rooted journeys

I’ve officially been demoted from Rooted Journeys co-author to guest contributor. Not because Suzanna said so (she never did), but because it turns out I’m just not very good at motivating myself to actually sit down and write something. But here I am, so vamos-lá.

Generally speaking, it seems that many Americans view Brazil as a chaotic tropical wonderland – think Carnaval, string bikinis, palm trees, samba dancing, bossa nova, favelas, drug lords…you know, all the fun stuff.  In reality, one of the most defining features of Brazil as an expat in São Paulo is simply how ridiculously expensive it is. No matter how much you try to stop talking about it, and even more importantly, try to stop converting prices into dollars, it just won’t fade into the background as a simple fact of life. For those of us living it, it’s like a permanent fat lip – the moment you think it’s healing, you bite it again and want to take out your aggression on the old lady walking too slow on the street in front of you. That’s right, it makes you want to push an old lady. It’s that ridiculous.  Although, just for the record, I would never actually push an old lady.  And the prices here are worse than a fat lip.  Maybe that wasn’t quite the right metaphor, but there’s no turning back now.  Let’s keep moving.

A couple of recent articles have highlighted some of the effects of this charming Brazilian reality.  The cover story a few weeks ago for Veja (a popular weekly magazine in Brazil) was titled Pague Um, Leve Dois, Tres, Quatro…. English translation: Pay for One, Get Two, Three, Four.  The lead-off explains further (translated): “The favorable exchange rate alone does not explain the low prices that mesmerize Brazilians who shop in the United States.”  To drive home the title, the article cites the happy fact that the cost of an iPhone in Brazil is the highest in the world, leaving shelves for $1,650 (USD equivalent) in Brazil.  In the US, the same unlocked iPhone 4S (32GB) goes for $815.  That puts it at just over double the price for us lucky brasileiros.  But why stop there, it gets better!  Asics sneakers that go for around $200 in the US? A cool $457 in the equivalent Brazilian play money.  That’s 2.3 times the price.  A PlayStation 3 goes for 2.8 times the price.  Calvin Klein jeans are 3 times the price and a Guess handbag tops it off at 3.8 times the price.  Go Brazil!

These are just random examples, but they do give an indication of general price levels.  Not everything comes in at double the price, but it’s fair to say that São Paulo has justly earned its ranking as the 10^th most expensive city in the world for expats and the most expensive in the Americas (Mercer Survey).  So, you may ask “why”, which we ask ourselves constantly. Of course there is no simple explanation, though the Veja article presents a pretty reasonable set of factors.  Here’s a summary:

• Exchange Rate – the Brazilian Real (currency) is about 25% stronger against the dollar than its long-term average making goods more expensive accordingly, especially imports.
• Demand – quite simply, growing demand is outstripping the country’s productive supply capacity. High demand + low supply = high prices.
• Tax Burden – the Brazilian tax burden is 36% on average versus around 25% in the US.  The difference is even greater when considering additional taxes on goods Brazil classifies as “superfluous.”  Plus, Brazilian import taxes are triple what they are in the US.
• Inflation – while the days of hyper-inflation have passed (hopefully for good), inflation is still significant and widens the price gap over time (6.5% inflation in Brazil last year versus 2% in the US)
• Competition – as a matter of policy, the US government prioritizes competition over protectionism and Brazil vice-versa.  For example, whereas the US government made cheap credit available to US auto-makers to help them become more competitive with cheaper Asian imports, Brazil has chosen to simply elevate import taxes to artificially raise prices of the foreign competition.
• Economies of Scale – US companies generally focus on selling more at a lower margin whereas Brazilian companies tend to focus on a small market at a high margin
• Productivity – it’s just not rising fast enough relative to labor costs (due to low unemployment, a lack of qualified labor, insufficient investment, etc.)

