Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Feb 1, 2012, 11:18 pm
Something that drives some Brazilians and Brazil observers crazy is the international media's tendency to constant relate Brazil's misfortunes to the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. After three buildings collapsed in Rio last week, likely due to illegal construction in one of the buildings, one of ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 26, 2012, 11:38 pm
... coordinator for Global Initiatives in the fundraising department. While working at ... and friends. She also enjoys the weather and eating healthier, since ... before getting her MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. She lived ... her mom were planning their return, the 2011 earthquake hit...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 23, 2012, 10:54 pm
Since I last wrote about visas in December, things are changing. On the U.S. side, the pro-tourism lobby had some success with pushing for changes to increase the number of Brazilian tourists. In Brazil, immigration changes are reportedly on the way, as the government seeks to increase professional ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 23, 2012, 12:36 am
This week, I'm beginning a series on Brazilians who lived abroad and decided to move back to Brazil. (I'll also cover the latest in visa news from both Brazil and the U.S. in a separate post). If you're a Brazilian who returned home after living abroad who's interested in telling your story, please ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 16, 2012, 4:11 pm
Michel Teló has become something of a Justin Bieber figure in Brazil: a wildly popular singer who is also reviled by those who see him as cheesy or untalented. But his fame has spread well beyond Brazil, from Europe to the Middle East. The sertanejo (country music) singer's hit "Ai Se Eu Te Pego," ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 8, 2012, 11:18 pm
It's been a good year for President Rousseff, exceeding the expectations of voters and even wowing some skeptics. With a record approval rating of over 70 percent, she exceeded Lula's approval rating after the first year of his presidency by more than 20 points. While there are a number of factors f...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jan 1, 2012, 3:10 pm
While he may seem like just an unassuming 15-year-old high school kid from Rio de Janeiro, Pedro Franceschi is in fact one of Brazil's rising tech stars. He started learning about computers playing on his dad's Mac when he was just three and started learning programming when he was eight, and became...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Dec 28, 2011, 5:22 pm
With municipal elections coming up in 2012, one of the people to watch is Rio de Janeiro state Congressman Marcelo Freixo, who is running for mayor of Rio. Though he faces an uphill battle at the polls--a recent Ibope survey found that incumbent Eduardo Paes leads with 36 percent, and Freixo is behi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Dec 21, 2011, 11:49 pm
In the second part of the Brazil Challenges series, I'm going to discuss the transportation situation in Rio de Janeiro. While São Paulo gets a bad rap for traffic, Rio is becoming just as bad. Over the past few months, it's become a favorite Carioca complaint on social networks. People post photos...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Dec 16, 2011, 12:30 pm
I lucked out with yet another Q&A this week, this time with Cristiano Casagrande, a gaúcho social media manager who founded and runs the ph14 social media agency. I asked him about social media trends in Brazil, as well as the Twitter feed he runs to divulge important Brazilian news in Portuguese. ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Dec 14, 2011, 9:06 pm
Anderson Antunes is a Brazilian journalist based in Europe who writes the South American Way blog for Forbes, focusing on current events in Brazil. He's a thoughtful and perceptive observer of Brazilian trends, culture, and news, and he's written about everything from jewelry heists to supermodel Gi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Nov 1, 2011, 10:16 pm
... and private universitiesPrivate universities gave off a superficial vibe, not the teachers, but ... independent research to carry out. I dont think the private university offered courses ... Brazil. Maybe it is a São Paulo thing, but there are MANY ... fields..), hairdresser, cafeteria (...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 24, 2011, 10:47 pm
Last week, a feature story from Travel + Leisure Magazine began circulating amongst Cariocas and Rio gringos, and I thought it was worth analyzing. The article, entitled Revitalizing Rio de Janeiro, was written by an enthusiastic New York and London-based journalist and details Rio's reemergenc...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 20, 2011, 11:36 pm
Gustavo Chacra is the New York-based foreign correspondent for Estado de São Paulo, one of Brazil's major newspapers (and in my opinion, one of the best). He covers not only the United States, but the Middle East as well, and as well as writing hard news, he also writes a very interesting, award-wi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 18, 2011, 1:31 am
You may know her as the American college student who writes for Piauí, the Brazilian equivalent of The New Yorker. Or you may know her as the gringa that caused an uproar at Rio's most expensive university with her blog post. Or you may not have heard of her yet, in which case I'm very happy to int...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 14, 2011, 12:38 am
The labor movement is alive and well in Brazil, and strikes are a common occurence, paralyzing various sectors of services throughout the country as workers demand higher wages. Recently, there have been three major nationwide strikes: bank workers, who have now been on strike for 18 days, postal se...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 10, 2011, 10:42 pm
Poly grew up like many typical American girls. She loved Disney movies, took dance classes and played sports, enjoyed her dad's Italian home cooking, and spent Sundays at church with her family. She excelled in school, and even won a scholarship to a prestigious private high school, where she was ac...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 7, 2011, 10:15 pm
