Story of the baggage carousel.

Rio-De-Janeiro, Brazil

The best way to head from the US to Brazil is to take a direct flight out of Miami, DC, or any other major US city. To save some money on the tickets, I took an Avianca flight with a layover at Bogota. After landing at Sao Paulo airport early in the morning, while waiting for my baggage to arrive, I saw a wide variety of things tumbling down the baggage carousel. Usually baggage carousel’s have bags big and small, suitcases hard and soft moving around, but in Brazil you see more than that.

Baby strollers, electronics, home decorations, bridal supplies and many other items which I have never seen in the baggage claim area at airports in 9 years of living in the US. Some of these are gifts and some will be sold informally for a profit. When international flights land in Brazil the baggage carousels are the supply chains feeding this informal economy. I have done more research on what things are in demand here and you can make use of the information I provide here to pay for your future trip to Brazil. Please do send me a royalty check on the profits you make here!



Victoria secret lingerie is definitely in demand here, or so I hear. Women here are completely smitten by American and European luxury and beauty products but they are prohibitively expensive here. Not that it stops people here from buying them. A walk around any shopping mall in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, you will notice that these American and European brand boutiques are doing roaring business. Bring in beauty products from the US and Europe, sell them cheaper that the ones in the boutiques and you will have enough profit to pay for your trip down here.

My Brazilian friends in the US are experts at this. They even book orders prior to heading down to Brazil. Friends and acquaintances make a wish list of things they want and transmit them across Facebook and chat. This is usually followed by frantic trips to malls and squeezing in every last gram of baggage allowance allowed on flights. Weight is money, the more you pack, the more you earn.

Bridal dresses are a guaranteed money maker. Take a trip down to any bridal store in the US or order a bridal dress of every size from David’s bridal. Brazilian waistlines are trimmer than the ones in the US. So order accordingly. Pack all of them in a suitcase, come down here and sell them on e-Bay. You will make enough money to pay for your flight tickets, hotel accommodations and money to splurge on few drinks by the beach.

Laptops are a big money spinner but I suggest you don’t try this. Customs officials here can be very difficult when it comes to letting laptops pass. One laptop maybe, but two, you are definitely pushing your luck. You can try small electronics which can fit into your carry on and suitcases.

What’s the deal about baby strollers which I mentioned earlier? It’s too bulky and you have to check it in as an item. So it doesn’t make much sense from a profit perspective. Usually people bring this in if someone in the family is having a baby and they requested a stroller.

So hurry and start planning for your free trip to Brazil! Check out your nearest Brazilian embassy website for visa requirements.

The game of animals.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Yesterday I played the game of animals, “Jogo de Bicho” as it’s called in Brazil. Why am I playing a game of animals? Let me explain. Jogo de Bicho is a lottery played all around Brazil, and particularly popular in Rio de Janeiro where I am now.

In the USA and Europe, you have the Lotto, Power ball and Mega millions. Organized lottery, involving governments, with printed tickets sold in convenience stores across the country and televised drawings. Jogo de Bicho on the other hand is no where as nearly organized as Lotto, Power ball or Mega millions. “Bicheiros” are the ones who sell these tickets and you can find them on any street corner in Rio de Janeiro. All you have to do is pick an animal to place a bet and the payoff can be anywhere between 15-20 times the bet depending on the numbers you picked and results of the draw. What makes it so popular is that you can pick the amount of your bet. So poor can bet less and rich can bet more.

There are around 25 animals you can choose from with each animal having 4 numbers associated with it. You can pick one of the 4 numbers to place a bet. I picked elephant, which has 45, 46, 47 and 48 as its associated numbers. Out of this 4, I picked 45. Apart from this number you have to pick 2 more digits which go in front of 45. I picked 05 for this. So my number was 0545 and I bet 5 Reais (around US$3). The results came out today. You have to go check with the Bicheiro for the results. The results are on coupons like the one you see here.



All the 4 numbers matching has the highest payout. 3 numbers matching, for ex – 545 would have a lesser payout. I did not win anything. The number of the drawing was 0646. Damn! Missed it by a number! Should have picked 6 instead 5.

The game has an interesting history and you can read more about it at
Jogo De Bicho

From copy of a passport to history of a republic

Rio-De Janeiro, Brazil

I arrived in Brazil yesterday and will be staying here for the next 45 days. Carrying my passport everywhere I go, did not seem like a smart thing to do. In Brazil, you can go to a “Cartorio”, a person who authenticates copies of your documents which you can use in place of the originals. I decided to get an authenticated copy of my passport and Brazil visa which I could use instead of carrying my passport around.

