Daily Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Recent Articles of Interest

Wallpaper Magazine has issued its Fab 40 featuring 40 reasons to stay (or head to Brazil). They did lists for 10 different areas of which Canada was another. Of particular interest to me on the Brazilian side were a bunch of places and things I've never heard of, there's always more to experience and see in this country, it's more than just the corcovado, sugarloaf and the foz...  click here for the list. 

My mom sent me this article which is about Stockwell Day's time in Brazil recently. Funny enough, he met with Mr. DRL on one of his trips. The article doesn't say much, but here it is anyway.

An article I'm sure that would be dear to Mr. DRL's heart... further complications to the already atrocious to navigate taxation in Brazil. This article focuses on a new 2% tax on foreign investment in Brazil. Article here, from the Wall Street Journal.

More on the Brazilian Economy

According to TIME, Brazil might be the only country to avoid the recession. Click here to read more.

DIY Travel and Brazilian sales tactics...

As I mentioned in a recent post, I was quite irritated by the "service" I received from a local travel agent. I was trying to book a multi-destination trip (babymoon) for us, and enlisted his help, which ended up being a fairly pointless endeavor. Why?

In the end, he quoted me US $6,266 for a trip that is sub-par to what I just booked myself for US $2,490.  Ummmm yeah that is a US $3,776 difference, not to mention the waste of time in even dealing with him!

Let it also be known that my booking includes very nice hotels in prime areas. His didn't. Unbelievable.

As an aside - I got a smoking good deal on our multidestination flight with TAM, even better than what was quoted to me on Kayak.com. All I did was phone TAM and book it that way. Just FYI.

It sometimes seems to me as though "sales people" be it travel agents, real estate agents, retail shop girls, etc. take a very different approach to their job than what I am used to back home. Sales tactics back home: listen to the customer and find out their needs, then recommend products.  Here I don't see much regard for what I as a customer want.  If I don't know what I want, that's one thing.   But here are some examples of such situations I have found irritating over the past year:

• The travel agent mentioned above - instead of looking into any of the 10 or so small, private, spa-like boutique hotels we requested and had already researched and provide us with rates, took it upon himself to only give us one rate - and choose a huge chain hotel for us. In other words, the exact opposite of what we were looking for. When I asked why, he said because it was not as far from the airport as the hotels we'd chosen.  We were well aware of this fact when we requested the hotels - rather than simply asking us, he simply assumed.  And paid no attention whatsoever to the type and calibre of hotels we had originally requested.
• While looking for an apartment, the real estate agent takes us to apartment after apartment with neither outside space/veranda nor view (we specifically requested that we wanted at least one or the other).  When after several places like this I finally commented on this to him, he looked at me incredulously and said "but this place is great, it has 4 parking spaces."  I informed him that we did not have a car.
• While shopping for appliances there was an attempt to talk me into buying a refrigerator I did not want, with features I found useless...
• Anytime I go into a clothing store, hideous clothing items are offered to me that are completely opposite of what I am looking at/wearing.  Like I am talking lime green sports bras, and oh my favorite! Crop tops.  I am in my third trimester, folks...

I don't find that a lot of sales people take the time to read the customer, do the homework, or anticipate needs. It honestly feels like they are just trying to get rid of whatever inventory is getting old, whichever hotel rooms offer the highest commission for them, etc... but maybe I am wrong!

Can anyone comment on how sales people are trained here in Brazil?  What are some of the fundamentals?  How do they differ from North America?  Are there some philosophies?

Recent Headlines

• More penguins are showing up in Rio... 
• Important business person in Brazil? Better watch what you say... don't discuss important business on the phone, and watch for signs of wiretapping... the paranoia includes fear that cell phones are being activated remotely!
• Brazil has banned the import of Chinese food products, which is the fallout from the contaminated milk crisis China is currently experiencing.  The ban will last as long as there is a risk to the population.
• There is speculation that Brazil will fare better than the average country in the current worldwide economic crisis because it is well-diversified in a number of industries.  Anyone notice what the real is currently at? Although it does make Brazil more attractive for business looking to set up here...
• Chavez & Lula have commented on the crisis, according to an editorial in the Guardian last week, Chávez, the Venezuelan president, is hoping for a permanent shift in power in a region historically dominated by the US. "The world will never be the same after this crisis," Chávez said during a visit to Brazil. "A new world order has to emerge and it is a multipolar world. We are decoupling from the wagon of death."  Okey-doke. Taking a more sane diplomatic approach, Lula reportedly complained that Washington spent years telling Latin America how to get its economic house in order - and then ignored its own advice. Valid comment on Lula's part...
• During the elections last weekend, 5,000 soldiers in Rio kept things in line, and in Brasilia, a man was shot in the leg when attempting to break into President Lula's residence...