I saw this commercial on Facebook today, and was not only impressed by the cool graphics and concept, but by the symbolism: the "awakening" of a giant - Brazil itself, as a world power. To reinforce this idea, at the end of the video, a sentence appears: "The giant is no longer sleeping." ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 7, 2011, 12:35 am
I'm always surprised by how much Rio changes every time I go back, and this time was no exception. The sense of optimism is literally palpable. Driving into the city, the roads seem better, and the city almost feels calmer. Despite the controversy surrounding Eduardo Paes' shock order to expel mobil...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 4, 2011, 10:55 pm
For those who study Brazil or follow the news closely, a seemingly constant stream of stories about destruction in the Amazon is the norm. As much as the Amazon is nearly a separate world from Brazil, the news that comes from the region is almost a world apart as well, and sometimes with greater cov...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Oct 3, 2011, 10:07 pm
Sorry for the lack of posting, but I was really busy while on vacation. The good news is that I was in Brazil for the last week and a half with tons I want to write about, but the bad news is I had to work after a ten hour flight back today and am about to crash. I have at least two posts coming thi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 27, 2011, 6:27 pm
I was hoping to get in a really interesting profile piece and a post about real estate this week, but as it turns out I've been much busier than I anticipated while on vacation with limited internet access, so I hope to get one post out this weekend. If not, I will be back next week with lots of g...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 23, 2011, 12:03 am
It's been a busy week, and I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I apologize for the sparse posting. But there should be two really interesting posts up next week! Here are some good reads I came across this week, which you can also see on Twitter. Being There: São Paulo, More Intelligent Li...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 18, 2011, 11:37 pm
President Dilma arrived in New York on Sunday for the United Nations General Assembly and to meet with a number of world leaders, including President Obama, UK PM David Cameron, French president Nicholas Sarkozy, and Mexican president Felipe Calderón. On Wednesday, she will become the first woman i...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 15, 2011, 11:21 pm
Though it came out last year, I can't recommend this documentary enough, which recently aired on the BBC and came to HBO Go this summer. Sergio is a fantastic film that follows the life of Brazilian superstar diplomat Sérgio Vieira De Mello and his untimely death in Iraq. Described as a mix between...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 12, 2011, 11:17 pm
I'm starting a new series about the democratization of technology in Brazil, and I'm kicking it off with a post on basic access. Though Brazil is one of the world's largest economies with one of the largest populations of internet users, there are still a surprising amount of people with limite...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 8, 2011, 9:58 pm
The tech scene in Brazil is one of the most exciting in the world, and one of the best and brightest new Brazil tech writers is Anna Heim, a French expat and polygot who covers Latin America for The Next Web. She writes about countries throughout the region with a focus on Brazil, and has written ab...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Sep 6, 2011, 12:13 am
Political corruption has plagued Brazil for much of its history, despite a successful transition to democracy. Politicians accused of corruption rarely face consequences, be it fines, jail time, or returning embezzled funds to government coffers. In fact, disgraced officials accused of corruption ar...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 31, 2011, 10:10 pm
Though I mentioned it in this post, I wanted to dedicate a short post to Cynthia Gorney's excellent piece in this month's National Geographic Magazine, Brazil's Girl Power. Here's a short excerpt:   "That new Brazilian fertility rate is below the level at which a population replaces itself. It...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 29, 2011, 11:12 pm
There are plenty of perils when getting around Rio: flooding in the streets during rainstorms, the risk of getting held up at gunpoint at a stoplight or having your car stolen, or getting robbed on a bus, amongst others. Sometimes there are fender benders on buses, or an occasional kombi crash, just...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 24, 2011, 12:26 am
There's a saying that God is Brazilian, but few Brazilians come close to deity status like Ayrton Senna. While Formula 1 is a popular sport in Brazil, it's not on the same level as soccer, but mention Senna to any Brazilian and you'll visibily see the change in his or her expression: his face will s...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 21, 2011, 9:30 pm
I came across Rio Radar by way of Rio Real Blog, and quickly discovered that I had a lot in common the writer, editor and translator behind it. A graduate of George Washington's Elliott School, Andrew Fishman speaks Portuguese and Spanish, studied abroad in Latin America and moved to Rio de Janeiro ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 18, 2011, 12:20 am
Last week, when I wrote about Brazil's new middle class, I included figures that show that this group, largely the C class, is a much different middle class than an American or European one. With monthly salaries between R$1,000 and R$4,000, or US$631 and $2,526, income is just one facet that define...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 15, 2011, 11:47 pm
