way more better countries to live in. Its very hard as a foreigner outside from coming with a multinational company witha job. I started a business here 5 years ago and it has bee hard. A business i started in the US 2 years ago grew more on 2 years than the one i physically handle in Brazil. Racism is so rampantand right in front of you. The minority class are so oppressed and forced into this arphateid style system here and only if you are willfully ignorant, just dont care or turn a blind eye, you wont take notice. Govt screws the people, rob the money, but you will see more brazilians out on the street to celebrate flamengo than the political oppression and corruptionin this country. From my time here, Brazil is a waste of so much potential and resources. I have come to the point of just planningmy exit and moving me and my brazilian wife to the US and just come here for vacation to see family…..
(Daniel) DUDE….I’m from Cuba and I visited Rio for their Rockin Rio Festival traveling with one of the artist. I have this gift of being able to read people. Rio …I did see as a beautiful place ..only because our hotel was on the beach. We did some traveling and you can see the poverty and potential violence…as we were told by the locals and notice the homes of the wealthy were barb wired. I did get the chance to get out at night..the locals did not look at me at all…and I felt a slight tension (I’m a black Cuban w/ a muscular build) but I didn’t get any attitudes.
Coming back to the states , I did a favor for a friend by renting out my home to a 39yr Brazilian girl and her 3 kids. The mom who had a wealthy family in Brazil was cut off by her parents who didn’t support leaving Brazil to defect to the US. She even completely admitted that she was too lazy to keep up the cleniness in my house. I also overheard her 7yr old one day as mom came home w/ a 60yr white American wanting the know the value of his brand new corvette….it was always about money w/ him….he had this entitled, angry and violent nature (draws pictures of killing people), but I bring it up to the lack of parenting and that he and his 8yr old brother were left home alone after arriving from school.
I’ve met and partied with Brazilians… and only a few will smile back.
I live in Florida and Brazilians run to Florida in droves…alot coming with Visas…looking to get married. I met a lady who arranged meetings/marriages with Brazilian women looking for well off American husbands.
After 3mos in my house and the arrogant attitude, I’m ready for this lady and her kids to leave!!
There’s nothing wrong about being proud people but humility and respect for others makes you a great person ….. and always aknowledge that you are not alone in the country that you’re from… If you Government does worse for the poor with the sewer that runs into their water then you’re just a selfish Asshole….period.
Immigrant living here in Brazil here. I’m so sorry about your experience. Be thankful that you were able to leave; many immigrants have to suffer through daily discrimination, but are threatened for speaking up. Just look at your comments “this is why we hate foreigners”. Historically, immigrants helped to shape Brazilian society. But today they are being told to ‘go home’ (Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/8/16/is-brazil-no-longer-safe-for-refugees-and-immigrants). Open hate for foreigners is completely acceptable here.
With these attitudes, you would envision Brazil overrun with immigrants. That’s not the case. Less than 70 years ago, Brazil had a booming immigrant population, with the immigrant population making up close to 8% of its total population. Now its down to less than 1%. Brazilians claim that Brazil is very friendly to foreigners, yet the immigration to Brazil has decreased drastically, almost come to a complete stop. Although there are barely any immigrants here, an overwhelming majority of Brazilians want stricter immigration laws (Source: https://www.dw.com/pt-br/67-dos-brasileiros-defendem-maior-rigor-na-entrada-de-imigrantes/a-46890964).
If you bring up the hatred you are faced with, Brazilians will quickly use the rude herring argument fallacy, unable to ever take responsibility for the hate they give immigrants. One embarrassing and shameless example is when a Brazilian show had K-Pop guests on. The Brazilian host pulled his eyes into a slanted gesture, then told one of his guests to ‘open his eyes’. Koreans, understandably upset, voiced their concerns on social media. In response to the backlash, the Brazilian hashtag “Do you want Korea” began trending on Twitter. Messages unfavorably compared Korea to Brazil and pointed out instances of alleged Korean racism (source: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40672028). You will find many groups openly against immigrants, including the Free Brazil Movement and Right Sao Paulo.
Lastly, a majority of Brazilians claim that immigrants here are ‘to lazy’ to learn Portuguese. Yet, there are barely any Portuguese schools for foreigners. If there are, Brazilians charge in US dollars. That’s right, if you are an immigrant here, making money in Brazilian reais, you will be charged in US dollars to learn Portuguese. ‘Doesn’t immersion work’? No. If that were the case, then everyone in the US would be fluent in English. Language is power. The best way to keep people down is to restrict their access to power. Even if fluent in Portuguese, companies rarely hire immigrants. Authorities see exploitation for drug trafficking as a growing problem with an influx of poor migrants from neighboring Venezuela and Bolivia. Immigrant women are coerced to smuggle drugs after being lured to Brazil with false job promises, only to be held in apartments on arrival, with their passports taken away (Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-trafficking-drugs-idUSKBN1YN00X). The fear that Brazil is going to see many more xenophobic attacks such is very real. But it is still not too late for Brazil to remember and embrace its immigrant roots.
Thank you for the very informative comment.
Everything you say is unfortunately not unique to Brazil, it is something that has been below the surface in many places. The difference is that leaders are now openly fomenting racism – Trump and Bolsonaro being prime examples. Are leaders reflective of their constituents? Maybe. But unfortunately hatred in many places is now acceptable.
As far as our trip goes (and this trip goes back to 2006 – I’m surprised by all the comments I still get) we didn’t enjoy Brazil but we never felt hatred in any way. We were just tourists who didn’t find people particularly friendly. But I don’t want anyone to misunderstand that for anything more than that.
PS. I’m sorry for your experience
As a Brazilian, I actually agree with a lot of what you say. The average Brazilian tends to be rude. Well, at least that’s my experience growing up in Rio. Brazilian culture is very toxic in general, women are taught to hate each other, men tend to be sexist as hell. People here tend to be rather snobby and usually think they’re better than other people. Have you seen the arrogant jerk that is the current president of Brazil? He really represents a large portion of this country. A large percentage of the country is currently braindead and believe in any Fake News they read on Whatsapp, pure insanity! If i were you, I’d visit other Latin American countries, because in Brazil, ignorance and arrogance seems to be abundant. The only think I have to disagree with you it is about the race aspect. Brazil has actually a lot of white people, especially in the South. So we’re kind of used to see white people. People weren’t rude to you because they thought you were American. In fact, Brazilians love to suck America’s dick lol. You were just unfortunate enough to run into very stressed and arrogant Brazilians that day. Which is something really common here. If you actually told them that you were from North America, they would totally change the way that they were treating you. Regards, and I’m sorry about your experience.
My goodness!!! “Brutally Honest Brazilian”, besides having a lot of free time in his hands, he hates Brazil with all his guts :). I had never seen so many negative and racist comments coming from one single person.
I have Brazil in my “to visit” list and trying to learn more, but some of the comments here are really negative. Is it really that bad?
We can have negative and positive experiences anywhere. I live in Florida. Southern of US is known for it’s friendly and polite people, but I have read negative comments about Florida too. I lived in Montreal, Canada, for almost a decade, but had I been a tourist visiting for a week I could report a negative experience with the rudeness of a Canadian man, who let a door close on my 2 years son’s face, in a downtown mall. Was that man really rude and intentionally tried to hurt my son? Nope, be aware that Canadians in Quebec do not hold doors for anyone. Simple like that. A cultural thing. I love Canada and mainly Quebec. Don’t miss it, just be aware with malls doors 🙂
I’ve been in Mexico many times and love it, but first time there I had 2 bad experiences. First a cab drive charged us $100 from the airport to the hotel. I was told the cost should be less than $30, but the drive threatened us. My wife was really scared so I decided to pay. You can find plenty of similar complaint. Next day, In a bar I dropped my drink and the waiter said would bring another (normal and expected sure thing in the USA). The bar’s manager asked in Spanish, language I get by, if it was his fault what the waiter replied it was mine, then the manger said no for another drink (a $11 drink that costs less than $1 in ingredients – negate it – how stupid is that?) – we never came back to that bar again.
In Costa Rica, we went to a restaurant with a local couple we had met in Florida before. Same dish, same drinks, our bill was higher than the local couple bill. I paid for both bills and never got an explanation why the price was different. I learned it’s common in Costa Rica the “gringo overcharge” – I don’t know how widespread this practice is, but apparently it is well known among expats. They say they always expect to pay more than locals.
I could go on with bad experiences I had as traveller, but my point is that a bad experience should not deter you from enjoying the destination.
I think you can have bad experiences everywhere, this list is informative of the experiences of the writer but im brazilian and i lived in europe for a year and i came back because i think people here are much more polite than there, you can find good and bad people everywhere, you should visit us because of our nature and lots of awesome places to visit
“Is it really that bad?”
About the falseness of brazilians, YES, 100% true. They lie to you with a smile in the face. Belive me, the “dumbass laugher” that he describe is very common. By another hand, It was notthing to do with being american, we do it with each other EVERDAY, EVER F* SINGLE DAY.
Also, forget about privacy. Privacy is NOT respect at all in Brazil. Everyone expects you to have a social network and talk about everything in your life otherwise you will be considered crazy or/and loser loner without any friends. Since majority think in this way, then, yes, you will prolly have a hard time making friends.
In Brazil is the same most of them take advantage of foreigners by overcharging.Be aware.
I am a Filipina and went to Sao Paulo two years ago specifically in the municipality of Catanduva. I speak Portuguese and really tried hard during my stay there. Most of the Brazilian women at my age as of my experience are not very friendly even though I wanted to make friends with them because of course, for experience and memories which resulted into me travelling alone and seldom talking to the locals. Im not sure maybe they’ve mistaken me somehow as Japones because Im Asian. If I were asked if im going back to Brazil, maybe yes, at Rio maybe the people there are friendly than at Sao Paulo.
I can understand. Most women and not just in Brazil, even in Germany or Scandinavia won´t be friendly with most Asian women. You know why? because many of their men couldn´t find that touch of femininity that women in the past used to have. Which is not the case when it comes to many Asian women. I am a man, not that attracted to Asian women though (sorry) but I found them more feminine and more pleasant to hang out with. And trust me many of my male friends like asian women and you can check the data about European men marrying asian women. So I guess the reason why you wont find many women to be friendly in the western hemisphere is because they see you as a concurrence.
I got here through a Google search. I’m in Brazil solo, three weeks, and haven’t found Brazilians to be rude at all (‘nor overly friendly). They were quite pleasant in Buzios & Arriail Do Cabo. I cannot speak for Rio De Janeiro, but many locals that I’ve already met have told me that the North East & North are way more hospitable and pleasant and they’re very welcoming to foreigners. Additionally, I was told by locals many Brazilians in the South feel they aren’t part of “Brazil” and are independent of greater Brazil since they’re the economic hub of South America. Also, Brazil isn’t “Latino” as you describe in this post & Brazil often looks up to the USA. There are a lot of inaccuracies here that you shouldn’t try to conflate with bad experiences.
While I wouldn’t say Brazilians in Rio are as welcoming as the Thais or Turks, they certainly are not as cold as the Dutch or Swedes.
I’m sure lots of Brazilians who come across your post will be mad at it. Granted, you couldn’t really have experienced much of what the country has to offer after staying for just two weeks. There is some truth to your points nonetheless. The biggest weakness of Brazil is its people. We’re too arrogant and have no manners, no taste, kinda like the Chinese. Unlike them though, our education is severely lacking, which makes it worse.
For a very long time I wanted things to improve. But now I realize every country has the people / culture that it deserves. There are no excuses, really. You either suck it up and appreciate the nature / food (the best aspects of Brazil, IMO) or move to a country where there’s no reason to be bitter or jealous towards others because the living standards are better for everyone.
Like any South American country, Brazil has violence, drugs, cartels, drug dealers , kidnappings and murders. This happens in Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela, I mean, all countries in South America are like that. Knowing that you are Canadian, I believe that in some places in New York, people would also feel unsafe, because even in New York and other American cities, one can feel unsafe with the violence there. So in that part of your post, I Disagree. As for the part of Brazilian women having a reputation for being super hot and being beautiful, this is very silly. Brazil is a country of mixed races, it has a lot of beautiful and ugly women. But some men think that all women are like those who participate in the Rio de Janeiro Carnival and is not quite like that.
About you, feeling unwelcome and the people were rude to you: it was bad luck, or you visited the country at a bad time (Brazil has been trough a lot with the political situation between 2016 &2018) Because Brazil is famous for being one of the most welcoming and friendly countries with tourists. My fiance is English and I am Brazilian. We have been together 4 years and 2017 we went to Brazil as he never have been in Brazil at that time.
We went to Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Curitiba.
He simply loved the climate, the places, the food and even more the people. We did a tour in Favela da Rocinha, because I wanted to show him what life is like for a part of the Brazilians and my fiance loved it. Don’t let a bad experience stop you from returning to Brazil.
I went to Cairo a few years ago and hated people. Especially men who looked at me as predators, and hey, I’m not that beautiful. Just normal looking girl. I felt unsafe to go anywhere on my own at night. Spend 2 weeks without going out at night.
But decided to give it another go last year. Not Cairo this time but Luxor and was an amazing experience.
I traveled in 29 countries so far and Egypt now is one of my favourites. I actually want to try Cairo again.
So trust me, I am not saying this just because I am Brazilian but also because my fiancé (who is 100% British, white and a blond man) even wants to live in Brazil.
All the best x
Good point that not all women are going to look like the dancers in Carnival parades. A better way to find out what ordinary people look like in a country is to look for youtube videos taken of people in the streets, these can be found for every major city on Earth. I even saw some videos of street level activities in Rocinha.
Regards, Randall from USA
Great comment, I agree. Of course everybody has a different set of things that can make a place “unacceptable” to them, it also happens to me! I have visited Brazil twice, and I personally LOVED it. Like your husband, I found Brazilians to be among the most friendly people I have ever met. To the point that I thought it might be a slight annoyance if I lived there- people are so open to chatting, and are curious that you can end up just chatting the afternoon away and putting off what you should be doing! That was my experience anyway. I am friends with a few Brazilians where I live, and they are great people. Easy to make friends with. None of them however, want to return to Brazil to live because of the violence and schooling issues (which many places have btw- I am an American living in the UK and all of my UK and European friends have the exact same reservations, plus the healthcare issue, when discussing weather or not they would ever live in the US) which is sad. I hope it gets better for everyone 🙂
I think making an effort to speak as much of the local language as you can also goes a loong way. People in Brazil reacted positively to my efforts, and I have never ever had a bad experience in France, aside from new York style rudeness in Paris which I don’t mind. I think that trying to speak French, as pathetic as it may be, is part of this. Anyway, that’s no big revelation lol.
On the other hand, I studied mandarin Chinese for four years in University, love the language and my Chinese friends, was able to communicate pretty well, but hated Beijing when I moved there to work after school. It shocked me, because I was so ready to live and stay for years! The pollution, rude people (asking for help, people laughed and/or waved me away multiple times, once when I was injured and in distress! Like a horror movie) and always feeling like I can’t relax in public because people were pointing at me, taking photos, shoving babies in my arms for a photo, saying rude things about how I must be a slut (!) etc in Chinese on the subway because they thought I couldn’t understand….ahhh I found it hard. But I still love Chinese and Chinese culture so hopefully I can try again in a different city, or Taiwan,someday.
People looove Cornwall, and after reading about your experience changing after a second visit I might give it another try…but WOW rudest people I have ever encountered, no contest. I have little desire to go back honestly. It is so subjective really, and not everyone will enjoy every culture.
One must not generalize a Country the size of a continent based on merely 2 weeks in one city, of one region. Any blank statement is ignorant, really.
Im American born, but was raised in Brazil by Brazillian parents, and lived in the northeast for 17+ years. I’ve travelled north to south by car multiple times and I can attest that each part of Brazil is a completely different country. From food, to culture, behavior and language.
Finding ways to victimize yourself (mistreated because you’re white, because of the visa issue, etc) is such a first world mentality, which I see as a constant now living in the US for over a decade.
The other issue I find here, which someone mentioned in an earlier comment, is that you’re also basing your remarks on stereotypes, such as the one regarding pretty women. Any woman can sense a “gringo” looking to objectify them. Brazillian women are constantly objectified, to the point of being disrespected, and often by foreigners who go to Brazil “looking for a fun time”, so if you make such a diminishing and sexist remark, it’s safe to assume that your intentions are easily recognized by women who can easily spot this type of behavior. Women grow up being treated poorly, so it’s not difficult to spot men like that.
When you travel, it’s a disservice to criticize a country because they don’t fit your culture or (first world) standards. The whole point of traveling is to experience how other people live, somewhat like an anthropological research. You travel to learn, expand your mind. Finding issues with everything, and projecting that you were personally attacked, is not a mindset to have been travelling. If you want to go on a vacation where people smile at you and treat you like the all-mighty tourist, you go to a resort or a cruise. A third world country, riddled with poverty and corruption, is not a place to expect people being ready to leave aside their reality just to so you can enjoy your trip. These are real people, with their own life.
As any Brazillian, it’s hard to offend me, and Brazil is by no means a utopia, as I’m one that often criticized the country. But what I find troubling is just the generalization applied here, and the stereotyping. Too often I’m asked about all of these stereotypes here in the US, and it’s disappointing that people turn a complex and diverse country into stock images of beaches, pretty women and soccer.
My two cents about this post: He was talking about Rio, as a tourist, and he didn’t have contact with nice people. That’s it.
I’ve read the whole text, and it seems decent, this is genuinely an experience you may have in Brazil depending on the luck factor 🙂
Unfortunately there is a real confusion between Americans and Canadians, as if they were they were very very similar countries, and Rio is a well know place where any kind of service provider will treat a tourist as a person that you can charge high fees for a bad service.
Also, it is good to mention that Brazil is a big country. São Paulo, Rio, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Manaus…they are totally different places. It may not be the best example, but it would be strange to stay in Toronto for 2 weeks and then return to Brazil saying “wow, Canada and USA are the same thing! They share the same sport competitions, so many americans living there”. Or spending 2 weeks in Vancouver and saying “Wow, half of Canada population is chinese!”.
Your article is very very important. Years ago, Salvador was passing through a “tourism crisis” (among other crisis…) because of a bad mentality that you can charge astronomical fees when you are providing a crappy service or product.
Then, you know, tourists (like you) will not come back, will pass the information for many other people “please, there are better places to visit”, and I would say in few years the tourism industry of the city will fall.
About Americans (and I know it has nothing to do with you), I would say that the opinions are mixed.
Some people don’t like their behavior, some people think they are all cool people, but I have to tell you, unfortunately stereotypes will always exist.
About the guy that mentioned that “Brazilian Women usually are not friendly, and those who are friendly is because thinks the men is wealthy”, that’s another bad stereotype, and also a cultural problem. Many tourists in Brazil, when talking to a friendly woman, have a bad behavior of hitting this woman too fast, without any previous conversation. I can tell you because I saw that happening more than once: They don’t know how to approach, but prefer to say “wow, these women are so hard to deal with”
Hi!
I’ve never been to Brazil but for a while I really wanted to go. I find your post very interesting because it differs from the usually overly enthusiastic opinions and matches the negative experiences of people I met in real life.
My doctor in particular had a terrible time in Rio when she went there for charity work. She’s used to working abroad in difficult condition but the days she spent there as a tourist after she finished her mission left her a very bad impression. According to her the place is gorgeous but unsafe and the precautions that you have to take to avoid danger aren’t absolutely worth it. She would never go back and she found people to be weirdly aggressive.
I would still visit the southern region of Rio Grande though.
Replying to Anna:
Anna, as someone who is a native from Rio Grande myself, I feel the obligation to tell you this. The problem with Brazil in general is that the “violence” is not only in regards to crime, the violence is encouraged by cultural and societal aspects. Mothers encourage their sons to be aggressive from an early age because this is a sign of being “manly” in their sick twisted view, resulting in men that are violent in every possible way. Fathers, the very few rare unicorns that aren’t wife beaters and child spankers themselves, will not punish the actions of their daughters, resulting in spoiled women who learned from an early age that you can always get away with your misdoings. And then there is the societal “norm” currently accepted in most families that it is common to abuse one of the kids in sake of the others, either it’s boy or girl, there’s a clear difference in treatment between each sibling. The ones who get away with murder become aggressive adults. The ones who are abused from all directions are traumatized for life and can end up becoming aggressive assholes themselves for not knowing how to process trauma correctly. It’s a disgusting cycle of violence that starts right from the cradle. Some men will actively seek and pride themselves on having sex encounters with pregnant women because in their view this means they don’t have to wear a condom and there’s no risk of having kids themselves. The woman is no saint in this either, since there must be two in order to dance. You see where I’m going? Things that you would never expect to think in your mind because these “creatures” have gone down below the limit of what is considered human anymore. This is part of the culture and it is widely accepted everywhere. Fathers and mothers will turn the blind eye because they don’t want to be bothered, most of them are already on burnout from being wage slaves anyway, the marriage is dead for a long time already. And there’s even a more cruel aspect to it (really? what a surprise!!) : the parents will even reward the kid that misbehaves because – once more – this means that he’s a “dominant male” or whatever that means. You will start to notice that many of the abused and mistreated kids are the ones who were following all the rules and behaving properly, these are the ones who are turned into scapegoats to all the other siblings. I don’t know from where this comes from, and honestly I don’t care anymore, my mind had enough dark thoughts to think about for a lifetime. Let these animals live in the cages they built for themselves and let’s go pursuit a better place to live our lives not having to deal with any of this. You can imagine how these creatures behave in a professional environment, I bet you do, I don’t even need to start on that. I see a lot of foreigners donating their hard-earned dollars to “charity” programs in south america, don’t waste your money anymore, your charity money is only enabling all of this behavior to continue happening (incentivizing further breeding to get more donations) and none of the money reaches the pockets they should in the first place.
