Category Archives: Brazil
How not to get robbed in South America
“If you are going to be pick-pocketed or mugged in Brazil, Salvador is likely to be the place,” says the Lonely Planet guide on South America. “Don’t take anything with you when you walk around Salvador. No watch, no expensive … Continue reading
The man who predicted the financial crisis
We should have listened to Brazil. Ferndando Henrique Cardoso, the country’s president from 1995 to 2002, warned as early as 1995 and numerous times thereafter that the IMF and the World bank were no longer equipped to deal with the … Continue reading
Random Thoughts (5)
When Donald Trump praises his pick for Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, as “the closest thing to General George Patton we have”, does he refer to the mistreatment of soldiers or to Patton’s antisemitism? After my story about the Peruvian girl, … Continue reading
The dog is watching out
(Photographed in Salvador, Brazil.)
Paulo Coelho
“Peru has Mario Vargas Llosa. Colombia has Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Mexico has Carlos Fuentes. I am so tired of Brazil: only samba, beach and sex. We have nothing intellectual!” the girl at the check-out counter at Belem Library complained. “It’s … Continue reading
We even used to have a theater.
Lencois in Brazil is a typical town that had a boom (diamonds, in this case) and then a bust. Recently, tourism has revived it a bit. But where diamond miners still cared about music, opera and theater, tourists don’t. And another … Continue reading
Video: Surviving in the Wilderness
(Recorded in Chapada Diamantina National Park in Brazil. And yes, I really wear shirts like that when I go hiking in the jungle.)
Aggression on the Playground
If I correctly interpreted this sign in Salvador in Brazil, it’s asking children to fight with each other. I also found it troublesome that the boy is kicking the girl, cementing negative gender stereotypes. (Auf Deutsch.)
How Brazilians reacted to the Impeachment
First reactions from the streets of Brazil after the news broke that Congress had voted to initiate an impeachment proceeding against President Dilma Rousseff:
Easily Confused (57) Coup in Brazil
1889, that was a coup when the military toppled the Brazilian emperor Pedro II and forced him into exile. 1964, that was a coup which lead to 20 years of military dictatorship. 2016, that is, contrary to some angry rhetoric and calls of “coup” … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 