Category: Culture

Brazil is proof God wants us happy
I didn’t invent that slogan but I think that Ben Franklin would agree. Brazil is perfection, in it’s natural state. Comparing to Canada the distances are as vast but due to the climate and geography, much of the countryside is lush and verdant green.

Tijuca National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil is the last greatest country left on earth (in my opinion). Canada once held this distinction but the problems of the neighbor country, infected the corporate and political culture, although it’s possible that the genetic flaws of the parent (Great Britain) left her susceptible to problems. None-the-less; Government grew out of control, until the free-spirit of the people was throttled by over-regulation. Now you need to buy a permit, to get a license, to negotiate for an approval. However, rules and regulations are the way of the world, it’s happening here in Brazil too. So, I’m curious to watch and learn how Brazil manages 200 million people, since the potential is boundless.

[box type=”note”]The massive South American country is oozing with natural resources, this is the land of milk and honey. In the major cities of Brazil, of which there are 13, prosperity is evident everywhere.[/box]

Brazil 13 cities with more than 1 million people (2007 Statistics):
1. Sao Paulo (10,9 million)
2. Rio de Janeiro (6,1 million)
3. Salvador (2,9 million)
4. Distrito Federal (2,5 million)
5. Fortaleza (2,43 million)
6. Belo Horizonte (2,41 million)
7. Curitiba (1,8 million)
8. Recife (1,5 million)
9. Porto Alegre (1,42 million)
10. Belem (1,41 million)
11. Goiania (1,244 million)
12. Guarulhos (1,236 million)
13. Campinas (1,03 million)
It’ not uncommon to see plates of fresh food abandon on the street, since the bar and restaurant owners (and others) feed the poor from take-away containers of rice, beans, produce, meat and bread. Produce grows so well in the fertile land and is so plentiful that no-one starves unless they choose.

Yes, there are allot of poor people. Brazil has one of the worst ratios for distribution of wealth, and the mega-rich gap is growing wider. However, the middle class is expanding, one of the last places left on earth where the common man can rise up to become a prominent community leader. It is revered in Brazilian culture, to become a celebrity that once-upon-a-time lived in a favela.

Everyday more people (per capita) become millionaires in Brazil, than any other country in the world. Now that’s a nice cup to hoist but better would be the education. If there’s one thing that it’s sadly lacking in Brazil, it’s that too many kids are raised without a good education. In a country that dominates in exports of so many commodities, for there to be one child left on the street is a mistake.

Violent crime and gang corruption is the biggest negative you hear about living in Brazil, this is an issue for sure. There are some problems related to gun violence, in areas where the U.S. introduced their war on drugs, which has done zero to reduce the drug trade but certainly raised the stakes for corruption and gang operations. Therefore, the statistics are skewed to make things look much worse than they actually are. However, it’s a notoriously bad country, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My sincere hope is that the greatest future lays ahead because the people are demanding that Government spending on education be increased. Hence, we go back to talking about Government, where we started, and where Brasileiro’s always retreat to when the topic of the poor arises – oh it’s the Governo etc… everyone has been indoctrinated to expect the Government to be corrupt, another global condition. Meanwhile the power elite and old-guard establishment, which now includes the influence of innumerable multi-national conglomerates, that have leveraged their way into the gravy train, to supply the greatest culture driven, brand frenzy, credit laden, consumer product consumption orgy in history. The Romans pale in comparison, even America wasn’t completely plugged-in to stuff like these folks, this is shopoholic-central.

The bottom line is that Brazil rocks! For allot of valid reasons, not least of which is the fun-loving people, living on thousands of miles of tropical beaches. Having said that; my number one reason for loving living here, is that aside from providing civil authority by military force in Haiti (with UN edict), we do not export our democracy with the barrel of a gun.