Well, I was supposed to talk about my homestate Rio Grande… the short version of the story is this: they were already aggressive enough before. Nowadays, what’s happening is that the black/brown folks from the other states are going down to the developed regions in the south in DROVES. The cities and the region that I knew and loved back 10 years ago don’t exist anymore. Homelessness been rising, you see less and less white people on the streets, companies closing doors, garbage thrown on the streets, the streets stink like piss. People in the countryside don’t have jobs (it’s mostly public sector sucking out of the government tits) which leads to people becoming even more inventive in regards to ways to exploit others in order to survive.
The island of Floripa in the neighbor state might be more worthy of an extended visit of 10 days, the north of the island is its own independent region isolated from the rest. But even then, there’s massive migration happening to the region, it will eventually die out, if it has not already. You will face many of the annoyances there as well but at least the weather is nice (not too hot) and the landscaped are nice. The sewer is still dumped into the ocean regardless of the city you choose to visit. Brilliant. Fucking brilliant.
“How to kill an entire country – The manual”
Wow… Ive never read such a negative comment of a country before! There must be still good people, i hope the good people stay safe there! Breaks my heart that countries get destroyed due to corruption!
every country has corruption that’s not only brazil
I live in Santa Catarina, next to Rio Grande do Sul, and I’m appalled by this comment. It’s extremely over the top and racist. I don’t know what has happened in your life or what kind of upbringing you had, but it doesn’t sound like we live in the same country. From my experience most Brazilians are good and live ordinary lives.
Does it matter if it is racist if it is accurate? I want to hear the truth even if it offends people who are not white.
“Big Blue”, the problem is that this is not accurate at all.
Brazil has LOTS of problems and I hate many things here, but this guy nicknamed “Brutally Honest Brazilian” is just saying a lot of non-sense.
His state of his (Rio Grande) is falling behind simple because its economy is stuck in the 90s. Data shows Rio Grande is not even among the Top 5 states for immigrants, so any comments regarding immigration in Rio Grande is pure ignorance.
Most immigrants come to the state of São Paulo (41%), which is at least 4 times richer than Rio Grande and still… nobody is complaining about immigrants here in São Paulo.
The comment about “how kids are raised in Brazil” is one of the most innacurate and pathetic things I’ve heard in my whole life. Brazilian families usually follow a “Christian family” path and data shows most kids are raised in broken homes by their mothers or grandparents, that’s not so different from American families, except that their budget is much more constrained due to a weak economy.
Look at the size of this country, there are huge differences in terms of culture and levels of development between one state and another, some of them seem like completely different countries, all of them have its ups and downs. You can’t just describe all Brazilians in one comment like this guy did, just ignore him.
If you have been to detroit you will be fine, apparently it has more crime than Rio, but Americans seem to brush that under the rug lol… dont get me wrong, it is still very dangerous, but if you go to non touristy areas or even another less famous city you are probably safer and going to have a better, more cultural experience 🙂
No one travels to Detroit in the US unless they have business, has virtually no tourism, so it is not anything like a typical city. Something I continually see is people from Latin America will point out cities that are highly black and then state that it is the same thing. Why am I the one who has to point out that these cities are black, while the commenter pretends that they have no idea. Detroit is 81% black. Do you think the US is overall 81% black. That would make the US a nearly African country then.
Ok, I’m commenting this without reading all the other comments first, so this is solely my pure reaction to the blog post.
First: THANK YOU so much for your honest words. As a brazilian myself (I feel so ashamed everytime I say these words… I should not feel shame about the country I’m originally from… This is insane…) as a brazilian myself I sincerely hope the authorities will FINALLY start paying attention to what is said here and start making some changes in regards to improving the place step by step.
The problem then becomes: the government can’t change the people’s minsets. You see, Brazil for the past 2 decades has been regarded as the “least educated” people by a large margin, even countries in Africa that are aflicted by constant civil wars have better education indexes than brazilians. This is profoundly embarassing. In short, these people are “savages”. And I speak this having to deal with all this NONSENSE in my daily live for the past 3 decades. I had to deal with NONE of this on any of my visits abroad.
I honestly don’t know if it is genetic (DNA), if it is social, if it is cultural, if it is economical, or if it is a mix of all of the above. For this point in time, I lost hope for brazilians to evolve past “savages” and becoming civilized human beings, with a sense of moral compass and with human empathy (something that I had seen with my own eyes in countries that are considered “1st world”, so I’m afraid Economy is a direct consequence of the human spirit in that place, and not the opposite)
For you to have an idea, I am a white brazilian citizen. Back in my home state, people mistreated me for being “too white”. After I moved to another state more to the north, this sentiment is even more prevalent here, since whites are not majority of population. So yes indeed, there is a strong “anti-white” sentiment here, everywhere you go, even for native citizens. Gang mentality is real. (I assume this would happen with italians too, everyone that doesn’t have black hair is not considered a member of the family in their mind)
For me, all this translates into “anti-human”.
Now, for a change of pace… Let’s go to comparisons with other countries.
I never visited Colombia, but I felt amazing when I visited Mexico for 6 months straight, I felt free there and I felt welcomed despite not speaking the local language all that good.
So my overall conclusion about the whole thing is: if you want to visit a place that is beautiful geographically, that has lots of beaches and that also has polite friendly people and costs cheap, stay with Mexico. The “bang for your bucks” ratio there is INSANELY higher.
Oh, and very important as well: Brazil has insane amounts of bureaucracy for everything that you want to do, daily life here can only be compared to China in that regard, everything will be difficult. These people are not business savvy at all, and they will blame foreigners for their incompetence. That was another plus that I observed in Mexico: ZERO bureaucracy anywhere I went. In Mexico you are pretty much left to do whatever you want with zero interference. Instead of taking this as example, it seems to me these dumb countries down south are heading in the opposite direction. It’s slowly turning into a mix of China and Russia. After all, these are the economic partners they are choosing to align with.
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After reading all this, don’t be too judgemental when you encounter lots and lots of brazilians living abroad. These, the ones immigrating, are the ones who still have a sense of “human empathy” in their souls and they KNOW they have to RUN from this place as an act of desperation. It’s not everything about “money” and “economy”, it’s about what kind of life you want for yourself. I have seen a lot of anti-immigration hate being spread out there lately and I feel like it’s my duty saying this.
Thank you for your various comments Diego. Your comments are quite harsh and I don’t want to comment being a foreigner who’s only spent 2 1/2 weeks in Brazil. But thank you for your thoughts.
Mexico on the other hand is a country I know well. My mother lives in Mexico and I try to visit her every year. I love Mexico. The people are friendly, helpful, and patient when foreigners attempt to speak Spanish (even if not perfect). And it IS good value. So I agree with everything you have to say about Mexico 🙂
As a white American male, I have spent years traveling on business in Latin America/Mexico, and have been to EVERY country multiple times…maybe Brazil dozens of times (Rio, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Recife, etc, etc,) in cities large and small. I am proud to say I have many friends all over the continent, and love latin culture in general. I can categorically say that you, and most of the negative comments concerning Brazil, are spot on!! Brazil is dangerous, extremely racist and misogynist, and the men are absolutely taught from a young age to be hyper-aggressive. I have also run up and down/spent time on the beaches of Ipanema and Copacobana countless times and have NEVER seen a real Brazilian knockout girl on the beach (my Brazilian friends tell me that real hot Brazilian girls never go to the beach anyway because they don’t want to “darken” their light skin as dark skin is considered “low class”). I second the comments about both Columbia and Mexico…both just lovely places with warm people and great food (which Brazil also lacks). Incidentally, the most beautiful latin woman I have ever seen were in Venezuela!
Brazil lacks great food? Hahaha fucking hell, an American complaining about brazilian food should be prohibited by law. Yall just don’t what great food is, for you guys It’s all about some fast snacks, which is probably why you seem to think mexican food is so much better.
I’ve traveled around the world, and yes, Brazilian food really is some of the most awful I’ve experienced. Bland, flavorless, and completely devoid of spice. It’s better than the food I’ve had in Northern Europe (looking at you, Netherlands), and…that’s about it. I spent six months there eating pretty much everything, and the only thing I miss is açaí and paçoquita…hardly real food.
E, se você é brasileiro, só quero dizer que se algum dia vc for para os EUA ou o Mexico, eu prometo te mostrar alguns pratos locais que não têm NADA que ver com McDonalds ou Taco Bell ou toda essa bagunça fast-food em geral.
Sorry, I have to agree. I have been in Rio for 3.5 months on this my 4th visit. Got robbed last week. But about the food. Mostly not so good unless you are fine dining. Restaurants are cheaper than US by about 40%. Too much bread and meat on average and not much variety. Just my opinion.
Hi Brazilian,
I don’t think bureaucracy is what’s wrong with China and Russia, maybe in the past but not now. You can search around and see that those two countries aren’t very bureaucratic (better than UK, Germany, France etc). In China, life is not as difficult as you described as long as you don’t try your free speech rights. You can make money whatever way you wish and the government won’t bat an eye (local officials are ranked by their ability to grow the economy). China has lots of problems from the authoritarian government, but business acumen is certainly not one of them.
Having never been to Brazil, I don’t have any insight into Brazil’s problem. Anyway improving education, invest in infra and promoting local industries will do the trick usually. You have a beautiful country, a democratic system and I believe in Brazil’s bright future!
bruh wtf?? I don’t know if we have different experiences or whatever but I’m also Brazilian, living in America now, and I love Brazil so much? Like it’s amazing? I love the food, the beaches, and especially the people, who I think tend to be much more outgoing and intimate and mush less superficial than Americans. Also I feel like you were treading the line about racism (even though you said you were Brazilian) when you kept talking about how genetics are likely what’s making us “savages”… idk what you’re talking about, but Brazilians are not fucking savages. Yes, we’re in one of the worst economic crises in history, people are suffering from extreme poverty because of that and the huge wealth gap, and we have a very bad education system. But we’re FUCKING NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS. WE HAVE EMPATHY AND MORAL COMPASSES. I think when you talk about meeting “normal people”, you’re talking about the people who have lived in the luxury of wealth in a 1st world country. Don’t be so offended when people who suffer a whole lot more than them and have barely any opportunities in life resort to stealing and committing crimes. And don’t be so offended if you feel like you’re being “discriminated against” for being white in a country where whiteness is praised and racism DOES EXIST. If they actually treated you badly for being white, that might them just taking out their rage about their situation on someone who they know has been born with so much more privilege than them (I’m assuming you’re at least middle class, as you could afford to move to another country). If Brazil could just try to help with shortening the wealth gap and bettering education system, a lot of our problems could be solved. But these problems are things all developing countries face. In fact, for a developing country, Brazil is doing quite well with corruption, crime, and the economy. Other countries are much worse. But despite all this, Brazil is not a nightmarish wasteland of savages as this commenter stated. It is a pretty cool place. I lived in Rio, and didn’t go on vacation to anywhere else, but I know for a fact that there are other places in Brazil that are great for tourists (Jericoacoara, fernando de noronha, etc.). If you’re a nervous tourist who has never experienced a risk of crime in your life, these places are great for a simple beach vacation. Rio does have crime, but please don’t let that scare you off from visiting. You’ve just got to be smart about it. My uncle, for example, always wore a fanny pack when out and about. If you’re not up for sacrificing your fashion sense for a bit of extra security, you can just not be on your phone and keep your wallet and/or purse secure while on the street. Don’t wear flashy jewelry on the street, either. You won’t need it on the beach, anyways. But the beaches are amazing. There are always street vendors selling churros or ice cream or popcorn or pastels. The barracas sell amazing açai and (fresh!) coconut water, and if you go to Copacabana beach on a Sunday, they close the highway right next to the beach for people to walk around, bike, socialize, and buy from street vendors for the afternoon. The art fair is amazing too. They sell anything artistic there, and it’s all incredible. Not only did my parents buy me my “baby mobile” there, I have saved up and spent all of my allowance on a piece not once, not twice, but three different times. I feel like I’m going on a a rant here, but my point is that Brazil (Rio specifically) is an amazing place to visit.
Thanks for having taken the time to write a thoughtful comment.
I’m also Brazilian, and I agree with pretty much everything you said. Don’t know where this other guy got the idea of “anti-white” sentiment around here, since the majority of people dying in the favelas, suffering with low salary jobs or with no jobs at all are people of color.
As for the experience of the blogger, well, we are living a horrible crisis and ruled by as many see it, an incompetent government, and of course there’s also the pandemic situation, so it’s completely normal people are not as friendly as they use to be. There’s lots of social (race/class), economic problems being revealed right now, leaving most of the population uncertain and frightened with what is to come, so yeah, maybe people assuming you’re from a country that is filled with white supremacists (as we’ve been seeing) and highly profits from the exploitation of third world countries does not help either.
Replying to Frank (BBQ Boy):
Sorry for the late reply. I understand completely, you already did more than you needed to do with this blog post already, and I respect that immensely.
I mostly wrote that comment to give you some validation and to say: “No, you’re not crazy! These things really do happen!”
There are so many nuances to local life here, and I tried to paint an overall picture of the whole puzzle, but it gets so long as guys seen, to the point that it defeats its own purpose I guess.
I just want to point out that most of the people in the comments denying everything you said are people that either A) Do not really experience the street life on a daily basis, or they live in their nice little gated communities, probably with a stable state job too, the so-called “concursados” that can never be fired from their jobs… Or B) People that already moved abroad (the “I live in America now” guy there… hahaha) and have this romantic idea of Brazil from their childhoods or the past, but they also don’t really experience the reality of the ground on a daily basis. Either it’s A or B, it’s all hipocrisy to me.
I gave up fighting for this place man, it’s not worth it. Let the dogs fight for their little bones, if they want it that much.
I feel the same way! As a Brasilian having grown up in the US and Canada, I found that people were so much friendlier and happy to share their lives with you, even the ones who had so little to give. Life was so simple there, people enjoy time with friends and family, meals are a social event where people spend hours talking and savouring the food, not just fast food to simply feel full… Food is out of this would amazing-we actually have cultural food, whereas up here in Canada we have poutine; fries with gravy and cheese, like how is that even a recipe or “comida de verdade” as we would say… Also, this is probably not what he meant but how are we the savages? Please we eat with fork and knives while americans eat their pizza and fried food with their hands lol, 12 year old me thought this was so odd and to this day, 12 years living up here, I still cannot eat with my fingers…
I know a lot is wrong with Brasil, its corrupt and its a mess but its not the shithole gringos think it is. We actually have better dental care, sure not everyone is able to afford it but they will do it to perfection there (got braces in Canada and boy it did not meet my standards…), besides we also have free healthcare, which Americans dont and live in debt for something that should be a basic right. Also, they are actually getting vaccinated there, while up here in Canada we still have this lockdown bs and not nearly enough vaccines, even though its supposed to be a 1st world country and there is 1/10 the population of Brasil, but dont even get me started with the COVID thing…
Its not paradise, it could be better and it definitely has enough natural resources to do better if we had proper management. But its not hell either, yall gringos need to chill, we are normal people.
“but its not the shithole gringos think it is”. I am a “gringo” and I don’t think Brazil is that, In fact I am moving to Brazil (Brasil). When I read statements like that it saddens me at the outright stupidity to lump Norte Americanos all together in your statement. It’s no more true than if I said “you Brasilanos think”….whatever, But if you want to contribute to the ignorance .. go ahead.
North America is incredibly diverse in it’s thinking, attitude, food, culture etc..
“yall gringos need to chill” …. no I don’t. I’m not spreading ignorance. Brasil and North America
are all full of different kinds, you would do well to remember that.
I do not have anything to say about your point, except for the Italian bit: Italy has been conquered and ruled by different countries throughout the centuries, and Italians are probably among the most mixed societies in Europe. For example it is not difficult to find Sicilians with ginger hair, and people from SudTirol looking more like Austrians/Germans instead of the typical stereotyped Italian. This is just to say that yours is a generalisation and not necessarily applicable to how Italians behave and think – although I admit there is a high level of racism.
PS: I am Italian
“and people from SudTirol looking more like Austrians/Germans instead of the typical stereotyped Italian.”
That’s because genetically/ethnically they ARE mostly Austrians/Germans.
Good post, I also appreciate your candid and brave opinion because a lot of people get offended when talking about nationalities.
I haven’t been but I want to. I have some brazilians friends who are awesome, but they are all guys. So I think Brazilian people vary a lot in how they are to foreigners or other people (211 million). In my experience if you talk enough with brazilians they will at some point complain about the poverty in their country or just be unsatisfied by safety, or politics. Since Brazil has a relatively socialist economy, it is very corrupt and currently experiences very high inflation by international standards. I’ve noticed in general that people from socialism-leaning countries, ex-soviet union, ex-communist or communist countries are less happy, kind of angry, and more anti-american. This probably stems from communist propaganda that greedy capitalists and financiers are the source of all evil in society including poverty, when the communist regime itself is the culprit of that. In Brazil from what I’ve heard in talks, there was a period of high foreign immigration into the country during an authoritarian regime, this authoritarian leader was advertising Brazil to the rest of the world as a very prosperous country, economically speaking, but using fake data. This propaganda spread around the globe and a lot of asian, african, italian, etc. flew to Brazil looking for prosperity. A lot of these immigrants though ended up not being able to make a good living or going back to their countries, a lot of them also became drug addicts, criminals or became part of the poorer classes in Brazil (started living in favelas or grouped up and made their own favelas). So foreigners may be seen badly, like muslims or latinos in the US for representing a “poor class” that some think has brought more crime and poverty to the US or just because they compete with americans for jobs. The main reason you didn’t feel welcome though, I think, is anti-americanism, Canadians and Americans are basically indistinguishable most of the time, you guys generally look and feel the same, the accent is almost always exactly the same too. You would probably have a similar experience in Czech Republic, Ukraine or Russia outside Moscow. I think many brazilians realize that a freer capitalism in Brazil, more openness to the rest of the world and less government expenses in the form of social programs, grants and subsidies would greatly benefit them, bringing more foreign investment and a more stable currency, hence Bolsonaro, a far right wing candidate was elected president. But many people are upset with this outcome still, because they dislike capitalism or what Bolsonaro represents, I’ve heard brazilians say that Bolsonaro is a “trump’s dick sucker” for example. Right now though the government is very corrupt, prints a lot of money, pays poor people for having kids and in some areas the government covers water and electricity payments. When I talked to some Brazilians about politics some also think that Brazil will never become more capitalistic or solve its issues, and this thought, that things will never change for the better is also seen in other highly corrupt mainly socialist countries like Venezuela, Cuba, or african monarchies.
My best brazilian friend wants to leave Brazil too, the richest man from Brazil Paulo Lemann left too for Switzerland 21 years ago after a kidnap attempt to his children. Like you, unfortunately, I’ve experienced that a lot of brazilians aren’t friendly, mainly women, there are some brazilian women who are very VERY hard to deal with, many seem arrogant too. The only time I’ve noticed that brazilian girls are nice to me is when they get the impression of me being wealthy, I think some brazilian women like foreign men as a ticket to a better life in a richer country (like in many latin countries), yet many of these women don’t put enough effort to even learn good English.
I used to run a small hotel in Cusco, Perú and can distinctly remember how many of the hardest customers in terms of raising complaints about anything would be brazilian, many brazilians would get upset that I only spoke Spanish and English, they expected me to speak Portuguese as well even though we only advertised knowing Spanish and English, they also generally didn’t speak english well or at all, some understood a bit of spanish, but generally they just spoke portuguese and would get frustrated that people didn’t understand them when they spoke… (???).
We received a lot of brazilian tourists, so at some point we decided to put instructions in Portuguese as well around the hotel, still I usually didn’t see brazilian people satisfied when other guests would love the place, mainly americans and people from other parts of south america (our reviews were 4.5 to 4.8 stars on average). After meeting thousands of tourists I remember the worst guests we’ve ever had (I have crazy, CRAZY stories), and in this list I would definitely put a couple of female brazilian friends visiting Cusco in their 40s/50s. They would complain about every single thing.
One of them blamed us for a rash she had in her skin, claimed we didn’t launder the sheets (we always do), we changed the sheets, she requested a special brush so she could shower and were upset we didn’t have this brush already, she then needed the bed to be relocated so sunlight would hit the bed most of the day “to kill the bugs”, we relocated it, then they said they couldn’t breath well and went to the hospital to get oxygen tanks, they were walking everywhere connected to oxygen tanks. Apparently they didn’t like the lower humidity and lower oxygen concentration in the air so they decided to cancel their whole trip to Machupicchu with train tickets bought after 3 days of being here, and went back home…
They had rented the room for nearly a month, but it was so hard dealing with them that I just refunded them fully for the nights they couldn’t stay because I didn’t want to even explain our cancellation policy. When they needed medical help or recommendations they would always contact me but always upset, as if I was responsible for the oxygen concentration in the air. They left very upset, one of the women seemed to be interested in me once just before leaving (she looked fine not gonna lie), and weirdly grabbed me to a laundry area, she started smoking in front of me and told me not to tell her friend, I didn’t know what she was about I just looked at her with no reaction. Then they both left.
