Cost of Living in Brazil

[davehoskings]

Originally Posted by Dotty

No ,they automatically appear until you log in and THEN they disappear,so yes not sure what the purpose is of an ignore list as one can read everything anyway.

The idea is that you click the checkbox that says remember me so you stay logged in.

[FCZ]

First of all, let me say that I’m sorry to hear that you were mugged. If I had to single out one negative aspect of our visit to RN and CE, it would be the security systems around houses. In the South someone has to look hard to find a beach house with anything besides a wall; things we saw in the NE are illegal, for instance, broken glasses on top of a wall. The kite instructor told me that it makes look worst than it really is; I don’t know about that, but statistics are showing decreasing in violence in Brazil, though still high (Brazil | Not as violent as you thought | Economist.com ); a similar article was published by the Financial Times a couple of months ago. Recently a Law to legalize abortion was rejected after a strong lobby from religious groups, in particular, evangelics. The law was partially inspired by the arguments put forward by a Univ. of Chicago economist who states that the main (but not the only) cause of violence reduction in the US was the legalization of abortion a generation ago instead of popular explanations like growth, more police, zero tolerance, and so on. The RJ Governor was citing this study. I’m aware of the sensitiveness of the subject, anyone offended, please refer to the book (“Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt) not me.
Salvador: to be fair, the most violent big city in Brazil is supposed to be Recife, not Salvador, RJ or SP. Anyway, I have friends with beach houses near Recife and Salvador, and they are quite happy. But it seems things haven’t change in terms of harassing tourists there, it was the same way 10 years ago. In Natal and Cumbuco I found the beach sellers quite different, they usually kept certain distance from the tourists, and if they ask if you want something, they don’t insist at all; besides, they were selling things that, eventually, could be handy (hats, sunscreens, coconut water,…). I chatted a bit with the guy that was doing a temporary tattoo in my daughter, a quite cool person with a very good sense of humor, I’m glad he was there.

Originally Posted by debzor

Beware of the real cost of living in Brazil...

I was in Salvador this past weekend for a friend's birthday and was mugged on the beach. Three guys ran off with my 120 year old gold Albert chain that I was stupidly wearing round my neck. With a value of over £1500, I should have known better, especially as I live in Brazil, but we were all celebrating and were dressed up for the occasion...

Equally stupidly, I gave chase shouting obscenities at these 3 locals, and nearly caught the actual thief who ripped it from my neck before cars on the main road nearly run us both over, and my friends and others wisely convinced me to stop for my own safety.

The theft is irrelevant - the real cost of my stupidity could have been my life...

Sometimes the cost of living in Brazil has to be weighed in different ways.

[JMBroad]

Originally Posted by FCZ

First of all, let me say that I’m sorry to hear that you were mugged. If I had to single out one negative aspect of our visit to RN and CE, it would be the security systems around houses. In the South someone has to look hard to find a beach house with anything besides a wall; things we saw in the NE are illegal, for instance, broken glasses on top of a wall. The kite instructor told me that it makes look worst than it really is; I don’t know about that, but statistics are showing decreasing in violence in Brazil, though still high (Brazil | Not as violent as you thought | Economist.com ); a similar article was published by the Financial Times a couple of months ago. Recently a Law to legalize abortion was rejected after a strong lobby from religious groups, in particular, evangelics. The law was partially inspired by the arguments put forward by a Univ. of Chicago economist who states that the main (but not the only) cause of violence reduction in the US was the legalization of abortion a generation ago instead of popular explanations like growth, more police, zero tolerance, and so on. The RJ Governor was citing this study. I’m aware of the sensitiveness of the subject, anyone offended, please refer to the book (“Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt) not me.
Salvador: to be fair, the most violent big city in Brazil is supposed to be Recife, not Salvador, RJ or SP. Anyway, I have friends with beach houses near Recife and Salvador, and they are quite happy. But it seems things haven’t change in terms of harassing tourists there, it was the same way 10 years ago. In Natal and Cumbuco I found the beach sellers quite different, they usually kept certain distance from the tourists, and if they ask if you want something, they don’t insist at all; besides, they were selling things that, eventually, could be handy (hats, sunscreens, coconut water,…). I chatted a bit with the guy that was doing a temporary tattoo in my daughter, a quite cool person with a very good sense of humor, I’m glad he was there.

Funnily enough having been stuck in London, courtesy of the US border patrol, for three days this last trip , I finished off my books far more quickly than anticipated - result was that at the airport in Sao Paulo I was running around looking for a new book for the remaining flights - and what else did I pick up than Steven Levitt's Freakonomics. Great read and compelling arguments. Legalizing abortion is only one of the "economic" decisions which may or may not change the crime rate but the math he presents makes sense, regardless of our personal moral decisions and ideals.

