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.


Brazil Through Foreign Eyes

July 23, 2008
Meet Nitai Panchmatia from India who first travelled to Brazil ten years ago, and is now working here. Read the following interview in which he tells us about some of his most memorable experiences and gives some useful advice to newcomers.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from, what do you do etc.?
I am a global citizen of Indian origin. The last 12 years I have travelled to 30+ countries. Besides India, lived in Brazil, Hong Kong, Dubai and short stints in other countries. But out of all of them, I consider Brazil as my segundo pais (second home) after India. I am a marketing professional and worked in various sectors from telecom to ecommerce, shipping to commodity derivatives. I am a start-up specialist in Brazil, Middle east and India. I am from Mumbai (Bombay) originally and am a vegetarian since birth. I just finished a telecom project in Brazil and now am looking for further opportunities to futher India-Brazil trade.
2. When did you arrive in Brazil and what brought you here?
My first trip to Brazil was in 1998. I was working in Hong Kong in a trading company dealing in electrical items from China. They asked me to go on a 15-day trip to South America and see if I could bring some sales. I went to Buenos Aires and then to Sao paulo. That 15-day-1-suitcase trip got extended to 1 year! What an adventure! I started learning Portuguese talking to taxi drivers, friends, hotel staff, etc. I was blessed with a beautiful and kind receptionist in my hotel who helped me a lot in acclimatising initially. It was love at first sight (with Brazil not with the receptionist). After that somehow, all my further assignments lead to Brazil, at least once every 2 years.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


The Great Brazilian Animal-Off (Land)

By Ricky Skelton
July 23, 2008
After the resounding success of The Great Brazilian Fruit-Off (thanks Dimmi), finally comes The Great Brazilian Animal-Off - solely judged on which Brazilian animal of the land I would prefer to be.
Gambá 8%
Small possum-like creatures that lives in my roof. Keeps me awake most nights. I don´t want to kill them though.
Capivara 12%
Capybaras are not so rare that seeing the World´s Largest Rodent (after Mickey) is a particular treat.
Marmosets and Tamarins 15%
These beautiful little monkeys will be much higher, especially if I visit the Rio reserve that is increasing the numbers of the rare Golden Lion version. For now though, my only memory of them is seeing a photo of one being smuggled overseas crammed into a thermos. His little face looking upwards depressed me.
Howler Monkey 23% (for sound only)
The amazing noise they make at dawn should come from a monkey the size of King Kong. Stay well clear of them though. You don´t want to know what they do if you get too close.
Maned Wolf 27%
Loses marks for not looking as cool as the Grey Wolf and for never having been spotted.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Interviews

Thanks to those who responded to our request for interviews. We've almost run out though, so if you would like to be in our Brazil Through Foreign Eyes, or Foreigners Through Brazilian Eyes series please send us an email. As you can see it doesn't matter if you're a foreigner to Brazil, or Brazilian, we're still interested to hear from you. The interview series is a fascinating look at how real people are enjoying Brazil, and equally how Brazilians really see foreigners. They also give various tips on what to see in Brazil, and how to survive here.
The interview itself is a set of around 15 easy-to-answer questions, and ideally we like a digital photo of you as well we can place with the interview.
So if you're interested, don't be shy, send a blank email to mark@gringoes.com with "Interview" in the subject. We will then send you the questions, and instructions on how to complete. We'd love to hear from you!
A gentle reminder to those who have been sent questions. Please don't forget to complete and return them!


Gringoes Poll

Last fortnight's poll was on the cost of living in Brazil compared with your home country. Do you find it a lot more expensive, a lot cheaper, or somewhere inbetween? It seems the majority find it cheaper, with 31% voting "Somewhat less" and 23% "A lot less", followed by 20% "A lot more", and 15% "Similar".
This fortnight's poll is following on from Ricky's article "The Great Brazilian Animal-Off". We can't quite fit in all Ricky's choices, but have gone for his seven favourite. If you haven't yet voted go to our homepage and look for the poll in the left-hand column.
If you can't stand our poll ideas and have better ones, or are curious about some aspect of the Gringoes.com readers, then send your ideas to us at mark@gringoes.com with "Poll Idea" in the subject. If we choose your poll you will get a credit in the newsletter, as well as the satisfaction of seeing what the answers are!

Please send this email to anyone you think might find it interesting. If you have not yet registered with gringoes.com and would like to receive future newsletters click here. If you have mistakenly received this message, or would no longer like to receive mail from us, then please reply to this email with the word 'take out' in the subject line. If you are unsubscribing because the newsletter doesn't meet your needs then please let us know how we can improve it.

Photo of the Week

The photo of the week is titled Light Bridge taken by Manfred Teubner in São Paulo city. 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.


Foreigners Through Brazilian Eyes

July 11, 2008
This week in our continuing Foreigners Through Brazilian Eyes series we have an interview with Renata Andraus. Read on as Renata tells us about her impressions of foreigners, and gives some helpful advice also.
1. Where are you from in Brazil and what do you do?
I am from São Paulo and work with events, developing new business and driving more Brazilian attendance to international exhibitions, organizing delegations of executives from different sectors.
2. What are the main obstacles for foreigners in Brazil?
First the language, because different from what many people believe not every Brazilian speaks English and if the purpose of the trip is tourism or especially business it is important to have someone speaking Portuguese for intermediate conversations and to translate different things. Brazilians are very friendly and always try to understand but it helps a lot having someone in the group that speaks the language.
3. What are common mistakes that foreigners make in Brazil?
Being overly concerned with safety issues and not researching about the country and its culture before traveling. Every country has problems with safety, especially the major cities in the world like New York, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil and every tourist needs to be careful with some things. But it does not mean a tourist cannot walk around or cannot use the metro and public transportation. From my experience because I receive many foreigners coming for business they always leave the country very surprised about everything: food, hotels, quality of service, people and even safety.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Ask a Brazilian: Headlights

June 23, 2008
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.
What is the deal with Brazilian headlights? I don't know about the rest of Brazil, but in Rio all cars and taxis seem to have a setting that is actually lower than a normal 'dim' on their headlights. It's a very low setting they use for driving around town. I have even noticed that many, including the buses, don't even use their headlights at night. Is the unusually dim headlights a special setting that Brazilian cars have, or is it put on after market? And why...?
-- David
David,
Funny you've mentioned this. Years ago I almost got arrested in Florida for not using headlights. Actually I was using them, according to Brazilian rules.
…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! If you've got some burning question about Brazil, or just want to discuss a particular topic, then you're bound to get an answer there.
There's also a forum which allows you to comment and give us feedback 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, abusive posts and certain types of advertising in the forum will not be tolerated. Make sure to check the Read This First area first before posting. The forum is intended to be a constructive and lighthearted place for discussion about Brazil.


Forex

The US Dollar has dropped over the fortnight, from R$1.61 to R$1.58. The Euro has also dropped, from R$2.53 to R$2.48. The British Pound continues the trend, dropping from R$3.19 to R$3.15.