Late last Thursday, a forty-seven year old mother of three was arriving home from work to her family in Niterói. Her car was approached by men on motorcycles, who fired on her, spraying the vehicle with 21 bullets. She was killed instantly. But this was not a random act of violence in Rio. The...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 11, 2011, 12:19 am
One of the most impressive results of Brazil's economic rise has been the explosion of the middle class, and the expansion of what is called the C Class. Beyond the stock market, the oil fields, and the upcoming international events, the new middle class is what really has helped fuel growth and has...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 7, 2011, 11:23 pm
Much ado has been made about Globo's decision to cut a scene of a gay kiss from one of its most popular novelas, watched by millions across Brazil. When writers announced their intention to include the scene, there was an immediate backlash, and Globo execs nixed the idea. Allegedly, one of the main...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Aug 4, 2011, 12:10 am
Observing the drama that is the US and Brazilian economies is a bit like a tragicomedy: while they seem to be polar opposites of one another, the trends in both markets are unsustainable. In the US, the media would have us believe we're on the brink of certain disaster, as high unemployment, a pessi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 31, 2011, 9:46 pm
Quintino at Diário do Rio posted this video from a government agency-produced educational series about different Brazilian cities. I also found the rest of the series about other state capitals, including São Paulo, Recife, Salvador, Brasília, and Porto Alegre. The series is a few years old, but ...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 27, 2011, 12:31 am
This month, the Council on Foreign Relations released "Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations," an extensive report developed by a new Brazil-focused task force. Comprised of academics, business and non-profit leaders, and Brazil experts, the group's purpose is to enumerate specific suggestions bas...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 25, 2011, 12:23 am
This Sunday, a special Summerstage show kicked off the first annual Brazil Summerfest, a celebration of Brazilian music in New York. Marcelo D2, Pitty, and DJ Nuts started off a week of performances by Brazilian artists, including Forró in the Dark, Brothers of Brazil, Davi Vieira, and Percussivo M...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 20, 2011, 11:58 pm
Recently, the Rio de Janeiro government announced its desire to make the city a gay tourist mecca and to compete with other gay-friendly destinations like Buenos Aires and Mexico City for travelers. The city's mayor, Eduardo Paes, declared that Rio is "a city without prejudice," and a newly appointe...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 17, 2011, 11:19 pm
When I first came across Greg Michener's blog, it was a bit like discovering a diamond in the rough. True, with less than a year of beginning the blog, he was already being featured on the Christian Science Monitor's LatAm Monitor (by the way, I'm also being featured there, as is Boz of Bloggings by...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 14, 2011, 8:23 pm
James, known as Boz, is one of the foremost Latin American foreign policy bloggers on the Web. He's an American based in Nicaragua, but he covers the entire region, from daily news stories to more complex policy issues. He's especially interested in transnational crime and security, but he does an e...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 13, 2011, 1:16 am
As I've written about recently, the international press has been murmuring about the possibility of a credit bubble in Brazil. While some local economists have brushed off the idea, citing high real interest rates and a consumer lending as a low share of total GDP, amongst other reasons, other obser...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 10, 2011, 10:35 pm
Here are some news headlines from over the weekend: Crime - Amazon Allegations Link U.S. Companies to Brazilian Sex Tourism U.S. Fishing Tours Accused of Running Child Sex Trips in Brazil EUA vão investigar caso de turismo sexual no Brasil Empresa é investigada nos EUA por...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 6, 2011, 11:26 pm
Last week, the Brazilian government statistics agency, IBGE, announced findings from the 2010 census, showing demographic shifts in neighborhoods of cities throughout the country. In Rio de Janeiro, the trends were clear: with skyrocketing real estate prices, particularly in the Zona Sul and traditi...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jul 3, 2011, 11:18 pm
Today's guest post comes from Micaela, an acquaintance of mine from the New York - Rio connection who recently started a blog about Rio de Janeiro. After reading my recent post about crime statistics in Rio, she commented that people reported as disappeared don't factor into murder statistics, which...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jun 30, 2011, 11:21 pm
The news has been a bit slow the last few days, but here are some interesting headlines from this week: Carrefour to acquire Pão de Açucar with US$3 billion investment from BNDES, despite agreement with rival Casino Brazil's Pao de Acucar agrees to investor buyout, Reuters Carrefour...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jun 28, 2011, 1:24 am
One of the big challenges for Rio de Janeiro in the next few years is to bring crime under control. As the Rio government continues to install pacification units in the city's favelas, taking areas by force that were previously controlled by drug traffickers and militias, it still begs to question w...
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Rachel G. posted an article on Adventures of a Gringa in Rio - Jun 23, 2011, 11:52 pm
Years before PBS's Black in Latin America series, BBC released an interesting documentary about slavery in Brazil called Brazil - An Inconvenient History. You'll see some familiar faces from the Brazil episode of the PBS documentary, and some similar themes, but the BBC documentary is much more focu...
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