Brazil has enough problems at home, and now we can all see that every country has it’s own problems at home, to preferably contend with. Therefore, since Brazil has no blood on it’s hands, I’m very willing and happy to contribute towards making it a better place for everyone. I’m glad to be a Brazilian citizen and love living here.
July 7, 2014
John of God

João de Deus (“John of God”)

João Teixeira de Faria (born June 24, 1942), known also as João de Deus (“John of God”), is a self-described medium and “psychic surgeon” from Signal river. I’m on my way to this small town in the state of Goiás, southwest of Brasília (a 5 hour drive from my home in Sao Paulo) to visit his farm.

For as long as I can remember hearing about John of God, I’ve wanted to meet him. Years ago I met a man from the Philippines, whom I witnessed perform some extraordinary treatments and help people (including myself) to heal. My suspicion is that John of God is far more evolved, than the Philippine “psychic surgeon”, which means that I’m in for a truly enlightening experience.

UPDATE:

May 12, 2019

Now that I’ve had a chance to review the accusations and hear the testimony of one of the Whistleblowers, I need to report my understanding and add my own thoughts and observations.

In my case, John of God helped me and I believe that the Casa was and is a very energetic place. My treatment was entirely metaphysical and the perception I had of Joao, was that he was a gifted healer and that he had helped to heal me. Whatever happened when I was in the treatment, worked and my broken ankle did in fact excrete some type of fluid, which had never happened before or since. I walked better after the treatment.

I may have experienced psychosomatic healing but something improved with my injury as a result of the John of God treatment. Also, the people who volunteered were so nice, committed to well-being and absolutely convinced that John of God was holly, or at least very gifted.

To this day I use a crystal from Abadiânia and since I brought my mountain bike to the Casa and spent allot of time riding all around the area, I observed many crystals in the ground. This is something I’ve not seen anywhere, some times I would stop my bike, look down and see pieces of crystal in the dirt. Plus the amount of crystals, some the largest I’d ever seen and all the energy from people in mediation, probably helps people heal themselves.

Some people I met were watching UFO’s and most locals just accepted the fact that UFO’s are seen over the area so constantly that it’s just normal. I have never seen a UFO but never tried to summon them. However, that’s the place I’d go if I wanted to prove they exist.

My heart goes out to the victims and I admit that I was completely conned as well, so it’s easy to understand how a sexual predator was dressed as Lamb and tricked so many people. We all want to believe that God could channel his energy through living people, when in fact he does but none more so than an other. We all have healing power but don’t know it.

Early life of John of God

João Teixeira de Faria was born in Cachoeira da Fumaça, Goiás (now Cachoeira de Goiás). There are no records of his early life and De Faria himself has not provided precise details. His best known biography is The Miracle Man, written by Robert Pellegrino-Estrich, who runs tours to Abadiânia.

De Faria has no medical training and describes himself as a ‘simple farmer.’ He completed only two years of education and spent a number of years travelling from village to village in the states of Goias and Minas Gerais.

Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, Abadiânia Brazil

João Teixeira de Faria

De Faria says he was told by his spirit guides that he must expand his work to reach more people and spiritist medium Chico Xavier told him he should go to the small Goiás town of Abadiânia to fulfill his healing mission. Around 1978, when João first performed ‘healings’ there, he just sat outdoors in a chair near the main road where people began to arrive seeking cures for their various illnesses and conditions. Gradually the numbers increased to thousands per day and he developed his centre, Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola. The Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola has since been visited by millions of people seeking healing. He also owns a nearby cattle ranch, which covers about 1,000 acres.

February 1, 2014
Canadian International Society
Canadian flag on building in Vancouver

Recently I met British fellow at the commodity and futures exchange in downtown Sao Paulo, during lunch he mentioned that his wife, originally from New Zealand (aka Kiwi) and several other Kiwi and Canadian women, were members of a charity organization that was formally called “Canadian Women’s International Society” and that they were hosting a party at the house of the Canadian Consul General, to celebrate the re-launch of their charitable society, plus opening the doors to men. My curiosity was piqued and a few days later I found myself enjoying the company of about 50 foreign nationals (Expats), many of whom were from Commonwealth countries, and all of whom were charmed by the gracious hospitality of our hostess, the Consul General of Canada for Sao Paulo, Brazil.

