Reblog, "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

I know everyone in the Brazil blogger circuit knows prices are crazy here but for my family and friends back home I just want to remind you every day how lucky you are to have inexpensive goods at your disposal. I love living in Brazil and feel very lucky for the experience but I am afraid sometimes we worry about being priced-out. My friends in more expat friendly neighborhoods are enduring the pain of landlords asking for double if they would like to stay and sign another lease. Renting an apartment that isn't falling apart or off in some area way outside the city for under $US1600/month is impossible. For the lucky ones that found deals early on and signed 30 month leases, we are literally scared waiting for the renewal ticking clock. Our good friends Suzanna and Jeff over at "Rooted Journeys," just wrote a great post after having lunch at a little sandwich spot in Jardins. No fru fru just a sandwich and a coke = us$26.00 Our neighborhood padaria (bakery) made new menus and you know what that means. Charging us$12.00 for a chicken sandwich with cheese and tomato (no free sides EVER) was way too cheap. Now its $18.


Rooted Journey's "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

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^thmost 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.

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

Happy 1 year brazilanniversary to us (thanks Danielle for this very appropriate diction)! It feels like yesterday and then again many years ago. But when our feet hit the ground in this wonderful country 365 days ago we were running sideways, forwards and backwards all at the same time. I took up this blog as a way to remember our journey and share our many experiences with family and friends but it has also been therapy for the sometimes tough but usually beautiful moments we've had trying to get a grip on it all. I thought I grew up a lot after college but I didn't realize that was minuscule in comparison to this past year abroad. A and I are both in a place in our lives where we are trying to figure out our future professionally in the midst of new career paths and zip codes (CEP codes to be exact) and we have been tested, tried and sometimes brought to tears. But there is nothing like a journey with your partner, one year of marriage down and one common adventurous goal checked off the life list for us both.

The good news is the first year of anything is always the hardest and if you go by visual imprint only, I'd say we had it pretty good thus far. We've seen the most incredible waterfalls in Iguazu, beaches in the north, two fabulous carnivals of completely different scale in Tiradentes and Rio respectively, the incredible landscape of the Pantanal, a few trips to Buenos Aires and lots of amazing things in between. We've met wonderful people and made lifelong friends and that is just the beginning.

The bad news is that I miss country music and chocolate chips. But in learning to manage, I've gladly replaced both with bossa nova and every fruit you can imagine and then some you can't. It sounds healthier if you forget that I also pretended like I discovered steak and cheese bread for the first time and together they bought a not-so-luxurious duplex apartment in my stomach and butt; eviction notices ignored.

What a year, so here's a few things we've learned so far...


-the mule travel system is sacred and its important to happily inform any visitor they will probably have to dodge fed ex for a month prior to departure and carry another duffle down just for us. 


-how best to spend an entire afternoon and evening eating. just eating. and enjoying eating. and talking about eating. and thats on sunday. every sunday. 


-that the gym is not just for working out your muscles, but more importantly your vocal chords and your spandex collection. 


-that in every crowd of brazilians there is always a Bruno and a Leticia so if you can't remember anyone's name best try those first. 


-ha, you thought NY was expensive. 


-drop crotch pants are the new skinny jean, for some reason a la crotch extends down to your knees. i dont understand it. men and women both. its terrible. 


-the farmers markets here rule. 90 cents for 20 bananas? ill take it. it makes all the other expensive things feel better. well not really i lied about that last statement but i like farmers markets. 


-novelas are awesome and thats a fact. 


-i get to kiss (on the cheek) a lot of people and i like it.


-nothing like a coffee after breakfast, lunch and dinner. and you get a cookie too. bonus!


-my butt's gotten bigger but my bikini bottom's gotten smaller? fact of life. (As Carmen Miranda said, "Look at me and tell me if I don't have Brazil in every curve of my body")


-get over yourself and show more skin. americans are way to demure.


-louis vuitton is apparently the stamp of approval you've made it. brazilians are obsessed with this brand more than any other. 


-nothing is ever on time. you are never late. there is always traffic to blame and generally people are very forgiving. its both a blessing and a curse.


-cab drivers are your friends. they don't believe in a plexiglass separator it would be insulting. when i use the same one over and over we kiss and hug like long lost pals. 

-Brazil is beautiful and I can´t wait to spend more years here!

Ahh the stage is set and the adventure continues.

beijos

Icamento

I want to post about my trip to Rio for Carnival, and I will. I also want to wrap up my amazing trip with my girlfriends to Rio and Buenos Aires, and I will. But having just jumped back into blogging after a very busy hiatus I figured I would kick it off with flying furniture. Ill break it down.