A Quick Overview of the Brazilian Economy

This title is quite tongue-in-cheek because after reviewing the news of the past week or so, the prospect of such seems more ridiculous than ever.  Depending on which news source you prefer and what time of day it is, the message on how things are in Brazil is quite different.  To be honest, my theory is that no one really knows on a macro level (much like oh I don't know, everywhere else on planet earth these days??)

Yet, to inform, encourage and entertain... let's skim the headlines, shall we?

Wednesday, September 17th - Reuters - Brazil's real sinks to one year low, stocks tumble.

• Investors fled emerging market securities on concerns that a global credit crunch will worsen.
• Brazil's currency lost 2.58%, its weakest close since Sept. 24, 2007.

Sunday, September 21 - Business Intelligence Middle East - Multinationals Line Up for Brazil's Oil 'Gold Rush'

• More than 35,000 people attended last week's oil and gas conference in Rio.
• "As financial markets crashed around the world, executives here were busily making deals and bubbling with enthusiasm at the prospect of working with Petrobras to exploit the oil trapped below a thick salt layer underneath the ocean floor, something that could cost up to US$600 billion."
• "Being with Petrobras is a bit like being in the first gold rush in the US...”

September 2008 - Euromoney - Gloom Descends on Emerging Markets

• This cheery article opens up with "Stock markets tanking. IPO Volumes falling off a cliff. Volatile commodity prices." Sweet.  
• Although the article does not focus much on Brazil it does mention its largest telephone company, Telemar, pulling a $1.5 billion transaction as the result of poor market conditions.

Monday, September 22 - LA Times - Brazil Sits Pretty Amid US Economic Crisis

• Tagline: There was a time that when the 'the United States coughed, Brazil got pneumonia' but after its own share of crises, Brazil has seen a period of economic stability and rapid growth.
• Article refers to ThyssenKrupp's steel factory going up near Santa Cruz (outside Rio) as resembling "a medieval cathedral -- and stands as a latter-day shrine to the belief that Brazil's economy will withstand U.S. financial turmoil." I've been there, it is pretty freaking crazy I will say that!
• The article points out that although Brazil is not immune to the global chaos going on, particularly with its exports, despite the market turmoil and panic last week, several large-scale projects or expansions in Brazil were still announced with companies such as:
  
  • Hyundai of South Korea
  • Suzuki of Japan
  • Whirlpool
  • Sheraton Hotels
  • HBO ( it could triple the # of programs produced in Brazil in the next 2 yrs)
  • *
• Although the article acknowledges it's far from easy to do business in Brazil it also shows how Brazil has made stides to become more independent economically.                                                                                                                         *(ALSO - not mentioned in this article - but a deal with Tyson was also announced)

The moral of the story: don't expect a crash course on the Brazilian economy, use multiple resources and don't believe everything you read in one article, please!! Oh and also - don't take my title seriously ;)

Build A Bear: The Brazilian Version

Build- A - Bear in North America is a great little company - kids go in and choose their own bear and get to build him or her, insert a heart, insert a voice box with a special message or multiple voice boxes, give them a bath, choose an outfit, create a birth certificate, and more!  So cute, and a great way to spend a memorable afternoon.  Before we moved, we went with our nephew and made one for him and one for us, such a fun morning.

Brazil has its own version of Build-A-Bear, it's called Animaland or Animalandia, and I would argue its business model is much more efficient than its North American counterpart, particularly from an "overhead" perspective.  Build-A-Bear is situated in shopping malls where it generally has large stores, Animaland is set up as kiosks in the mall where patrons move around the kiosks to the different stations (stuffing, accessories, etc.)

Here, Animaland also features a scent station for the stuffies.