Moving to Goiania

I just did a google search for "speaking english in goiania" and got a few leads.  Give it a try.  Looks somewhat bleak but I'm sure some networking on the ground will uncover folks.  Visit the English language schools for their conversation teachers.

If you like 'country' you'll love Goaiania.  If not, it will take some getting used to.  Bring your iPod and favorite podcasts list!

Good luck.

Jim
http://qualidadedevida-jim.blogspot.com/

Hi there!!!
Im from Goiania and married to a Northern Irish.
We are currently in UK but moving next year to Goiania.
Goiania is a nice place to live in Brazil. There is a fame for being the brazilian texas because of the country music, etc.. but its not really like that.. depends if u are a farmer or relate to them somehow... Its a very green city, full of parks and people over there are very friendly.
But i can tell u in advance, not many people speak english over there, my hubbie struggles! lol
I dont know any americans living there, in fact any "gringo" at all. But feel free to contact me if u want any tip or just miss speaking english!! AH, end even if u wanna criticise Brazil (which is natural when you move somewhere but not many people understands it! )

missusjessus wrote:

My question is
Are there ANY Americans in Goiania? More specifically women.

Hello Missusjessus and welcome to Expat.com
Maybe the Network of Americans in Brazil could help?

mazu wrote:

Hi there!!!
Im from Goiania and married to a Northern Irish.
We are currently in UK but moving next year to Goiania.

Welcome to Expat.com Mazu

I was in Brazil in June on a mission trip.  Several of the interpretors were from Goiania and spoke English very well.  Very nice people.  If you are both agreeble, maybe I can give you contact information for them.

Thank you all for your kind replies!
I will be certain to check out all of your links. We've been up in the air about moving there but I am certain we will visit this fall/winter.
Our main issue with moving is finances & shipping shipping. My husband wants to ship and I want to sell and go. Anyways, thank you all for your replies and I would love to keep in contact Mazu, as I am certain with enough gentle persuasion we will be living there soon!
Cewmont: I would love to share your contacts!

Thank you!!

Hey, missusjessus.
We just moved our family from Los Angeles to Goiânia. Goiânia is a great place, but we're having a very bad experience with our shipment. :-(
If we had it to do over again, I doubt that we would.
Wish your family all the best with your decision.

I am planning to move to Brazil, to Goiania because of it s quality of life. But worry about adapting.

Hi,
Ricardo here, I am a New York City boy living in Tennessee. I will be retiring to Goiania soon. I speak good Portuguese and my wife (from Go.) and I have vacationed there each of our 17 years of marriage.

First Goiania is not as "country" as one might think. It is a cosmopolitan city with all the complexity of my home town. I feel very at home there and as long as you remember that this is NOT the USA, you will too.

I have met quite a few American expats in this city, but the real surprise is the sheer number of Goianos who have lived extensively in the USA (Atlanta, Massachusetts, California, and Florida primarily) and returned with fond memories and savings to start their own businesses. And a strong command of english.

The people of Goiania are warm welcoming and patient. I must admit that I get frustrated by the pace of business, but I've felt humbled more times than I can count by the generosity of these wonderful people.

We will be In GO for vacation again this year. let me know how we can help.

Hi and welcome on board exnyer

Thanks for your contribution. Don't hesitate to share your experiences on the forum

Have a great day
Armand

Hi MissusJessUS,

How are you feeling about your "maybe" move now?   I'm Irish (currently living in Ireland), my husband is from Goiania and we are moving in June this year.   The embassy just rang me last week to say my visa has been approved......Woohoo!!!

I love it there.   It is totally different to Ireland, but I've been there twice and am prepared.   I would go on hols first, if you haven't been, and get a good feel for it.

I speak portuguese, a long way from perfectly but I can hold my own.   You really only start speaking and improving once you are there and have no other choice.   The first time I went I only heard english once - in a shop - and the guy was American (if that makes you feel any better).

I'll be there anyway, no doubt dying for a proper chin wag in english, and I know of 1 other Irish girl def living in the city (although I don't know her).........

Good Luck

Goiania is definately a small cosmopolitan city I guess you will not have problems at all...

By the way, furniture is extremely expensive, so I´d suggest to check the shipping, at least the stuff you like the most... I payed 4,11 euros per kilo to ship some of our stuff from Madrid to Brasilia...