As my good luck would have it, I’m now a member of the newly formed “Canadian International Society”

Who we are

The Canadian International Society (CIS) takes its name from the group of Canadian Women, who founded the group in 1962. Led by the wife of the Canadian Consul General, it was founded as a social organization with a focus on charitable work in Sao Paulo.

These days the CIS is open to women and men of all nationalities, and has a broad range of members. The group has expanded and today has over 60 members from at least 20 different countries, including Brazil.

What We Do

The CIS mission is to offer a social forum for its members while also assisting NGO’s in the Sao Paulo area through fundraising events and opportunities to volunteer in vulnerable communities. These activities include monthly luncheons and happy hours as well as one or two major events throughout the year such as family day BBQs, fashion shows or evening soirees.

The Society is coordinated by a volunteer Board of Governors who are elected yearly. Positions include President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Charities, Membership and Communications. The Canadian Consul General is the Honorary President look these up.
Related articles
- EXPAT ORGS: Canadian International Society (expatbrazil.wordpress.com)
- São underrated! – Sao Paulo, Brazil (travelpod.com)
May 31, 2011
Brazil Poker Pro

In the country of Brazil the supreme court ruled that Poker is a game of skill, and is not classified as a game of chance like, say, Bingo. For this reason there are legal poker rooms throughout the country and online poker may be growing faster in Brazil than any other market on earth, which has prompted many of the biggest online poker companies to sponsor top players and spend allot of money in marketing and advertising their brands inside Brazil.

Brazil Poker Pro was launched to get twitter followers andprovide poker information in Portuguese and in a short few months the site has grown in popularity and created a buzz on Twitter and Facebook amongst Brazilian poker aficionados, some relationships with followed and strategic partnerships were formed and now less than 4 months later BrazilPokerPro.com is generating revenue and has a promising future to become a key voice in the poker community of Brazil.

The main author of Brazil Poker Pro is a an authority on the topic, extremely passionate about poker, has won some significant poker tournaments both online and in the big poker rooms of Sao Paulo but most importantly he’s very prolific and likes to publish a new story every day, as well as Tweet to his large group of followers and friends and Facebook. We’re seeking more strategic partners and thinking about adding another author, once the traffic reaches 1,000 visitors per day. Also, we’d like to hire an assistant to help us keep up with the social networking.

Nowadays with the built-in translation tools found on Google chrome, or available at the click of a mouse to Babelfish etc… the information on Brazil Poker Pro offers value to any poker player, no matter the language they speak.

January 18, 2011
Speaking Brazilian Portuguese

One of the great benefits of mastering Brazilian Portuguese is being able to fully appreciate the music by understanding the lyrics. Brazil enjoys the largest recording industry outside of the United States, so the number of brilliant artists and the wide variety of genres (most people have never heard of), is truly staggering. Perhaps the first time I’d ever hear this beautiful language was by recorded music, as my father had an extensive jazz collection, and even before I was born the bossa nova was played in my house and now today the first song I can sing in Portuguese is the Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema).

Legend has it that the Portuguese language was brought to Portugal by the Knights Templar and was the last Romance language created from Vulgar Latin by an order of monks who were language makers, somewhat like today’s software makers, that means that Portuguese was on the cutting-edge of the evolution of Latin, maybe a: Latin 5.0 at that time. Now there are some 800 million total Romance language speakers, worldwide, the largest segment of which would be about 500 million Spanish/Castilian and the French with 250 million are just slightly ahead of the worldwide population of Portuguese speaking people, however Brazil has the largest population of Portuguese speaking citizens and then a slightly lessor number of Italian speaking people. I’ve been told that it’s easier for Portuguese speakers to understand and adopt the other Romance languages, for example many Brazilian’s can understand Spanish but my friends from Costa Rica, for example, found it really difficult time to understand Portuguese.