They were very bizarre and always unfriendly, specially one of them. We also traded one of their luggage bags for a bigger one for some additional cash so she could pack more stuff just before she left, she was upset the luggage we gave her wasn’t totally clean but we had told her it was a second hand luggage we could give her because she was all desperate about getting to the airport, and couldn’t fit all her stuff in her old bag. About a week after they left, the rudest of these girls wrote to me on Whatsapp thanking me for everything I did to help them while they were here, but to be honest I didn’t reply because I really don’t want to deal with them ever again. She behaved worse than a kid, was very unreasonable, and manipulative.
I closed my hotel indefinitely due to quarantines that made reservations go to nearly 0, and the fixed costs being too high. You should come to Peru though, the landscapes, old structures like Machupicchu, and food are amazing. Also, people in Cusco are friendly, because tourism makes up a big portion of this city’s revenue. In general, peruvians are laid back and friendly. I’ve never been to Colombia but I’ve LOVED dealing with all the colombian tourists that came to my hotel, I have some of them on social media even, as you say, they are very friendly. I’ve experienced very friendly people in Mexico city too, mexico is great for beaches and food, I was surprised that the capital was so affordable to live in and so fun (initially i only thought mexico only had touristic value for the beaches, but the city itself isn’t bad at all). I haven’t been to a lot of cities in Mexico, but I’ve noticed that outside Mexico city people are less friendly, still manageable though. I also remember i once saw Mexico ranking the highest in the world for friendliness.
Hi Dave,
Thank you for your comment. You’ve had interesting experiences. I think I would go crazy if I had to deal with all the people a hotel owner deals with. I don’t want to comment on your experiences with Brazilians (I can only comment on my own) but like you I’ve had better experiences with Mexicans, Colombians, Argentinians, and Dominicans. All generally very friendly people in my opinion.
We’ve actually spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe and have had very good experiences. They’re a bit colder initially. Never rude but not warm. But if you extend yourself and talk to them they get surprisingly friendly. We’ve spent a combined 7 months in the Czech Republic and 5 months in Ukraine. 2 of our favorite countries.
Every country and it’s peoples are different and I can only judge based on our experiences. Our worst were this trip to Brazil (which dates back to 2007) and Poland (we visited just a few years ago). I never really understood the source of why Brazilians were unfriendly. Maybe we were unlucky. But in Poland it was dirty looks aimed at my wife who is olive skinned. We spent a month in Poland and it’s the most intolerant country we’ve been. Other than that I can’t really complain about our experiences in any country (and we’ve been to 50+ at this point).
Thanks for recommending Cusco. We haven’t seen much of South America but intend to explore more of the continent in the future. We’ll make sure to visit Cusco 🙂
Wow, Dave’s post is mind-blowing and seems to replicate my same experience having to deal with brazilian tourists as a tour guide (have in mind: I am a brazilian citizen, this work was done in brazil…)
I would receive tourists from all over the world, all of them very polite and friendly even though some of them had reasons to be angry (some of them were scammed with fake car rental service, the other couldn’t make his SIM card work, not even me being a national was able to make it work, thanks to the endless dumb bureaucracy that exists here)
By a mile, the worst people that I had to deal with during that period were the brazilians who were passing by. They would always arrived at the information booth with closed angry faces, you could tell right away they were brazilians. They never said thank you or smiled.
What a bunch of savages.
All of this hurts the reputation of the good apples who are decent and go seek a better living abroad. Unfortunately the numbers don’t lie.
Mexico, by contrast, was the friendlier and most free place I ever visited. Cheap, no bureaucracy at all, etc etc. Better weather even.
Hello Frank..
sorry for my writting is not so well.
Your blog is the first popes up once I have searched in google for “Brazilians do not like gosip?”
To be frank, I agreed for all your points but I only did not know about the US visa issue (long ago) that Brazilians had to face with. I am Asian and now in Brazil for more than 8 months because of the Virus.
First of all, I love Brazilians, deep inside my heart I love brazilans, love their vibes but I still do not understand how can I approach them closer (I feel a distance when I try to catch up with them but when they talk with each other on the street, it seems super enjoyable).
I like their vibe and tranquilo style. I also feel that they have kind heart and want to help attitude and do not gosip that why I was looking something to support my thought (still don’t see, but it is from what I feel).
I presume my problem is the launguage, once I can not communicate well then it is no point for them to continue talking with me. hopefully once I get into some level of conversation, it could be more flow living and understand more.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for your comment. I am happy you love Brazilians 🙂 Travel is all about our personal experiences: sometimes they are great, sometimes not. I can only write about our personal experiences but I am always happy to hear about the experience of others.
All the best to you and I’m glad you were in a good place during the virus.
Jesus… “They’re upset because of the visa”? I really think that if you want to state a comment like that, you should do some research before. I don’t know which where have you visit in here, but I don’t know a single person that gives a shit for the visa situation, and that would mistreat someone because of that (????), it’s completely nonsense what you said. Unless you were trump itself, there’s no reason to give a tourist the responsability for some country’s politics. Most of the people who wants to leave the country, don’t even consider united states. The idea of leaving to live in USA usually comes only from some people that have no much structure (financial), and idealize living in the united states as something fancy, with status. Or from some other people in completely different situation, those from high society that already have their visas.
Also, this analysis is pathetic. “Oh women in brasil are not as hot as people say” 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 FUCK, this is one of the reasons we don’t like foreigners. I’m really thankful that women here didn’t smile at you like they did in colombia, cause guess what: they’re not objects and are not made to make your landscape better while traveling.
I can say by myself and by all the people I know that share the same opinion. I won’t mistreat a foreigner, but I won’t keep on smiling and trying to make them feel good simply cause they’re visiting my country… I don’t have to. Also, I hate these kind of dumb assumptions people do about us “brazilians are a warm people”, “brazilians love football”, “brazilians are more friendly than us” aaaaaaaaa this is fucking annoying, and not true. And we doesn’t have to fulfill these expectations, we have our own lives to take care.
Another thing we hate, is how people assume we’re stupid and doesn’t have an understanding of things (quite shown on your perspective that we would be dumb enough to relate a merely tourist with the american visa issue). So as I said, do some research before saying these things.
Julia, this trip dates back to 2007. Brazilians were upset about the Visa situation at the time (I’m talking about the tourist visa because you seem to be confusing it with something else.). So much so that the Brazilian consulate included a note along with the Visa explaining the reciprocal fee that they, in turn, were charging us to visit Brazil.
As for your other comments, I think you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. I was being tongue in cheek (ie sarcastic) in some of my comments and you obviously took all my comments seriously. I’ve replied to many similar comments on the post so I won’t repeat myself.
As for the other comment you left for someone else, I’m deleting it because it was quite rude. People have the right to say what they want to say, just as I’m allowing people (like you) to criticise me despite maybe not understanding some of what I wrote.
I’m also Brazilian and you’re literally the first person who actually said the reality of Brazil. We don’t give a fuck about visas, not now nor ever. This comes from them from “1st world” countries that think we have to treat them like their the last coke in the desert, but we simply won’t. We are super friendly and kind to everyone, and as you said, women know when they’re being objectified or assaulted, they just aren’t going to keep talking and playing your “game”.
When you travel somewhere, you need to have an open mind, don’t go based on stereotypes bcs you’ll certainly be disappointed.
Many people here, for some weird reason, do think that north americans are “superiors”. I just don’t get why, as from what I see they are pretty racist and prejudice every latino person for thinking that we are poor people that steal their jobs.
I don’t think they know that companies have to prove that we are better qualified for the jobs than someone from their own country, it’s not like we go there and simply start working. Those who go without a plan or already have a job, only get to work as waiters and the locals pay us less to do more, but we don’t steal their jobs like they say, it’s complete nonsense.
You don’t know why the US and Canada view themselves as superior? Take a look at the accomplishments of these countries and now compare them to Latin America. Brazil is a highly dysfunctional society that outside of soccer has accomplished very little. I just checked, and Brazil has won a single Nobel Prize but has a current population of over 200 million people. Canada, with a current population of 38 million has won 33 Nobel Prizes. So one reason, (you said you don’t know why) one might say that Canadians view themselves as superior is because they have accomplished a lot more than Brazil. There are many other reasons — for instance the degree of social progress, the infrastructure, there are many reasons. Brazil is not part of Western Civilization, it is part of Latin America, which a colonial offshoot of Portugal, which is only very lightly connected to Western Civilization.
Julia, you seem to have a thin skin. If these are Frank’s observations, then he can write them. I don’t want blog articles censored, censored articles are what you find at the major outlets. Your comments only serve to make authors more restricted so they don’t receive criticism.
I feel you. Your wife is wrong about brazilians “supporting each other”. Brazil is the most divided country I have ever lived in. Brazilians hate each other, specially if you try to talk to them about ancestry… don’t even try. They call each other “vira-latas” because they can’t stand who love their ancestors. It’s pretty ugly. I have never seen a country that hates their ancestry so much you can’t even talk about it without getting ridiculously attacked by people that consider themselves “mesticos” because some teacher told them “everybody in Brazil is mestico”, narrow minded people… To most of them knowing about their ancestry is not important, so they don’t really care about testing their ancestry DNA either. Wtf. I’m from France, I got really disappointed at brazilians and their lack of respect for their ancestry, their women and their children. Everything there is about “sex”. Every freaking thing. The novelas, the books of George Amado and others, their parties, the pop music. It’s just too much. I feel sorry for the young Brazilians that don’t participate of any of it, they should have the chance to leave and find a country that matches their personality. I was so glad when I left, but I am really sorry for the sweet Brazilians I met that hate that mess so much and can’t leave because they lack money. Sad.
About safety. I had a gun pointed at me in Penedo during Christmas. The police didn’t do anything about it. 99% of the crimes against women and children in Brazil goes unpunished according to the UN data.
Your description is pretty accurate and sadly true.
People in this place have built a prison for themselves inside their own minds, and they seem to love that mind prison. Only solution is getting the heck out of here.
—
Now, for something positive, what would be your Top 5 places to visit or even to live out there?
I was pleasantly surprised with Mexico. If I had means of having a career there I would not hesitate for a second moving there. Out of all countries I visited it has the most qualities that I look for in a place to live combined than anywhere else, including the fantastic weather and zero bureaucracy. If only the currency was a bit more stable.
ALSO!
If you didnt go to a churracaria having “BBQ” in your blog’s title… man, you MUST come back, even if just for a stop over, and go to a churrascaria.
We have great churrasco in my state, but in the south they are the freaking gods of churrasco.
If you ever find a fogo de chão abroad, ask for picanha. It will be 1000000 times better in the south 😀
Thanks for the various comments Luka! And appreciate the churrasco tip 🙂
Aw man, I’m so sorry for your bad experience.
Most people actually like us, and yeah, you found a lot of rude people. But I would also recommend you to go for more non-super-foregner-filled places, and… well… among Brazilians, Cariocas (people from Rio) are know for being the most entitled AND advantage-taking types (we call it malandros, in its bad meaning).
In any case, Bahia has some freaking nice places, really. I live in São Paulo – the Capital. Nothing to see really – it’s pretty much a concrete jungle, but there is a lot of cultural stuff, and you can find freaking awesome food here from any origin. Obviously, it’s mostly fusion, but if you want to eat good food, you will find it here 🙂 AND night life here is wild. Any day of the week, at any time, there is something to do: bar, clubs, parties, you can chose anything, and the options are almost infinite.
For the scenery there is so many places, that in my opnion, are sooo muuuuch beeetter than Rio. And for services and other stuff too. Once guys mentioned the south – so many cities there are really cool. Like bombinhas for beach and Gramado on the country side (you can even go during the film festivals). The oktoberfest here is interesting, because oktober here happens in the warm months.
In any case, I’m sorry… and I hope the view made up for the bad people o/
Before the virus hit, I had an interesting experience earlier this year while staying in Brazil for a month and a half. I split up my trip, half in the Amazon (Manaus), and the other half in the South (Curitiba). I planned it this way because I wanted to see the contrast between the two different regions of the country, opting out of more touristy places such as Rio. I could write an entire book on this adventure and what took place, both good and bad. I agree Brazil itself is unbelievable from a topography/nature standpoint. I also agree with many comments below regarding the corrupt and opportunistic nature of most of its inhabitants. I knew about some things to watch out for in Brazil. I am also patient and open-minded, and this isn’t a broad-brush statement that applies to all; I want to see the good in people. It’s just the bad ones who want all your time, and for a reason not in your favor.
The journey started in the Amazon. I had met a beautiful woman online, and we hit it off. We communicated for a few weeks before I arrived and got to know each other on a deeper level; at least that’s what I thought. Now, if I were to write said book, she would take up half of it. Twenty-five days we spent together, almost 24-7, since her flight attendant courses were on break. Rose was incredibly charming, sexy, stylish, and looked great on paper. She could sing, dance like no other, and fun-loving. We had amazing adventures together in the jungle, the rivers, and across Manaus. Things progressed quickly, and we adored one another. However, many times something felt “off,” but I would either dismiss it as cultural differences or establish a boundary when she acted entitled or rude. Halfway through my stay with Rose, she asked if I could help her cousin with rent, $130, to be exact. I made it very clear to her that I wasn’t a bank and to be taken advantage of. Unfortunately, I was too involved with her at this juncture to say no.
After I returned to the states, we stayed in contact for a couple of months. I was planning a return trip to see her again later in the year. Things started to get weirder and weirder with her stories, and I noticed many inconsistencies. Then I discovered all along that she was using multiple social media accounts and WhatsApp numbers to communicate, sometimes posing as someone else to manipulate me. We’re talking social engineering at its best. I was livid, embarrassed, and felt like my heart had been thrown into a meat grinder. I knew a con artist had just suckered me. She had studied me to know everything and created a profile. I won’t even go into all the details of psychology and disordered personalities, which I frequently read about and study. But, this woman was more than a con, she was sadistic and enjoyed toying with me; a textbook sociopath. I told her where to stick it, blocking her on all lines of communication. Since then, she has created several fake accounts to stalk me on Instagram. Later, after the breakup, I found out that she got a tattoo of a tiger, in remembrance of me. She would call me “tiger” as a nickname. Apparently, she is my owner, lol! I’ve replaced all my credit cards and religiously watch for any suspicious activity on my accounts. You can’t make this shit up, folks. I couldn’t get over how skilled this woman was at gaslighting and selling me on a false narrative. Also, pretty heartbroken by this unscrupulous bitch. So, that was my experience with a female predator from the north.
Now, to the south. I arrive in Curitiba. Most people have never even heard of this city, and I would consider it a hidden gem. It’s one of the safest and cleanest cities in all of Brazil. I would parallel it with Seattle. The population (metropolitan area), the weather, and the hip factor are very similar. This is where I saw the true diversity of Brazil and all the different ethnicities. Very European, and the further south you go in the country, the more it felt like America somehow — driven by money and power opposed to the north, which is more festive and community-focused. Much of the south is very right-wing and backs Bolsonaro, whereas the north is more liberal. However, I did meet some kind and welcoming people in Curitiba.
The main reason I was in this city was another woman who I met online, strictly platonic. She used to write for the paper and knew all about the attractions there. After a few days with her, I decided to call off the friendship. She was negative and had nothing but bad things to say about her country. I didn’t need that energy. Moving on, I used the CouchSurfing app to meet up with folks who spoke English since my Portuguese was terrible. One of them was a 35-year-old law student/web developer named Sandro. The first thing he said when we met was, “I saw that you don’t have any reviews on your account, so I thought I would help you out by being your first.” I found his statement strange but whatever. He was an OK enough guy to hang out with, albeit a little on the cocky side.
We talked about the women and the socioeconomic differences between the north and south, even the racism that does exist there. He knew I shot photography and asked if I could take photos of a friend who started a firm after recently landing a whale of a case. However, his friend was still working for another firm that Sandro was creating a website for and had a few months left before he went out on his own. Sandro tells me that the client didn’t like his photos, hence why he wanted me to take them. During the shoot, he decides to get out his lower-quality camera and take pictures when I finished up. I was like WTF, and gave him a disapproving look. I found out that he never used my photography on the site, after all. Sandro took advantage of my presence to reassure the client that the photos were professionally shot when he only presented his. I was pretty pissed since this was a “favor,” and did it hoping to form a new friendship. Fast forward to me back in the states, and guess who else is bugging me on social media? Yep, he was looking for work and knew I was in the marketing and advertising industry (facepalm). At this point, I was like, Jesus, I really let me guard down around these people.
In conclusion, I still love my experience in Brazil and hold on to the good parts as much as possible. I can honestly say that someday I’ll return to see more of the Amazon and visit Iguazu. I was approached by many people in Brazil who were transparent enough to see their shady motives and protected myself. I’ve been to Mexico twice and the Dominican and didn’t get this vibe right off the bat as I did in Brazil. But I wasn’t prepared for some of these covert machiavellian types who plot everything out like a chess match. But the food, nature, and passion that the country has to offer makes it hard to refuse a return regardless of the shitheads I encountered. A learning experience, and now I know what I’m dealing with as a foreigner there.
Thanks for sharing your stories Brian 🙂
Oh boy…. I’m Brazilian and I’m not surprised. Specially with the last guy.
In any case, be aware that lost of Brazilian women do not see “social media stalking” as a bad thing, and some are childish enough to create various accounts and try to manipulate people (this is a social difference – we think of people who play games as childish around here).
Also be on your guard with what we call pistoleiras (“gunners” meaning, women that are after money).
Ans if you ever become interested in another Brazilian, try to have in mind that some jealousy is cultural. And both men and women will voice it and will become angry.
Now if you want more places to visit, pantanal has some nice views (its a literal SWAMP). Chapada da Diamantina is Beatiful. There is Ilhabela that is quite beautiful and is used to tourists of various places. There are some interesting historical sites, like Ouro Preto, with 13 churches, most of them decorated with gold (seriously, 13 churches, not counting the chapels, in a 70k inhabitants – there is a cool rivalry story behind that).
Anyway, I hope you have more luck next time
To be honest as someone who lives in Curitiba I’m very impressed that you knew about the regional differences in my country, since most foreigners only visit Rio and Bahia, which to be honest are the most unhygienic, dangerous and unfriendly areas towards Caucasians and have a huge amount of Communists . As a Brazilian, I would not dare stay for more than a week in any of those regions unless I really needed to. I mean xenophobia between regions is really bad in Brasil, so if you are Caucasian the main reason people treated you badly is probably because they assumed you are from the capitalist South were 80 per cent of the population is white, mainly because of the massive immigration of Italian, Polish, German, and Japonese people during the end of the XIX and the start of the XX century.
If you ever return I would recommend visiting some Japonese or Italian or German colonies in Santa Catarina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul they have a very distinct architecture and people tend to be more polite at least. Santa Catarina is also one of the best beach states to visit, it is as beautiful as Rio, IDH is considerably higher, it is considerably more hygienic, and people are mostly nice, but very flaky and service tends to be very slow, actually people from there seem to be in slow motion all the time, it is kind of funny.
It is really sad that your experience with Brazilians was so bad, but if you ever fell like returning I have to say meeting Brazilians in the internet is normally a bad idea even if you live here; since most Brazilians distrust each other, only shady people use meeting apps. The best and only way to meet genuinely nice people here is unfortunately in person. Also people with higher salary, especially from the South, tend to be, unfortunately, most likely to approach foreigners without any second objectives and speak English, most likely also Italian or German. Brazilian barbecue in Rio Grande and Paraná is also very good, including a regional food called ground bull ribs.
However I have to agree 50, 60, and 70 years old women and old people in general tend to be very disrespectful and loud towards everyone and poverty stricken areas can be hard to avoid. It is just a sad fact about Brazilian culture that sadly doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
BB73, wow… the “photography” story down in Curitiba surprised me even as a local brazilian. Holy shit these people… everytime people ask me why I chose to live abroad from brazil, I will shot this blog post and all the comments as a source of information. People have no idea (which is an indicator that they still have some resemblance of human soul inside of them)
Also, your description of Curitiba being the “brazilian Seattle” is a very accurate one, this was also my perception while living there for a year. The downside of Curitiba is that people are very locked down within their social circles, it’s very hard to form real deeper friendships there (from what I’ve read this is also the case for Seattle to some extent)
In terms of most “authentic” local culture in Brazil and still on the “sanity” side of things, I would recommend going even more south, down to Porto Alegre. The state has its own rock music scene, there are local bands that only tour there, release albums with original music, etc. Very bohemian night-life. But not everything is roses, in the last decade I witnessed with my own eyes the nightlife dying out because of all the stupid bureaucracy and regulations being put in place, like the one that forbids people from drinking outside on the street, there’s heavy gentrification going on at the bohemian neighborhoods, etc. Before all of this, it was a very lively place to live in and have fun. Nowadays, it’s shadow of its former self. The few good places that remain are being slowly killed, in favor of becoming this homogeneous “China-like” grey mass. Very scary outlook for the future.