I am researching the process of shipping a container of our good furniture. Would you detail the process for me? Was it door to door? Anything I should avoid?

thanks in advance.

Well, I shipped from Madrid to Brasilia, the agent made the arrangements only in Spain, I was the one going to the customs in Brasilia, I paid someting like 30US to get my stuff from there and it was a very simple process since I was living abroad for more than 1 year so I had to pay no taxes.

A door to door service will charge you all the agents involved in the process, but you will receive your stuff at home.

Good luck!

Ricardo -

We shipped all of our stuff in 2006 with no problems. Over the past few years our friends have done the same, with less than satisfactory results.

It really depends on the time of year. Are there any exotic car shows or international exhibitions that would coincide with your container's arrival, for example?? That stuff has priority, and you will pay storage fees for any days past the original shipping agreement - regardless of whether or not they have even looked at it.

For appliances you will do better to buy here, with the warranty intact, and you'll also avoid the added cost (and headache) of remodeling the kitchen to fit them, and/or rewiring for 110. Also, the heavy-duty transformers 220>110 are very expensive.

At the port, be prepared for additional fees/fines... If they can't find anything initially, they will search harder. Oh, and one more tip: don't bring any Dr. Pepper. Apparently it is contraband & worth about a R$700 fine.

Dear Bloggers,
I want to live in Goiania.
My questions are:
1. How safe it is to live there.
2. Do they speak English in Goiania. Of course i will start Portuguese lesson for 6 months before I will come.
3. Are people friendly with the foreigners?
4. In which part of the city is better to rent a house.

I'm planning to open a Greek Restaurant serving Greek specialities.

Friendly
Dimar0

Hi Dimar0,



On behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team, welcome on board. I hope that your experience here will be both enjoyable and informative. I'm sure you'll make lot of new friends too.

I can answer some of your questions, but regarding the best place in the city in which to live will leave that to one of our members who lives there.

1.  Brazil is a high crime country compared to most other nations. Large cities are always a problem, but I have lived here for over 11 years with no problem whatsoever. You need to take precautions anywhere in the world. If you read my posting "A Gringo's Survival Guide to Brazil" at the top of the first Brazil Forum page and follow all the safety tips that are listed then you'll probably never have any problems either and you'll end up loving this country as much as I do.

2.   English is not widly spoken anywhere in Brazil, not even in the business world. You will meet English speakers in most state capitals and Goiânia is a capital, so you may meet some there. As far as English speaking Brazilians, not very likely you'll meet any. You really will need to have a decent level of Portuguese to get along well.

3.  Generally speaking, Brazilians love foreigners. They want to know us, want to be around us and want us to consider them as our friends. Just be careful of WHO you make friends with, and their motive for wanting to be friends. Unfortunately for some it's just the fact they think we're made of money.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Dimar0 wrote:

Dear Bloggers,
I want to live in Goiania.
My questions are:
1. How safe it is to live there.
2. Do they speak English in Goiania. Of course i will start Portuguese lesson for 6 months before I will come.
3. Are people friendly with the foreigners?
4. In which part of the city is better to rent a house.

I'm planning to open a Greek Restaurant serving Greek specialities.

Friendly
Dimar0

Goiania is safer than many other large Brazilian cities. 

http://expatbrazil.wordpress.com/2013/0 … in-brazil/

English is not widely spoken here. To open and run a restaurant without speaking Portuguese will be very difficult. 

People here are not anti-foreigner. However, in business you may well pay a "Gringo Tax" if you aren't careful. 

Best Sectors are Oeste, Marista and Bueno. 

Speaking as a foreigner, we need a good Greek restaurant!  Not sure how popular it will be.  A new Mexican restaurant opened here.  Doing well because it is half restaurant and have party place.  You might need to do some Zorba the Greek dancing. :-) 

What type of Visa will you have?

Dear William,
Thanks a lot for your prompt answers.
My first concern is the crime level because I'm planning to bring my family after 4 years and if everything goes well about my job.
Second of course it is the language.It is not an easy language.
I will start lesson on October and for 6 months. Then i will come to Goiania to check about the place for my Greek Restaurant.
If I will find the place then i will return on July to start the preparation of the company. Until then I will continue the Portuguese lessons.
About human relations with Brazilians i hope God help me to make the best choices.

