Reblog, "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

I know everyone in the Brazil blogger circuit knows prices are crazy here but for my family and friends back home I just want to remind you every day how lucky you are to have inexpensive goods at your disposal. I love living in Brazil and feel very lucky for the experience but I am afraid sometimes we worry about being priced-out. My friends in more expat friendly neighborhoods are enduring the pain of landlords asking for double if they would like to stay and sign another lease. Renting an apartment that isn't falling apart or off in some area way outside the city for under $US1600/month is impossible. For the lucky ones that found deals early on and signed 30 month leases, we are literally scared waiting for the renewal ticking clock. Our good friends Suzanna and Jeff over at "Rooted Journeys," just wrote a great post after having lunch at a little sandwich spot in Jardins. No fru fru just a sandwich and a coke = us$26.00 Our neighborhood padaria (bakery) made new menus and you know what that means. Charging us$12.00 for a chicken sandwich with cheese and tomato (no free sides EVER) was way too cheap. Now its $18.


Rooted Journey's "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

I’ve officially been demoted from Rooted Journeys co-author to guest contributor. Not because Suzanna said so (she never did), but because it turns out I’m just not very good at motivating myself to actually sit down and write something. But here I am, so vamos-lá.

Generally speaking, it seems that many Americans view Brazil as a chaotic tropical wonderland – think Carnaval, string bikinis, palm trees, samba dancing, bossa nova, favelas, drug lords…you know, all the fun stuff.  In reality, one of the most defining features of Brazil as an expat in São Paulo is simply how ridiculously expensive it is. No matter how much you try to stop talking about it, and even more importantly, try to stop converting prices into dollars, it just won’t fade into the background as a simple fact of life. For those of us living it, it’s like a permanent fat lip – the moment you think it’s healing, you bite it again and want to take out your aggression on the old lady walking too slow on the street in front of you. That’s right, it makes you want to push an old lady. It’s that ridiculous.  Although, just for the record, I would never actually push an old lady.  And the prices here are worse than a fat lip.  Maybe that wasn’t quite the right metaphor, but there’s no turning back now.  Let’s keep moving.

A couple of recent articles have highlighted some of the effects of this charming Brazilian reality.  The cover story a few weeks ago for Veja (a popular weekly magazine in Brazil) was titled Pague Um, Leve Dois, Tres, Quatro…. English translation: Pay for One, Get Two, Three, Four.  The lead-off explains further (translated): “The favorable exchange rate alone does not explain the low prices that mesmerize Brazilians who shop in the United States.”  To drive home the title, the article cites the happy fact that the cost of an iPhone in Brazil is the highest in the world, leaving shelves for $1,650 (USD equivalent) in Brazil.  In the US, the same unlocked iPhone 4S (32GB) goes for $815.  That puts it at just over double the price for us lucky brasileiros.  But why stop there, it gets better!  Asics sneakers that go for around $200 in the US? A cool $457 in the equivalent Brazilian play money.  That’s 2.3 times the price.  A PlayStation 3 goes for 2.8 times the price.  Calvin Klein jeans are 3 times the price and a Guess handbag tops it off at 3.8 times the price.  Go Brazil!

These are just random examples, but they do give an indication of general price levels.  Not everything comes in at double the price, but it’s fair to say that São Paulo has justly earned its ranking as the 10^thmost expensive city in the world for expats and the most expensive in the Americas (Mercer Survey).  So, you may ask “why”, which we ask ourselves constantly. Of course there is no simple explanation, though the Veja article presents a pretty reasonable set of factors.  Here’s a summary:

