Brazil is an awakening. Very different to all us had imagined. It is true that it is very natural, very multicultural, very New World. Still to our surprise what we saw in our trips to Sao Paulo and Praia Grande, then to Goiania, Anapolis culminating in Brasilia, and finally to Rio de Janeiro was a Brazil very different to the one we usually see advertised.

The people we met welcomed us with the affection typical of small towns, still these same people on their daily routine work in large enterprises with the same perseverance and discipline as do the executives of mayor corporations in the United States. Very decent people, of flexible and progressive thoughts, and probably is in Brazil where we have seen more educational programs on the television at all hours of the day and night. A country where the happiness of the daily life goes together with the responsibilities and efforts that prosperity demands.

The Brazilian people that we met did not allow our lack of knowledge of the language to get on the way for them to make new friends. We are as fluent in Spanish as we are in English. Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil, is different from Spanish. Although we know some words in Portuguese and the grammar has similarities with that of Spanish, we do not know enough to get around and much less to maintain a full speed conversation. So, we did need guides that although did not speak Spanish, did slow down and in some cases searched for synonyms to keep us fully abreast. As soon as other people saw what was going on, they too did the same for our benefit. And now we can say we have many, many friends in Brazil.

Everybody we met was very proud of their country, as it should be. The interesting part was that they also wanted to know all they could about our country and the rest of the world. They do not criticize; on the contrary, in many cases they praised other cultures and countries. Religion and politics are personal matters, respected and never talk with estrangers like us. We imagine not everyone is like that, but in all our three trips we never met anyone that was not, and we try to communicate with everyone we have the chance to.

Very interesting the mobility that exist within Brazil. When we visited Sao Paulo there were many people from others places of Brazil working and living there. That is expected, since Sao Paulo is the largest city in the country. Still we also met many people natural of this city that had lived in other places for some time and now they were back. The reason for the moves did not appear to be frustrated immigration bur rather exploration.

Other at least had visited other places, but not with the purpose of a typical tourist to enjoy what that other location has to offer, but rather to see and learn from those other places. Never heard anyone criticize the places they have being. True, the people from Sao Paulo and the ones from Rio de Janeiro appears to be mutual rivals, but it seems to be more of a joke than anything else.

Brazil is quite different to all we have seen so far. The dress code at work is elegant without going over board with a tropical and unique touch where some colors far from being conservative spice the taste. They like the imported as much as the national, in the cloth as well as everything else. Conversations are light and the buildings are complex mathematical equations in third dimension. In the middle of the cities there are monkeys and parakeets colonies and butterflies of all colors, including some blue ones that are really pretty. Much order and respect and still the indifference is not the rule. We never noticed a bad treatment toward anyone based on discrimination or how poor the other person was, and these feelings of equality run deep in them. It looks impressive, and it is.