Blogs :: random Brazilian differences

random Brazilian differences

Often while traveling, I enjoy noting the differences between the way life functions in the country or city I am visiting compared to back home. Here is a collection of various things I've noticed over the past few months in Brasil.

Drive downtown in any major city in the United States and you are sure to find a parking meter. Even more likely you will find a ticket on your car because you didn't feed enough quarters into the machine. In many third-world countries, although I have yet to drive vehicle, you can park for free just about anywhere you want, no tickets. That does not however mean your wallet will be left undamaged from petty theft to keying, your car is a symbol of wealth and will reap the consequences. In Nicaragua, to help prevent vandalism, little boys often hang around popular areas and offer to "watch" your car for you. Whether or not they actually protect the vehicle, or just watch someone break into it, is up for debate. I like the way Brasil does it. Instead of machines or adolescents, men are payed wages by the city governments to monitor parking areas, assist in parallel, and collect tariffs. Cars are protected, people are employed, and the meter never runs out. Win, win, win.

Credit or debit? I think that question is asked to me more than any other. In restaurants, bars, grocery stores, shopping malls, everywhere accepts a cartão. Not just credit, debit. Punch in your pin number and no signature is necessary. And better yet, the whole transaction is done at your table, right in front of you via wireless card readers. For those geeks out there like me, they can connect directly to the card transaction networks via cellular service.

Although the United States is considered a very "service" minded country, we took a step backwards in one industry decades ago by removing the man at the pump. For as lazy as we can be or for as busy as we make ourselves, it seems odd to me that full-service gasoline stations have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Drive up, pop the fuel latch, request the grade, run the card, drive away without ever leaving the vehicle. Only thing missing is a way to pee without getting out.

Hot vs. Cold. I've always stood by the idea that at least in cold weather, you can put on more clothes, but in hot weather, there is only so many you can remove. Well, at least here it is acceptable for men to take of one additional item, the shirt and walk into just about any establishment without question. None of this no shirt, no shoes, no service crap.

Malls are huge. If not at the beach on a sunny day, cloudy days Cariocas spend shopping. In my few short years I have lived on this planet, I have been to many malls around the world, but Brazilian malls are quiet impressive. On top of that, the food court rocks. Sure you can find McDonald's and related fast-food junk, but more popular is eating or drinking at one of the many nice, upscale restaurants or botecos. And forget about 9pm closing time, I left the mall at midnight one night after downing a few pints of beer (however lost inside the corridors wondering if a Terminator was going to bust out of a wall at any moment).

If you cannot find time in your busy (not really) lifestyle to make it to the mall for your fast-food fix, McDonald's delivers. So does everyone else. Drugs, food, groceries, you name it. Anything a farmácia carries including: prescription drugs (which you do not need a prescription for), tylenol (for that killer hangover you cannot get out of bed for), soap (if stuck in the shower), condoms...you get the idea. Did I mention many are open 24 hours a day? Not having a car, the grocery entragar option was great. While this is finally starting to catch on in the US, it's not just ordering online. Just show up, fill up your cart, pay the bill, drop your address, and an hour (or a few) later you have saved yourself a taxi ride or lugging 50 lbs. of bags up a hill. No time to shop, 99% of restaurants deliver.

Speaking of food, pizza in Brasil beats out any other place in the world, including Italy and most of the United States. You can order just about anything on a pizza if at the right place. Of course delivery is an option, but the best deal is the rodizio. Where we have "buffets", the Brazilians improve with table service. I can stuff myself with unlimited supplies of pizza without ever getting up as the servers bring around pie after pie, including dessert pizzas for less than $10. Now if I can just figure out why someone would ruin it with packets of ketchup and mustard.

Now if you ate too much and are having trouble crossing the street before a car hits you, just pound feverishly on the hood, it is well within your right and proper etiquette. I'm not sure what this is compared to, but I wanted to note this.

That's about all I have for now, I am sure there will be many more of these types of lists in the future...