[debzor]

Originally Posted by FCZ

First of all, let me say that I’m sorry to hear that you were mugged. If I had to single out one negative aspect of our visit to RN and CE, it would be the security systems around houses. In the South someone has to look hard to find a beach house with anything besides a wall; things we saw in the NE are illegal, for instance, broken glasses on top of a wall. The kite instructor told me that it makes look worst than it really is; I don’t know about that, but statistics are showing decreasing in violence in Brazil, though still high (Brazil | Not as violent as you thought | Economist.com ); a similar article was published by the Financial Times a couple of months ago. Recently a Law to legalize abortion was rejected after a strong lobby from religious groups, in particular, evangelics. The law was partially inspired by the arguments put forward by a Univ. of Chicago economist who states that the main (but not the only) cause of violence reduction in the US was the legalization of abortion a generation ago instead of popular explanations like growth, more police, zero tolerance, and so on. The RJ Governor was citing this study. I’m aware of the sensitiveness of the subject, anyone offended, please refer to the book (“Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt) not me.
Salvador: to be fair, the most violent big city in Brazil is supposed to be Recife, not Salvador, RJ or SP. Anyway, I have friends with beach houses near Recife and Salvador, and they are quite happy. But it seems things haven’t change in terms of harassing tourists there, it was the same way 10 years ago. In Natal and Cumbuco I found the beach sellers quite different, they usually kept certain distance from the tourists, and if they ask if you want something, they don’t insist at all; besides, they were selling things that, eventually, could be handy (hats, sunscreens, coconut water,…). I chatted a bit with the guy that was doing a temporary tattoo in my daughter, a quite cool person with a very good sense of humor, I’m glad he was there.

Thanks for the support... interesting article you mention, as are your comments.

I did see some figures a while back about the most violent cities in Brazil, but, as always, statistics can be massaged and presented in many lights (refer to lies, damned lies & statistics...).

As I recall, the least violent was Natal and the most violent was Recife. But this only referred to the murder rate in State Capitals. The actual city with the lowest murder rate was Maringa, Parana and the worst was Serra, Espirito de Santo. But again murders tend to be associated with other factors, and geographically grouped in a city rather than provide a true reflection of any city as a whole.

Plus this data was put together, I think, in 2003. Given that the article you quote states the murder rate in Sao Paulo itself has dropped 50% in the past few years it would be interesting to see more recent figures.

And Rob makes a good point about the reorganisation of the police department in Fortaleza producing a reduction in crime there recently. Anyone got any recent figures?

[De Orc]

Sorry to hear about the mugging, unfortunatly that crime is not just a problem over in Brazil but in a number of countries Now as for the smiling it actualy can put someone off if they think you are crazy enough to smile when they are trying to mug you!!

[debzor]

Originally Posted by JMBroad

Funnily enough having been stuck in London, courtesy of the US border patrol, for three days this last trip , I finished off my books far more quickly than anticipated - result was that at the airport in Sao Paulo I was running around looking for a new book for the remaining flights - and what else did I pick up than Steven Levitt's Freakonomics. Great read and compelling arguments. Legalizing abortion is only one of the "economic" decisions which may or may not change the crime rate but the math he presents makes sense, regardless of our personal moral decisions and ideals.

A word of caution - I was recently in Frankfurt airport and bumped into an Irish guy, who I again happened to meet at the hotel we were both staying at that night.

Over a beer, we cordially exchanged travel agendas, his being that he had arrived from Ireland and was awaiting a connection to Cyprus and had a couple of hours to kill. So he found a good book, got engrossed, completely missed his flight and had to stay the night in Frankfurt to get the next one!

Moral? Beware of good books in airports, or at least leave them until you are on the plane!

[debzor]

Crime overall is lower in Brazil than Japan & the US? Considerably so, in fact massively so, according to this report from less than a year ago?

Crime in Brazil Is Not As Bad As the Statistics Indicate

Comments?

[De Orc]

Have food & basics prices risen a lot in recent months over in Brazil? over here in the UK things have shot up with some of the Utility companies increasing fuel costs by some 30% overall. How do the two countries compare today?

[robh]

Originally Posted by De Orc

Have food & basics prices risen a lot in recent months over in Brazil? over here in the UK things have shot up with some of the Utility companies increasing fuel costs by some 30% overall. How do the two countries compare today?

Prices have risen at a similar rate to the UK & the rest of the world.

[JMBroad]

Originally Posted by debzor

A word of caution - I was recently in Frankfurt airport and bumped into an Irish guy, who I again happened to meet at the hotel we were both staying at that night.

Over a beer, we cordially exchanged travel agendas, his being that he had arrived from Ireland and was awaiting a connection to Cyprus and had a couple of hours to kill. So he found a good book, got engrossed, completely missed his flight and had to stay the night in Frankfurt to get the next one!

Moral? Beware of good books in airports, or at least leave them until you are on the plane!

I could see myself doing that hehe