Okay, it’s very unfair what you write, but of course, against a nation, you deserve a bit of angry, but also a lot of clicks.
It’s good to read “I’ve never felt people as unfriendly towards me as I did in Brazil.”, it’s exacly what we feel traveling to Europe and NA, I hope you enjoy!
Thank you for your comment but I’m not sure why it’s unfair when it’s honest. If you look through this blog you’ll see we’ve visited about 50 countries – and there are very few where I’m negative.
As I’ve told other commenters, maybe we were unlucky. Maybe if we came back tomorrow we would have good experiences and meet friendly people. But that didn’t happen on this trip…and I’ll always be as honest as I can when writing about our experiences.
And as far as people being unfriendly towards you in NA and Europe: I’m not surprised but I’m sorry to hear it. There is a lot of racism in the world.
YES, that’s how everyone else treat us
Brazilians love to play the victim.
Racism is one thing.
Lacking BASIC SOCIAL SKILLS when you are living in a foreign country is an entirely different matter.
Brazilians often come back from abroad after a brief time because they quickly find out their mischeavous ways will not fly out there, people will not take that crap. And I agree with them.
Hello, as a Brazilian I don’t feel offended by your comments at all. I’m sorry for your experience, It’s never good to do a previous judgement about a country or its people (even if it’s good), you assumed Brazilians were all fine easy going people and it turned out not to be true. I’ll tell my experience: I’m from Recife and went to Salvador this last week, the receptionist at the hotel didnt smile at us at all and we felt that, how come at a touristic area in a four stars hotel the women didnt even smile? Also when we went to an ice cream place, two of the attendants looked at us like we were shit, with no apparent reason. Some years ago, I had a friend from Bahia over in Recife for a visit, when we were going to a restaurant I always go, there was a man walking his beautiful dog, she started to pet the dog like dog people do, the only thing the man said was something like “I don’t like when people touch it”. I guess he could have said it in a nicer way, I was surpised because I never expected that to happen right in my friend’s first day in my city.
A few years ago my parents went to Paris and they were worried because everyone tells us that parisians are rude, and I told them not to expect to be treated badly, but to have her own experience, which turned out to be amazing. Here’s a few examples of how not all latinos are warm and smiling people.
I dont think your experience has nothing to do with anti americanism, dont try to find a reason on how people treated you badly, I guess you were just unlucky enough to meet only rude people along the way.
PS: I hope you have a great time travelling anywhere else? Lol…or dead and gay back in Brazil?…there’s still a chance.
Thank you for your comment Rodrigo!
NO. Hopeless land. Don’t lie to the world.
I agree, seriously doubt I’ll ever be back. I just went to Rio, but experienced the same animosity. If you are a pretty girl though, I’ll bet at least half of the population would be nice to you, but for a white single man, I am really looking forward to getting the hell out of here. I did a google search to see if Brazilians were prejudiced and found your post. And I agree with your comments about Colombia. Love was in the air there while here in Brazil, I feel disgust. I was actually assaulted on a train for taking a photo of a Brazilian girl dressed up for Carnaval. The entire car turned on me. They said it was ilegal to photograph people in Brazil without there permission. Tell that to the people on the beach, or in a parade, or Christ the Redeemer.
As a Brazilian, I’m sorry you didn’t have a great time here, some people can be really rude indeed, so I assure you the behavior isn’t because you’re not from here. Also, a lot of people here don’t speak English, so if you talked to someone and they seemed to ignore you or looked confused that was probably the reason.
And sorry to tell you, but you really can’t take pictures of people without consent like that, it’s rude and you could even be sued. If she were part of a carnival group and they were presenting it would be fine, but you can’t just go out there taking pictures of people on the street and expect people not to be mad at you.
And why did you suppose you would walk on the streets and women would smile at you? You’re just a random guy walking on the streets and the people you see are probably busy with something(they have their own lives, after all), so it doesn’t make any sense that you hoped women to give you attention.
100 percent I agree with you!! Overall Brazilian are nasty money hungry people. Having traveled to over 40 countries this country is one of the bottom places to visit or deal with people. Women are all about getting one up and men are gross. Sorry you had to experience what you went through.
here in Brazil unfortunately it is very common for men to harass women, especially in public transport. This type of action is not acceptable and is responded to with this type of reaction, you shouldn’t have taken a picture of her without authorization, just because we are known for being nice and etc. does not mean that we will meet both expectations
Man… Rio is the most hyped place. Yeah, its beautiful, but there are so many more places, that are soooo muuuch better.
But yeah, do not take photos of people without asking. We are campaigning here for years (the people, the goverment, private business… everyone basically) for people do not harras others in sexual ways during the carnaval – that people probably took your photo as something like “oh, he is photographing her cause she is wearing a custome” and not because you found it interesting / beautiful.
Somebody just pointed your post out to me and cannot help but make a “couple of comments” (mini-rant) regarding your observations/experience in Brazil.
First, I am an American (and very obviously so, according to every Brazilian I meet – the first question I am asked is normally “are you American”), have been living in Brazil for 12 years (Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul) and have NEVER encountered any anti-American sentiment whatsoever. On the contrary, when people find out I am from the US it is nothing but love and loads of positive questions (normally, “what in the hell are you living here for?”) along with people wanting to speak English. I have other friends from the US who live in Brazil and we all have had the same experience, so I think that your assumption that people mistook you for an “American” and then subjected you to anti-American behavior is misguided (or just downright incorrect). Brazilians are pretty much the opposite of xenophobes (unless you are from Argentina). Not only that, but I was surprised to find that you found Brazilians unfriendly in general. It could just be Rio but I wouldn’t know because I have only been there one time, and will never go back (couldn’t stand it). City dwellers can be a bit less friendly than people in smaller urban areas, but that is the same no matter where you go. Overall, I think Brazilians are of the nicest, warmest, happiest people I have been around.
Having said that, I think that what you experienced is not so much about your physical status as an obvious foreigner, but rather your non-Brazilian brain and its inability to understand the incredible lack of patience combined with a complete and total lack of courtesy and/or social politeness that exists in Brazil -(which I too have still not been able to fully process, even after a decade of living here). To sum up: nowhere else in the world (that I have been to) have I seen the degree of “rudeness” in social settings or public places that I encounter on a daily basis in Brazil. That person hitting you with their cart at the airport? Normal. This used to happen to me every time I was in the airport (among other things), which is why I now simply stand back and let all the impatient Brazilians get their shit off the conveyor first – its amusing to watch, actually. They way they act, you would think that once their luggage passed it was headed straight for an incinerator if not immediately retrieved (didn’t you notice how the Brazilian passengers acted as soon as your airplane came to a stop? Everybody jumping up, grabbing their bags, and pushing and shoving in the aisle to get out of the plane first, as if it was a ticking time-bomb!).
This behavior is unfortunately not limited to airports. It happens anywhere that you must wait for something (ATMs, grocery store checkouts, bus stops, restaurants, etc). I have actually turned around and kicked carts behind me in the supermarket line after having been rammed several times. Just last week I had to yell at not one, but TWO people who had started piling their shit on the checkout counter where my (as yet unchecked) stuff was – this happened because I stepped back one (1) meter to put the hand basket back in the proper place while the checker was ringing up my goods, during which time they both moved in and physically blocked me from getting back to and paying for my stuff. Basically, Brazil needs to institute a national program of Patience and Personal Space Training.
Another typical Brazilian behavior that us non-Brazilians can not get our heads around is the propensity of Brazilians to hold conversations in areas that are not meant for such activities, or to rudely block passageways of all sorts out of what appears to be pure selfishness and/or lack of social awareness. I routinely see Brazilians holding conversations: (1) at the top, bottom or middle of staircases, (2) in front of elevators that they are not waiting for, (3) in the middle of walking/running/bicycle paths and sidewalks, (4) grocery store aisles…well hell, just about anywhere that will impede your ability to get where you want to go. The amazing part of this is that they seem to have NO idea and/or notion that they are blocking the way or inconveniencing anyhow. They will look you right in the face, see you coming along the vector that obviously leads from point A to point B, know that they are blocking that (public thoroughfare) vector, and not give a rat’s ass nor move a centimeter to allow you to pass. For a person who grew up in a very polite society, it make you want to start practicing your bodyslam/suplex technique. Anyhow, the point to the above is that you are correct that Brazilians can be extremely rude, especially if you are not used to it.
So, please do not think you were mistreated because of your ethnicity/race or country of origin. I can assure that Brazilians are not like that at all. They are probably the most “accepting” people I have lived around with regards to such things, which is why I have been here for this long. The feelings that you experienced while in Brazil were most probably due to a short-circuit in your North American brain and a complete system crash due to a failure in your logic algorithms that occured while trying to decipher behaviors that were simply not in your programming to process and/or understand.
HA! I know your comment was meant to point out all my shortcomings but I have to say I enjoyed reading it and laughed a few times.
You’re right. Maybe I’ve just never experienced the kind of rudeness that I experienced in Brazil. It’s nice to know that it’s not personal (I guess) but doesn’t really say too much about the average Brazilian.
This post is one of the oldest on the blog, dating back to our trip in 2006. So it’s way dated and I’m surprised I still get so many comments on it. At the time there was a lot of resentment towards Americans about the whole Visa situation. I guess today it’s all blown over.
I will say however – since that trip we started travelling full-time (back in 2014) and have been at it now for almost 6 years. 50 countries later I still haven’t experienced the rudeness and unfriendliness I experienced in Brazil. I’ve often wondered about it and if it was personal.
Thanks for the time taken to write this detailed and entertaining comment.
True (Brazilian here). We do the same things that bothers us as well. A program for patience and personal space would be perfect! Lol
oh lol, yeah, we need that.
Man, the number of times we interrupt each other in conversation, I often think foreigners see us as a bunch of angry parrots.
And yeah… man, Rio is the most hyped place here. And Cariocas can be so freaking entitled.
And as for rude behavior… I’m guilty of being rude back, which is probably why I usually forget about it a second later. I first try to say “hey, could you please be more careful” but the second bump on a line usually receives “could you please shove all the stuff in your cart up all the holes in your body” (Frank, here in Brazil we access if someone is being polite or rude based on their tone of voice. Someone could use “could you please do this if you have time” in a rude tone of voice, and we would take tons of offense while “hey, can you pass that to me? ” in a nice tone, and we will consider super nice.
that last fucking paragraph! man you are a genius. Laughed my ass off. I appreciate that
Wow !!! I’ve had the opposite of your experience, I’ve been to over 23 countries and Brazil is by far one my of favs and actually I find Colombia dull or boring , the women are beautiful there but they all look the same , in Brazil the women are beautiful and very diverse, and I’m really shocked that you don’t think women here look beautiful especially after seeing pictures of your wife. I’m American and don’t speak much Portuguese, but people here are always cheerful to me, even in the elevator people always say hello or good morning , they sure as hell don’t do that in the u.s lol , and yes there is racism here , please tell me of a country where there isn’t any lol and yes Rio is dangerous but it is also beautiful but it is not just dangerous for gringos , it’s also dangerous for locals but the danger is mostly of muggings , so just watch your belongings and don’t flash things and you’ll be fine , it’s not dangerous like your gonna get kidnapped or murdered. This is my second time to Brazil , and I love it even more it’s diverse like the u.s but the people here actually have passion unlike people in the u.s which are just like limp noodles
I live in the hills around Niteroi (a city on the outskirts of Rio) as a missionary in Brazil. Honestly, there are so many places to go besides Rio…that are far better than Rio. Paraiba do Sul, Minas Gerais, Juiz da Fora….Copacabana also is vastly overrated and in my opinion ugly and crowded like a sardine can. Also I want you to take a moment to think about how much pee you’re swimming in with thousands of people drinking beers crammed into a few miles of beach. Yeah. I honestly don’t see the draw other than saying you went to Copacabana.
Assuming you have to stay in the Rio area due to a cruise ship port or the airport, my suggestion is to take the time to drive around the bay. Get out of the Copacabana stretch. For the most part, the areas around the bay are the richer areas, so you get the same good restaurants, the same beach, the same famous black/white walkway, the same amazing view of the bay…but the beach is uncrowded and it’s more laid back and cleaner.
Also, I suggest taking the time to drive from Rio to the cities I mentioned above. The view is jaw-droppingly beautiful and takes you through the mountains. You’ll see far into the distance with mountain ranges, small little towns up on the edge of the water, waterfalls next to the road and little fruit stands. The road back offers a different view, as it winds a different way down the mountains.
I do agree with many of your opinions about my country and our people, but I’d like to point out something that you might have missed:
Brazil was settled and controlled by the Portuguese for over 500 years. We were exploited, our natural resources stripped from us (there are many extinct tree species because of their exploitation during colonial times, as well as a shortage of certain minerals in many historical mining regions), our native populations driven to the brink of extinction and our politics, economy and society completely shaped to meet Portugal’s ends. We didn’t get to actually choose any of this, and we still struggle to cope with all this inheritance left to us after we got independent (which we just became because of economic ambitions of our European descended, landowning elite, and not out of an autonomous patriotic feeling of the population). I understand that most of the underdeveloped countries nowadays were also colonized and exploited by European superpowers, and even Canada and US were, but our colonization still differ from most of those in a lot of key points; for example, most of the Spanish America utilized Native Americans as their main workforce, usually focused on mining, with centralized, planned cities acting as the main government hubs — here in Brazil, on the other hand, most Native Americans were annihilated and forced out of their ancestral homes, and our workforce was mainly composed of enslaved Africans brought here against their will and forced to work their entire lives on the sugar plantations owned by the Portuguese elite and their descendents; also, most of our administration was decentralized, with individuals governors responding directly to Portugal, lacking any form of interaction or interest to develop our country as a whole. As a result, some regions of Brazil, such as the South or the Southeast, are vastly better developed than others, such as the North or the countryside of the Northeast. In many ways, our colonization was very similar to that of the Southern British colonies in North America. After the end of slavery (Brazil was the last country in the world to end it, and only because of intense opposition by the British government), most Africans were left scattered around the country, no longer able to work because of government sponsored plans to “whiten” our population, bringing in immigrants from Italy, Germany, etc, to work on our newly developed industries and coffee plantations. Many “favelas” were built by the ex-slaves who were left homeless after the end of slavery and the lack of a governmental plan to include them in the broader society. We never had a legal apartheid system, but Brazil is, to this day, an EXTREMELY racist, segregated country, and in many ways some slavery institutions exist to this day, such as the maids who work in middle and upper classes’ homes, some of which even live in these homes and are not allowed to have a full life of their own outside their master’s home (sounds a lot like slavery, doesn’t it? Believe me, it’s still VERY commonplace in Brazil). I couldn’t really go on and on, but my point is: yes, we do have MANY problems, especially now with the recent upturn in our politics (if you consider yourself a right wing supporter and agrees with Trump’s politics, it’ll be a good moment for you to come back here, as Bolsonaro was even dubbed the “Trump of the tropics”, but I myself absolutely despise him and everything he represents, and believe he’s won the elections exactly because of this racist, colonial thinking of our upper classes who wanted to stop at any cost the economic growth our lower classes were experiencing with the last decades’ social politics by the Workers’ Party, and broaden their social distance with the poor once more, keeping themselves in the position of the masters, the elite) BUT I think it’s important to understand most of these problems weren’t created solely by us, but by the interference of many countries in our history, politics and sociocultural development. The US for example sponsored a coup during the Cold War, which resulted in a violent military dictatorship that ran for almost 3 decades; even in the last elections, there is evidence Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign strategist, helped Bolsonaro shape his electoral dispute. I’m not trying to blame all our problems on external factors, but I do believe that you, as foreigners from developed countries, need to be aware how different our history has been, and how much your own countries influenced and exploited us, and even got benefited by us. This might help you understand we did not choose to be like this, but rather this is the result of centuries of interference and exploitation. (Also, I find it EXTREMELY sexist to visit a country expecting to see “hot” women. You know, women aren’t a resource and definitely not a touristic attraction; this is STILL not Handmaid’s Tale, at least not officially.
Thanks for the time you spent on this comment Raphael, appreciate the background and current political situation. I was familiar with it all but it might help others.
By the way, about the “hot woman” comment, it was a quip based on the reputation of Brazilian women being the hottest in the world. Not to be taken seriously.
Aplaudindo de pé Raphael, que aula incrível, não sei quase nada de inglês, obrigada Google Tradutor rsrsrs Fiquei emocionada.
Such typical Brazilian antipathy blaming, blaming. Your country has been independent since 1822, more than enough time to have gotten your shit together.
The Portuguese gave Brazilians your beautiful language, which Brazilians always say there are so proud of. Okay, granted, the Brazilian accent and sing song lilt is what makes it sound so exotic and sexy. But you still got the language from the Portuguese. And the colonial architecture in all of Brazil’s town and cities is simply beautiful, treasures, beautiful masterpieces of architecture, gifts left for Brazil.
No European colonizing country was beyond reproach, the Spanish especially come to mind. The brutally decimated the native peoples of South America for gold, silver, etc. Is that not greed! The English in America were just as bad with the brutality of their form of slavery. Compared to these two, the Portuguese were pretty docile.
And let me remind you that nowadays Brazilians are flocking to Portugal and love it there. Many of them admit that Brazilians have generally had a very wrong impression of the Portuguese, and unfairly branded the Portuguese so negatively.
By the way, Portugal is doing very well, and everyone from all over seems to want to go live there. After the first visit there, the fall in love with the people, cuisine, fado music, the climate, the beautiful landscape, etc., etc. Even Spaniards and Italians say these things, and they don’t compliment others too easily, and so for them to say so many wonderful things about Portugal and its people says a lot – – it speaks volumes!
Today Portugal is ranked in the top 5 of the best countries in the world to live in. The one thing, out of the many, many positive things that people say about Portugal concerns the Portuguese people themselves, and how they are very warm, humble, hospitable, mild mannered, polite. Portugal’s greatest resource is its people.
So negative comments such as from the poster of this comment, has no credibility. It comes from ignorance, anger, inferiority complex, self loathing, etc. It’s actually so sad that some people can have the shameless audacity to such such hateful and erroneous things.
God help you.
Esquerdista de merda, que desculpa vitimista a sua. Sou negro, nascido e criado na favela e consegui meu sonho de estudar e me tornar juiz, vencendo todos os obstáculos que tive desde a minha formação no ensino público até o preconceito na carreira de magistratura. Esse texto seu me cheira a vitimismo e a desculpas.
I don’t see how any of this is related to his perosnal experience. Your post is bs imho.
I’m trying to understand but if people are mad at the comments or the article? Can someone explain to me what the previous comments pertained to? One mentioned Portugal being a nice place.. is that why Brazil should or is a nice place as well?
Brazilians have always been envious of the Portuguese. The colonization of Brazil only lasted 322 years. They have been independent for more than 200 years and are still butthurt! Portugal left unique architectural and artistic assets in Brazil that are now part of Brazilian culture. Portugal enslaved indigenous people for less than 100 years because the Portuguese church defended them.
Portugal abolished slavery in 1761 but Brazil kept slaves until 1888. It was Brazilians who enslaved each other. And do you know why? Because they never wanted to invest in industry. They did not follow the European industrial revolution, so they used slavery. Brazil is a developing country because of the Brazilians who have a corrupt political regime, drug trafficking,poor academic background and violence. Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world as opposed to Portugal which is one of the safest. brazilian ignorance is bliss.
In industrial societies, you are also a slave. The middle class is getting crushed in the last decade, and soon only the rich will survive.
As an American, I find this comment about exploitation quite one-sided. The biggest issues with Brazil are not US intervention, they are the items listed previously, which is Brazil’s formation. The US did not even begin to intervene in Latin America until the late 1800s, so everything Brazil was, was without US influence before that time. Secondly, Brazil has created very little technology or social innovation, and those things had to come from the outside. I notice that while you blame the Portugese for the elite systems they setup, you did not say that Britain essentially pressured Brazil to end slavery. Latin America overall uses technologies they never could have invented themselves, yet they leave this part of the discussion and only focus on the negative aspects of European influence. The world is entirely based upon European ideas and innovation. The success of a country is measured in how much it can adhere to those ideas and innovation. Law, participatory government, engineering, science, these are all from Europeans — they are only adopted by other societies. Brazil is less successful precisely because it is less European.
Brazil is a worthless shithole.
Want proof of that? Ask any brazilian where they’d like to live. 100% of the time they’ll say another country.
No good nation makes its inhabitants want to leave.
I don’t think Rio southern suburbs was the best place to visit. Did not make his visit any justice. Understandably, the majority of Rio is pretty unsafe, so the safest option is always the upmarket areas. But also, these major cities in Mid-to-South Brazil (From Rio de Janeiro state, all the way south to Parana & Rio Grande du Sul state) tend to hold a superior complex, mostly because of their European dependance (Italian and German), and are weirdly proud of it and point it out ALL THE TIME. This group of people is also the wealthiest group in the country because they we brought to start industries after the Brazilian independence. Oh, and Frank should’ve also noticed how racist Brazil is, I think it is the most classist & racist country in the whole world. They should stop claiming they are “half of every colour” and start treating black african people with respect, considering they were slaves who we brought unwillingly.
