Not just Paradise

As much as I rant and rave about how much I love this country and it looks like this country is just paradise, I decided to write a blog about the troubles that exist in this country. It has nothing to do against the culture, nor the people, but it is problems that Brasilians have to face in their daily life.

Being a “developing” country (as Western cultures would say) income is rising in the country and the GDP for the country is quite high. But even with the GDP being high the minimum wage of Brasilians still continue to be 600 reais (300 dollars more or less) per month, and the average is 2,000 reais a month (1,000 dollars). Of course these jobs that pay way less are also the harder working jobs. And paying for housing is quite expensive, it is quite normal to find people living in apartments and the average apartment (her in the south of the country) with one bedroom per month is 1, 200 reais if one rents the apartment in the centro of the city, if they live outside it will be roughly 800 reais. Meaning most the month salary is spent on buying an apartment/house. One way the country has gained much money is buy the high taxes that they place on goods that come into the country. This causes more problems because to buy things such as electronics and clothing prices are going to be extremely high, due to the tax on imported goods into the country to keep industries here in the country. Which the motivate is quite well, but many electronics are much higher, as . Here to buy a phone one is expected to pay roughly 800-1,000 reais (400-500 dollars), which in the states would probably be about 200 dollars at most. When it comes to cars here the basic cars (and by basic that doesn’t mean a back door, windows that roll down in the back, no radio, and many things we would think are suppose to be included in the car) start at about 30,000 reais (15,000 dollars). Even clothes here can cost 50 dollars for a shirt that in the states would be 10 dollars. With all these expenses, and with such a small amount of income the Brasilian culture has created a thing where instead of paying all at once you pay in installments. Meaning you might not have the money to buy those shoes that you like right now, but instead you pay 40 reais this month and next month you will pay another 40. Although a good intention, this causes problems because there is also something that must be paid off and was purchased the month before. Another major problem that exist here in Brasil is how bureaucratic the country still is. To be able to complete almost anything here you must show documentation or fill out paperwork. Even Brasilains have several different forms of documentation just so they can get things completed.  And back to how I mentioned that the GDP was raising in the country, allowing for more improvements such as infrastructure and schooling. That money though unfortunately has not been seen. Even with the World Cup coming to the country and all the money that was given to the country to help develop this infrastructure, has all been put into building brand new stadiums and not leaving any money for the country to create better roads and fix problems that already existed here.  

Even those problems still exist in the country I personally believe that it is the spirit of Brasilians and the brasilian culture that really makes this country wonderful. And even though these problems exist I believe that one day it wont be such a problem. But even with these few problems, don’t hesitate to come, the first time you met the people you will already fall in love.