Once upon a time the Portuguese were a great seafaring nation with a colony spread far and wide over the globe, today it is the fifth most spoken language in the world, the most widely spoken in the southern hemisphere, and the third most spoken in the Western world. In addition to Brazil and Portugal, it is used in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor, as well as in the former territories of Portuguese India (Goa, Daman, Isle of Angediva, Simbor, Gogol, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and in small communities that were part of the Portuguese Empire in Asia as Malacca, Malaysia and East Africa as Zanzibar, Tanzania.

In modern times the language has a home, if you can imagine that? The world’s only museum for a language was opened in 2006 in Sao Paulo, in a refurbished building (see photo) that was once the central train station, Estacao da Luz where 300 thousand passengers arrive and leave the station everyday, in a neighborhood of the same name. The Portuguese language lives and grows in this fabulous refurbished building which was chosen for the museum because of the fact that, it was mainly here that thousands of non-Portuguese speaking immigrants arriving from Europe and Asia via the Port of Santos into São Paulo got acquainted with the language for the first time.

The famous Brazilian singer, songwriter and composer, Gilberto Gil spoke at the opening of Estacao da Luz, with these remarks:

The language speaks for you. The purpose of studying and interacting with a language in a museum, cultural and exchange programs, orthographic agreements, and the development of new words show how important it is. The language is our mother. This museum covers most, if not all, the aspects of the written and spoken language, of the dynamic language, the language of interaction, the language of affection, the language of gestures and of any other aspects that this museum was meant to promote.

Looking around online I found some very good resources, both free and subscription, plus found a large variety of YouTube videos, some making the nearly impossible claim of having you speaking Portuguese in 30 days, The reason I say “nearly” impossible is because if you already speak another Latin language then it is possible to be conversational in a relatively short period of time, depending on your memory, study habits and your latent ability for languages. For myself I will be satisfied to reach the conversational status before the end of 2011 and plan to use this blog to post updates, from time to time, on the best resources I find.

The amount of positive comments from Rosetta Stone was what won-me-over to try their software but I also liked the course offering (especially price) and free downloads, blog and Facebook group associated with the company called Transparent Language and a really cool Blog called Tecla SAP.

January 17, 2011
Rio de Janeiro Sunrise

The Marvelous City, as they call it, was all of that and more. We stayed in a nice hotel on the end of Copacabana, every day we explored new beaches and every night we discovered new restaurants. This was my third trip to Rio so I’m starting to get to know the lay of the land now, which is very challenging because of the position of the mountains that rise directly out of the Atlantic like giant pointed knobs, often rock faced on the steep sides or otherwise covered in jungle-like vegetation.

The beaches are broad and curved with a cool Atlantic swell pounding in to relieve the masses of sun worshipers who flock here to enjoy the summer heat from all parts of the globe.

The first time I stayed in Rio was between Christmas and New Years, on Barra da Tijuca in a condo across from the beach. All along the beach there are kiosks called Baraccas, and every morning before the sun comes up, the nightlife comes to the beach to watch the sun come up and finish off the party. Many people swim in the sea, take a shower, then have breakfast and go home to sleep off the alcohol. It’s a cool way to close the night and washes the soul with a most magical sunrise to start the next day.

Kiosk da Tijuca – Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro

Planning to return to Rio de Janeiro very soon and most likely to stay in Barra da Tijuca, to once again enjoy the Rio de Janeiro sunrise ritual.

Barra da Tijuca or simply known as Barra is the youngest neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro which was developed around 30 years ago. This neighborhood is famous for its Barra Shopping Mall which houses over 700 stores and restaurants and its 17 km long sandy beach. Barra is home to many luxury condominiums and large office complexes, making it an emerging spot for the rich and affluent. The neighborhood is also known for its American influenced lifestyle.

Surfing, kite surfing and body surfing are popular sports here. It is one of the richest neighborhoods and is known for its public and private safety largely due to the lack of ghettos in the area. The name Barra da Tijuca roughly translates as “Swamp Sandbank”. The value of property in this region has steadily grown for the past 20 years as the neighborhood grew in stature. This region also is well frequented by business travelers as it is close to several convention centers.

Many of the events for the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held at Macumba Beach, which is just down the road from Barra da Tijuca.

December 31, 2007