I get that. But for me there was nothing special for northeast people too (which don’t include a big amount of those europeans who have just landed on) while european descendants of southern states can be somewhat arragant and racist sometimes based on stupid white supremacy. In contrary I had better impressoin with southern people and people from São Paulo. Most of cases they were bright (except curitibanos) and kind, friendly. To be honest as an east asian, I experienced racism against me in south a few times which was pretty iffy to say it was not. The reason why I didn’t get a nice impression from northeast people after all is because most of them were too ignorant or jealous that they could be even hostile sometimes. Although I’ve already lived in northeast and met some nice people with angelic favor, I can’t help but saying so since considerable number of them were like that. The place also didn’t help. Almost every single day I heard a news like someone got assulted or murdered by a bandit in public place, even in their own house from time to time, also a teenage girl got pregnant by her boyfriend and he ran away to have fun with other girl. Also there IS racism as well (among white, mixed, black, native american). However, I don’t call this place hell yet because of some angelic people I met there… and some heaven looking fortresses for white riches. Brazil is a nice place with nice people… but just with a bunch of serious problems.
The problem with this is that those blacks brought unwillingly, ended up with offspring that were better off than where they came from. In Africa, there is a saying “the next time they bring the boats, we will jump in without being pressured.” Secondly, all areas that have blacks with other groups have this same dynamic, the non-blacks do not want to be around the blacks. I can’t think of any country where this is not the case. Everyone knows in the US who is white to not travel to black areas. I guess one might want to ask the question why.
Hey Big Blue…
If your lazy ,racist ass ancestors didn’t force slaves from their homes to build your country then I guess their would be more blacks in their own country…and even then You pecker heads invaded Africa as well…think about it Snowflake!
While we’re at it….GO BACK TO GREAT BRITAIN… [editor: sorry, some words edited out]
Big Blue, your head is so far up your ass with all this Nazi shit that you should stop getting so excited about Duh Blayucks in Murka and simply move your retarded peckerwood ass to Poland. Plenty of drunk racist losers there and no “Blayucks” to piss you off.
Seriously? WTF! A country is just a piece of land. I think you’re mixing up things. A great nation has a great people. Simple like that. If 100% does not like the way things are down in Brazil, then it should be very easy to change it for better, or not?
As a teacher from Europe I’ve lived in many counties around the world and in Brazil for almost 10 years, I must say I can’t wait to go back home. First of all the country ( as a nature & resources ) is marvellous, but the problem with its own people, let me clear things !!!
people say :
1. Brazilians are friendly ( true only if they have interests )
2. Brazilians are happy ( not true I live in the south and the majority with frown faces )
3. Brazilians are positive ( nope sorry they complain even about the colour of the sky and why everyday is so hot lol but they like the sun hmmmm)
4. Brazilians are helpful ( only if they will need you in the future )
5. Brazilians are victims of the politics ( entirely not true in fact they are bad and blaming the gov)
6. Brazilians are trusted ( NEVER NEVER EVER)
7. Brazilians are considerate ( NO and NO they are the most selfish nation I’ve ever lived in)
8. Brazilians are polite ( well you must see he true colour when you in the traffic or the money wise issue … RUDE 100% )
9. Brazilians are curious ( yes curious to know how much money you have or make lol )
10. Brazilians are creative ( ok here I need to think … 1.2.3 Nope they copy each other even in the hair style)
11. Brazilians are religious ( Oh MY GOD , only they use it when you got them lying lol, also religious people are the most hypocrite )
12. Brazilians women are hot ( True specially in the south where the majority are decent from Germans and Italians but don’t get fooled by the face terrible character and cocky)
13. Brazilians are hardworking ( yes but only for low class people and in the north of Brazil but more you go higher in the class the more they get lazy )
14. Brazilians are united ( well only in BBQ and parties – drinking and driving together that’s all, zero help to the community)
15. Brazilians are family lovers ( in fact the families are corrupted to the root they will sell their mothers for money )
16. Brazilians are sexy ( true they only show you how big the butt is also zero personality, watch out for the shemales )
having said that, I have met lot’s of nice people but the surprise they want to leave Brazil forever also I notice that this group of people always brag about their decent like my ( grandfather … blah blah is German, Italian, Spanish …. ) clearly they are ashamed to be Brazilians and I can understand that.
finally I don’t mean to offend nobody here but come on Brazilians get together and do something for yourself and your nation and stop getting emotional about the reality it’s pathetic. also if you like to visit Brazil it’s really nice place and for me I think it’s heaven but shame the people don’t match the area!
cheers
you are completely right, thank you for your comment. It will certainly bring many dislikes but some people prefere living in fairytales
I agree with you about most of your statement but that part was very lame and says a lot about your character, which is not that far from brazilians’:
” True specially in the south where the majority are decent from Germans and Italians but don’t get fooled by the face terrible character and cocky”.
I really don’t know what are you talking about, Brazilians can’t care less if you are black or white, what about all this color talk? We have all colors people in Brasil. You definitely went to the wrong place with the wrong attitude. Go to Porto Seguro have some fun and stop with the Caucasian color bullshit . Brasiliana love Americans, I’m a Brazilian woman married to an American men for 18 Years and my husband who’s Caucasian always feels very welcome in Brasil.
All truth with a few pack of bullshits mixed in it. For instance “12. Brazilians women are hot ( True specially in the south where the majority are decent from Germans and Italians” you exactly sounds like one of those racist white brazilians lol. Come on… get over with that typical and stale racist nonsense.
I agree with you. The most beautiful Brazilian women are the mixed ones, they look exotic from the mix Portuguese, Native, African or any combination thereof.
You europeans think you are better than anyone. My sugestion is to forbid these people here in Brazil.
Watch out for the shemales LOOOL
This post got me reflecting about my own life and behaviour.
John
How are you ?
I have to say … Your list nail it! best classified . Hey ! I borned there , grow up in europe now leaving in america . exactly like you wrote more i try to think differently more i agree with your list as I will say , years delling with the people from brazil including the family I left there you are right ! their mentality is “Brazilians are friendly ( true only if they have interests )” . My close family contacted me many years asking for money only and exclusively . Brazilian rich, midle -class or poor passing by here or trying to survive here are for my surprise the same mentality . As i see life in a different way I try friendishp but they alway hidding something . Be ware! women are stremelly jealous of other women and yes can betray their on family . I can not write america is a blue sky nation on people personality and is not easy but at least if you can make it here . .
I am no fan of Brazil myself but you are wrong!
People are friendly and the women are hot af…. maybe the problem is with you.
No one is anti-american, why would they be? Are they in a war with US?
You have the prejudice and think the others are unfriendly. Shame on you.
Also, Brazil and Argentina don’t like each other. That is a fact. The only thing you were right about.
One of the more intelligent comments on the blog, thank you. I thought you said you’re no fan of Brazil??
bbqboy is wrong. Typical of Canadians, he doesn’t like Americans. Sorry, but we don’t allow ourselves to get triggered by women with luggage carts and then sulk in the shadow our Brazilian girlfriend. We learn enough Portuguese beforehand to intelligently connect with people. Brasil is another culture; they have their own way – it’s up to us as guests to adapt and take the anomalies with a grain of salt. I go to Bahia twice per year, and find the people to be absolutely delightful and accommodating. White western men do have a reputation in Rio as “those guys” with their baseball hats on backwards, drunk, 45lbs overweight, and looking for that 21-year-old model… yeah.
Actually my wife is American and not Brazilian. So there goes your theory of not liking Americans.
And I’m not sure what the whole last line is about but I guess you’re thinking I picked up my wife in Brazil.
Maybe you should read to be able to intelligently connect with people….
Frank, I’m an afrobrazilian. It says a lot about me. First of all, cute couple you both.
I’m from Rio too. And I hate this city and the country, but only the social and political part. The native and natural territory is magical and rich. That’s why it sucks, rich lands are usually attacked.
But, look, it’d be fair if you said Rio de Janeiro. That was a huge mistake. We brazilians we are divided because we are quite different. Me, for example, I came from a Rio’s favela, I am a physicist, I’m an atheist, writer, and I am having now my master degree in nuclear engineering. I speak french too, besides English. And I am very friendly to africans in my country. I avoid latinos because they treat me with prejudice for me being a black woman.
But, in my country, white people are gods. When I started reading your text I assumed it was your wife typing. Everything was making sense until I see that it was you.
So your experience is very awkward.
It’s also true that all that love for americans, canadians and europeans is all for money. My people is really terrible. Classism and racism are a big rule here, and hipocrisy and falsehood.
And they are quite stupid. A lot of earthflatters here, and anticommunists, homophobics. A terrible people.
But, white people usually don’t suffer for that. And Rio is not Brazil. Brazil is a country of contrasts. I don’t think it is fair for northest people being judged as the same as people from my region. And, in the end, nothing of that matters, right? You were mistreated, maybe it was good actually, although very unusual, because if you be able to look at us deeper you’ll be able to understand why we burned Amazon and why that guy is on power now. He represents the real values of my people.
Here you would find left-wing, right-wing, fascists, LGBT, black people, indigenous, christians, few atheists… and they could be very friednly to you. In my opinion you were unlucky but lucky in the end. Visit Fernando de Noronha in the future, not now, or Bahia. Rio is full of fascists now. I don’t recommend visits to Brazil for a while.
Thank you Arian for taking the time to comment. This is quite an old post and maybe certain things have changed (like politics)…while certain things may have not. But I appreciate the feedback.
I’m Brazilian and had lived in Ireland for a while, where I met loads of people that had visited Brazil at some point and it surprises me that you had so many bad experiences. I know how it is to be a tourist, so it bothers me that my country might seem not welcoming.
My husband is Irish and moved to Rio with me recently, so I comprehend a few of your impressions because he’s thought the same at first. I’ll try to defend our honor, though.
When it comes to that woman in the airport, I’m sorry for that, but you can find rude people everywhere. She wasn’t rude because she was Brazilian, she was just rude. In general, we tend to be very talkative and start conversations easily with people we’ve never seen before. We hug, we kiss, we touch a lot more than other cultures, and that’s why we’re known as friendly. But you gotta understand Brazil is the size of a whole continent, so even though the friendly behavior is common, it’s definitely not gonna be found in every single corner.
My husband still doesn’t speak Portuguese, so when we go out, people do tend to speak looking at me (and I’m whiter than him, if that’s even possible). I think they could have spoken more to your wife because she looked more familiar to “our people” than you. Definitely not for “a reverse racism” or something like that.
As an English teacher, I know how afraid Brazilians are of speaking English (even the ones that are good at it). This is really something super common! We tend to think that every other country is better than us, specially North Americans. In the language and in everything else. Every time my husband speaks to my friends (that I know that have been going to English courses since they were kids), they panic and ask me to translate. And also laugh at each other when someone makes the most simple mistake. My husband always thinks they are laughing at him, and 100% of the times I have to explain to him they are actually making fun of themselves for “being stupid”. This might have happened to you as well and you didn’t know.
He also always complains about the starring. It’s something I noticed myself when lived in Ireland. Brazilians stare a lot! Most of the time though, I can assure you, it’s not to ofend. It’s more curiosity than anything. We’re always starring at what is different and it has become something super natural to us.
What we do not like is “gringos” speaking Spanish to us. It shows you know nothing about our culture and is very offensive. Also, thinking our women are not beautiful because they do not have giant asses and tiny thongs demonstrate the depravation of our beauty by the Foreign media. We are indeed beautiful. We’re just not all the dumb sexual beings they make us to be.
Last of all, we do have a lot of problems with violence. Specially in Rio. Our police and politicians are corrupt and the population got used to it. We have a lot to improve and do not deny it.
My husband got over his first impression when he understood how Brazilians’ minds work. Now, he doesn’t wanna leave it. Hope you have a better experience next time 🙂
I think the word “gringo” is ugly and that word alone is one of the reasons why I avoid Brazilians.
What’s wrong with Spanish?
I’m from Sweden and I would not be angry if some tourist spoke Danish or Norwegian to me.
My dad was Brazilian and I’ve been many times to Brazil, but it’s over now. If I want sunshine and palm trees I can go to Spain, Italy or Greece. I don’t want to risk my life flying over the Atlantic Ocean just to come to a corrupt country where people are ignorant, immature and impulsive.
Tchau Brazil. Já chega !!!
I hope your father explained to you that “gringo” is simply a word for foreigner, and unlike in other cultures, does not carry a derogatory meaning.
And the issues is not speak spanish – is speak spanish and expect I understand it, and then say “but you are in latin america, and you don’t speak spanish?”
Well, let me start with a “screw you, you freaking ignorant. Are you patronizing me in my country when you did not spend 5 freaking minutes on google to discover that we SPEAK FREAKING PORTUGUESE”. No one here have a speacial love for portuguese, it’s just another language. But we happen to speak it, and if you are visint, you dont need to know it, but at least to know the basics of the place you are.
It’s quite patronizing, and I hope you dont mind my sincerity, since you seem to value it, but the amont of prejudice and patronizing bullshit we endure from some gringos is unbeliaveble. Like… lumping every single latin people together as if we were a homogeneous mass. If you lived in Brazil, we know that within the country there is so much plurality. Brazilians are not alike all over, as other people from other counries are also different in they ways.
But yeah, why not set foot in any latin-american country and not presume they are the same freaking thing?
Also, probably your animosity (and any other people showing animosity towards us) probably made for a lot of your bad experiences. There are few people that have walked this earth that will go out of their way to be agressive back once you start to be agressive towards us – which is why you are seing so many angry coments here.
But as most grandpas here say “you do me a favor when you are nice to me, but you do me two when you are not AND you say you don’t want to see me anymore”. After showing your true colors, it will be awesome not seeing you anymore.
I hope you enjoy life on your side of the atlantic o/ beijonaomeliga
I’m trying to understand what makes someone sit down in front of a screen and write bad things about a country that you don’t know – you just spent 2 1/2 weeks there! I’m sorry but you don’t know anything about Brazil and don’t expect Brazilians will be nice to you if you’re not being nice to them. How would you react if someone posts bad things about your family on line for everyone to see but this person just spent 2 1/2 weeks with your family. Douchebag!!!
Sweet!
I have done biz with Brazilians here in the US. They suck. They’re petty and have a thieving mentality… Experience baby
Ele escreveu e descreveu o Brasil com toda sinceridade.
Eu passei quase um ano da minha vida no Brazil e eu concordo plenamente.
The vast majority of Brazilians are extremely ignorant and have a low IQ. Friendship and love in Brazil? Easy come, but also easy go.
I cannot take Brazilians seriously.
Lying selfish alligator-smiled people. And you get SOOO DEEPLY OFFENDED when a foreigner honestly criticizes you, but You think it’s totally okay to insult and cheat foreigners. I agree with the guy, Brazil is geographically nice, but most Brazilians are shit.
And another thing, here in Europe I usually don’t get stared at nor laughed at because I have an ACCENT. In Brazil the people make such a big deal out of a foreigner’s accent. You think the Portuguese language is so important and so fantastic and you laugh at the foreigners speaking it. You are the real douchebags.
My first impulse was going to say ‘I’m sorry’ for the highly offensive Raissa’s post. But actually, that’s what Brazilian people became: sh!t. As a Brazilian, my day-by-day dilemma is how to find my place in this country. People blame the politics for being this way, but the thinking line it’s totally the opposite: the politics are this way because of the people.
Its called a “travel blog,” it is where travelers describe their experiences in a country. You see, they don’t know the country very well, they are “traveling” in the country. This sort of thing is very valuable for other prospective travelers who may want to visit there.
THANK YOU!! Exactly, that’s the point. Blogging shouldn’t be about Top 10 lists or writing just the good stuff about a place.
I have spent 3 weeks in Brazil. I will try to make it short (if anyone cares I will extend it)
1st week rio: I did not feel insecure (there was a shooting police vs thugs 200/300 meters from a church we were taking photos) but the rest of the time I did not feel like I was going to get robbed) was disappointed most … how to say it was depressing . …A lot if people on the streets. Some neibourghood just looking at will make you cry
For most of the time people were nice (my girlfriend is Brazilian so no language barrier). And yes you can’t find any hot girl (Brazilian marketing is top notch you think you will see the hottest girls in the world… and they are average at best
2nd week natal 3th week sao Paulo.. it did not get better
Thank god someone said it. I have to agree with you Frank. I’ve been around Latin America and Brazil is so far the most unfriendly country whereas the other Latin American countries I’ve been to (Colombia, Mexico, Cuba etc), people were so friendly and helpful it made me want to move to Latin America. Then I came to Brazil … Salvador and Rio to be exact. People were not nice to me in Salvador at all (then again I wasn’t sure if they were tourists from other parts of Brazil or locals). I agreed your points on Brazilian women and the nature.
Yes, Brazilian women are confident but unfortunately plastic surgeries are part of the reasons. Nature in Brazil is incredible. I dont know if I would come back to Brazil. It’s not somewhere I’d live in.
ahhahahahahha Y’all come to Brazil without doing a proper research and then complain about the people. Rio and Salvador are literally known for the people being rude. As long as you don’t go with high expectations regarding that, the places are awesome. There’s also more than Rio and Salvador to visit, ya know.
How could he have done his “research” unless people like him wrote up their experience to help other people do their research? Do you think you will find this type of honesty on the Lonely Planet website?
I live in Rio and I wouldn’t visit this place for tourism. But I liked Foz do Iguaçu(you can visit paraguay and argentina easily from there), and João Pessoa(everything is cheap in there).
I think Rio de Janeiro is a nice place to live, it’s the right combination of big city and calm city, you can live in a calm neightborhood or in one of the cities next to rio and it’s a nicely developed city, you can find anything here, and if you don’t find, you can order things from São Paulo and it takes between 3-7 days for your stuff to arrive.
Negative points in my perspective:
Violence in Rio. And it’s not like you are going here for a risky adventure, mostly places look really safe, but they aren’t.
People are proud of their beaches as if Rio was the only place with a beach.
The beaches are too crowded in the summer.
It’s an expensive city for few good places to visit.
In Brazil there’s a bias against foreigners, people actually think when a foreigner speak Spanish trying to communicate, they think Brazilians speak Spanish. People here are more likely to speak English than Spanish, but most people can’t speak English, and Spanish is the closest language to Portuguese. But I think we have a reasonable amount of English speakers.
We have some anti-americanism, but probably most people Brazilians have positive thoughts about the US. Some people will actually say that we are inferior and uneducated. People always compare Brazil with countries like Switzerland, US, Japan, as if we were inferior. We have some education problems but we are not that bad.
What I’m trying to say is that we may have some anti-american thoughts, but people here are more likely to say mean things about other Brazilians than to an American or any other foreigner. And I would say that probably Americans are more anti-American than we Brazilians, and it’s a guess, perhaps not.
The main negative point about rio de janeiro:
Favelas and the steriotipical “favelado”:
Not everyone that lives in a “favela” is like this, but nearly every civilized person who knows how to behave in public, that happens to be poor and lives in a favela, doesn’t like living in there.
And Rio is full of those uneducated people.
We use a lot the world “gringo”, I don’t like this word and I don’t use it. But they don’t want to offend anyone by saying that.
So my last thing to say about this article is that you probably chose the wrong city to visit. I see that you visited other cities but think Rio is too overrated.
Thank you Daniel for your detailed comment. Very much appreciate. I still think Rio is one of the most beautiful cities in the world (geographically) and I am happy to have seen it. But as you say there are many issues.
Brasil is a very racist country. I have been to Brasil 3 times, and had various experiences. I have been to Belem, Salvador, Recife, Sao Paulo, and Rio. Salvador was the best, Rio the worst. The people stare, and looked shocked that you have money to spend as a Black person. Only Blacks and people of darker hues, were friendly. All whites, and near whites, were overtly, and covertly racist. Beautiful country, but very godless people. Afrikans were brought there, are the majority, but they don’t want them as equals. What crap??!!! You brought us there. We will rule that country one day. It’s an Afrikan country thanks to you.
I am from the U.S. Satan, but I left the land of KKK, and retired to a colony of it, Puerto Rico. It is racist as well, but I get a good climate, and don’t have to mingle that much. It’s better than Brasil by far!!! The only reason I’m not in Afrika, is because my wife would only move this distance. I travel there often. That’s my real home!!!! I demand reparations to go there, and live a great life.
Serious? Do you think Brazil is racist, if more than half the population is half-breed?. If you do not know, learn one thing: Brazilians are not accustomed to seeing people from other countries their stupid…
Brazil definitely has race issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ODz9aIQ_k
Completely agree. I am black and I had the same experience. I thought racism could not get worse outside of the U.S., but Brazil actually made me appreciate the U.S. Yes, my impression was that the people are rude and have a dislike for foreigners or at least come across that way.
Loud and reckless people. I moved from Salvador to Velha Boipeba (a remote island village) to find some peace and quiet – it’s even louder than the city. Drums and screaming literally all day long, every single day.
