10 True Things About Brazil
Most people don’t know all that much about Brazil, and what they do ‘know’ is usually a mix of exaggeration, myth, and wishful thinking. So this is a list of true things about Brazil.
1/ Brazil is larger than the continental United States and has about two-thirds of the population. It is more than just Rio and São Paulo in almost the exact same way that the United States is more than just New York and Los Angeles.
2/ Like in any other place, crime in Brazil is not a monolith (‘it’s so dangerous there!’) but is specific to region, city, and neighborhood. There are many places where you may feel safe, and many other places where you may feel unsafe. Because crime rates are higher on average in Brazil than in some other parts of the world, however, you may want to choose where you go a little more carefully.
3/ The Brazilian barbecue, while wonderful and delicious, represents probably less than one tenth of a percent of Brazilian cuisine. And the rest of it is just as good.
4/ This may sound obvious, but there is no one way that Brazilian people look. There are Brazilians with dark skin, and less-dark skin, and white skin. There are Brazilians with dark curly hair, dark straight hair, blonde hair. There are Brazilians with brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes. There are Japanese Brazilians (a lot, actually). There are fat Brazilians, and skinny Brazilians, and red Brazilians, and blue Brazilians (kidding) and so on. The point here is that there are all kinds of Brazilians, which may sound obvious, but I cannot count how many times people have said something like ‘Weird, they’re from Brazil but they doesn’t look that Brazilian do they?’ about someone. Oh, and for the ‘Brazilian women are so hot and have huge tits and asses’ crowd, this may surprise you but everything I just wrote applies to Brazilian women, too!
5/ Most cities in Brazil are normal modern cities, and most people in Brazil do not live in favelas. There’s nothing to fantasize or fetishize about here, it’s kind of just a normal place with normal cities. Perhaps not a surprise, but maybe it is because much of the media that people are exposed to about Brazil focuses on its slums.
6/ Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship until 1985, and their current form of government has been in place since 1988. The email was invented, Apple was founded, and Star Wars came out before Brazil became a representative democracy.
7/ If your main experience with beaches has been in the United States and Europe, you may be shocked at just how nice some Brazilian beaches are. They are worth visiting.
8/ Stereotypes never apply to everyone, but the two I can say are true for ~most Brazilians are that they are physical (lots of hugging) and outwardly friendly. If you are a tourist you will probably experience some degree of this and you will probably come away thinking Wow, Brazilians are so friendly! If I had to guess about a negative stereotype that is true for at least some people, it would be some mix of unreliability, lack of accountability, and laziness: if you go to Brazil you should not expect things to run like in Switzerland or Japan, you should not expect people to be perfectly on time to things, and you should probably expect excuses if things go wrong. Again, these are all just general stereotypes.
9/ Most Brazilians have never been to, and will never go to, the Amazon rainforest.
10/ Related to the above, Brazil is not just a huge rainforest. Thinking that would be like seeing a picture of the Rocky Mountains and thinking the United States is one huge mountain paradise.
1/ Brazil is larger than the continental United States and has about two-thirds of the population. It is more than just Rio and São Paulo in almost the exact same way that the United States is more than just New York and Los Angeles.
2/ Like in any other place, crime in Brazil is not a monolith (‘it’s so dangerous there!’) but is specific to region, city, and neighborhood. There are many places where you may feel safe, and many other places where you may feel unsafe. Because crime rates are higher on average in Brazil than in some other parts of the world, however, you may want to choose where you go a little more carefully.
3/ The Brazilian barbecue, while wonderful and delicious, represents probably less than one tenth of a percent of Brazilian cuisine. And the rest of it is just as good.
4/ This may sound obvious, but there is no one way that Brazilian people look. There are Brazilians with dark skin, and less-dark skin, and white skin. There are Brazilians with dark curly hair, dark straight hair, blonde hair. There are Brazilians with brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes. There are Japanese Brazilians (a lot, actually). There are fat Brazilians, and skinny Brazilians, and red Brazilians, and blue Brazilians (kidding) and so on. The point here is that there are all kinds of Brazilians, which may sound obvious, but I cannot count how many times people have said something like ‘Weird, they’re from Brazil but they doesn’t look that Brazilian do they?’ about someone. Oh, and for the ‘Brazilian women are so hot and have huge tits and asses’ crowd, this may surprise you but everything I just wrote applies to Brazilian women, too!
5/ Most cities in Brazil are normal modern cities, and most people in Brazil do not live in favelas. There’s nothing to fantasize or fetishize about here, it’s kind of just a normal place with normal cities. Perhaps not a surprise, but maybe it is because much of the media that people are exposed to about Brazil focuses on its slums.
6/ Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship until 1985, and their current form of government has been in place since 1988. The email was invented, Apple was founded, and Star Wars came out before Brazil became a representative democracy.
7/ If your main experience with beaches has been in the United States and Europe, you may be shocked at just how nice some Brazilian beaches are. They are worth visiting.
8/ Stereotypes never apply to everyone, but the two I can say are true for ~most Brazilians are that they are physical (lots of hugging) and outwardly friendly. If you are a tourist you will probably experience some degree of this and you will probably come away thinking Wow, Brazilians are so friendly! If I had to guess about a negative stereotype that is true for at least some people, it would be some mix of unreliability, lack of accountability, and laziness: if you go to Brazil you should not expect things to run like in Switzerland or Japan, you should not expect people to be perfectly on time to things, and you should probably expect excuses if things go wrong. Again, these are all just general stereotypes.
9/ Most Brazilians have never been to, and will never go to, the Amazon rainforest.
10/ Related to the above, Brazil is not just a huge rainforest. Thinking that would be like seeing a picture of the Rocky Mountains and thinking the United States is one huge mountain paradise.