Taming a BRIC - getting to know and love Brazil

Brazilians tend to be very optimistic, which is an admirable quality, especially in the face of the difficult daily life for many of them. Although the Brazilian economy has held up pretty well in the face of the global financial crisis, Brazilian economic analysts and bankers paint a much rosier picture of the state of the economy than external analysts do.

But the income disparity is enormous. Top executives can earn a million dollars a year or more, but the minimum monthly wage is less than $300. This is just about enough for a dinner for four at one of the excellent barbeque restaurants that serve up an endless supply of mouth-watering cuts of meat on skewers. Wash this down with a caipirinha, the potent local cocktail, and you might start to feel some of the infectious free spirit for which Brazilians are rightly famous.

Food staples such as beef, rice, chicken and beans are very affordable, and so is a beer in a small neighbourhood bar. Yet rent for a nice three bedroom apartment in the upmarket Jardins district can run to $7,000 a month or more.

Brazilians are also very image conscious and think nothing of spending money on cosmetic procedures, nor are they particularly concerned for anyone to know they have had some work done. So in spite of the wealth disparity, the desire and ability to get a little help from the surgeon’s knife runs down surprisingly deep in the socio-economic scale, and is made easier by being able to pay in 10 monthly instalments.

Brazil has an impressive record in introducing socially progressive legislation such as no smoking in public spaces and zero-tolerance for drink-driving - but the record of actually enforcing these laws is pretty dismal. Add a streak of arrogance and a dose of impatience and the law becomes decidedly grey for many people. A driver that goes through the red light (after carefully making sure no one is coming) is not really breaking the law so much as doing what needs to be done to get through a busy day.

Of course a lot of this refers to what happens in big cities like Sao Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte (where Australian mining interests are located). When you get into the interior of the country and you will see another side of life - the simpler, cheaper, relaxed, polite and nostalgic lifestyle from another era and to which many city dwellers aspire.

There is also a small but vibrant community of Australians in Brazil (mainly in São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte), mostly not corporate ex-pats but entrepreneurs who have found their niche in a variety of businesses and have settled for the long term.

Brazilian cities are refreshingly friendly, especially towards foreigners but English is not widely spoken, so it is essential to get a grasp of Portuguese pretty quickly.

While Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s famous party city, São Paulo is its economic engine and touts itself as the New York of South America. When you see the skyline and feel the buzz of the city, it is easy to see why. Fortunately, when the city’s enormous size becomes suffocating, a retreat to the beaches, jungles and mountains is all just a few hours away. Around 1 million paulistanos leave the city every weekend on short trips away and I can vouch for these numbers as I sit in massive traffic jams coming back from the beach on a Sunday evening.

But like many things in Brazil, you shrug your shoulders and agree that it is worth the effort.