Brazil Is More Complicated Than People Think

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:01]Brazil is really complex.

[00:00:04]People ask me all the time what exactly is going on in Brazil. There are tons of uh people around the world that are looking at Brazil wanting to come here to Florianópolis to Brazil to experience new life. I engage with people every day here on my channel and you know, Brazil is very diverse.

[00:00:22]There's the northern part of Brazil, there's the interior part of Brazil, there's the capital cities in Brazil, there's over 25 states in Brazil, there's the cold in the south, there's the really warm in the north, there's all of these different aspects of social classes and educational levels and all of these different things.

[00:00:39]Not including any kind of government things, any kind of um mentalities, any cross-cultural things and the reality that I can say after 10 years of living here in Brazil is Brazil is very complex.

[00:00:52]Now, I want to mention the first thing here because there's a difference in Brazil as you look at the northern part of Brazil, the southern part of Brazil and even as you look at capital cities that are more populated from people all over and the interior parts of Brazil that are less populated and have less um have less people, you know, less um movement as far as people moving, coming and going and a lot of times more of the people just kind of um they stay or they grow up in those areas generation after generation.

[00:01:26]So, the first thing is you know, the north of Brazil is very different than the south of Brazil where I live here today. Now, I am um in a state called Santa Catarina. I live in a city called Florianópolis. It is the capital of the state that I live in and if I'm honest with you, Florianópolis is a wonderful place. It is uh very diverse. There are tons of different cultures all wrapped up into one. There are, you know, I I think it's almost a million people that live here in the city of and there's people from all over the world here.

[00:02:01]Now, Florianopolis is not Brazil.

[00:02:04]Brazil has over 250 million people.

[00:02:08]There's 25 states as I mentioned before and depending on where you go, it's not you're not going to have the same style or the same diversity that you have here in Florianopolis. You're also not going to have the same um maybe quality of life as far as uh salary that people can make as far as cost of living as far as um modern amenities as well in other places in Brazil like you will in Florianopolis in a capital city. So, the biggest difference I would say between the north of Brazil and the south of Brazil without getting into anything political or without getting into anything um you know, racial or anything like that is the aspect of of the demographics of people and in regards to the the the cultural background of people. So, in the south, there are people that are are more from Europe, It- Italians, Germans, um people from Switzerland. That is the you know, the last 100 or 150 years people came from these different areas and they came to the south of Brazil to start a new life, to to raise their families. Now, the more north that you go in Brazil as a whole demographically, people came from Portugal, they came from Africa and they they that's the the areas that they um where they settled. Now, um I don't have time to get into the history of everything, but unfortunately, in those areas, there was a lot of um there's a lot of slavery and and people brought slaves over from Africa and they and and the more northern part of Brazil, So the that's that area. And so the diversity of demographics is very different in regards to that in Brazil based off of that. And then also, you know, you have you know, have the the indigenous people here as well. The the you know, the people from Manaus, the Amazon in that area that are also in different parts of Brazil as well. So in the south we have like Gauchos, we have people that that >> [clears throat] >> that came from, you know, a European background. In the north it's more people that came from an African background. And so that creates a a cultural difference even within Brazil that each place has its own food kind of culture. You know, there in the northeast, northeast right? The northeast of Brazil, places like Bahia, you have like couscous where it's like normal everyday people eat couscous and they'll eat, you know, shrimp and they'll eat, you know, different kinds of seafood. Here in the south we'll eat more like um stroganoff which is kind of more of a like a German style food I guess you could say. And we'll eat more like pasta and we'll eat more these kinds of things. And so it really depends on the reason why it's complicated is depends on what part of Brazil that you are on the culture that you're going to experience that is also Brazil. So Brazil is ginormous. There's 270 million people I believe. And you know, if you put Brazil it's I believe it's larger than America. I didn't I didn't study this before I I you can't fact check me here cuz I I don't I don't recall off the top of my head, but Brazil's really big.