• Exchange Rate – the Brazilian Real (currency) is about 25% stronger against the dollar than its long-term average making goods more expensive accordingly, especially imports.
• Demand – quite simply, growing demand is outstripping the country’s productive supply capacity. High demand + low supply = high prices.
• Tax Burden – the Brazilian tax burden is 36% on average versus around 25% in the US.  The difference is even greater when considering additional taxes on goods Brazil classifies as “superfluous.”  Plus, Brazilian import taxes are triple what they are in the US.
• Inflation – while the days of hyper-inflation have passed (hopefully for good), inflation is still significant and widens the price gap over time (6.5% inflation in Brazil last year versus 2% in the US)
• Competition – as a matter of policy, the US government prioritizes competition over protectionism and Brazil vice-versa.  For example, whereas the US government made cheap credit available to US auto-makers to help them become more competitive with cheaper Asian imports, Brazil has chosen to simply elevate import taxes to artificially raise prices of the foreign competition.
• Economies of Scale – US companies generally focus on selling more at a lower margin whereas Brazilian companies tend to focus on a small market at a high margin
• Productivity – it’s just not rising fast enough relative to labor costs (due to low unemployment, a lack of qualified labor, insufficient investment, etc.)

The result?  Prices that make your eyes pop and a growing class of Brazilian consumers that have become America’s big-spenders.  It’s no wonder so many Brazilians take annual shopping trips to Miami and New York – they easily recoup the cost of the trip in savings on their purchases.  Brazilians now spend more in the US than visitors from any other country – on average, $5,400 per person per trip in 2010 (article).  Japanese tourists came in far behind at number two with $4,300 in spending per person.  So next time you see people filling up suitcases with stuff in the mall, try a warm bem-vindo.  Good chance they’re our neighbors.

So, please have some patience when you hear us (constantly) complaining about the prices here and be generous with your suitcase space when you come to visit – we’ll be filling it up.

PS – I  had a coke and a nice sandwich for lunch today (filet, brie, arugula).  No fries or chips or any extras.  The tab was R$45.  That’s about $26.  For a sandwich.

Like

my first novela run

is over. Small tear.

(tatatosatt.blogspot.com)

Just finished the finale of "Finas Estampa," the 9pm Novela that began back in August and ended this weekend. There were moments (loooong moments) where I didn't miss an episode (watching at least 5 of the 6 nights a week it comes on) and then months where I forgot it was still going. I caused a ruckus at home when for 3 weeks I refused to go out to dinner so as not to miss a wandering eye or a sneaky in-law even though they have an online globo recap. Then Christmas rolled around and it was hard to keep up so the show and I took some time off. But like all breaks I missed the routine and there I was in January trying to refigure it all out again.

In the end, it was good to see it all wrap up and come full circle.  The good guys won and in true scary movie fashion, the evil Tereza Cristina just wouldn't die. We never did figure out who "Cro" the secretary's lover was but all the nasty splits patched their wounds and life in Barra returned to normal.  Not sure if I am going to start the next one, "Avenida Brasil" with the same momentum as before but I am certainly addicted to the concept. When you watch you are one with the maids and taxi drivers, the ladies at the nail salon and just about everybody you come in contact with. Its a cultural phenomenon and name dropping a novela star gets you an extra nod of approval.  I'll never forget coming back from Rio on a Saturday night and seeing Milena Toscano grabbing her bag off my flight. I acted like a total tween about it and couldn't wait to tell my novela watching friends. Every magazine mentions them, my old portuguese teacher would review lessons around the drama and I finally knew a guest every once in a while on Mais Voce. For the past 7 months I felt like a part of the cool club. And now my nine pm network family is finally off for a much needed vacation.  What a crazy thrill that was! 

sorry its stuck

in my head. over and over and over and over and... you get the point. when this happens there is nothing better than to share it and cause the same damage to others. ahh those catchy Brazilian songs...

To new beginnings....

According to a recent pin on Pinterest, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Verdade.

After 16 months in Brazil, I experienced my first dinner in Portuguese. We met a wonderful Brazilian couple in Mendoza and they ended up purchasing a bottle of wine for us. As a thank you, we insisted on having them for dinner back in Sao Paulo. This week couldn't have fallen at a worse time climatically speaking. 90 degree days with 89 degree nights. We don't have air conditioning so we gave them the option of coming over in sungas and bikinis or meeting at a favorite restaurant. As much as everyone wanted to dine in small pieces of lycra, we concluded one of our favorite new restaurants, Oryza might be a tad more classy.


