Cost of Living in Brazil

[davehoskings]

Originally Posted by Dotty

The young boy casually walked back to his piece of grass between the traffic lights waiting for the next victim.Had the police come along they would would have found him carrying a knife and high on crack cocaine or heroine with 2 real in his pocket!

and which of those three things is illegal? That is why you should have made a statement but instead he gets to walk away and you can keep complaining how much crime there is and how the police does nothing about it....

[Dotty]

Policing is pratically non-existent in Natal or lets say rather slow and understaffed,so until they have more police in place (as promised and better training)then there will not be much done.

The other week my CPF was handed to somebody else by accident and I went to the police to report it missing .I did not see this as a crime,but others did ,so I went to the police and I gave my statement ,but in this case the gentleman that had taken it accidently and had given it to somebody else who then turned up at my door and gave it back.

Now in this case they could have taken all my data and to this day I would not know as I have my CPF back.It was not the police that returned this card.Infact they didn't even budge!!They complained of underfunding and understaffing and we talked about the very poor condtions they need to work in that is antiquated and behind the times and how they are dismotivated to work because of lack of government support,so I think you need to chew your words slightly on this one.

Originally Posted by davehoskings

and which of those three things is illegal? That is why you should have made a statement but instead he gets to walk away and you can keep complaining how much crime there is and how the police does nothing about it....

[jeduardo]

Originally Posted by mitico67

does anybody know of supermarkets who have a website. It'd be interesting to check the prices

If you want to check grocery prices:
Pão de Açucar - On-line supermarket wth home delivery.
Stores in 9 states: PR, SP, RJ, GO, DF, PI, PE, PB, CE
Unfortunately they no longer have a branch in Natal.
Pão de Açúcar - Supermercado, Alimentos, Bazar, Bebidas, Biscoitos, Bomboniere, Cafés e afins, Carnes, Congelados, Diet e Light e muito mais.

[davehoskings]

Originally Posted by Dotty

Policing is pratically non-existent in Natal or lets say rather slow and understaffed,so until they have more police in place (as promised and better training)then there will not be much done.

The other week my CPF was handed to somebody else by accident and I went to the police to report it missing .I did not see this as a crime,but others did ,so I went to the police and I gave my statement ,but in this case the gentleman that had taken it accidently and had given it to somebody else who then turned up at my door and gave it back.

Now in this case they could have taken all my data and to this day I would not know as I have my CPF back.It was not the police that returned this card.Infact they didn't even budge!!They complained of underfunding and understaffing and we talked about the very poor condtions they need to work in that is antiquated and behind the times and how they are dismotivated to work because of lack of government support,so I think you need to chew your words slightly on this one.

Do you expect the police to go searching the streets for your CPF card? Reporting the loss of any ID is a requirement in just about every country .......

[JMBroad]

A few years ago on a Friday night in Portugal, the back window of my car was smashed in and a very expensive top of the range laptop was stolen from underneath the drivers seat where I had hidden it. I had just stopped to buy cigarettes from a shop and was back at the car within a few moments.

I called the police immediately and reported it. The answer I got was - "please come down to the police station on Monday morning". So I did (taking great care not to disturb any potential fingerprints) - they took a statement and told me they "would keep their eyes open" for it. Needless to say nothing ever happened. They didn't even check my car or want to see it.

While living in Lisbon, Portugal, I was mugged at knife-point several times and once even by a guy threatening to inject me with his Aids infected syringe in - I went through a total of 8 muggings in four years while studying in Lisbon. My flatmate was the only other person I know that got mugged more than me during our University years. He once even got mugged by the same person twice at the same spot within an hour (although the second time he made a fuss and the mugger apologised for mugging him twice and let him go). The guy was waiting under a bridge and just mugging anyone who came past. My friend walked past that bridge twice and was told both times to hand over all his money (aka the guy wasn't worried about police coming to arrest him). That was all in Lisbon. I'm sure if we get some people from London or Washington, Caracas, Paris and Cairo to come over and tell us their stories they could come up with some interesting ones. It's a sign of the times and not a pleasant one.

While it's terrible and a horrible experience you are both still ok which is the only important thing you should be worrying about. I doubt you'll suffer much from the loss of 2 Reais.