[00:05:19]And it is very diverse and that makes it very complicated as well.

[00:05:24]And so you know, the cultural benefits of that are great because there's there's places that you can go and experience the cold. There's places you can go and experience the warmth. You can go to the beach, you can go to the mountains, you can go, you know, all kinds of different places. You can experience São Paulo which is which is an an insane city of, you know, 30 million people in the greater São Paulo area. It's just a very diverse, very big and very vibrant. You know, you can find anything um there in São Paulo. But, it it creates this diversity and creates this this uh this aspect of complexity here in Brazil. Because, you know, the tourist version of Brazil is not the real version, either.

[00:06:03]So, I am doing my best to reveal to you guys, you know, the the reality of Brazil, not just the tourist, "Hey, let's go five Let's do the five best things to do in Florianópolis." Like, I'm sure there's people on YouTube that already have those kind of videos. Um my desire in this channel is to to reveal to you real life, you know, what what real life actually looks like here in Brazil, you know, what what what we do on a day-to-day basic what's day-to-day basis what's available here, um how things look, you know, I try to go to different um different bairros, different places to show you guys different areas, and you know, the reality of day-to-day life in Brazil is a lot different than tourism.

[00:06:41]So, one of the things that I think we make a mistake of in our generation is we see the the Instagram style life. We see the You know, we have we see the highlight reel. We don't see the day-to-day. And I've discovered that the day-to-day is actually what really makes life life.

[00:06:59]Because in the day-to-day, the normal walking around, interacting, talking to a friend, these kinds of things bring for us uh the reality of of of life in another place. And so, um you know, when you come and visit Brazil, you're not always going to get a taste of truth or reality because building a life in a country and visiting on on a tourist visa is a lot different. You know, the other thing is the complexity of Brazil here is that beauty and this this tension of beauty and complexity, this tension of beauty and struggle. Uh how did I write it down here? I wrote it as uh Brazil can be beautiful and it can be heavy at the same time.

[00:07:39]You can experience the beauty of the beach, but at the same time the struggle, the reality of you know, people that suffer on a daily basis. You know, I mentioned before 80% of people are in debt.

[00:07:51]Uh there is very much so poverty in our nation. You don't have to look far to find people that are in need. And so that reality of, you know, beautiful beaches mixed with with with poverty is is a is a is a tension. It's a complexity. Now, there's also, you know, the complexity of uh you know, the classes of of people, you know, people that that are really wealthy and the the the lower class is is a very big gap. Now, in America in the in the middle class is dying in America as well. But, there is more of a middle class in that in Brazil, not so much. It's very It's very drastic as far as the classes are concerned. And so, you know, I have this beautiful tension um well, a tension between uh beauty and uh frustration, beauty and heaviness. You know, you have wonderful things, opportunities, yet at the same time there's tons of bureaucracy, tons of uh tons of red tape, and it makes things a lot harder to to accomplish here sometimes in Brazil because of that. And so, the reality of of the complexity of Brazil is you know, instability, corruption.

[00:09:02]There's There is violence in some places, you know. There's uh economic stress, the un- unpredictability unpredictability.

[00:09:10]You know, it it's it's it's it's complicated, and that's why I'm making this video. So, the other thing though is that I think we have judgments that we often we often make. So, we're all we all have a preconceived notion about a place.

[00:09:24]So, you know, Americans have a I have a preconceived notion about Brazil. Now, when I remember when I was coming to visit my girlfriend for the first time, I'm going to do a 180 and go back this way cuz Cuz this is a dead end.

[00:09:37]When first came to Brazil, my I was at the airport and I was talking to my girlfriend I said, "Hey, I think I've messaged my first or I met my first Brazilian people here on the plane going there." And she's like, "What are you talking about?" I was like, "Oh, the you know, I I described the people." And she's like, "No, that's Brazilians everybody can be Brazilian.