Generally we hang out with Americans. Brazilians would say they do the same in other parts of world. Recently over dinner with our, "Brazilian Family," their youngest son was telling us about his experience in Calgary. His family expected him to be challenged, speaking only English during the 6 months he was to spend in Canada. Instead, he made good friends with the 12 other Brazilians in Calgary (who'd a thought Brazilians would like crazy cold Calgary?) and barely spoke English outside of school. Because its easier that way. When you are in a foreign country doing foreign things there is nothing better than to share a story over beers with someone who's been there done that. And this is coming from someone who likes to travel "local," far from the chains and the all inclusives. Living and traveling are different though and while cultural immersion is high on our priority list that doesn't mean it always works out that way. Sure, if you are an expat married to a Brazilian you do things differently as you have no choice but to immerse yourself if half your family is another culture. My husband speaks far better Portuguese than I working at a Brazilian company and he hesitates to put me in uncomfortable situations with his friends that know little english. But if I don't like staying at Club Med's when I travel why am I living one here?

So dinner it was, and how dare I expect Brazilians to speak English for my sake. Nervous and trying to keep up, I remembered where I was a little more than a year ago, forgetting how to even introduce myself. So when the appetizers rolled around, leaving baby steps to the past,  I made my first leap. A joke in another language that actually made people laugh. No need for a back pat, in my little world that constituted branding a storage spot for a lasting memory. The four hour dinner ended up being 80% in Portuguese and I've never felt more proud, like I'd run my first marathon. When you are slow to learn, moments of acceleration taste all the more sweet.

It was a hurdle I only wished I'd crossed sooner. Thats the thing about these so called comfort zones, the grass is greener on the other side.

I dream of wine

Mendoza is a dreamy place. It's easy to see why we ran into so many honeymooners and world travelers while there, the romance grabs you and swings you into a whirlwind. The tree lined streets are magnificent, there are parks on every other corner, stained glass buildings and old world passion.  Authenticity is around every corner, in the wine, green spaces and red meat daring you to take another step. The color pallet is a simple one; the bluest blues of a dry hot sunny day, perfect fruit of the loom purple, deep forest greens, oaky wood and white capped mountains. In the span of a sip one understands life's greatest balance, the perfect blend of sun, water, vines, energy and sugar.



Our 2012 Carnival was the antithesis to last year. We went from booming drums. glitter filled chants and bouncing ladies in the city of Samba to quiet evenings in starlit courtyards, keeping the day's hour always with a glass in hand and eating like the gluttons of glory day Rome. You can't compare and both were simply exquisite.

Mendoza has three main wine producing areas, The Uco Valley, Maipu and Lujuan de Cuyo. Each has their own bit of history and significance and if you look at a bottle of Malbec most likely the valley will be mentioned. The Uco Valley has the most posh, is the most well known and has the highest elevation. Most people compare it to Napa 20 some years ago back when there were family owned wineries with big old red trucks hauling equipment around the fields and corporations running the business were no where to be found. Brothers and sisters run the winery because its all they know, trying to preserve their grandparents history back when wine was but a bottle of red or a chilled glass of white. Introducing grape varieties and a preference for quality over quantity is fairly new. Argentina always produced a lot of wine, more than any other place outside of Europe but they consumed 90% of it, those selfish (seriously good looking) cowboys! But after the early 90's they realized the potential in exporting and coupled with the downfall of the peso and the upswing of tourism, they began to perfect their Malbec. Today they play host to a few special, only found in Argentina grapes like Torrontes and Bonarda but their Malbec with 25,000 hectares (in all of Argentina) is the most popular. From what we hear however, Bonarda is the next big thing so look out for it in stores as it is momentarily cheap as so few people know of it.