The result?  Prices that make your eyes pop and a growing class of Brazilian consumers that have become America’s big-spenders.  It’s no wonder so many Brazilians take annual shopping trips to Miami and New York – they easily recoup the cost of the trip in savings on their purchases.  Brazilians now spend more in the US than visitors from any other country – on average, $5,400 per person per trip in 2010 (article).  Japanese tourists came in far behind at number two with $4,300 in spending per person.  So next time you see people filling up suitcases with stuff in the mall, try a warm bem-vindo.  Good chance they’re our neighbors.

So, please have some patience when you hear us (constantly) complaining about the prices here and be generous with your suitcase space when you come to visit – we’ll be filling it up.

PS – I  had a coke and a nice sandwich for lunch today (filet, brie, arugula).  No fries or chips or any extras.  The tab was R$45.  That’s about $26.  For a sandwich.

We had an amazing weekend at the beach with Tara, Jana + Alex, and April + Jeff. The weather was perfect, the water crystal clear and refreshing, and the company outstanding. These are the kinds of weekends that help me embrace living in São Paulo (along with our jaunts to the country-side). We stayed at a cute little pousada a few minute walk from the beach.

Both days we parked ourselves under some umbrellas, took in lots of sun, enjoyed a few drinks on the beach, tried out paddle boarding in choppy water and laughed lots.

On Saturday night we went to Manaca for dinner, which is a spectacular restaurant that gained popularity because of Anthony Bordain who highlighted it in his show No Reservations. It is located down a sand-road alley and not so easy to find, but turns out to be a gem. Surrounded by lush green, you sit on the wood deck and enjoy their delicious Brazilian meal (for a price, but worth it).

That’ll be a hard weekend to beat . . . but we’ll certainly try with many more trips to the beach!

So, I don’t have a good excuse and clearly I am running late on my new years resolutions. But here I am, with a lot to share, so let’s start most recent to past events.

Tara, Jeff’s sister, is here with us for a month working from her company’s Sao Paulo office. It has been a lovely few weeks for us with the addition of her smiling face in our apartment. Her visit gives us a good excuse to get out and see more of Sao Paulo and brings a lot of laughter into our home. Her husband, Thayne, came for a short visit and we made a trip out to the countryside. This weekend we’re headed to the beach!

I turned 30. So, I think that means I am an adult now. officially.

We started the weekend with a delicious dinner at our favorite spot Chou (mind you this is only the second time we’ve been). Simple, yet fresh and delicious with the perfect ambiance.

We then celebrated with a day out of the city with April and Jeff  in Embu das Artes. It is a small town only 45 minutes away full of arts and crafts shops and kiosks. You can see some pics from April here on her awesome and hilarious blog.

Then on Sunday we had a home-made dinner with Rance, Lone and Tara, which was lovely (complete with party hats as shown above).

We got internet in our house and a bank account! Slowly, but surely, things are settling.

We had a lovely New Years celebration, just the two of us, despite the rain in Florianopolis!

We had a truly wonderful and special Christmas at Fazenda Alfheim. It was complete with delicious, homegrown food, lots of games and as always, great conversations and laughs. We learned a few Danish traditions, read Twas the Night before Christmas, and sang Silent night in three languages (English, French and Danish). We relaxed a lot, took a dip in the waterfall, a hike up the river, and butchered our first chickens ourselves (Jeff and I that is). We even got to skype with our families with the addition of satellite internet at the farm! So, while nothing beats being home, we are so thankful for such wonderful friends to share the holiday with.

And, I will even go as far back as Thanksgiving . . . see the next post.

Stay tuned for more updates on our life in Brazil. Thanks for following and being patient with the sporadic updates.

Wow, I haven’t quite settled back into the routine of going to the office everyday AND trying to get things done outside of work. So, just to let you know, we’re still alive and kicking here in São Paulo.

A few weeks ago, our friend Alexandre took us to a hotel that lies in the midst of a number of parks (PETAR, Xitue Ecological Station, Carlos Botelho State Park and Intervales State Park), about 270 km south west of the city. Though it was misting or raining the entire time, it was so lovely to be in the middle of the forest for a few days. The hotel – Paraíso Eco Lodge – provided a variety of hikes through the forests, the highlight being a trip into a cavern. The hotel is still in the process of defining itself, but has an incredible setting to offer and an interesting museum focused on native Indian artifacts.

