Introduction

Welcome to the Gringoes.com email newsletter!
This newsletter pulls together some of the articles, photos, polls and other information that has been published on the Gringoes.com web site over the last week or so. Don't forget to visit the Gringoes.com site to checkout our article archive, useful information pages, classified adverts, services, forum and other pages. So read on and we hope you enjoy the newsletter. As always if you have any comments, such as what you'd like to see more or less of on the site or newsletter, don't hesitate to contact us at gringoes@gringoes.com.
Please note that although we are based in São Paulo, the site and newsletter are for the whole of Brazil. We are particularly interested in hearing from people outside of São Paulo city, specifically Rio de Janeiro and the Northeast, so if you would like to write about your experiences or any topic related to Brazil see our request for "Article Writers" below.
If you're interested to know the origin behind the site name, then read the "Dear Gringo" article here by Dr. G.


São Paulo Meet Up

November 28, 2007
The forum user Cenzo is arranging a meet up for São Paulo based Gringoes at O'Malley's Bar - 8:30pm 11th December. All are welcome!
http://www.omalleysbar.net
Alameda Itú 1529, Jardins, São Paulo, Brazil
Telephone: +55 11 3086 0780


Around Brazil: Gurupá

By Ricky Skelton
November 27, 2007
The Amazon River is full of small towns clinging to the banks, sometimes half submerged. The river boats stop at every one to load supplies and passengers and to deposit passengers with collections of cameras and wallets. There is around half an hour to hunt down more booze and ice and have a little look around. In only one of these towns did I spend more than half an hour and it was highly memorable for all concerned.
Our boat had broken down at various points, the latest one appearing to be almost terminal. A tiny boat towed us for some way and then gave up. We spent all of Blondie´s birthday marooned at the edge of the Amazon, swimming amongst the floating islands (only after the crazy chef had done it first) and drinking from before dawn almost through to the next one. What else was there to do?
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Around South America: Looking for Adventure in Chile´s Patagonia

By Marilyn Diggs
November 27, 2007
Nature lovers and adventurers, have I got news for you. There still remains a pristine place whose unspoiled beauty makes visiting it an unforgettable trip. One of South America‘s best kept secrets is the Aisén region in northern Patagonia, Chilean side. Aisén is the least populated, least traveled and least developed part of Chile. I decide to explore the rugged wilderness for myself - destination General Carrera Lake, (the second largest lake in Latin America, losing only to Titicaca) and the Northern Patagonia Ice Field.
Greeted at the Balmaceda airport at 2 p.m. by two smiling faces - our guides for the next 10 days - we pile into a 4 wheel-drive SUV and head south on Chile‘s southern highway. The Carretera Austral road changed the lives of the villagers since its construction begun in 1976, by connecting them to the rest of the country, although the global connection is still a minimum. Only in its capital, Coyhaique, can you see a few familiar store names, but no fast food joints, convenience stores or billboards en route. Our road trip takes us past grassy steppes, old-growth forests, misty wetlands, snow-capped mountains, raging rivers and tumbling waterfalls. Irregular rock pinnacles throw strange finger puppet shadows against the sage green hills on the other side of the road. Melted marshmallows cling to taupe, jade and black jagged peaks. Even the rearview mirrors reflect postcard landscapes. Shaggy sheep, wooly cows and tall popular trees (brought from Europe as wind breakers) speckle lime green fields. In a lucky moment we spot a small huemul deer and her fawn almost hidden in the lenga beech forest. Suddenly the Andes seem to erupt from a turquoise and violet lake that looks more like an ocean. Just when we thought we had seen it all, the setting sun hiding in spun lemon swirls paints the mountains with golden brown, amber and pink hues broken by livid purple shadows (photo above shows the sunset approach to Terra Luna Lodge). We arrive at Terra Luna Lodge, near Puerto Guadal, on the shore of the General Carrera Lake.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Financial Advice from the Fry Group in Brazil

November 26, 2007
The Consultant to the Fry Group responsible for developing Latin America and the Caribbean, Patrick Holman, will be in Sao Paulo over the coming weeks to advise and attend clients. Their website is www.thefrygroup.co.uk. The Group is offering a free investment review to ensure clients‘ affairs and portfolios are managed with their financial objectives in mind and with the appropriate level of risk.
Specialists in tax, financial planning and executor & trustee matters since 1898 they have over 40,000 clients worldwide in more than 150 countries. The company‘s executives regularly tour the main expatriate centers overseas and from 28 to 30 November and 5 to 14 December 2007, Patrick Holman will be available for meetings in Sao Paulo to discuss a number of important changes which have recently been announced. These include:

Weekly Quiz

This week's question comes from Angel Juarez (thanks Angel!): what do Andalusia (a region in the South of Spain) and Kazakhstan (the Asian country) have in common with XVII Century Brazilian anti-slavery leader Zumbi dos Palamares? Send your answer to mark@gringoes.com with ‘Weekly Quiz’ in the subject line.
We've run out of quiz questions so a special request for more. Do you think you can stump the Gringoes.com readers? If so then please send your quiz questions to mark@gringoes.com with ‘Weekly Quiz Ideas’ in the subject line. Don't forget to send the answer to the question also! Remember it needs to be relatively difficult, and not something that can be found from a simple Internet search.