I would highly recommend Ampora Wine Tours, I can't say enough good things about the cooking class and the wonderful tours. Make sure you eat at the famous 1884, Francis Mallmann's famous digs as he is the chef del dia in Argentina and soon to open a restaurant in Napa. My girlfriend was there around the same time and we both agree, try and stay in the city for a night or two and then retreat to a finca in the country. The fincas have small wineries and the particular one we stayed at had a pool right in the middle of the vineyards. Can't beat that!

Mendoza is quiet and civically beautiful, the country side it's juicy sweet and rustic companion. Both are waiting for you...

finca in Chacras de Coria

chef Laura from cooking class who was AWESOME

 Torrontes grapes

 ahh the Andes

the fancy winery, O. Fournier

for more click your mouse here....

Natura: The Store

As I have mentioned before, Natura is a wonderful Brazilian cosmetics company. Their direct sales model is the only thing I have ever been frustrated with. While I think it works well in certain income classes among Brazilians, it isn't flexible for other markets, making it hard for expats and tourists to buy into the brand when they need to have a consultant. How do you select makeup color from a magazine? There is a constantly changing variety of native scents for bath and body products, how do you know which to choose? What if people want to bring it to their home country as gifts? Happens all the time and the little kiosk in the airport doesn't offer much.

That is all changing now. Soon you will be able to buy your favorite products in a beautifully decorated brick and mortar location in the heart of all things shoptastic, Oscar Freire.  Apparently it is supposed to be open for 5 months, a sort of pop up, but we are pretty sure they will have an awfully hard time closing come June. Hope its as beautifully designed as the brand's only other store in Paris, by Brazilian architect, Arthur Casas. 

Check it out:

SERVIÇO Espaço Conceito Natura
Endereço: Rua Oscar Freire, 1.052 – Jardim Paulista, São Paulo/SP
Funcionamento: terça à sábado das 10h às 20h – domingo e feriados das 13h às 19h
De Fevereiro à Junho 2012

*source (http://www.blogconsultoria.natura.net/espaco-conceito-natura-oscar-freire/)

A glamorous rise and fall...Daslu

Most outside of the international luxury-shopping sphere have probably never heard of Daslu. It is ranked #13 of 236 things to do in Sao Paulo by Lonely Planet but it’s recognition goes far beyond what I imagined when I first started researching its history out of curiosity. Known as the premier place to shop in South America if you are amongst the (.0)1%, its status as one of the most luxurious fashion emporiums in the world now joins the ranks of Lehman Brothers, Enron and Arthur Anderson… well sort of.



Its beginning however, was much different. In 1958 Lucia Piva de Albuquerque Tranchesi, a high society wife of one of Sao Paulo’s elite lawyers loved high fashion. She traveled the world shopping and bringing back multiples of her favorite items to then sell to her friends because at the time Brazil was closed to imports. Over time Lucia’s small living room business in the Vila Nova Conceicao neighborhood of Sao Paulo grew to fill her home so she purchased the house next door. She hired help, more specifically the daughters of her friends because they came from Sao Paulo's best families and like their moms, understood luxury brands. The name, Daslu spawned from “In Lu’s House,” something her close friends and customers began calling it. Eventually she had to keep open and closing hours to manage the clothing, shoes, jewelry and bags as well as the hundreds of vehicles lining the streets with customers. From a young age Lucia’s daughter, Eliana also started working at the store, even creating and designing her own label. Sadly in 1983 Lucia died of cancer and Eliana and her brother took over.