[debzor]

One of the big annoyances of supermarket shopping in Brazil, is the pathetic little plastic bags they provide at the check out, that later end up spread all around the landscape.

Now Bompreco, (the supermarket chain owned by Walmart), are starting a new incentive in Recife and Salvador to spread throughout the country later.

For every bag they do not use they will give you a discount of 3 cents (the cost of the bag).

Apparently they calculate that the average number of items per bag is 5, so they will give you 3 cents back for every 5 items bought, in a noble attempt to reduce plastic bag consumption throught the chain by 50% by 2013, and encourage the concept of reusable bags.

About bloody time...!

[JMBroad]

Originally Posted by debzor

One of the big annoyances of supermarket shopping in Brazil, is the pathetic little plastic bags they provide at the check out, that later end up spread all around the landscape.

Now Bompreco, (the supermarket chain owned by Walmart), are starting a new incentive in Recife and Salvador to spread throughout the country later.

For every bag they do not use they will give you a discount of 3 cents (the cost of the bag).

Apparently they calculate that the average number of items per bag is 5, so they will give you 3 cents back for every 5 items bought, in a noble attempt to reduce plastic bag consumption throught the chain by 50% by 2013, and encourage the concept of reusable bags.

About bloody time...!

Sounds like a great incentive and yes, those bags are really annoying...

Back to the cost of living - I've eaten out every day for lunch and dinner in the past week except once. My most expensive meal, including wine, (Imported wine, not Brazilian) starters, dessert, coffee, etc etc came to 65 R$ each, or 20 € or so... however that was the exception... most nights the bill comes to between 5 € and 10 € - lunch tends to be around 3 € to 6 €

Internet and gasoline are expensive... cost is about the same as Europe, but of course wages are a lot lot lower, so it doesn't equate... Supermarket - food etc is a lot cheaper than Europe... But I'm keeping track of some items so that I can do a comparison later.

[PAUL-brasil]

Yes Internet is expensive here in Brazil, I m paying R$99 per month for just a 1MB speed (in which I very rearely get), for 3G mobile internet connection.

Gasoline however, from what I was accustomed to from back in the expensive UK, I am finding cheap, The prices on the pumps has fallen in Fortaleza to R$2.19 per litre, and R$1.49 for alchool.

I realise that these prices will seem steep from any American readers, but what are the prices these days back in England and also what are the rest of Europe paying?

Regards
Paul

[JMBroad]

Originally Posted by PAUL-brasil

Yes Internet is expensive here in Brazil, I m paying R$99 per month for just a 1MB speed (in which I very rearely get), for 3G mobile internet connection.

Gasoline however, from what I was accustomed to from back in the expensive UK, I am finding cheap, The prices on the pumps has fallen in Fortaleza to R$2.19 per litre, and R$1.49 for alchool.

I realise that these prices will seem steep from any American readers, but what are the prices these days back in England and also what are the rest of Europe paying?

Regards
Paul

I'll check again but I thought I paid close to 2.8 R$ yesterday while a couple of weeks ago I filled my car up at an "Eroski" station in Malaga (cheapest petrol station there) and it was close to 0.77 € per litre which would make Brasil more expensive.

Also, I'm taking into consideration the impact that would have on the average personns wage and that Brasil is self-sufficient in fuel so I'd expect it to be cheaper than Spain. But maybe I got it mixed up - I'll check when I go for lunch.

[debzor]

Originally Posted by JMBroad

I'll check again but I thought I paid close to 2.8 R$ yesterday while a couple of weeks ago I filled my car up at an "Eroski" station in Malaga (cheapest petrol station there) and it was close to 0.77 € per litre which would make Brasil more expensive.

Also, I'm taking into consideration the impact that would have on the average personns wage and that Brasil is self-sufficient in fuel so I'd expect it to be cheaper than Spain. But maybe I got it mixed up - I'll check when I go for lunch.

I would agree with Paul`s estimates of R$2.10 - 2.20 for petrol, although alcool here is down to below R$1.40 in many places. I think this is to do with harvests - exactly the same thing happened this time last year - rather than oil prices, etc.

But prices can vary enormously from one posto to another, (unlike in Europe and the US) so it is well worth shopping around.