Friendy,
Dimitris

Dear GringogGene,

The dancing and the Music part is on scheduled.
Zorbas, Chatzidakis, Greek Traditional nights, Greek music etc.

The menu will be based on strictly Greek recipes. Including of course ouzo companions.

About the visa nothing yet. But between Greece and Brazil there is no need for visa.

How about to rent an apartment? As far i searched in the internet i believe that a good choice is to rent in a skyscraper for safety reasons. But i don't know in which are of Goiania.

I will need good friends there. If you are living there I will be glad to meet you.

Friendly,
Dimitris

Hi Dimar0,
First of all, it would be good if you were not moving there by yourself Let´s say, if you had a Brazilian partner of some sort. That´s because moving and specially settling a business in Brazil is not the easiest thing, just check the posts on bureaucracy. If you try do to things unoficially, you may be charged unofficial fees and will involve many people interested in suck your money out. I don´t know how much Brazil let foreigners run a business, so watch out for that.
I´ve been to Goiania, my ex-husband is from there, and because I am from Sao Paulo state, I was treated with respect, but not of their own. Unless you are very, very into the Brazilian culture, and will be forgiving of their manners, it might be a hard place to start your life. You won´t find a huge expat community there as you would in Sao Paulo and Rio. Goiania people are very nice, friendly, but are not used to meet foreigners or eat international food. Any Brazilian who wants to set up a business in an unknown town is advised to move there, and stay at least a year without investing any money, to get a feel of the place. Please, do not believe what people say about their home town, it may not apply to you. Much of the business success will come from a personal network, including having friendship and party time with politicians, law makers, you name it.
Locals often think that foreigners get they money easily and will want to get it from you. Beware! Do your homework! Soon you are going to start hearing stories about Brazilians who immigrated to America or Japan, made money, came back, invested their money on a business and lost everything. Many, if lucky, go back to start all over again.
However, if you want a place to live with a small income flowing from abroad, Brazil is a good place.

Hi Dimitris,

You don't need a VITUR Tourist Visa to come to Brazil, but that will only allow you to stay for 90 days in any six month period and it does not permit you to work or conduct business in Brazil.

For that you will need a VITEM-V Work Visa or a VIPER Permanent Visa (in your case for investors with an investment of R$150 thousand). For a Work Visa you'd need a work contract with a Brazilian company.

Regarding apartment rentals, we have a couple of sites that you can search for rentals:

www.lugarcerto.com      and   www.bomnegocio.com

They allow you to search by state, city, type of property, price range, number of bedrooms and most of the listings have photos.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Dimar0 wrote:

Dear GringogGene,

The dancing and the Music part is on scheduled.
Zorbas, Chatzidakis, Greek Traditional nights, Greek music etc.

The menu will be based on strictly Greek recipes. Including of course ouzo companions.

About the visa nothing yet. But between Greece and Brazil there is no need for visa.

How about to rent an apartment? As far i searched in the internet i believe that a good choice is to rent in a skyscraper for safety reasons. But i don't know in which are of Goiania.

I will need good friends there. If you are living there I will be glad to meet you.

Friendly,
Dimitris

Your visa should be your first priority.  With a tourist visa you can only 'visit".  You can only stay 90 days renewable for another 90 then you must leave the country for 180 days. 

To stay here and open a restaurant, you need an investment visa or permanent visa.  I'm not a visa expert, but there are many discussions here about visas.  Until you resolve this, you can't move forward on your plan. 

Why Goiania?

Dear LadyinBrasil,

Thanks a lot for your information.

1. We are in touch with Greek-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Greek Embassy, Greek Consultate in Brazilia town and we know all the regulations about how to invest in order to open a business in Brazil. Of course according to the law there must be a person (permanent resident/citizen of Brazil) who will be the representative of the company.
2. Everything will be prepared from their Services Office,Greek and Brazilian layers (visas, translations,money transfers,paperwork,contracts etc).
3. I take up my mind very seriously what you say about how Goianians they will accept me into their society and what are my chances to succeed in my plans.You cut my wings by 40% with all of these which you said.
In Greece this situation it is very different.If you want to invest and live in Greece everybody will accept you as a Greek.
All of the Puplic Services will help you to establish a business here (with less bureaucracy than in Brazil).There is a problem with the illegal immigrants who often create problems because they came from poor countries. But many of them we embrace them and help them find work and live in Greece.
4. Due to the bad economic climate in Greece I'm looking to build business in Brazil.
5. I choose Goiania because the crime rate is low comparing to other cities in Brasil.