Photo of the Week

The photo of the week is titled Paraty Dogs taken by Andrea Molnar Szego in Paraty. Click here to see the photo.
Thanks to all those who've sent in photos based on our request, but we can always do with more. So if you have a funny or unusual photo depicting life in Brazil please send it to gringoes@gringoes.com with ‘Photo of the Week’ in the subject line. Ideally we are after photos that are of something a little different, not traditional shots of beaches and sunsets. Please send relatively high resolution images (0.5 Megapixel / 640 x 480 or bigger), and let us know where you took the photo and if you have a title for it.


Brazil Through Foreign Eyes

November 23, 2007
Meet Hans Keeling, from the USA, who first visited Brazil in 2004 and then moved here and setup a business. Read the following interview where he tells us about some of his most memorable experiences from Brazil and gives some useful advice to newcomers.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from, what do you do etc.?
I grew up in Northern California with a love for sports, the outdoors, travel (my mom being from Austria, our family traveled quite a bit when I was younger) and foreign culture. I studied economics and environmental sciences in college, graduating from Stanford University in 1998, after which I moved to Los Angeles and went to law school, graduating from the UCLA School of Law in 2001. Have invested so much time, energy and money in my academic career up until that date, I took the logical next step and took a job with a top international law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, where I worked from 1999-2004. While I had a great experience working as a corporate lawyer, focused primarily on mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance transactions, I soon realized the lifestyle was not for me in the long run. I managed to travel a lot during my work, including stints in Europe and Asia, so knew that I would love to do something overseas whatever my next step might be.
Toward the end of 2003 I was contemplating several job opportunities (still traditional ones, in corporate law and finance) in Europe and Dubai (Middle East) when by chance a long time dream of mine came true - a New Year's vacation with several friends to Brazil, a country I had long dreamed of visiting and was super curious to see for myself.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Brazil: "Tristeza Não Tem Fim" ("Sadness Has No End") Part 2

By Joe Lopes
November 22, 2007
A Testament to Black Orpheus, Bossa Nova and the Partnership That Started It All By now it should be apparent the lone, dissenting voice crying out in the Tijuca-forest wilderness belonged to that of Vinicius de Moraes, the country‘s best-known, modern-day bard; and the work that had wreaked such havoc with his fiery temper, if not his high blood pressure, was that of French director Marcel Camus‘ Orfeu Negro, or Black Orpheus, his 1959 screen adaptation of Vinicius‘ musical play in verse, Orfeu da Conceição ("Orpheus of the Conception"), from 1956.
Filmed on location in Rio between the years 1957 and 1958, and based on a modern reworking - set during the city‘s renowned Carnival celebration - of the ancient Greek tale of poet-musician Orpheus, now transformed into a happy-go-lucky streetcar conductor, and his beloved Eurydice, the joint French-Italian and Brazilian co-production soon took on mythic proportions of its own.
As a cross-cultural phenomenon, for example, it proved an international hit with delighted movie audiences, not only grabbing the prestigious Palme d‘Or at the Cannes Film Festival but sweeping all others before it, including major entries by the likes of Luis Buñuel and Jean-Luc Godard, in the Best Foreign Picture category at the following year‘s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Ask a Brazilian: Business Etiquette

November 23, 2007
This is our regular column called "Ask a Brazilian", the idea being that you can quite literally ask a question of a Brazilian for those issues you aren't sure about but perhaps dare not ask someone else. It is meant as a bit of fun and answers should not be construed as expert opinion or the definitive reply on the matter. For that reason we ask you to please send comments and experiences in order to add to our replies.
I am Saad from London. I am doing a research on setting up a business in Brazil. I have to explain what cultural problems someone from can England face in Brazil, and how can they be minimised.
Help and support will be appreciated.
Many thanks!
Oi, Saad,
Hard to explain cultural problems regarding England, as I have no knowledge on the UK culture or the sort of business you refer to, but let's try something for you to start, ok?
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Discussion Forum

If you've not had a chance yet then pop over to our web forum, register, and start joining in the discussion about Brazil. There are many forum areas such as Living in Brazil, Teaching English, Visas and Documentation, and even a place to Vent Your Frustrations! There's also a forum which allows you to comment on Gringoes.com, either with your views about past articles, areas of the site, or to make suggestions for future articles and content.
Note that foul language and abusive posts in the forum will not be tolerated. The forum is intended to be a constructive and lighthearted place for discussion about Brazil.


Forex

The US Dollar has risen slightly this week, from R$1.78 a week ago to R$1.80. The Euro has also risen, to R$2.65 versus R$2.64 last week. The British Pound continues the trend, at R$3.72 compared with R$3.67 last week.