In the late 80’s Brazil democratically elected a leader for the first time in over 26 years. The economy was a bit of mess so import restrictions were eased and that set in motion the next phase of Daslu. Eliana’s vision was to bring the heart of luxury not only to Brazil but also to all of South America for the first time. Valentino and Moschino were among the first to find her store (or rather she found them) and Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Zegna and Dolce & Gabbana followed soon after. She was still in the VNC neighborhood occupying homes (23 to be exact) with over 70,000 clients. Finally the city zoning prevented her from further expansion and she decided to build an Italian styled Villa to uniquely rival all other shopping stores. And stand out it did, situated near one of Sao Paulo's favelas it's architecture and austerity created a lot of controversy and picketing, especially once clients began swarming in literally by helicopter to shop.

That is what I finally went to see. 180,000 square feet of palatial rooms fit for queens (and kings as men’s clothing was also sold in the new location). Those friends of Eliana and her mother still working for her became known as Dasluzette’s, beautiful sales girls employed to greet you at the door, meet your every request and take you around the Villa room to room to shop. Men were not allowed in the women’s departments and there were no dressing rooms as you just tried things on in private salons with the Dasluzettes and your best friends. Each fashion house leased their space from Daslu and was laid out much like their intimate origins, individually styled rooms. The Ferragamo room was like the Ferragamo store in Italy, designed and executed not by Daslu staff but by the Ferragamo design team and every brand was outfitted in a similar approach. There is also the Daslu brand, cultivated by Eliana to stand  prestigiously alongside the 4,000 square foot Luis Vuitton store inside Daslu.

The more than 200 sales girls and maids, each with appropriate uniform, kept everything running smoothly hoping to leave no stone unturned. The champagne bar on the second floor, the restaurant and cafes with top notch cuisine were just the beginning of the VIP experience. Many celebrities and soccer stars (Ronaldo was a frequent customer) flew in via helicopter with spouses and friends landing on the top floor to meet for high tea and a little pampering to accompany their shopping extravaganza. Beyond the food and the fashion brands Daslu aimed to be the first so-called 'lifestyle store.' There was a spa, a facialist (booked 5 months out minimum), hair parlors, housewares stores with a Viking showroom and barbecue displays, a papery to design your own stationary, chocolate shops and a bakery that specialized in wedding cakes. Speaking of weddings, there was also a chapel, reception rooms and a ballroom seating upwards of thirteen hundred people overlooking the city. Many Paulistas were married at Daslu, booking everything from their registry to their honeymoon all in the same place. There was a nightclub and even a man cave with a bookstore, fireplace, Johnnie Walker whiskey bar and a tobacconist. In case that didn’t meet your fancy, there was also a yacht dealer, Maseratti dealership, luxury real estate and travel agency and even a dealer to buy one of the Daslu styled helicopters on display in the lobby. The kids department was akin to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory so everyone in the family was covered. Just in case you need a good dose of chitchat there was a gossip and news section on the website. Need a dentist? Pediatrician or Physiologist? Ballet studio? They thought of everything at the Villa Daslu Educational Center next door. Here, employees had a day care, nursery, a school for children up to 14 years old with a cafeteria and music school. Everyone from the janitors, security guards and valets could use those services which was a nice gesture considering over 1700 employees worked around the clock to ensure Daslu met the highest standards in security and comfort.

But that was then, and sometimes all grand things beyond their time come to an end, in dramatic fashion. A few weeks ago I witnessed this end, like walking into Barney’s New York after the world is over, a few fancy dresses hung on a long rack made for 50, elegant French styled frames hanging crooked on the wall, empty shelves and stalled escalators to closed floors and areas. I wasn’t assigned a Dasluzette, or had anyone follow me anywhere minus a few stranded maids attempting to keep things tidy but the problems were bigger than a duster feather could take care of. I valeted for $20 (because you don’t have any other choice unless you walk or cab there) and witnessed not the beginning of the end but the end of the end for this building, this lifestyle paradigm.