I agree really with everything, my wife is from Pára in the North. In fact I’m here now visiting her parents for a month. We come here every year. 1st the country is beautiful, an explosion of colour and noise in food an music. The problem I feel is the origins of the first settlers. The reasons they came and the extremes of rich and poor. I’m Northern European, 6,4 Scottish/Irish. I love the fruits and food produce but corruption is a BIG problem here. The weather here is not temperate enough to relax. The reason I come back is for my wife and family, that’s it, yes play hard carn né val and all that but work hard too.
well sir,
what can I say ? I came across your website and I just can’t agree with you. (You can call me an angry brazilian)
I’d like to use just 2 simple arguments to refute your whole big test about your bad experience.
How can you just assume in a naive and general way that every brazilian will be like a cake recipe that you read in articles around the net? Are you freaking kidding me? That was even a part on your diary, where you insult us by saying the beautiful women should have stayed at home when you were around…. How ridiculous is this argument? Keep your personal opinions on beauty standards to yourself. You should come here to observe and respect the culture and the people.
Secondly, how can you judge a whole country by 2 weeks travelling here? It sounds bitter, exaggerated and superficial to write such stuff based on a tiny bit trip.
I can understand that we can face bad situations and meet some rude people during travels. I had myself, a personal bad experience while in NY. People ignoring or bullying us for being latin americans, or being plain rude with friends of mine for not being fluent in English… You won’t find articles written by me saying I won’t go back there…
So, definetely it’s odd reading this portrait you paint of us all by your one side telling of the story.
Think before writing, please! Peace and blessings!
Thanks for the comment Viviane.
The beauty comment was tongue in cheek, a joke. As I’ve mentioned before, of course Brazilian women are beautiful, they are known for it. My personal experience was that we didn’t see many, therefore my joke that they must have been indoors when I was there.
I say right off the top that my opinion was based on 2 weeks and to “take it for what it’s worth”. I think most people will have an opinion on a place when they’ve spent 2 weeks somewhere. And I dare say that if you had your own blog you probably would write about your experiences and your opinion. And knowing NY I would agree there is truth in what you are saying, just as much as there is truth in some of the comments some have mentioned about Quebec.
Remember, this is a personal blog and not a New York Times article. I can write about my experience and state my opinion just as freely as you can comment on your disagreement with it. It is why people read blogs.
Hello, Frank.
I’m sorry to read about your bad experiences in Rio.
I really don’t understand Brazilians trying to say that you’re wrong in your impressions. That arrogant behavour is one of the worsts things about our country.
Let’s get to the point: You were a tourist. You came here to know their country and you got a terrible impression. Thats ends here. No excuses.
As a Brazilian I’m feel that’s correct to say that our people don’t understand the difference beetween explore the tourism and explore the TOURIST. That’s exactly whats happens all the time, specially in Rio de Janeiro.
Even other brazilians are aware of how difficult avoid from scams and other kind of violence in Rio de Janeiro. And it’s like imposible to deal specially the infamous bad maners, even in tourist places and hotel staff.
To me Rio de Janeiro it’s just a non civilizadad place, where you should always doubdt the other people intersion. And the worst, Cariocas are proud of it.
Sad but true.
Our country just need education. Period.
Hi Frank!
I’m really sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience in Brazil. Us, brazilians, can be very warm and welcoming towards gringos, just like some of us can be rude and brutal. I’ve read some comments on this post and I am sure you’ve read this statement before haha. Well, as for my experience, I went to Canada a few years back and didn’t have the best time with locals in Montreal. They refused to talk in English with me and did no effort to understand my terrible French, but still, I loved Quebec and most things about this beautiful country.
I admit I was slightly offended to read the sexist comments about the Brazilian women, specially because we’re not meant to prove no one’s intention of objectification. I really wished you could see behind all that, and maybe give a try to our rich culture – our delicious foods, beautiful fauna and flora, our native people living in indigenous communities, our Samba, Soccer, music, and so many other things, way beyond appearances and some lady that bumped into you at the Rio airport. Even our Favelas have a cultural importance for us and we treasure our country very much. See, for a long time in my life, probably until I was sixteen or so, I was so ashamed of my country, I used to hide my nationality from my foreign friends just because I saw Brazil as a poor and boring place. But as I grew older, I started to understand our history and everything behind it, and I learnt to love my country and every bit of it. No, we’re not perfect – far from t! We have yet so much to change and improve, we make mistakes and screw up big time, specially with politics, but we’re trying, and maybe, someday, you could too. Maybe, like me, you can learn to find the beauty behind everything you hated in here.
Sincerely,
Amma 🙂
Ha! I’m an Anglophone Quebecker and I know exactly what you are talking about in Quebec. We are not immune to stupid people.
I made a joke about the Brazilian women. Of course they are beautiful, they are known throughout the world as beautiful. But I also mentioned the men, so I think I balanced that out pretty much (and I’m sorry, since when have Brazilians not cared about physical appearances?). And you are right about the culture. But I’ll say what I told many commenters – if you go somewhere and people are nasty to you are you going to leave with a good impression? Because in the end that was our only issue with our visit. I did mention that it is a beautiful country.
But as I also always say: our experiences are our experiences and it doesn’t mean that everyone will have the same. It’s been over 10 years since we went to Brazil now. If we went back tomorrow we might have a totally different experience for all I know. But this is a personal travel blog and I’ve always believed it’s best to be honest about our experiences and opinions.
Thank you Amma for your comment and for standing up for your country.
Brazil is a cesspool of corruption and shit. Droctors come in drunk for your consultation and police wont help you.
Hello, Frank. I am a native Brazilian citizen from Belo Horizonte (MG) ad I would like to tell you or, more accurately, to pinpoint something you seem to be missing when writting your review about Brazil: you haven’t visited Brazil, my man! You have only visited Rio de Janeiro City (RJ)! And trust me on that very much: Rio de Janeiro, both the city and the state, are NOT the whole Brazil, nor does neither one nor the one represent it!
As a Brazilian, I can assure you that Rio de Janeiro, especially the capital city of the state, stands out compared to the rest of the country as one of the most dangerous, most expensive and most unfriendly places of the country. We Brazilians are not too much excited to go touring in Rio de Janeiro, I swear to you. People there are extremely classist, prejudiced and very disrespectful. It seems that whatever is wrong with Brazilian society is thrice as worse in Rio de Janeiro!
So, I would ask you to give us another chance, because Rio de Janeiro is just one of the 27 states in the Brazilian Federation, and Rio de Janeiro city is just one of the 5,570 Brazilian cities that there are. Belo Horizonte will welcome you with open arms, I can tell you that much!
Thank you for the comment Matheus as well as the invitation to return.
Well…for me there are some simple explanations…You didn’t visited “BRAZIL”, you visited Rio de Janeiro. Me, as a Brazilian I don’t see any reason to visit Rio, not at all…only if a huge group of friends choose to spent Carnival there and I’d never live there, Rio it’s a corrupt place, it is in their DNA (Just look the history from that place).
So…my guess is; people there are full of Americans who go there and think it’s a open brothel (Rio Olympics is an Example the American Swimmer). And I guess it’s normal to be missguided as an American since you speak English and it’s white, even with me, in Italy people think I’m American. Also, depending on how you try to enforce your spanish into them they’ve might got mad…since we don’t speak spanish at all…but maybe that wasn’t the case.
So, conclusion is…Brazil…There is not a SINGLE Brazil, one thing…see?
It’s huge, it’s populated and every single part had a different colonization/history which has shapped those people are now. Rio was 100% colonized to be explored and by the other hand the South of Brazil was mostly Colonized by people who were trying to have a better life, not explore but to colonize. Those are two COMPLETELY different Brazil. Anyway…Brazil has lot’s to offer but those are hidden places for the average tourist.
I’m Brazilian but I live in Montreal, QC. I completely understand you and I hate my own country too. Canada, on the other side, gives me lots of opportunities; friendly people from everywhere in the world, well, I love this amazing country. If I don’t want to go back to Brazil anymore I can imagine you. I think there’s nothing with you being a North American, Brazilians love to lick their boots, they’re just unpolite and that’s it. Colombia is really amazing and it’s a place that I’d like to revisit. Brazil, never more, better if somebody drops a bomb there.
Ouch!! That’s rough. I would not go that far…
I lived in Montreal 25 or so years so I am happy to hear that you like it (I have a lot of information on Montreal on this blog). It’s cold in the winter but that’s the worst thing. That and taxes.
But you are right, what is great about Montreal is people from everywhere and they all (mostly) get along. I still go back every few years or so.
Glad to hear you also love Colombia, I found the people there very friendly.
Thanks for the comment and all the best in 2019.
Hello, Frank! I am Brazilian and, even though it is possible meet interesting people in here, generally Brazilians are prejudiced, deeply racist, and hate opinionated people. Brazilian men are usually chauvinist, disrespectful of women. Empoverished Brazilians from smaller towns tend to be really nice. As for US Americans, um general, they are not admired here, except for the elite, who dream of being US American citizens. Yet, there is history there which justifies why the USA represents danger to most Brazilians. Check it out! I myself feel rather disappointed with how rude Brazilians can be… Trust me, I know what I’m saying. I ‘m sorry you and your wife saw Brazilians’ true face in such a short stay. Take care!
We do have a saying here: Brazil is a beautiful country, its biggest problem is its people. It’s kind of a self-loathing view but it’s quite rooted in truth.
I am German Brazilian from Rio Grande do Sul living in Sao Paulo. I am blond with blue eyes with caucasian features.
Braziian women are the hottest women in the world, you can find girls of any race.
The best looking women are from the south of Brazil. it is not for nothing that women from Brazil are considered to be the hottest women in the world. 80 per cent of brazilians living in the south of Brazil are white caucasian looking
Brazilian people don’t care if you are white or black, they care more about your status.
Many foreign women travelling to Brazil are ashamed of their body when they compare their body with Brazilian bodies.
Copacabana is shitty, there is nothing out there so never judge a country if you only visited one city or one place in a city.
I m not attracted to black and mixed women but that doesn’t mean I am racist.
Well actually you sound very racist already indirectly implying that white features are superior in beauty criteria than other races. You are justifying yourself in the end of your comment not to look like one but that was pretty lame. I guess it’s this kind of mindset among “racist” brazilians that makes some blonde blue eyed caucasian looking people condescending.
Im brazilian and i can tell you many people from rio are really rude and sometimes VERY unfriendly. Brazilians from other parts of Brazil are likely to be mistreated in rich/tourist areas of Rio. It’s not related to race.
Living here in Brazil for 5 years, i can clearly tell you there is no anti American sentiment among the people. I am basing this from living in Rio and not in the touristic areas but normal neighborhoods like Botafogo and Flamengo. Also worked here and never had an issue or anti american speech brought up. Most of the middle class and upper class have families that live in the US or have either been to disney, san diego or new york. Although the visa issue is hard, if you have the correct documents and proof of stability in brazil, its not hard to get.
Also i dont think they were unfriendly to you…. If you go to New York and ask someone busy with their lives for directions, most of the time they will not be overtly friendly with you and tell you “Welcome to NewYork”. Why would you expect this is Rio? Also imagine a chinese walking up to you in your city and asking directions in Mandarin. How would you answer?
Brazil is a great country. Even with the corruption mess and problems, its greatest treasure its the people. They are funny, like to have a good time and after a while of living here, you start to think like them and take life easier. I will recommend you come back to Rio, dont stay in Copacobana or Ipanema, but in the neighborhoods and enjoy the real carioca life.
Thanks for the comment David. Glad to hear your experience living there.
This trip dates back 10 years now. At the time there was all the fuss about the reciprocal Visa fees and I remember Brazilians being upset towards America (although maybe not specifically Americans).
I think my point when I wrote the post was WHY? Why were people unfriendly and even rude? As I say, this was 10 years ago. 4 years ago we started travelling full time and have been to many countries. But Brazil still sticks out as the unfriendliest based on our experience (Romania and Poland weren’t favorites either). Over 45 countries and Brazil still sticks out as the unfriendliest for me (for Lissette it was Poland). And I guess I’ve never understood why.
I understand what you’re saying in your Chinese in New York analogy. Nobody is asking anyone to welcome me. I’m just asking for people to not be rude. Maybe just a smile if I try to talk to you and you don’t understand. Isn’t that the “normal” reaction? Is it normal to bang someone on purpose with your trolley (repeatedly) at the airport?
Understand all your points and I appreciate feedback from someone who’s gotten to know Brazilians much more than I ever will. Like everywhere else, maybe it takes an adjustment (I’m in Morocco right now – 3 days into a 5 week trip and believe me it’s a culture shock!).
Não me arrisco a escrever em inglês, mas acho em engraçado as coisas que este sujeito que viajou até o Rio escreveu. “Será que as pessoas me trataram mal por ser caucasiano/branco?” Sério mesmo que você acha que no Rio de Janeiro não existem pessoas brancas, inclusive loiras e de olhos azuis e que em algumas cidades do sul do país, uma grande parcela da população tem estas características? “Ou será que eles nos trataram mal por sermos um casal inter-racial?” Você só pode estar gozando com a minha cara, não é não meu amigo? Que eu saiba casamento inter-racial é visto como tabu e ainda é odiado na sua tão civilizada América do Norte, vide estados como Alabama e Mississipi, onde até pouco tempo atrás, existiam leis que proibiam este tipo de relacionamento. O que para nós seria algo totalmente impensado. Mas concordo no ponto em que ele descreve a população do Rio de Janeiro como rude e mal educada, pois a maioria é assim mesmo, quando você pede informação, a maioria não te trata bem, verdade seja dita. Fora que os gringos são sempre vistos como bobões e alvos fáceis para serem furtados nas mãos de malandros e garotos de rua. Definitivamente, o Rio de Janeiro não é para principiantes. A fama de cidade maravilhosa fica só no nome mesmo. Mas aí, o sujeito quer rotular o país inteiro com base em um experiência pessoal. Já conheci pessoas que visitaram Nova York e disseram exatamente as mesmas coisas sobre o povo de lá: frios, rudes e racistas.
Mate, you probably didn’t intend to come across that way, but when you talk about your expectations of people -women in particular- and being poorly treated for being white/gringo, does it sound self centred! I’ve read the comments above, and understand you didn’t mean to bring race into this, but it seems you completely missed the white privilege that exists everywhere, Brazil very much included. Sexuality, danger in cities, party culture and such are all part of the country, but it goes so beyond that. Also, you had good intentions, but speaking Spanish to people in Brazil is not taken well – it reads as “Latin people are all the same, everyone speaks Spanish”. On that note, Latin is not a race, and Brazilians see race very differently than north Americans. As everyone else pointed out, half of the population is white, and people are suckers for American culture in Brazil – so many influences on everything, from clothing to tv shows.
Your country was lovely, and I thought that Canadians were more open minded and less sexist/racist than some of the things I’ve read here. There’s a couple of really disgusting comments above of misogynist and racist folks (like wtf is that bloke saying with “not really white, more like grey skin?”), including Trump supporters, which I guess says a lot. Women are more than their arses, people are more than their skin colour, rudeness is often rooted in some deeper social/historic issues.
Anyways. It is your experience, and you’re obviously free to speak about it, but when you paint a whole country in such a shitty light for thousands of people to see, in spite of being there for only a couple of weeks, it doesn’t look good.
Still, Canada is a fucking ace place, and I wouldn’t dream of ever generalizing Canadians from a few bad experiences -hopefully you would do the same for Brazil. It’s just constructive criticism, though I’d avise you not to go anywhere with the media stereotypes in mind.
I’m just venting, you don’t have to answer, plase don’t bother -its been like four years anyway hahaha sorry for the long post, you’re probably a nice lad, it’s just the way you expressed your feelings that came across rude (as rude as you felt Brazilians were, I suppose) and as if you were expecting people to bow down to you (again, I know you didn’t mean that, but it reads off as it).
Having said that, yes, there are rude people everywhere. I know both shitty and sweet people from everywhere -Italy, France, China, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine… the list goes on, but I digress.
Hope you had better travelling experiences in those four years. Again, this is only an opinion, not trying to be accusatory.
Ha, got a kick out of your comment. Thanks “onlyventing”, I think I get it. But you were nice towards Canadians so I appreciate that (not that I speak for all Canadians but at least you didn’t lump me with Americans)
I’m not sure why you mention 4 years but this Brazil trip actually goes back to 2007. Not sure why I get all these comments now. My latest whipping boy is Poland.
Friendliest people in Europe? Might just be Lviv (Ukraine). Don’t know if that’s a Ukrainian thing but about to spend a month in Kiev so we’ll find out.
Take care and thanks for the comment.
Ps. hate that grey skin. Such a turn off.
I am German who lives in Amsterdam and I have been to Brazil 5 times and had a long relationship with a Brazilian guy from Rio.
Here is my personal point of view about my experience having been there many times and knowing Brazilians closely.
1. I am really surprised you found that people were hostile! My German and Dutch friends who have been there always say how much they love Brazilians. I guess it could be maybe a language issue..I’m not sure. From my experience, the first time I went to Brazil I was 19 and didn’t speak a word of Portuguese and didn’t know people there, I did end up in a few tourist traps but that is something that could have happen anywhere. I did notice a huge difference when I went there for the second time and I could speak some Portuguese. It was much easier to communicate with people. I noticed that for Brazilians who don’t speak english tend to get a little scared and insecure with the language barrier. If you approach them speaking English they might not know how to react. They don’t do it intentionally but it’s because they feel insecure. The same happened to me a few times in the beginning. But once you speak Portuguese you realize that this changes and people feel more confident to talk to you. Could it be that maybe that’s why they seemed unfriendly? The ones I met who spoke a little English were actually very enthusiastic and happy to speak to me because they could practice their English.
I lived in japan for 6 months and I had the same experience when I would speak English to someone they get very shy and would answer to my Japanese friends instead of me.
2. Brazilians value genuine contacts but when they have a feeling you are trying too hard they immediately notice it and find it weird. Here in The Netherlands where I live, you are encouraged to give a big smile and say hello and be formal to people but not really engage with them, it takes a while to break the ice with people here. For other cultures, the way people interact here might seem superficial. My Brazilian boyfriend would find it strange that people in our building say hi with a big smile and just keep on walking and don’t want to interact with you. In Brazil, I noticed that when people ask you “how are you?” they are not doing so because of formalities but they are asking because they genuinely want to know how you are doing, so when someone acts too formal or “try too hard” they feel like is insincere and don’t really want to engage. They actually love to chit chat with the neighbours and talk about their personal lives without any problem. During my first times I still had my strict and formal German mannerisms but after dating a Brazilian for a long time and getting to know more Brazilians, I learned I didn’t have to be formal to be accepted, I just had to chill and be myself and I have always been welcomed with open arms.
3. My boyfriend and I were also a mixed race couple but we usually have had no problems with it. We did notice some weird stare when we were in Copacabana. But Copacabana is the tourist area where foreigners go to look for prostitutes, so I’m guessing this might be the reason why. He used to live in Barra da Tijuca where there are not many tourists and is a very relaxed neighbourhood. There I felt that people were just living their lives and it didn’t feel as hostile and unsafe as Copacabana.
4. Anti- American sentiment is everywhere in my opinion!I constantly hear my co-workers here in Europe bashing Americans on a daily basis.
5. In terms of beautiful women, I agree that the men in Brazil are much more good looking than the women, no doubt about that! I think that what makes Brazilian women so famous is because beautiful women in Brazil have more confidence and charisma while American or European women tend to be a bit more cold and less confident. In terms of looks, I think Brazilian men are by far much better looking and tend to take more care of their bodies than the women! What I have noticed is that women in Brazil are not ashamed of their bodies. If they are overweight or not, they are not ashamed of wearing bikinis on the beach. I did notice that the women got more weight from since I went there for the first time.
6. The men are very forward in Brazil! If they are interested in a girl they will have no problem hitting on her. The bartender staring at your girlfriends boobs is definitely rude but its something that could have happened anywhere I think. I had a similar situation with a friend in a bar in Kreuzberg in berlin, but in berlin the bartender threw a shot of tequila on my friends face and got away with it. I would not stop going to Berlin because of that.
7. The things I hate the most about Brazil are politics, the difference between rich and poor and how the taxi drivers sometimes try to trick and take advantage of the first time tourist. But again, its the same in other Latin American countries. Once you learn Portuguese, it is very likely that you will not end up in a tourist trap. ( at least in my case)
8. I’ve been to Rio, Sao Paulo, Minas, did a tour in the south and in the northeast. My favourite are is Rio closely followed by Minas gerais. I fell in love with Minas Gerais. Not many tourists, warm and genuine people and the best food. The place I liked the least was Salvador. I felt very unsafe in Salvador and would have people come to me all the time to ask for money. I didn’t really connect with the city but many people I know who have been there love it though.. I met rude people in every single country I have visited but I must say most people I met in Brazil were actually warm and kind. The only Brazilians I’ve met who tend to be more entitled and generally rude are from Sao Paulo. They somehow feel like they are better then the rest and I did not like that attitude.
7. It’s a shame you had this bad experience. I made great friends in that country, had a beautiful Brazilian boyfriend for years. I was welcomed with open arms by his friends and family, they would cook for me, invite me to spend time at their beach house and asked nothing in return. For me, that’s warmth and kindness. I have been to Brazil 5 times and I can’t wait to be back there soon!
