Brazil - amaze us with your knowledge of the World Cup host

[CatherineHMumsnet]

With less than a month to go now until the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off, we thought it might be nice to boost our knowledge of the country that's holding it, beyond The Girl from Ipanema, the favelas, Pelé and Caipirinhas.

So treat this as a sort of Mumsnet Wiki - wow other Mumsnetters with things they might not know about the World's Fifth Largest Country (to start you off)....

toomuch I've been lucky enough to visit Manaus and the opera house is very odd. You are in a typically bustling mad South American city then you suddenly come across this mostly empty plaza with a grand opera house in the middle. Its really disorientating as its immaculate and in huge contrast to the street markets around the corner.
Anotherther thing about Brazil - the beers are huge and you can get very drunk without realising .

Manaus used to have lots of money going from exporting natural rubber/latex.

I was lucky to attend a play at the Opera House in Manaus. :)

Did you find it odd too Lweji? I really enjoyed Manaus but its definitely like nowhere else I've been.

I had sort of forgotten about the outside, as I was with people and we went in the evening. And this was about 14 years ago.
The inside is really opulent and it is a relic from older (1800s I think) times with loads more money.

I was more fascinated by piranas being sold in the fish market. And the size of the river!

I was only there for a couple of days, while visiting a lab. At the time they were handling infected animals and tissue with a certain Cat3 pathogen in the same lab where they had their ubiquitous coffees.

I don't think seeing the Amazon on tv can prepare you for how huge it is when you see it. The pirhana ornaments and potions are just odd and afair illegal to take out of Brazil.
Did you get chance to go to a Churriscita (sp?). Nothing like being force fed steak and chicken hearts to make you go for a largely veggie diet!

Churrascaria?

I do love my meat. :) I have been to a few rodizios where they serve lots of different meats. (Manaus once, Brazil thee times I think)
They do a similar thing for pizzas.

Oh, and they serve sweet pizzas too. There was a dark chocolate and strawberries that was fantastic.

If you drink to many Caipirinha you won't remember anything about Brazil!

The statue of Christ redeemer took 5 years to construct and is 38 metres tall, I was listening to the guide on the trip

Rio de Janeiro means 'January River'

It is the most amazing place I have been to and would love to go back.

Brazil nuts are just called 'nuts' in Brazil

Churrascaria, that's the word! Now I'm greedy but that just about finished me off. I also didn't realise that pink dolphins exhausted until I went to Manaus. I'd heard of them but just assumed they weren't 'really' pink, just a bit not grey. Imagine my surprise

This is great, my ds4's homework is to find out about Brazil, do this thread has done it for us!

Petropolis is a small imperial town, for Pedro II (Peter II), not very far from Rio, but deep in the mountains. You'd think you were in Central Europe instead, with houses reminiscent of Switzerland or Austria.

I once stayed at a friend's place, which was a middle class secured condominium (not as posh as you´d think), and was a very plain two bed flat, but complete with an extra room and bathroom for the... maid. (she didn't have one, btw, because she was only doing her Phd then)

Extra room and bathroom for the maid is the norm. It is usually next to a laundry room, which is next to the kitchen. It also usually features a second rear door that is mainly used to put the rubbish out and by the maid and deliveries.

The buildings usually have two lifts. One to be used by the residents and visitors and the other by the maids, delivery people and employees such as gardeners, cleaners or the people who stay at the gates controlling who comes in/out and answering the intercom (not sure how to call them in English).

The lift for residents and visitors is nice with huge mirrors.
The other lift is usually slightly less nice and no mirrors

The division of class, still is a BIG thing in Brazil and it is to do with money, skin colour, and even hair type in certain parts of the country.

Generally speaking, in the East, the poorest are African descendants or mixed with African descendants...they go to great lengths to straitening their naturally curly or afro hair so they will look less African. Unless they are somehow involved in culture and arts when it is cool to show and embrace your roots.

Brazilian people are obsessed with beauty, as someone said above and the men and women look down on women who don't regularly get their waxing, pedicure and manicure done. As well as the hair of course.

As we were visiting a very poor city in Brazil, with a beauty salon popping out in every corner, my husband wisely observed about the inhabitants:
"They may be poor, but they look good"

In Brazil we have a culture of paying by credit card in instalments. If you don't have access to a credit card you can open a tab at a store. This way, you can pay for your clothing, shoes and make up in 12 instalments or even 24 if it s something expensive.

As opposed as the 'saving' culture we have over here, there they have a 'debt' culture.

Oh, and if a typical Brazilian (I am not generalising of course) buy something with a huge discount or very cheap, they will lie saying that it much more expensive than it actually was...
It is all about showing off the money that you don't have.
Here we brag if we find a good bargain right?

Aren't most Brazil nuts imported from Bolivia?

The babacu palm tree found in the Amazonian rainforest provides leaves which are used roofs, baskets and other stuff, the nut shell is used to make charcoal. The mesacarpo between the nut and the shell is high in protein and often ground into flour, the kernel is used for oil for cooking, for fuel and to make soap. The babacu is also used for medicine and cattle fodder. The women who break the babacu nut are called quebradeira and are reliant on the babacu nut for their own use and income. The nut is very tough to break, being smaller and harder than a coconut.

Aren't most Brazil nuts imported from Bolivia?

The babacu palm tree found in the Amazonian rainforest provides leaves which are used roofs, baskets and other stuff, the nut shell is used to make charcoal. The mesacarpo between the nut and the shell is high in protein and often ground into flour, the kernel is used for oil for cooking, for fuel and to make soap. The babacu is also used for medicine and cattle fodder. The women who break the babacu nut are called quebradeira and are reliant on the babacu nut for their own use and income. The nut is very tough to break, being smaller and harder than a coconut.

i had a brazilian lover for a while who was fantastic in bed - i suspect this is too small a sample to generalise from though. if anyone wants to buy me a ticket i could run further experiments?

q: are brazil nuts called brazil nuts in brazil?

damn i should have read the posts before doing the obvious brazil nut thing.

The Brazil nut is not just "nut" in Brazil, as there are many types of nuts.
In Brazil, it's called "castanha do Pará", which would translate more like "chestnut from Pará" (a state of Brazil).

TheHoneyBadger did you feel you had to make more effort with your appereance whilst with your Braziliam lover?

no barbie and he was very appreciative of my hands and feet strangely which were totally unadorned and non groomified.