Good Question | Is Brazil A Lost Cause

Just wanted to share these two articles (with links for full story) from  an American woman who has been living in Rio for more than 30 years.

They were written in light of the recent negative media Brazil has received from the reports of an American woman being raped in Rio and a bus that ran over the overpass recently.

She makes very valid points and believes that Brazil is changing for the better overall.

Below is a summary with the two links:

Making Super Smoothies With Acai for Optimum HealthBy Joe Naab
August 1st, 2012

Growing in both the Amazon Rainforest, as well as the subtropical South Atlantic Rainforest, is a palm tree called "Juçara" (joo-SAH-rah), that produces the widely popular fruit, "Açai" (ah-sigh-EE). Açai is consider if notthe, then one of the most very nutritious foods found on the planet. Sparing you the details, Açai is loaded with about every great vitamin and mineral your body needs, and it has great proteins, quality fats and is loaded with anti-oxidants.

Açai Must be Made into a Pulp
The açai berry has a very thick, inedible outer skin. At it's center is a woody seed. In between the seed and the outer skin is the rich and edible pulp. Note that even this pulp does not taste all that well. It is sour, not sweet, and almost always mixed with one or more other foods to improve the taste.

The pulp is extracted either with industrial-sized machines, artisan-sized machines, or by hand. In either case the process is about the same. The berries are soaked in warm water for a half hour. They are then put into a bowl (giant, large or small), and agitated in some way so as to break the outer skin of all the berries. A filter screen is put in place and water is passed through the berries repeatedly, flushing out the pulp. Hence, the pulp of açai always contains added water. Extra profit can be made by excessive diluting with water, and the typical supermarket frozen açai pulp is thin and weak. I buy mine at organic fairs or natural food markets.

Salvador International Airport

Here is a link to a very helpful site about the Salvador International Airport.

http://www.aeroportosalvador.net/en/salvador-airport-guide

There is a mall in the airport as well as two cambios (foreign exchange stores).  Banco do Brasil, the central bank in Brazil also has a branch in the mall.  The Federal Police have a station located near the airport entrance.

There are plenty of restaurants, travel agencies, and pretty much anything else you may need upon arriving or passing thru the Salvador airport.

As long as you aren't trying to smuggle in anything illegal you should have a pretty pleasant and relatively easy trip.  The airport is fairly modern and convenient.  ALL of the Policia Federal detectives speak fluent English.  Don't let them fool you, LOL.

They want you to at least try to speak Portuguese and many times will not let it be known that they speak English however they do or else they would not be working at the airport station.  Just wanted to share that because anyone who stays longer than 90 days will have to visit the Policia Federal at the airport to get show them their visa.

These bamboo trees form a tunnel at the entrance to Salvador's airport.

The REAL Scoop On Brazil | No Punches Pulled

Read This Only If You Want The REAL Scoop On Brazil That You WON’T Find Anywhere Else!

Now that I've gotten your attention...

Below is advice from one dude to another.

I haven’t made any posts on this site for a while.  I’ve been pretty busy lately, traveling and living offline.  I needed to write this post though as I receive a ton of mail from different people asking a lot of similar questions.

 (if you want to hear this from a female's perspective check out my wife's post on her blog here)

First off, I just want to thank all the people who follow this blog as well as the new readers and even the folks who just found this site while looking for pictures of Brazilian women or some other Brazil-related topic.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, the reason I wrote this post is to answer questions for anyone looking to move to Brazil (or any other 3^rd world country overseas).

Every week I receive emails from people who are intrigued by the possibility of living overseas, in particular in Brazil.  I’m cool with that as I can relate and understand where everyone is coming from.

To be honest after so many years of receiving these types of emails I am no longer motivated to answer this type of question over and over again so I am writing this post.  From now on I can refer people who are asking about moving to Brazil here and also to help people looking up this type of info online.

One of the MAJOR traits shared by 90% of the people who contact me about moving to Brazil is that the person has NEVER visited the country before.  Some of the people have traveled outside of their country of birth but many have not done so before.

