When we talk about international vision about Brazil we easily associate with Amazon Rainforest, Beaches, Samba, Favelas and Football. According to a lot of foreigners, brazilian people just think about carnival, samba and football. Brazilians eat fruits directly from the trees, play soccer all day long listening to samba, drinking caipirinhas and playing with their pet monkeys. All their politicians are corrupt, their streets are all dangerous, their idols are Pelé and Ronaldinho and they speak Spanish as their native tongue. We imagine women almost naked on the beach and monkeys everywhere. All people say about Brazil is that it is a dangerous country, a doctor said to me "don't eat raw vegetables, peel all the fruits you want to eat", there is a lot of cars and traffic in Rio.

Brazil is another country with its own mix of positive and negative perspectives. In many ways, and for many people, Brazil is one of the brightest lights in the world, but for others it is just another third-world Latin American country with big problems. A lot of people love Brazil, with good reasons, because Brazilians are nice, charismatic, interesting and really helpful, but others only see the problems of the country : corruption, crime and inequality. Honestly, I was always fascinated by South America, particularly by Brazil. I didn't care about what people said, what people thought about my departure in Brazil. Several friends told me "You are crazy, don't do that, don't go there", but I think they never went to Brazil, they didn't know the country, they only heard about some ridiculous stereotypes. We cannot judge a country without being there, we cannot judge a country by knowing only "it says that...".

In Brazil, I met some blond girls and yes, they were brazilians. There are not only tall girls with long brown hair and big breast ! Well, the Brazilians are mixed people, they don't have a "brazilian typical face". Brazilian people have several ethnic groups. First row : White (Portuguese, German, Italian) and Japanese Brazilians. Second row : African, and pardo (mixed people) and native Brazilians (Indians).

You must know about Brazil that you only have to drink bottled water, don't get into an unlicensed taxi, Brazilian summer is during European winter, topless is forbidden on the beach, you cannot see monkeys on the beach, ... There is not a lot of traffic in Rio de Janeiro, only in the rush hours. But, be careful with cars, drivers are really dangerous, and they always beep the horn for nothing !! If you cross the street when it is not your time, drivers accelerate and beep the horn, so wait your time to cross !!

Finally, you have to know that Brazil is not that dangerous. Of course there are robbers, strange people, drunk people on the street, but it is the same in France no ? I often go to favelas, and I never had problems. The only place I was robbed was in Barcelona, so I think it can happen everywhere, you just have to be careful like in any other places. 

Oh beautiful country, I gonna miss you !