In July 2005 under 'Operation Narciso,' over 300 federal police and tax agents raided the offices and store. Eliana and her brother were fined US$110 million in back taxes. In 2009 they were both sentenced to 94 years and 6 months of jail time for everything from organized crime, embezzlement and forgery to tax evasion and conspiracy. She had been trading commodities abroad using counterfeit notes and according to testimony falsifying invoices and listing things well below market value to reduce the duty taxes. Eliana thought this punishment was a bit harsh considering she was no danger to society. She was afraid without her the 50+ years of work her family had done to establish the name and the brand would be lost and that the Government Tax authority might need to her carry on the store so she could pay back the money. She had also been undergoing treatment for cancer in 2006 and had hoped she might receive leniency in the sentencing. The public was torn, some saying she did wonders for the country and others feeling like she flaunted excess and privilege at the expense of others. She did go to jail but as most blue collar cases go, not for long and she has since been released under Habeus Corpus with appeals pending. She had to sell her store and her brand though, and while there is another Daslu brand store in the fancy Sao Paulo mall, Shopping Cidade Jardim along with another planned for the new JK Iguatemi shopping mall, the Villa Daslu brand is now under management of Iguatemi mall operators (Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers S.A.) while they continue to pay off debts to the government. There are also plans to take the brand to other South American countries in the future, and in an interview last year Eliana hoped be able to advise for the brand. The fate of the building is unclear, as of December there were two rumors, one that it will be torn down and the other that it will be refurbished for office space. For now everything at the store is on 80% clearance, what is left will be moved to the new location at JK this year, and it remains as I saw it, ghostly and stoic. Timeout magazine said, "There's a Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire air about the place..."

All that is left is the Daslu brand. There are now multiple Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci etc. stores in the malls of Sao Paulo and Rio today. Without the family ownership and the signature building its just a name and a story, one she hopes to write very soon so people know how she and her family put Brazil on the fashion map. Asked if she regrets anything? “Tudo valeu a pena.”

(Backside of the building, sortimentos)

(Dasluzettes, desnouvellestendances.com.br)

(back in the day, http://vocecommodamakeup.blogspot.com/)

(fashion show in the lobby, http://exame.abril.com.br/)

(wedding chapel, http://curticomunicacao.blogspot.com/)

(one of the terraces, http://agbnews.blogspot.com/)

(and now*)

(*)

(*)

* Check out Paul Keller's photostream of pictures to see what it looks like now
Sources: ISTOE independente, Timeout Sao Paulo, UOL noticias, World Luxury Guide, Wikipedia and Deluxe by Dana Thomas 

Brazil hosts one of the most beautiful streets in the world

Porto Alegre, a beautiful city in the south east of Brazil just added a new reason to visit. "Is This the Most Beautiful Street in the World," stirred a great street debate the other day on a landscape architecture forum.   Gonçalo de Carvalho looks like a winner to me and what makes this story so wonderful is
how the community came together to protect their treasured canopy. A construction company recently threatened to cut down a few of these trees for the good of a parking garage (ick) and the people living along the street formed a successful coalition in protest. Not only did they prevent the cuttings but they also had this 500m stretch of Tipuana trees named a site of Ecological, Cultural, and Environmental Heritage.
 "What's more, perhaps, beyond the distinction that some consider it to be the prettiest street in the world, is the fact that it represents what is possible when city-dwellers work together to cherish and protect something beautiful." - Treehugger  
Bravo! 

Watch out the gringos are coming!!!!

We were at the movies last weekend and one of the pre-preview commercials had a voice singing, "the gringos are arriving, are you ready?" and we were the only ones in a crowded theater that burst out laughing for quite a while. Anyways, now I am hearing it all the time on tv and its just too funny. Cel-Lep is a language school that I actually first started taking lessons from and well I ended up with an interesting teacher that enjoyed making excuses for why she couldn't make our class at least once a week (and if she actually showed up she continually asked if I was pregnant, loved grabbing my cheeks and prayed for me to have a baby. but thats besides the point). The package was unfortunately paid in full and I am one of those people that needs to learn how to complain more when I receive bad service because instead I just felt bad for her and never said anything. Well thats over with now, but hopefully they have employed a more motivated crop of teachers for this latest influx of hopeful brazilians frantically trying to get ready for the gringo explosion!