Last week while I was traveling with my girlfriends I was also intermittently emailing Alex to check on things. We were supposed to finally have a few lights installed and some other little things and I was so excited. An empty apartment without lights was just starting to feel weird. So I was email nagging to see if the guy was coming to do the work and a little annoyed I wasn't getting any solid replies, usually just a quick word or two like "busy cant talk" or "stressed out!" However cryptic and strange the behavior, I was on vacation and I would deal with it later. 

Meanwhile back in Alex land. Thursday morning he gets a phone call, "Your furniture is going to be about 30 minutes late on the delivery this morning, is that going to be ok?" Ummmm WHAT???? As in our container is arriving TODAY????? Yea, a little miscommunication I suppose. We knew it was approved down at the port but it was indefinite as to when it would be delivered. So he drove as fast as possible to our apartment and of course there was a terrible accident on the marginal. He called back to say he would be late to meet the truck, and they said sorry we have other deliveries we have to move on. He was pleading to do all that he could to keep the truck at bay but to no avail, they were leaving. Finally and hour or so later he gets through and as he is driving up the steep hill to the house with a glimmer of hope they had waited... there in the distance is a truck with a giant container on top stuck under a tree. 

Not only that but there were about 5 cop cars swarming the situation as well as many other bystanders. He hadn't had a chance to explain to the building manager we were all of the sudden expecting a GINORMOUS delivery so that guy was just as pissed as the poor stuck truck driver over the situation. Finally they said no delivery, the truck is behind schedule and once removed from the tree claws it must move along. So he decided to wait and again beg as this situation clearly wasn't about to get unglued any time soon. An hour into this ordeal lawyers for the moving company showed up. Apparently the truck driver had illegally forged his license so he was in the process of being arrested. Yes, right there in the street next to his stuck truck. The lawyers realized it was silly not to start unloading while they figured out a way to trim the branches and several people showed up to begin the unload. Meanwhile I was writing an email to Alex that briefly mentioned I had forgotten to purchase my plane flight home from Buenos Aires (opps) and I needed his credit card number pronto. Timing is a beautiful thing. Thats a story for another day, and not nearly as exciting. 

So they unloaded into the evening and Alex was on the phone with the rental furniture people to have that picked up asap, and basically trying to find time to breath and realize after not having seen our things since August, we were finally going to have a proper apartment in time for April. At that point he decides not to tell me any of this and instead attempt to get the apartment in shape to surprise me whenever I was able to get home. 

The truck finally got unstuck, and the furniture people had to come back most of Friday to continue the process of unpacking and checking things off. The rental people came and picked up our small little life of a fridge, bed and table, the electricians came and Alex worked around the clock all hours of the night moving things, rearranging and settling in, mostly by himself. 

I cannot begin to describe my reaction when I walked in at 3am Sunday morning. In the elevator I was like why were you so busy? Busy with what? What in the world has been going on??? Why are you stressed? Is something going on I don't know about? Annoying I know. But the door opened and complete disbelief. I had gotten used to our bed with two twin mattresses poorly stuck together that allowed no normal sheets to fit, cooking without a stove, having no lights.... And all of the sudden we had pictures, and pots and pans, an iron, a real cozy bed... rugs, lamps and books! The sofa however was missing. It had been too big for the elevator and the stairs so it was being hoisted up the side of the building Monday morning at 830am. 

Alex had meetings so I stayed back from work to watch the spectacle. Apparently in Brazil this is extremely normal. 15 stories? Easy! My dad was like, "I bet they have a crane of some sort on top of the building for these things...." yeaaaaaa No! I was waiting for that part until they unloaded it out of their truck and brought it up to the apartment and set up it on the balcony and literally in 25 minutes the sofa was all the way up! Our balcony is off the bedroom and there is a narrow hallway to the living room. They tried every which way to get the couch through but it clearly wasn't going to happen. Most people would have probably given up, even hoisted it back down the building. Instead they preceded to take the couch apart and saw off the base. HOURS later and wood chips everywhere they pushed it through. Then they made new holes and screwed the base back together as best they could and there we go folks we had our apartment! Brazilians! Ahmazing. No way would they do all that in the US. I was acting like this was some crazy cool rarity but people tell me its quite normal, happens all the time. They take apart windows, balcony doors, saw, bend, cut, piece back together, whatever the issue they solve it and get it done. Regardless, unbelievable effort by those men and my man. I still can't believe it. The stove doesn't work yet, and the washing machine is 220v (opps) but our wonderful brazilian electrician says he's got it all figured out! And I'm sure he does in one way or another. 

Icamento: Google it. The portuguese word for hoistin' it up! (literal translation: Lifting)