Usually Cartorios have huge lines, maybe that reflects the amount of paperwork Brazilians have to put up with while dealing with their government agencies. Luckily for me, when I reached the Cartorio, it was empty and getting an authenticated copy took less than 10 minutes. On the walk back to the apartment, I came across a beautiful building “Palace Catete” with a huge signs “Museu de Republica Brasieira”, Museum of the Brazil Republic. Now that I have quit my job and have nothing much to do with lots of time on my hands, I decided to go in and see what this museum had to offer.

I walked in and was heading straight into one of the rooms when a security guard called me from the back and said “Precisa Pagar”. He meant “Dude, Don’t just waltz right in, you need to pay”. Ticket paid, with a brochure in hand I walked around the museum with photographs, portraits and displays chronicling the lives of former presidents of Brazil who lived in that building which served as a seat of government for over 80 years.



Before getting to Brazil, I read a fair bit of Brazilian history. Walking through the museum, I could put pictures and faces to the words I read about Brazilian history. One picture was with the current President of Brazil, Lula in a TV debate with the former president of Brazil, Collor de Mello. Lula lost that election to Collor de Mello in part due to TV Globo’s editing of the debate showing Lula as a bumbling idiot and Collor as a handsome, educated man. Collor de Mello proved to be an utterly incompetent president, looting the Brazilian government treasury with impunity. Globo, years later apologized to Lula.

One of Brazil’s popular politicians in the early 40’s, Getulio Vargas, killed himself with a gunshot to his head when he was about to be deposed from his presidency in a military backed coup. In Getulio Vargas’s bedroom in the museum, the Pajama and the revolver he used on his last night were on display.

When not in a hurry to get to work, we look around, notice and observe small things around us. We take the time to explore things we observe and it is in those moments that our understanding of the surroundings we live in increases. All in all, an educating morning on Brazilian political history and a good start to my 4 months of traveling.

Greetings from a scooterist.

Raleigh, NC

I ride my scooter to work every day and very often I get yelled at by car drivers that I slowed them down. I have tried to empathize with you and have tried to understand your road rage but have failed. I have built empathy for the poor, the underprivileged, the struggling grad students, the clueless undergrads, the overworked TA’s and underpaid restaurant workers. This road rage though defies my understanding. On blogs, I see perverts posting their fantasies and the intelligent trying to provoke a reasoned debate on issues they care about. I will use this forum to explain a few things in the interest of mutual understanding.




Do I have the same right of road as you have?

Yes. Just because you are driving a car does not give you an entitlement to the road. I have the same right to the road as you have and so do the students who ride a bicycle to their classes every day. I slow you down? Well, the bicyclists slow me down as well but I respect their right to the road and just give a smile and a nod when I pass them by. A little bit of respect and acknowledgement can go a long way in making the society a better place. So shut the f**k up and drive behind me and wait for your turn to pass. If you are trailing me for a long time patiently, then I usually move to the side of the road and at the first available opportunity, will let you pass. Some drivers acknowledge this gesture and give me the universal “thumbs up” sign and a smile. This acknowledgement makes me happy. I am no saint but I am no self serving bas***d either.

Why should I be on the road?
For the same reason you are on the road stupid. I need to get some place, be it work, gym or the grocery store.

Why am I in the middle lane?
Douche bag, I have to make the next left. That’s exactly why. I can’t be a super moped hero, moped ninja, super moped man or a flying James "moped" bond, to make a flying left turn from the right most lane. Does it make things clear?

Why I drive this moped?
It makes perfect financial sense. This moped costs 500 dollars to buy a used one, gives 80 miles a gallon and the insurance comes to 90$ per year. Add to it, I live just 1.5 miles from my work place. So it makes perfect financial sense which you, the guy driving the hummer with 500$ rims will surely not be able to comprehend.

To sum it up, I will be nice and I will let you pass. I will be respectful of your road rights, but if you yell or f**k with me, I will drive at 15 miles per hour and hold the entire traffic down during the morning rush hour and make your hummer feel like a worthless piece of s**t. Yes, I have this aggressive side to me as well. I just don't express it as road rage.

So just shut the f**k up and drive behind me.

Good day
The Scooterist you yelled at today.