Enjoy

Sao Paulo Fashion Week

I am still trying to meet the right person to hook me up with a way in to see something during Sao Paulo Fashion week but until that happens I rely on other's photos. "The Face Hunter," a fashion blogger and avid people watcher always goes and always has a great series to check out. Here is his visual diary of pictures from the last week, an eclectic mix of fashion and city.



heres a few favorites...

The way the DR. should be

With almost a year under our belt, I finally decided to take a few friend's recommendations and get a doctor. And this is not your average stethoscope trotting white coat wearing man of the infirmary, this guy is Pele´s medicó! Boo-ya sickness and health my knees are going to shine like a hall-of-fame national hero!

Our first consultation was akin to meeting up with an old friend at their house. His office is in one of those big beautiful old coffee planation houses on Avenida Brasil and minus the secretaries at the entrance I climbed the granite stairs to the second floor and went straight into his comfy office. In true brazilian fashion I was offered coffee, water  and fresh squeezed juice.  He greeted me wearing jeans, loafers and a t-shirt and we got to business while he ate some lunch.

What I loved most about the experience was the lack of paperwork involved. He had his computer set up with an online form that we filled out together. He went through family history and basically every part of the body head to toe asking about issues and problems past and current. He also gave me a nice lecture about eating right and living a stress free life.  Happy minds = Healthy minds and I was advised to get to the beach and relax as often as possible. I'll take that prescription any day! He was also plugging his book, which talks a lot about mind over matter of which below there is a photo with Pele and his little health bible. After our 2.5+ hour chat we went to another room in his office for the checkup. From eyes to toes to ekg's and blood draws he tested for anything and everything. I came with allergy questions and left feeling like if anything was wrong well beyond my recent aversion to the pollution, he would get to the bottom of it.

Before going in for the blood draw I noticed my name on a list with just about everything checked off. Strange, but he reminded me it was standard procedure. 31 viles of blood later I practically fainted in the lounge chair. I wish I was kidding but this guy tested for EVERYTHING. I guess that is normal? I just kept telling myself if the guy apparently treats a world phenomenon he knows what he's doing so I am awaiting the file cabinet of results.

In sum, I am impressed and happy to finally have a doc here. Its those little big things that help with adapting in a new place. It is quite common in Brazil for the doctor to give you their email, home and cell phone numbers to be available at your disposal. During our almost 4 hour appointment he was answering many a text message from his clients... over 5000 of them. Clients that is but I would imagine over the course of a flu season he hears from all of them. Most of the time he can even cure common illnesses over the phone and then send a motoboy to fetch your prescription at any hour of the day, any day of the week. Super bonus!  It wasn't a cheap consultation but the follow up is included and the subsequent appointments (so long as they aren't more ekgs or other ex-rays etc.) are covered by insurance. For all the american copays I've shelled out over the years its nice to finally see a doctor!

Pele with my doctor's new book

Rio Sex Comedy

An interesting find on itunes, this movie is in portuguese and english with subtitles. Basically it talks about the lives of a few expatriates in Rio and their various quests for "social justice and personal pleasure." A french woman is working on an anthropologic quest to find out if maids wish for a better life by studying home help. Then an ambassador goes missing in the favelas by his own accord (he ran away to hide) and is found by an american favela tour guide. So from there the audience gets a little tour of the Rocinha Favela, one of the more famous communities in South America. The third story revolved around the pulsing world of plastic surgery where regardless of wealth, people are equal in how they feel about themselves.

This movie does a good job showing realities of Brazil and what life is like in a culture that is very class stratified. The idea of what a favela means comes up several times, the dweller defining pride in where they live, an amazonian tribe too good for life in a "slum," and a wealthy american enjoying his escape there and wondering what he can do to help. It is full of satire and comedy and I encourage you to check it out sometime...