Regards,
Dimitris

Greek citizens don't require a Tourist Visa, just their passport. The stay of all Visa Waiver Program and Schengen Agreement citizens (except UK) is LIMITED to 90 days only, it can not be extended.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Dear Dimitris,
Sorry for having "cut your wings by 40%", it was not my intention. But I bet you can still fly very high and safe!
Once  my husband and I bought a restaurant in Londrina and we had to closed it down for we were not prepared for some problems that arouse. We just thought that it would be the same as having business in the USA. It is a heartache, headache and pocketache that I truly want others not to go through.
But it is very good that you are actually doing your homework.
I would though, be opened for looking into other cities, such as Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Rio, and other large cities close to Sao Paulo and Rio. Goiania is still a very rural minded town, and in spite of its size, the majority of the population is very poor.
A note on the crime rate: the rate is low where there is no money circulating.
There are other considerations such as import of supplies, as you can´t depend on what is available on the market. To start, there is no feta cheese or even lamb easily available on that part of the country.
I would think that the best bet is still to open your Greek restaurant very close (on the same street) to where there is another one. Not to compete with, but to attract more customers over to that area.
Brazil has a free supporting service for small businesses called SEBRAE (http://www.sebrae.com.br/) that you can get advise on.
Besides checking up with SEBRAE, you can also hire a market research company just to make sure.
If there is one thing that can be relatively safe to open in Brazil is franchising businesses. You only come with the money and they will do the rest, including market research.
It´s part of Brazilian culture to tell you that everything is going to be smooth, fine and successful. To just to have positive thinking. Remember, this is a people pleasing culture of wishful thinking.
Dimitris, I really want you to come to Brazil and set up a nice Greek restaurant. I´ll be there for a glass of ouzo and cheer up with you and your family. In the name of all Brazilians, I tell you that we are honored you have considered coming here and to live among us. I want you to be successful and happy in Brazil.

Hi Laura,

Very true about the headaches with opening and running any business in Brazil, lots of bureaucracy.

You're also right on the mark about thinking about trying to open the restaurant closer to one of the larger capitals such as São Paulo, Rio, Belo Horizonte areas and maybe near other Greek or ethnic restaurants. Heck, McDonalds in the USA and Canada wouldn't think of opening a restaurant if there wasn't a Burger King, Wendy's or KFC nearby, just to attract more customers for all concerned by virtue of the variety of choices.

This is evident in São Paulo where you will find all of the Middle-Eastern restaurants specializing in Halal foods in the bairro of Pari or the concentration of Indian restaurants in Consolação.

Even in São Paulo, you're going to have some difficulties in finding the kind of products used in Greek cuisine. I know because I love to cook international cuisine. You have a heck of a time finding things like Tahini or grape leaves, even Feta can be a challenge. Lamb shouldn't be too hard to find however.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi William,
I am so glad Brazil has a such a good animator like you. Congratulations on your work, I bet it is not easy, it takes lot of time, research, studying,writing, and all. I really appreciate your inputs as they are very accurate, well thought and thorough.
Hey, Brazil expats: this guy knows what he is speaking. Trust him.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Laura, it is very much appreciated. Yes, you're right it take a lot of time and work on my part. All volunteer too, by the way.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Dear LandinBrasil,

Thank you very much for your advices.
The market researchers are in our plans.Many of the materials which we will need for the Greek cuisine will be imported. Such as grape leaves, some herbals, butter. I can make 4-5 kinds of cheese (feta, mizithra,yogurt, kefalotiri, tzatziki etc) if i can find goat and sheep milk from the market. I will use only extra virgin Greek olive oil which i will import. The tastes of the Greek cuisine depended on this kind of virgin things. If you use other kind will be a mess.

I've read the infos of our friend wjwoodward about what every immigrant has to pay attention. Still I'm worry about my the personal safety. I'm not used to involved in such kind of situations. Maybe i have to hire a bodyguard and gets some "kind" of protection for my business and myself.

I agree to open the restaurant in an area with other restaurants.
I will appreciate you and wjwoodward for any suggestion you will have.