Here’s my advice.

If you are considering moving to a country such as Brazil you need to do a couple of things if you are serious.  You absolutely need to physically visit the country.  I cannot tell you if you will like living here and neither can anyone else.  Brazil is very different from countries like the USA in multiple different aspects.

Prostitutes in Brazil are Offered Free English Classes Before the World Cup

You gotta admit this story is kinda funny. Then again maybe its not.

Well, English is the international language of business and they say prostitution is the oldest profession on Earth.

English is more than likely to be the connector language for visitors to Brazil regardless of what country they are coming from.

I wonder who came up with this proposal?  That's pretty funny.
Out of all the different professions available someone felt the most important ones that need to be able to communicate with international tourists was the hookers.  AND other people agreed with him!

US Consulate In Brazil | Salvador Consular Agency

Complete and thorough information on the US Consulate in Brazil located in Salvador, Bahia Brasil

US Consulate in Brazil located in Salvador, Bahia Brasil

The US Consulate in Brazil located in Salvador da Bahia operates by appointment only, except for emergency services. Emergencies include - death, arrest, stolen or lost passports. You can schedule your appointment by sending an email to the email address below. By scheduling your appointment through email, we can provide more efficient service to the public and you have more flexibility in scheduling your appointment time. Appointment requests via phone are not accepted. Please note that there is no fee to schedule an appointment.

Please arrive in the section 15 minutes prior to your appointment time.

Services requiring email appointments:

• U.S. Passport Services
• U.S. Citizenship & Report of Birth Abroad
• Notary and Other Services

To schedule an appointment, please email: amcon99@terra.com.br, Heather Marques U.S. Consular
OR

American Citizen’s Services e-mail: acs1salvador@gmail.com which the Consular Assistant opens every day.

US Consulate in Brazil | Bahia Brasil Consular Office

 The U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro maintains a Consular Agency in Salvador to provide the services above described to all American Citizens located in the area of Bahia state.

When Monkeys Attack | Info on Brazil Wildlife | Monkeys in Brazil

You know how sometimes you are walking down the street and you see a pack of micos everywhere?  Especially when someone has bananas or some other fruit that is about to go bad and they sit it out for the monkeys instead of throwing it away.

It happens like this:
1st Someone leaves some fruit out and a few monkeys come down from the trees to devour it.

just in case don't know what a mico is...here they are

2nd A couple more show up...

3rd Before you know it like 20 of these little guys show up to join the feast!

they started to realize they were being filmed

We have had some fruit bandits before in the past.  I set out a mango that wasn't even ripe and they gobbled it up.  Micos are gangster!  The seed was still spinning in the air.

Here's a little background info on the micos:

According to Wikipedia, "Brazil has the largest mammal diversity in the world, with more than 600 described species and, probably, many yet to be discovered... Mico is a genus of New World monkeys of the family Callitrichidae, the family containing marmosets and tamarins."

I was looking up Brazil wildlife online to see what the experts at Wikipedia had to say about monkeys in Brazil, particular these little guys that we see all the time.  They didn't list any mico species as having their habitat in the state of Bahia but obviously noone has informed these monkeys.

They can be found all over the place, pretty much anywhere you find trees, you will find monkeys.  I remember the 1st time we visited the zoo there were more monkeys out rooming freely in the area around the zoo than there were inside the zoo exhibit.

So back to the micos...
These guys run the airwaves too.  You can pretty much assume that they are overhead watching you if there are any trees nearby.  They use the telephone wires and electric wires to travel throughout the city.

I realized this one day when I looked up and saw one monkey in a tree.  I took a closer look and realized there was at least 7 in that tree.  After that I noticed them everywhere.  They were in all the trees and walking along the wires overhead.  It was crazy.  I never noticed them like that before.  Sometimes I might see one or two but they were and always are all over the place.

Hope you enjoy that short video of the urban wildlife here is Bahia.

Micos are one of several types of macocos (monkeys) found in Brazil.  You can even buy them (ahem, illegally) on the street in some feiras (markets).