Thank you very much Frank for your great comment.
You’ve described many of the traits that we knew of Brazilians before going. Unfortunately it just didn’t happen for us. Language is always a factor, but a smile usually gets anything done. They didn’t like my smile in Brazil 🙂 My wife was fine though, I think she would have been ok without me (funny enough we just encountered the opposite in Poland).
Japan – totally different experience for us from Brazil. They’ll bend over backwards trying to be helpful and friendly. Sometimes it feels forced and maybe that’s because it is. I think they have so much pride in trying to be hospitable to foreigners. We spent 7 weeks there and they were incredible. I don’t know if we met 1 rude Japanese 🙂
Thank you again, great feedback.
Living in lisbon there are loads of Brazilians. Most I’ve met are trashy, loud, poor hygiene, unsophistucated, ignorant, untrustworthy, and manipulative, and frankly a bit dumb.
I’d never go to Brazil. Colombia or Venezuela people are more decent.
I’m brazilian and live in Rio, and it saddens me that you had a bad experience in my city, of all places. Maybe if you had stayed in a less posh neighborhood it could have been a different experience (I’m not a huge fan of Leblon of all places), but I don’t know the places you did visit, so I’m not commenting on that.
Anyway, I don’t want to be dismissive of your experiences and interpretations of them, but I really think it is unlikely that whatever negative experiences you had in Rio were due to your whiteness. After all, Brazil has plenty white people, specially in a fancy place like Leblon. So, even if it was about appearance and/or foreigness it probably wasn’t about race, and I find it very unlikely that it was something political as brazil is a very xenophile country.
Maybe people misread your attitude, or vice-versa? I really don’t know, but I honestly think whiteness/race was the issue, not in Leblon of all places. Maybe having race as a first top-of-the-mind explanation makes sense in north america, but I’m not sure that’s always the case in other places. Anyway, I’m sorry if I sounded a bit passive-aggressive there, but english js my second language and what I’m tryibg to imply is that, well, I could be wrong, but I think people are often too quick to point at x or z as what caused them a problem when travelling because that makes sense at home, but what they forget is that they aren’t home…
Hi Felipe,
Thank you for your comment. Don’t worry about Passive-aggressive, you didn’t come across that way.
I was merely questioning why people were the way they were on that trip. I don’t know the answer.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy Brazil as much as it can be enjoyed in different circumstances.
I’m Polish and I’m in love with Brazil. I’ve been travelling there many times and each time I try to visit a new place, although I’ve been to Rio 3 times.
My travel experiences in Brazil are totally different from yours and I’m not sure if it can be explained by the fact that I speak Portuguese – they can hear I’m not a native. Or perhaps by the fact that Polish and Brazilians have a lot in common, surprising as it may seem.
Of course, there are always people who treat the European (American, Canadian…) tourist as a cash machine, try to sell you stuff you don’t need and are offended if you don’t want to buy. Or are not as open and smiling all the time as you read on the internet before going there. They are not even impressed by the fact that Eastern European speaks Portuguese fluently, I assure you – it’s normal to them that someone coming to their country speaks their language and they even correct my mistakes haha.
I understand Brazilians as very proud people – that’s one of the reasons of their reciprocity policy regarding visas, for example. I don’t need one, just because Brazilians don’t need a visa when they come to Poland. You can feel the sense of dignity in Brazilians, even the most humble ones. All that doesn’t explain being rude to tourists or foreigners, of course. As I said, I haven’t experienced that and I even asked my husband, who travels with me and doesn’t speak Portuguese – he said that in his opinion Brazilians were super friendly and kind.
I think that you need 2 things when visiting Brazil: respect and distance. Brazilians will feel if you don’t respect them – you don’t need to be rude, but you may think that you are better and they will know it. I’ve seen a lot of this “imperial” behavior towards Brazilians from foreign tourists, even if it was not intentional. Again, I’m not suggesting this was your attitude – just the observation based on my travels. And you never know what the Brazilians will perceive as disrespect, haha. That’s why you need distance. I just don’t care if they are rude or not. I would prefer if they were kind, but if someone is impolite, doesn’t matter. There are so many kind and friendly Brazilians, that I can ignore those who are not. Funny thing that the most impolite Brazilians I’ve met were paulistas from my work (I work for and American corporation, they are based in our Sao Paulo office) – this is rudeness level pro, but I ignore them as well and say coldly: “Thanks for your feedback, can we move forward?” hahaha
Regarding safety – it’s true that you need to be careful in Brazil, especially Rio. But your attitude is the key. You can sneak around, expecting danger anywhere and it will spoil your stay, because most tourists will be safe. I’ve never been assaulted in Brazil, not even a single try. But going to Rio for the first time, I expected that it would happen – well, it didn’t. Now I feel safe in Brazil and my explanation is that my love for Brazil is reciprocated 🙂
Anyway, it was an interesting post to read and if you decide to go back to Brazil one day, we may meet there and have a caipirinha 🙂
Thank you Anna for the nice and informative comment. Very much appreciated.
By the way, we are in your country Poland right now. Spending the month of July in Krakow. Any special tips?
Wow, what a surprise that you are in Poland! 🙂 I’m curious about your opinion about the Poles – be honest! haha
Tips: visit Auschwitz – even if you are not that interested in WW II or history, it’s a must see because it’s the unique place.
You can go further south to the mountains as well, however AVOID Zakopane, a tourist trap and full of people in July (Jul and Aug are school holiday in Poland). Any other mountain destination would be better.
Btw, I will be in Bieszczady Mountains for the last week of July, if you by any chance plan to go there, let me know – I really mean it 🙂
In any case, I hope you enjoy Poland!
We just got here a few days ago and it is hard to judge Poles at this point. We’re used to Eastern Europeans – we’ve spent over 6 months in the Czech Republic and lived a year in Croatia. They can be a bit stone-faced but my experience is that they’re more friendly when they’ve seen you a few times. But I don’t think they’re generally unfriendly. We’re right across from the Farmer’s market in Krakow and I go there almost every day and the people have been pretty nice.
Give us a month, we’ll have our opinions!
By the way: we started travelling full-time 4 years ago. Before that we would take vacations, like we did in Brazil. But we weren’t any different then then we are now and we’re always friendly and open to people. So I don’t know what happened in Brazil, it’s still the unfriendliest of the 45 or so countries we’ve been. And it wasn’t against my wife, it was me.
I don’t think we’ll be visiting the Bieszczady Mountains at the end of July…but we are going to L’viv at the beginning of August (not so far away..)
Anyway, thanks again with the comment, feedback and tips!
I am Libanese American from LA, I have been working as an urologist in Brazil for 2 years. I find Brazilians very friendly. The country is very multicultural unlike other latin countries. I studied in Germany, I can tell you there are way more unfriedly people in Europe. Please stop judging because people don’t have to bow down to you just because you are from Europe. Brazilians are proud people. Concerning women, I ve seen many beauties especially in the south of Brazil, most are caucacian looking out there. I am living in Sao Paulo and there are people of every ethnicity, there are nearly 9 million people of Portuguese/Italian /german descent, 1.7 million Africans or mixed people, over 1 million Arabs, 665,000 Japanese, 150,000 Greek, 120,000 Chinese out here, the problem is from people like you that moan nonstop. Speaking portuguese is useful.
Many women are beautiful in Brazil and many people are friendly.
Glad to hear you had a good experience Ryan. But it doesn’t mean everyone does – as you can see from the comments there are many, like us, who did not have great experiences visiting Brazil.
I don’t know where you got that I’m European. I’m not. And we’ve found Germans friendly.
The thing is that people’s opinions are based on their experiences. I’ve said that above. Everyone has different experiences and just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean they’re wrong. And the thing is that it’s my blog so I’ll moan as much as I want 😉
I stayed in Brazil for almost a year during my study abroad experience. Where do I start?
I am never going back to that place.
People are fake, greedy, racist, discriminate, even among themselves, show off, can care less about the environment, abuse animals, corrupt, jealous, and can keep going on.
Magnificent places to see, unfortunately being destroyed by these individuals, look want is happening with the Amazon.. sad.
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Hello, Frank!
I came across your post while curiously looking for impressions foreigners have of Brazil. Coincidently, I am a Brazilian undergraduate student at McGill University, in Montréal. I always say Brazilians are both the worst and the best part about the country, it’s complex to explain. Also, Brazil is the worst country to live in, but also the best one to spend vacations!
Living abroad, I have noticed how harder it is to make friends. Brazilians are warm-hearted, and usually carry very positive energy. The only people who I don’t really get along are from São Paulo; every time I travel internationally and have a connection at the São Paulo airport, I dread having to make contact with those arrogant people. On the other hand, I believe Brazilians are also responsible for the corruption, even little gestures that sum up to a whole.
I considered living in Rio de Janeiro, but my parents didn’t allow because of the violence. Nowadays, I thank them for not even letting me consider. It is dangerous and frustrating having to always look around, afraid of suffering an attack. Also, the economy isn’t great and things don’t really work out. But this is the residents’ problems. For vacations, i love traveling around my country. It is filled with natural beauties and extremely pleasant people who are proud to present their culture to tourists, who are treated like kings! The best places to visit are cities in the Northeastern region, and I’m not bias because I’m from there, but this is coming from someone who has a beach house in Maceió. I love traveling to the South during winter, but it wouldn’t be as incredible for someone coming from Canada. I’ve also been to the North, in the Amazon, where, as I said before, for tourists it is mesmerizing, but for the residents it is a nightmare.
It was interesting reading about your impression on Brazil, and at the same time shocking to hear so many bad experiences towards a tourist! I thought only Brazilians talked shit about their country haha but I really hope you try again! Brazil has many wonders to offer and people are usually really friendly, I’m not sure what happened to you.
Hi Mikaela,
What a nice comment, thank you! If anything, it’s comments like this that might get us back to Brazil one day.
I hope you are enjoying Montreal. I went there as a student (back in 1990. Studied at Concordia) and ended up in Montreal 25 years.
Thank you for having taken the time to comment.
Hello mate,
I am Brazilian and I have been living abroad for a few years now.
So, here’s to the points:
FFS do NOT judge Brazil just because of feckin’ Rio or Iguazu. There is more to see in such a big country. USUALLY people from the countryside places are more hospitable, but as my grandma would say, “somebody else’s heart is a piece of land where you can’t step.”
Rio IS a SHIT-HOLE. I don’t f…ing understand how you gringoes feel so f…ing attached to it. I would advise you going either to Minas Gerais for its countryside tourism and any northeastern destination for its beaches. Espirito Santo is quite good too, specially because is completely off the touristicky sort of track and for its easy access to Southern Bahia, where all the decent beaches in the region are.
And, to be honest, sorry for your experience in your swanky hotel. I mean, you surely should have complained.
As for the current political – criminal situation, well, not all the country is affected by this wave or criminality. It’s mostly Rio, where the state government is bankrupt and the police is understaffed and corrupt. Sadly, other states are in bad shape as well but none of them as bad as Rio. That’s what communism and socialism does for you.
Sad you have had a bad experience, but unfortunately I got to advise you. Don’t judge a whole country for just a couple of cities. I’d say, why would I not go back to Rio instead of Brazil. Rio is in Brazil but that does not mean that Brazil is only Rio.
Cheers mate!
Hello. Firstly I would like to make some considerations that may help other foreigners who are planning to visit Brazil. I’m Brazilian and I live here. Foreigners have no real knowledge of how Brazil is currently. You know it’s dangerous but it comes anyway. My advice: do not come here. The population itself is afraid. But if you still want to come, never come to Rio de Janeiro, and avoid other big cities, like São Paulo. Prefer the northeast Brazil (for example, Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte, south of Bahia) if you like beaches. Otherwise the south of the country is a good idea (the city of Florianópolis, for example). You are most welcome. The Brazilian is tired of his own political, social and economic situation, and sometimes unloads in others. Sorry for the rude people. With regard to your partner, yes, Brazilians usually look at all women, but it does not go beyond that.
Thank you Rodrigo for the advice!
Was thinking of Brazil as a travel destination, but after reading your blog, I am not so sure now. Thanks for the advice. I’ll reconsider.
Cheers Sharon…
Hello Frank, I’m sad to hear that you had such a bad time in Brazil. Our country is lovely and, although we might have some issues, as you described above, I’m pretty confident that the people are the Brazilian biggest asset. Talking about experiences, I went to Toronto during the past Thanksgiving and also experienced funny situations. For instance, an old lady was naked and peeing in the subway just when I got into the Bloor-Young station; I booked an AirBnB and was hosted by a guy using underwear only (btw, he later invited me to participate to his drag queen show and we became friends) and, on top of that, they guys working in the construction just by my AirBnB screamed unintelligible words every time that I crossed the path walk in front of them. Although this was my personal experience, I don’t think that every single Canadian is weird and unpolite (of course, some exceptions apply). Instead, I believe that Toronto is a big and crowded diverse city, with a broad mix of people living together. Thus, I opened my mind and brought only the good experiences that I had in the city. As a final remark, I kindly disagree with your statement that your “caucasian” profile may have caused you problems. I’m blond, white, half-portuguese and half-italian – a true Brazilian mixture – and never had problems in this sense. Maybe because, before demanding respect and consideration, I understand cultural differences and treat every single person – and country – with respect and consideration.
Thank you Gabriela for your comment. You definitely met a strange Airbnb host 🙂
I was just questioning if being caucasian might have been a possible reason for the unfriendliness – not because of the colour of my skin but because I could have been identified as a American (note: this trip dates back to 2007. There was friction going on at the time over the whole Visa situation).
Our opinions of places are shaped by our experiences. We don’t demand respect, but I think anyone travelling somewhere would be put off if people were downright unfriendly to them. Maybe everything would have been different under other circumstances? I don’t know.
From my point, the people, authorities and staff were mostly nice, although too straight but I’d rather not carry many valuables and stay alert. Maybe being a native spanish speaker helped. Interracial relations seemed most ordinary.
It’s likely you just come off a certain way that doesn’t fit with Brazilian culture. I’m white and I’ve been to Brazil at least 5 times but my personality just clicks really with them: I’m fat and I’m merry!
We need more fat and merry people in the world 🙂 Thanks for your input.
I am sorry you had a bad experience. I am actually surprised that people treated you like that. I am Brazilian and I have been to Rio de Janeiro before and I had such a good experience. People would talk to me and treat me like family. I also went to Sao Paulo and it was horrible. People were so unfriendly. I think it depends a lot. I disagree about them not liking Americans. Brazilians do like white people. They are actually a little bit racist. But I also agree that people around the southeast have a lot of prejudice towards others who are “different” or if they can find something on you that they can take advantage of. They feel superior when they do that. I am from the north and we suffer that prejudice if we go down there.
Thank you for your thoughts Larissa 🙂
Brazilians are rude not because anti americanism, actually people here have a inferiority complex and tend to bow to americans all the time. They are rude because it is our culture, to act like a macho man all the time imposing to others. In Rio de Janeiro it is even worse, cariocas think they are smarter than everyone.
And … if you like meat … The Brazilians have a special way of grilling … and you can find All-You-Can-Eat Buffets for about $10-20. The higher priced ones usually — giving you that extra $10 money’s worth … if you like all kinds of steaks, porks, bacon rolled chicken, chicken hearts (a great Brazilian grill snack) — also something I rarely saw, but is great when you kind find it, is the Seafood — and Shrimp Empanadas are reason enough to go …. Great Salad choices at these buffets/great (and closer to $7-$15), ‘just the salad bar-without the grill (nao churrasco)’ – is great for vegetarians. Even the cheapest buffets will have too much to choose from, for vegetarians.
Another convenient feature — when you are ready to leave … you just walk to the beach, any time during the day … and for a few dollars, there is a very comfortable bus, that takes you, straight to the airport. So you can enjoy one last look at the beach, and leave in more comfort than a taxi ride, and enjoy your last hour with the wonderful Brazilians … making their way … and maybe make one last new foreign friend.
For sports people — all along the beach, there is open games for all kinds of beach sports imaginable — though of course mostly games with soccer balls … but you can join most any game you want — and if you have a ball — you bring it with you to the beach — and instantly make new friends any place. It is hard to find a Brazilian, who wont jump up, ready to toss a ball around, on the beach.
Brazil has a yellow beer company, that is less for a whole liter at the Beach Bars, than one small glass at home.
They have their own sponsored yellow beach bars, that often have live music, late in to the night.
… all of Copacabana and a lot of Ipanema is well lit at night … and where the beach is thinnest, you can go for night swims, along with many families and all peoples …
The rare days that the seas are calm … it is also a swimming paradise – I saw a blowfish (unpuffed) the size of girl’s head — gradually with its tiny fins trying to swim away from me … until it even got startled right on to the rocks … fortunately right back in the water, with the next wave…
You can meet all types of people on the beach. I got meet all kinds of top scientists and athletes – just out for a day at the beach … Rio is an International Convention Center.
Friendly little monkeys.
my friend did get spiked TWICE by some tree in the forest — BUT — the hospitals were free and SUPER FRIENDLY — actually it is this Brazilian medical staff, that first made me decide to start to forget USA again … it was at that moment, closing the doctor’s door, when I said, “I never want to go back to USA” the doctor was overly engaging – cant say it was the highest quality medical care … but then also … in USA, you can go YEARS of waiting for appointments, doctors ignoring symptoms, not thinking about what — NOT LISTENING to their patients ….
maybe in Canada doctors work to be doctors, and not to have movable atm machines that come to them ….
EVERY DAY, that the sun sets behind the Mountains at Ipanema, it feels – it looks like God is saying, “Thank You for coming, I am glad you enjoyed your day. Hope you have a good evening.” “Come again, but dont tell everyone, because we do want to keep down the congestion”
well, if I ruined your plan, to do that — trying to deter people, so that we can keep down the costs, please delete my reports.
I do regret saying anything nice publicly about Rio … because I know … one person will come, then another, then two more … then 3, then four, then ten … I saw it happen with a secret back road parking area at the lake by my house — until finally the police had to start ticketing, because that neighborhood started to complain too much.
SO … remember … to all those who read my reports — I studied martial arts my entire life.
I traveled every where. (not really, but a bunch)
After a TERRORFYING bike ride across Long Island, New York, where I mapped out a route, using google maps – for the SAFE – WALKING route across the island — only to discover all along the way, that it was sending me ON HIGHWAYS — and PITCH BLACK ROADS – with no side-walks … I could feel the cars wizzing by my elbows … well … it was an all night terror ride — by morning … when I pulled out, exhausted onto yet another ‘WALKING Friendly road’ – according to google, only to have a car brush against my shirt … at that moment … my sense of fear just died.
I just didnt … it was too much … fear of people and so much, just dissipitated ….
RIO de JANEIRO is VERY DANGEROUS — you CAN take many precautions to avoid those dangers — DO NOT TAKE ANYthing with you, that you do not need!! Wear clothes/dont carry pocketbooks – have all such, that thieves see no pockets, or obvious goods you might have.
Try to refrain from walking too far at night — never go out alone at night. STAY COOL, CALM, and COLLECTED with any dangers — expect that POLICE might be the ones to mug you at the street corner … mostly people just want money — they dont want any other problems … but they are also not afraid to get violent.
Expect that if you turn your back on anything you have — anything that is not being held on the front of your body … expect those things to be ‘gifts for the poor’ … anything left unattended will likely dissappear … for ever … their is violent poverty on a massive scale unlike anything, most anywhere … right in the middle of Oppulence … so like USA — poor people, are living in lavishness – and so want more, than they often need … but … mostly the criminals, are poor youths, just trying to get what they need – money for food and housing….
And Ironically — these poorest people’s of Rio — actually have some of the best real estate to live — tiresome to climb every day — but they have hung on to the sides and tops of the mountains which have some of the best views of the majesty of this place … Sitting on Top of the World … watching all below ….
that is the balance … AND … I think, that this bbqboy – probably experienced those peoples who only work/live away from the beach … and never have chance to enjoy what is best of Rio and Brazil — the Nature, and the Beautiful people … well … and for food lovers … well … get out of the more touristy areas, and the prices can drop dramatically, and give you some different very cheap lunch special deals and such ….
AND Brazil has Guarana!!
Way better than coke.
and less damaging to your teeth.
Thanks for the follow up comments Adra Traveler.
I think you’re maybe overthinking the reason I wrote the post. Maybe it was just a post detailing my experience on this one trip, nothing more?
Anyway, I can’t possibly answer all your points but hopefully others benefit from your wisdom and experiences in Brazil.
Happy travels!
I was there for 3 months … the max allowed for usa citizens, a special offer made only if we arrived during the Olympics.
Soon after arriving, I learned I could not access my bank cards, nor my online businesses, together which was to pay for my time there.
After about a month, I was out of cash … I could have gone to the airport, and changed my ticket for free.
But, for 6? weeks, I stayed the course – I could not imagine leaving, until I was legally required to do so.
For 6 weeks, I did not know where / if I would have a home the next day or 3 days later …
But I remained calm … and made the best of every day, and did what I could, to get by.
The thought of ending up on the streets of Rio, was more favorable, than needing to leave Rio.