Best Regards,
Dimitris

Dimitris,

Things aren't so bad in Brazil that you will need a bodyguard. If you follow the safety tips I have outlined in "A Gringo's Survival Guide to Brazil" I'm sure you will be just fine.

The vast majority of crimes in this country are crimes of opportunity, where somebody makes themselves a target or victim by doing something stupid or by not doing something that they should do. If you follow the rules you will stay safe by taking away those opportunities. It has worked for me for over eleven years now and I've often been in many places that would scare you out of your skin. I've never had a problem.

Be careful about using any kind of "agents" for the visa process, they will charge you a very high fee and won't do anything that you couldn't do by yourself directly through either the Braziloian Consulate or the Ministry of Labor depending on the visa you want to apply for, or they will do nothing at all after taking your money. The VIPER Permanent Visa for investors is about the easiest way to get permanency and that you apply for through the Ministério de Trabalho e Emprego (MTE) directly.

Also you must be aware that registering and starting up a business is a very long bureaucratic process in Brazil, it can take up to 120 days (on average) or even more. It also requires the services of a lawyer and accountant. There are a number of state and federal licences needed and the tax structure and laws are extremely complex.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi Dimitris,
I am getting very excited about your Greek restaurant. I think you will offer top of the line food, and I really would like you to succeed in Brazil. I don´t remember if you have been here before, but I would strongly advise you to come first and stay for a while before you start any paperwork or investment. Besides, you can meet other Greek immigrants and get more precise (and precious)information. As I said before, Goiania is a young city, a large suburban (means poor) sprawl, made up of people migrating from rural areas. Mediterranean food is being advertised by the health TV programs, but that doesn´t mean that they will flock to your restaurant and make that a habit. I may be very wrong, but they also like to drink beer and dance Brazilian country songs, while love eating at their grandma´s house. Up to here, I am assuming that you plan to have a dine-in, elegant restaurant, with tablecloth, cloth napkins. If you want to hit the upper class, you will need to invest more on the location, remodeling, decoration, advertising than on food.
In Brazil, better restaurants don´t have owners working in the kitchen, but attending customers or at the register. You may need to bring chefs from Greece as well. Or perhaps hire a professional chefs and train them.
Now, what I think could be successful is a little stand at the shopping malls. You can offer Greek street foods and maybe expand your business from there.
My concern is not on the acceptance of Greek food, as somehow, it is a taste that is not too different from what Brazilians eat. There are even lots of street vendors. Just enter "churrasco grego" under "images" on google. You will find them selling gyros for as low as R$1,00 (divide that for 3, and you will have the price in euros). At the shopping malls, you can sell it for R$15 to R$20.
I still would think that your restaurant could be located near Sao Paulo or Rio, specially in touristic towns, by the beach. So then, you will attract not only Brazilians but foreigners from South America and all over the world. You can´t depend on the local population for the success of your business. Besides, if you are located near Sao Paulo, you will have access to your imports much easier and cheaper.
Fresh goat and sheep milk is not very common in Brazil, but you may find some in the South or in a few farms scattered around the country.
And, you won´t need a bodyguard. You can live in São Paulo in a nice neighborhood and never witness anything violent. And the traffic is as bad and smoggy as in Athens. I´ve been to your country - and loved it.
Good luck!

Dear William and Laura,

Thanks a lot for your information and your advices.
I already discussed many of them with my partner.

1. All the legal procedures (investor visas, paperwork and everything which we will need to open a business )will be handled by Greek layers and accountants who are operate in Brazil with the help of our ambassador in Brazilia).

2. I will come with my partner on Orthodox Easter of 2014 (15 days after the Catholic) in order to: a) tay for a while before start anything. b) to find  in which city we will start the business. Strongly we discuss yours suggestions for Sao Paolo or Rio.Until then Portugeuse lessons (do you think that 4 hours/week from 1st of October till Easter is enough for the beginning?), contacts with all the appropriate persons in Greece-Brazil.

3. You are right Laura to begin first with a small Greek Tavern (churrasco grego)probably in mall or in a street with big people circulation and then God's willing to expand our business.
For the beginning we want to invest not a big capital.

4. Find an apartment in a nice neighborhood,and buy all the furniture,make all the connections(electricity, phone,water,gas internet fast one, etc.)

5. After all of these we will return on July for the Tavern's preparations (decoration,equipment etc)

6. Investigate the Supply Chain for our food materials which we will need. Equipment and food Suppliers, Import chain etc.