I am always amazed at what you find in the Brazilian rainforest . . .

Caverns

Green for as far as you can see

Vines that are the size of tree trunks

The original coffee tree from Brazil

Spectacular waterfalls

Alexandre and Jeff

During another weekend, one spent in São Paulo, I visited the contemporary art show “In the name of the Artists” at the Pavilhao do Bienal. The exhibit showed work from 51 of the biggest names in international contemporary art – a collection from Oslo’s Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. The art museum in Ibirapuera park, designed by Oscar Neimeyer, has a wonderful interior space with white curving ramps. The outside of the building is a bit dated and not as nice, in my opinion, but that is just part of the concrete jungle we call São Paulo. The work of Damien Hirst was showcased at the front of the exhibit, specifically his work of two cows split in half Mother and Child Divided. The exhibit, which was quite extensive, was inspiring, thought provoking and quite odd at times (as I find much contemporary art).

Comtemporary Art Exhibit

I just read this in an article in the NY Times that says “Agência Click calculates that 2.6 million Brazilians update their blogs daily, which ranks the country as among the world’s most active in terms of blog activity.”
I think I need to absorb some of this Brazilian blog spirit – it’s a little lame that I’m barely posting monthly these days. In our defense, we have not had internet at home so it is difficult to stay on top of all internet-related personal things these days. Fingers crossed though, we’re hoping to be moved into a new (2 bedroom) apartment at the end of the month, so we should be able to get ourselves settled in with internet, among other things, soon.

The best thing to report from our recent journeys was our lovely weekend at Fazenda Alfheim with Rance and Lone. Our Saturday there was exactly how a Saturday should be . . . we woke up to coffee and homemade bread (thanks Lone!); took a hike into the rainforest to admire their waterfall and relaxed in the sunlight along the river; put a (local) leg of lamb in the oven with a truly delicious marinade that Rance assembled of fresh organic herbs and vegetables; and enjoyed dinner, tea, chocolate and always inspiring conversation with wonderful friends. Delicioso.

Sunday, Jeff suited up to help Rance and a few workers harvest honey. Unfortunately, we only were there for half of the process since we had to get back to work on monday morning, but it was still wonderful to be part of it. Jeff helped them to remove the honey from the hives and carry the wax filled frames from the hillside into a room near the house. After all the frames were transferred, the boxes were left covered until the evening for the honey extraction process. You leave the boxes covered for the day so the bees don’t eat it all and at night they subside and head back to their hives. We hear from Rance and Lone that this “spring” honey is quite delicious, so i think Jeff’s efforts will have paid off!

All is well for us in São Paulo – I’ll report back in more detail soon. In the meantime, enjoy our pictures from our weekend at the farm and check back again soon.

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This week marks one month of officially (and legally) living in São Paulo. It has been a good month. Our expat group is constantly expanding and we are both thoroughly enjoying work. In general, we’re happy to be working again, but we’re also enjoying what we’re doing – learning and contributing at the same time. Our portuguese is progressing slowly, but more and more we’ll be called upon to communicate in portuguese speaking meetings, so this will force the issue.

Last weekend was a gloomy one full of rainy days. Here’s a little peak at what life might be like in the heart of the rainy season, which is quickly approaching. This picture below was taken from the window of our cab as we were trying to get to the next neighborhood over. Also check out this video we took from inside the cab – yes, that is what I would call a sidewalk and road washing away.

So as you can imagine, we opted to spend a lot of time cooped up indoors, which made for some tasty meals, juice and relaxing.

This weekend we plan to explore a little bit more, so I hope to have some fun stories to share. And next week will be a busy one full of  design workshops as the architects for our big project will be in town from London. This will really drive home the fact that we’re on the other side of the table (as in the developer side), so we’ll certainly let you know how that feels!