It is a land of Enchantment … but … yeah … if it wasnt for the Booty Dunes (its like little sand dunes, all across the beach – I cant believe you missed it!!) – I think it wouldnt be the same, as enchanting … though, lush tropical tree lined roads, with orchids carefully placed in many … the excitement of the waves at the shoreline … the strict code of conduct to always keep a positive attitude (cant understand how you saw a different way … but … I do think you have to make an effort perhaps – keep smiling, and people will smile bigger back at you — I even notice, that the Brazil people, have genetically evolved to have a face, with a bit of a permanent smile on them!! I dont see how you missed it…. – I never heard anyone speak ill of Brazil, except the corruption and crime)
3 months … lived on less than $10 a day … most of the time, I was in a state of preparing for street life … at home, I own a house in top 100 wealthy usa town – house over half a million … but I would have rathered sleep on the Rio cobblestones….
(Though now that I am home, I am very much in love here — I live in a USA paradise! haha … crazy … cant imagine, I would leave this, to go be poor in a poor country … BUT — it is all I strive to do now … I hope I will get a work visa, so I can work there … but if not — I will go and give out my art for free, and just enjoy the people and the place (AND – NOTABLY — the NATURE — Rio, has the world’s largest Municipal National Park … and to have mountains BOUND up in front of you suddenly, when you take a turn … some buildings seemingly cut right into the rock face … South America is great.)
BUT … also … people there DID start to tell me, that Columbians are even kinder, and smile more.
Americans have gotten accustomed to the idea, that Columbia is too dangerous, because in the 1980s, their politicians were using Cocaine – PUBLICLY SPEAKING OF THIS in the their campaign speeches – as a ‘Nuclear Bomb’ on the usa population. And they did a good job of it. And for some time, Americans were forbidden to go there, without risk of losing our passports …
Anyhow … interesting world.
I hope I can spend much time now, exploring all the beach resort cities of this hemisphere.
And what of Belize?
No one speaks of Belize?
is that a hidden, low cost jewel, as Costa Rica once was?
Haha!!
I have to laugh when reading your report!!!
I can believe it. But I can understand perhaps that it is real. And you just had the wrong turn of events.
Probably having the bad introduction at airport, started a bad tone. And you dont have very much other interactions with Brazilians.
I will say that from 30?+ years of experimenting, I have NEVER met a more festive – ALWAYS ready to smile – group of people from a large country. I grew up around the world’s largest concentration of Brazilians outside of Brazil. And in other world travels … whenever I see one, I run to them – and I make the test — to see if it continues, that they are ALWAYS — ALWAYS — ALWAYS — ALWAYS — the FRIENDLIEST — most approachable, kind and smiling people imaginable from any of the large countries. For me, I have only seen friendlier in the tiny island of Bermuda — and perhaps equally only near the beach tourist areas of Florida.
HAHA!!! ANd you must kidding!!! You didnt see sexy girls in Rio? I truly had mild whiplash one day, when suddenly passing through a busy part of Copacabana Beach.
You must be gay.
Racist.
Or just dont like thonged Booties.
My friends wanted to go the Strip Clubs, and I soon realized, the beaches there, are better than any U.S. strip club, unless you find a place, where the girls can also dance well. But often they are dancing on the Rio beaches also.
I never met ANY man, there, except a Russian who prefers starved Russian girls, that wasnt blown away by the girls. And actually … It is so wonderful, that all my female friends were also adoring the majesty of the Rio girl. (La Carioca (which is actually the same name for the guys)).
BUT … so … obviously your Brazil experience was away from the Rio Beaches.
Either in the over-populated Sao Paolo — which like any big city – people are fighting for space and attention, and think they rule the world.
Or you were in the more poverty stricken states of Brazil, … where life is more hopeless, and they have no glorious beaches to relax and enjoy sometimes … in any place in the world – and in the United States — people always want to blame Americans for their misery.
In the U.S. poor uneducated white people, blame the educated half of America for their misery. Though they always promote policies that promote violence, and lower paid jobs …. and funneling money to the wealthy.
If you and your girlfriend are jealous types — then yes – Rio is no place to go.
If you will smile — I cant imagine ANYONE not smiling back — except a few cops or sad child criminals.
The homeless street people, resting their heads next to their pee and poop piles, would jump and wave, if you gave them a short hello when passing …
If you like booties … Rio is an unreal paradise.
And the people … while might be hard to really befriend … are always ready to be festive, and positive.
BUT GREAT!!! Thank you for posting a bad review, that comes up on first page of google searches.
Rio, was almost as expensive as my home city (4th most expensive in USA), so I adore all the bad reviews of the city — CRIME is outstandingly out of control — and terribly managed … and the prices are at the edge of being too high. SO DONT GO!!! … too much foreign money, will quickly jump prices. And I cant afford to go anymore.
Also another plus: though it has some strong riptides — I am told, and a google search confirms — that there is no known shark threat in Copacabana Bay — so you can safely swim all over, if you are a strong swimmer.
I LOVE the kindness and smiling of Brazilian People. SO MANY gentle hearts. And WELCOMING spirits and open-mindedness to be accepting of any kind peoples … BUT Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world. In space and population. It will have ALL types!! And has attracted many immigrants — and so must have all types of subcultures …
Sorry, and thank goodness there is so much anti-American sentiment – keeps americans away from nice cheaper places. Fortunately for me, I am multi-lingual and can fit in any place soon. And in Europe – people usually think I am Italian or Greek. Or from their country.
* Please note, I only read the first report — I did not have time to read all responses. So sorry, if I ignored any updates.
Thanks for your comment, nice to see someone so in LOVE with Brazil. I guess it all depends on our experiences – yeah, I expected beautiful, bootied girls on the beaches. Believe me, I love coloured girls (my wife Latina). I saw the Olympic women’s volleyball team practicing on Ipanema beach…but otherwise was pretty much like any beach anywhere. So maybe we weren’t lucky this time around.
But I never mind anyone having a different opinion as long as they can describe the reasoning. It sounds like you have all the right reasons to love Brazil 🙂 So thanks for the comment, I’m sure for many it is exactly what attracts them to Brazil (I had the same hopes but obviously the reality didn’t live up for me).
I thought about what you said … I mean … again, pondering your first words.
It occurred to me, that I owe you an apology, and deep gratitude.
And perhaps I was errored in what I said, and I cant delete it now.
… your words, each hit on all the right points.
Except the crime.
You should have emphasized the crazy high level type of crime Brazil can have.
One of the most violent non war countries in the world.
Obviously, your article was intended to deter further ‘Gringos’ as the Brazilians call us, from ever going to Brazil.
The prices though often cheap in many parts — can be similar to U.S. prices in the big cities.
And so you did the write thing, in writing the most unpleasant things about Brazil — to KEEP ALL THE FOREIGN MONEY AWAY FROM THIS PARADISE ON EARTH!!!
You were there during the Olympics?
Maybe, as I know from living in other party cities — the locals were staying away from the beach, with all the foreign crowds there.
Or you only went on cold cloudy days?
BUT — actually … if you were there in August? Remember that is the heart of the Brazilian WINTER!!!!
Actually … yeah … when I first got there … there were less locals on the beach — it was more tourists (but mostly Brazilian tourists).
It really makes no sense that you didnt … that you didnt have relationship problems, if you went there with a girlfriend.
… Copacabana? I mean, even a night stroll there … though many are not so especially attractive, once you get near the road with the all the strip clubs, there is already high concentrations of very attractive Brazilian night workers — a country where it is legal, and so somewhat controlled.
Maybe … you came in the winter … during a time, when the city was overtaken by foreigners …
The people awaken more in the summer … You are from Canada? Do your girls go out in bikinis in the winter time?
Well … remember for them — it is THEIR winter … and so they stay in more.
Even if their winter weather is warmer than your summer weather …
It was the case when I lived in Florida.
I went there to swim … but after a hot summer, I almost never stepped foot in the water, all winter long …
then I came back to the cold north USA, for July … soon I realized, that our summer waters are warmer than florida winter waters, so I started to swim again in the winters there … but the locals thought I was crazy.
Though they also think you are crazy for swimming in the summer – because then the water is too hot!
… I saw Brazil play Brazil at the Athens Olympics. It was awesome.
You were so lucky to see them — practice out in the open on the Beach?
Well, thanks again.
I hope to spend much time in Brazil.
Especially Rio.
So your article discouraging foreigners from going, is most helpful.
I hope the news spreads more about the return of the ridiculous crime — which I saw start to turn to the worse again, very quickly after the Olympics ended, and the military / special police was immediately leaving the streets.
I was able to live in Brazil … for the cost of just a full day’s of food.
And now I see even cheaper prices.
… 86 places … include breakfast — daily maid service, some security, washed linens, some have a pool … new friends to make every day … all for the cost of what you eat for breakfast, if you had to buy it yourself.
It helps to make the experience better, if you can get a place to live, all just for the cost of food you would eat anyhow.
EVERYBODY is blown away by the girls … I did notice I was treated COMPLETELY different, when I was with my pretty female friends on the beach, or when I went with my tough guy friends.
But I only saw 2 or 3 angry people/and had maybe 2 or 3 rude reactions from people — one some fancy dressed kind of macho guy – to good to answer some simple question on the beach …
But one thing most of us (me and my foreign guy buddies) noticed, — and actually the Argentines also love about Brazil … is that not only is there too much amazing girls, for any man’s health … but almost ALL of them are Approachable!! Almost any girl, no matter how – ‘Too Beautiful’ she is, will welcome a greeting and a chat!! You simply need to go to them.
… and my friends (with some muscles), could go from girl to girl on the beach, kissing a different lady about every 100 meters.
Brazilians LOVE – are passionate – enjoy life as best they can – and make the best of things — they try to be festive always … I think especially in Rio — again, probably as I have seen living in other party cities — they keep alive a bit of the spirit of Carnivale – all year round — keep in mind, that some people work hard ALL YEAR — for that one celebration — customs, dances, songs … and to that spirit IS alive all year in Rio.
BUT — thanks again … I realized later what you were doing with your article … basically going down the checklist, of what all to appropriately say, to best keep this a Hidden Paradise.
I’m so sorry to hear you had a such bad time in Brazil Frank.
As a Brazilian I can tell you that the lady that was hitting you with her cart didn’t do it intentionally just because she thought you were a foreign or white, we do have white people in Brazil too, read the Brazilian history . Why the Italian, German, Poland and others that went to Brazil are not white and those that went to other part of the world are!! I have a lot of people hitting me at the supermarket with their cart in Brazil ,some say sorry, others even don’t pay attention they did that, it’s very annoying I know. The reason for that is , Brazilian are always in such a hurry and late for everything, still a very rude thing to do, I also had the same problems at other Country too, Americans are the most polite of all when they do something like this. After what happened to you at the airport ,you start to see things differently and was not really open to change. I do believe you had a share of responsibility in this matter, from everything you wrote, I can say you are a little closed – minded person ?, that reminds me of this blog a came across , I’m going to try to leave it here for you in case you want to read it, it’s very good.
The other thing is, Brazilian do not like when foreign talk with them in Spanish , why? Because we speak Portuguese , I know many does, specially in Rio when there’re a lot of Hispanic tourist, but there’re those that don’t speak and can’t have a conversation in Spanish , including myself .I know the two languages are very closed, but still not the same language. I think you didn’t like to be mistaken for an American, I know that(I lived in Canada,and now I live in USA),most of Canadian are tired to be over- shadowed by USA . The true is, American don’t really talk much about Canada, there’re few or none news( bad or good) about Canada here, we started to see some after Trudeau , people likes him here.
I lived in Canada for one year, and I can tell I haven’t met a nicear and friendly people like Canadian . My husband was transferred from IBM in Brazil, to IBM in Canada, he came a month before me , and a coworker just offer him to stay at his house with his family , I was amazing by that, and started to like Canadian even before a put my feet there, they really made my life a little easier since I didn’t know the country or the language( the language still bad though,hahaha),I lived in a small city named Whitby, almost one hour from Toronto . One interesting thing about Canada, it was when I went to Quebec, they don’t like to talk English over there, a lot of people does, but some refuse to, I saw a lot of people covering their ears when somebody was talking in English, I also notice that Canadian are very proud of their French part, I didn’t see the same about the people in Quebec regarding the rest of the Country. What I didn’t like in Canada? The weather , I hate cold. My husband didn’t like the amount of taxes we were paying, he used to say Canada,is more like a socialist Country, and people with a lower income is better off here, then with a higher.
We moved because he got a job offer from Apple, but I’m always coming back every time I can, since we have so many friends there.
Thank you for the comment Lara!
While I appreciate it, I think you are making a lot of excuses for the Brazilians we met.
– “Brazilians are always in such a hurry”. That’s true everywhere, not just Brazil, and is not an excuse for rudeness.
– Language factor. While speaking the language helps, it doesn’t explain unhelpfulness or rudeness either. Look at the countries we’ve been: 90% don’t speak English, French or Spanish (the languages we speak). We now live in Croatia where the level of English is quite low. But I haven’t complained about the people in these countries (except Romania where we didn’t find people so friendly generally speaking). Where there’s a will there’s a way, it just takes a bit of willingness on both sides (as you point out in your example of coming to Canada). But I’m sorry, but I’ve never had an experience as bad as in Brazil.
– on me being a “close minded person”. I paid $250 for a Visa Lara, took a 12 hour plane ride, spent over 3 weeks (and a lot of money) in Brazil. I would not have done any of that if I was a close minded person.
As I always say, we can only judge based on our experiences. This was my experience in Brazil. Maybe it would be totally different if I went again (but that’s not going to happen).
Also appreciate your Canada comments.
– yes, Canadians are (generally) very friendly, helpful, and will help you out regardless of race or colour.
– What you say about Quebec: very true. I was born there and it shames me that people are like that. I lived in different parts of Canada but spent over 25 years in Montreal – but when I retired we left exactly because of the kind of mentality that you are referring to.
– “socialist country”. Yes, that is what my Americans friends call us. But they are the first to complain about the level of violence, racial segregation and the cost of healthcare in their own country. That’s why Canadians don’t mind paying taxes and ‘spreading the wealth’ somewhat. Like in Europe, it makes for a better society. You can’t have it both ways and like everywhere, it is the people who have the most that seem to do most of the complaining.
Thanks you for your comment Lara!
Thank you Frank,
for getting back to me 🙂
You are from Quebec eh? Why I didn’t think about that! Just kidding , I said that because I was talking with a Canadian friend about you, and she just told me , “maybe he’s from Quebec” . Even though Canadian are very proud of their French part, they also know how Québécois can be hard to deal with, the separatist movement still very alive in Quebec.
I’m sorry if it seems to you that I was giving excuses to justify her bad behavior. That was really not my intention, I even said she was very rude. My point it was just to show you she didn’t do it because you were a foreigner or white( I notice you mention you are a white guy all the time when I was reading your posts and your replying to some people) ,this is not making any sense to me. Other thing, how do you know she’s a Brazilian ,the airport in Rio gets thousands of tourist each day, Brazilian are a mix people, so we don’t have a “Brazilian” face, so basically anyone can look like a Brazilian .
Yes, free healthcare in Canada is a plus, even though Canada’s system is not perfect however. Vision, dental, mental health, home visit services and prescriptions are not covered, the last one just for retired people. While living there I just went to the doctor once(same with my husband ), for a physical, can’t say much from my own experience, but a have a friend diagnosed with breast cancer , but waiting three month for treatment start, still better then here for sure, specially now. My opinion Switzerland ,has the best health system.
Just to let you know that the reason we left Canada , it was not because of the cold or neither the high taxes we were paying, it was because my husband was not happy with IBM anymore, it’s not the same company that it used to be, even though, he was not looking for a new job, he was found by recruiters, and didn’t think twice when he got the offer.
what you said about people that have too much are the ones that give less, it’s not always like this. Take Bill Gates, for example , he is one of the richest people in the world ,but is one that helps poor people the most. All the time we see news that he donate to hundreds of causes , and he is not alone, I also have seen a lot of poor people donating the little they have. I’m not a millionaire, but every Saturday I take time of my busy schedule to get together with a group of friends to do what I like the most, cooking for homeless people , and then walk up the street passing the food. Paying high taxes is not the only way to help poor people, especially in Brazil, where there are so much corruption and horrible politician.
I have to confess that I’m jealous of you, not because you are white ?, if there’s something I learned from my father since when I was a little girl , it was that I’m not better then no one , and no one are better then me, my father was a doctor and he didn’t want us to think we were all that just because he was a doctor, specially in a poor country like Brazil, he always asked us when we go to the bathroom ( to do number 2?), just pay attention that we stinky just like someone else. That was a really good lesson for us ,I’m jealous because you do something that I would love to do , travel all around the world, you were lucky that you found someone just like you.
Just one more thing “We are beautiful no matter what you say” ?, Cristina Aguilera.
Thanks for the comment Lara.
– Yes, I studied and worked in Montreal 20+ years but I’ve lived in different places, including in Africa (Zambia) as a child. I’ve never identified myself as being a Quebecker but rather as Canadian.
– Lady at airport definitely Brazilian coming home from New York. This post dates back to 2007 (10 years ago) and at that time there was a lot of anti-American sentiment in Brazil with the whole Visa situation which is why I mentioned that maybe unfriendliness was due to being mistaken for an American. But in the case of that lady it was just a case of somebody being rude.
– Healthcare in Canada definitely not perfect you’re right. But you’ll never die in a hospital waiting room or go bankrupt because of a medical procedure. Anything serious will be taken care of and are usually handled on priority basis.
– Of course Bill Gates. All I’m saying is that people should consider themselves fortunate when they are in a position to pay taxes. The more taxes you pay, the more income you are making! 🙂 Congratulations for helping out Lara, not everyone is as generous.
– Travelling the world: It’s just the choices we make in life AND being lucky enough to have everything go right with job, savings, and the health of family. For me it was something I always wanted to do and I planned around it, giving up many things along the way. Lissette never dreamed of it but had to follow my dream. She says now that it was the best thing she’s ever done and that she wishes we had started earlier. But we have to give up things like friends, family, having roots somewhere…So nothing is perfect but like anything else, if it is something you dream of then it is sometimes worth sacrificing other things. I hope for you that maybe one day you do it 🙂
Great article, thanks for the tips! As the biggest country in South America and as the soccer mecca of the world, Brazil is a marvel to visit. However, there are numerous tourist targeted scams to be wary of.
Do be wary of the Cinderella goodnight girls, pickpockets, assaults/robberies/muggings, lost and found money, drug planting, black market tickets, the place is closed scam, music charge, can I help you scam, fake merchandise, rogue drivers and many more!
Thanks for the tips David. Never heard of the “Cinderella goodnight girls” and looked it up – wow, 2-3 days you can be out when they drug you. That’s pretty hardcore.
I am a Brit married to a Brazilian wife and have travelled to Brazil several times. My Brazilian family and friends treat me like a King when I am over there and watch out for me, so have no complaints as I have always been treated well.
Language wise it takes a while for a Gringo to acclimatise to the lingo but living at home with wife, step daughter and visiting Brazilians the language changes between Portuguese and English and I picked it up fairly quickly…..not fluent but get by.
I have been trying to get to grips with understanding Spanish but find it a lot faster on the ear than Portuguese – perhaps its because I am used to the rhythm of Portuguese now! Spanish just seems like a rapid blur at times.
I have to confess I don’t like the cities especially Sao Paulo – nasty sprawling graffiti ridden hole and Rio I think is highly over rated although the backdrop is beautiful – Cape Town is a far nicer city (lived there for 20 years so yes I am biased). The smaller coastal towns and inland mountains in Brazil have some real gems and the wildlife and forests are amazing.
I also agree with another poster on here I felt safer in Cape Town than in Rio. For some reason a Gringo stands out in Rio whereas in SA the Africans don’t give one a second glance.
Even my very Anglo-sized Brazilian wife and our Brazilian friends here in the UK become enraged by the lack of manners, inefficiency, loudness and rudeness of the people along with the utterly SHOCKING driving standards whenever they go back. Oddly enough I know more Brazilians in the UK than English people and after a few years of living here many of them could never envisage the prospect of living back in Brazil.
I am a bit more open minded and hope in the next few years to rent my house out and live in Brazil for a few years and springboard to the rest of South and Central America. However there is NO WAY I would live in any of the big cities and NO WAY I would ever want to entangled myself financially with that part of the world…..one does so at their own peril.
Through my wife I have seen Latin American bureaucracy in action and I know many Gringos who “invested” in dreams of paradise and ended up getting badly burned. Nope this part of the world is enjoyed when your cash lives outside the region.
Thank you for the detailed comment, always good to here what people with family (blood or not) think of Brazil. Ours was a short trip, but enough for us. We’ve been to many places but Brazil stood out as far as unfriendliness and, as you say, complete “lack of manners”. Sometimes I wonder if we were just unlucky…but we can only form opinions based on our experiences.
By the way, we totally, totally loved Cape Town and the Western Cape (a more recent trip, we spent 3 months there in early 2016. Rio was back in 2009 I believe..). And the people were just the complete opposite: friendly, helpful…and again, we are a mixed race couple which I think that worked to our benefit in SA…in Brazil it didn’t. We would go back to SA in a heartbeat.
Yes, I would never invest in South America. Just too unstable, too many corrupt politici