7. We expect to be ready to open on October 2014.

8. For flexibility we will have a small but tradition menu (non more than 20 Greek kind of food).

9. Hire people (2-3 persons no more)in order to keep the operational cost at low level.

So these are the steps which we have planned.
And of course  to get over our fear of a safe living there.

Finally in any case will deliver our plans, I would be very happy to serve you in my tavern. You will be my first friends in Brazil.

Please inform me about nice neighborhoods in Sao Paolo and Rio.

Regards,
Dimitris

Hi Dimitris,
I am so glad you are taking all the necessary steps to settle your business in Brazil. I think you will be very successful, and we really need more Greeks, Greek food, Greek music, Greek furniture, Greek everything in Brazil (I lived near Tarpon Springs, FL, USA).
When you come to Sao Paulo, take your time to visit Acropoles restaurant, in Bom Retiro neighborhood (restauranteacropoles.com.br.)
In regards to good neighborhoods, it depends on what you are looking for. If you are coming alone, you can stay in a flat (residential hotel), so you don´t have to worry about buying furniture, hooking up electricity and all. You can live temporarily in regular hotels, or if you really want to go on a budget, you can stay in boarding houses (pensão)or shared housing. Depending on where you are going to open your restaurant, you may even live on the top floor.
Note: I forgot to tell you that in Goiania, you are not going to have easy access to seafood, while is São Paulo city you get them fresh. Take a look at Google Images under Mercado Municipal de São Paulo. You may get all your needed supplies there without needing to import anything yourself.
Good luck, and keep us posted. Be sure that we will be there with you.

Meanwhile, can you start a blog on your move to Brazil?

Laura

Mr. Dimaro.
It's my personal oppinion... Goiania City is not prepared for a Greek Restaurant, you will have difficulties to get ingredients, and, maybe peoples will come in to visit one time, it's all... they will not be repeaters...
and, restaurant business is a target of "arrastao"... group of armed bandits atack restaurant's guests and "clean" all...
I had before I come to Japan, a Polynesian Restaurant in Sao Paulo, near Shopping Center Ibirapuera in Moema... but I had to give up because I had troubles with "CHEQUES SEM FUNDO"... (no founds checks).
Now, I'm working in my own italian restaurant in central Tokyo very far from security problems... with open mind guests.
good luck.
Ayoub

Dear Okada,

The idea to open a restaurant in Goiania is left.
Now we are looking to do business in Sao Paolo.

Regards,
Dimar0

Hello Dimitris,

Certainly if there are other reasons for you wanting to live in Goiânia you shouldn't be afraid of opening your restaurant there. It is a state capital, well populated and certainly would support a thriving Greek restaurant.

Sure, it might be difficult to get some of the ingredients that you may use, but you could always find a supplier for them in Belo Horizonte - MG or in São Paulo - SP who could ship them to you. They might cost a tiny bit more, but I wouldn't just give up on your dream before checking that out.

There is no doubt that you'd be able to open a Greek restaurant in São Paulo where it would be easier to obtain your products, but the competition there is pretty heavy. You'd really have to figure out something to make yourself stand out from other Greek restaurants. Also the cost of doing business and cost of living in São Paulo is going to be higher too. That might even be more than the added cost of getting the things you want in Goiânia.

Don't let one opinion sway you. Check out everything first, that's the way to guarantee success in any endeavour, not just opening a restaurant.

The robberies "arrastões" of restaurants that are happening is in São Paulo - SP. I've not heard one single report of such robberies in any other city, not even in Rio where I would expect one to happen. Also, those robberies are happening in very high class neighborhoods where the restaurants attract people with lots of money. Despite the robberies, the restaurants are not suffering a loss of business. The customers still are coming back.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi, my friend,
Why you choiced Brazil for your second country?? when a lots of brazilians are trying to live out??

Hello Okada,

Maybe that's because, despite your negative opinion, Brazil is a good place to invest and to make money. It has its share of violence, yes, but what place in the world doesn't these days.

If one follows all the usual safety measures that would be required when travelling to any foreign country Brazil is no more dangerous than the USA. I've lived here for over eleven years and never come close to having troubles of any kind.

I think you're really letting your bad experience with a failed business here influence your opinions and can assure you that they are over exaggerated.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team