[00:09:52]Andy, you can be Brazilian. Whoever you are watching, you can fit the demographic of Brazilians because we are a very collaborative people. We're a very diverse style of people. And so, the this idea that Brazil is just this um type of person, just this type of reality is not true. There's a lot of diversity and it's a very a very complex reality here. You know, I interact with tons of you guys here on the channel.

[00:10:18]There's even Americans that are living in, you know, Minas Gerais and I met a um a guy that's retired, lives off of social security. I think he lives in like Minas Gerais in a in a farm like way up there in the north.

[00:10:30]And you know, a couple different people that live in Rio and São Paulo and some some other gringos that live in like um Rio Grande do Sul. And so, it's just a very dynamic country and a complex country in regards to what you want, what you like and what you desire, where you desire to live.

[00:10:49]And so, I personally I like the south of Brazil better just based off of my own experiences. I don't like really hot climates or really um You know, the closer to the equator is not the best for me cuz I I I burn really easy in the sun and I don't like humidity as much. So, here in the south for me it's like the best of both worlds. I get a little bit of the warmth, then I also get a little bit of the cold and I can enjoy both sides of things. But there's a there's a a definitely a uh a preconceived notion about Brazil that you need to break if you have a desire to to live here. And and even you know, even Brazilians at times have a have a an idea of what Brazil is if they haven't had the opportunity to travel around Brazil. Brazil is diverse, it's dynamic, it is full of options, full of different things, and I'm actually very grateful that I've had the opportunity to to come here, to grow here, but also to to experience, and I've been to, I think it's 20, 18 to 20 states, and this month I've got a a ton of travel coming up as well. So, I'll take you guys to a couple of different places. We're going to Curitiba, going to São Paulo, going to Rio, going to another city here called Itajaí in Santa Catarina, and yeah, so we'll be going to four states this month. Um you know, Brazil has definitely made me less arrogant as a person. I've mentioned this before, but the the arrogance that we have as Americans sometimes thinking we know everything, Brazilians are very educated, especially in geographics.

[00:12:27]Um very frequently people tell me here, you know, we're American, too, like and I understand like North America, South America, and that whole aspect of things. So, we uh we have an opportunity to to break our arrogance and to grow in different things when we when we embrace culture and we connect to people in that way.

[00:12:46]So, um I'm not here to define Brazil for everybody here. I just want to communicate for you, you know, the complexity of Brazil, and if you're thinking about traveling to Brazil, um I would do some research. You know, research different places. Uh maybe here in the future I'll put together some kind of a uh you know, a guide, not a guide, but like a a story book or something to be able to connect with people in in what, you know, what you need to know coming to Brazil, what places to visit, those kind of things, just based off of my own experience, because I um there's so much to do, and there's so many incredible things, and even though it is complex, Brazil is an incredible nation and I believe in Brazil. It's one of the reasons why I'm here. I think the future has potential for Brazil and you know, as the the power dynamics of the world begin to change and as America continues to make certain decisions and and suffer from the decisions that were made in the past then you know, the trajectory is changing globally and so I think Brazil has the potential to become a a place where where more people desire to come and we'll see we'll see if that's true or not in the coming years and coming decades, but I believe that it is. I believe there's opportunities for for foreigners here, especially in Florianopolis and even though it's complex, it's a wonderful place. So hope you guys learned something or at least connected here and I appreciate all of you guys. We're coming up on 9,000 subscribers. Really cool to see how this channel's growing and if you guys could please I think it's like 80% of people that view my videos, they don't actually subscribe.

[00:14:25]So that's a we have a word in Portuguese like que pena like oh no, that's like a that's not good like um unfortunate. Que pena is like unfortunate. Yes, you connect. I'd love to uh entertain you or or chat with you and interact with you guys and also my Instagram as well. You guys can connect with me there. All right, guys. So until next time, >> [music] >> let's enjoy the complexities of Brazil together and I will see you guys in later videos.