By Dom Phillips Anyone with a feel for Brazilian soccer should tune into Wednesday night’s final: Argentina’s Boca Juniors against São Paulo’s Corinthians. This heavyweight title fight is the first leg in a two-game final to decide the Libertadores South America-wide club competition – the continent’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League. All eyes in Brazil(…)
Paraguay impeachment poses tough questions for Latin America
Periodically, we have an international incident which forces the question of whether or not there really is a community of Latin American nations, and if so, what it can accomplish. The “lightning impeachment”, which removed Fernando Lugo from the presidency of Paraguay on Friday, is shaping up to be exactly that kind of defining moment.(…)
Street life and the megacity
Public scenes of teeming life are harder to find than you might expect in São Paulo, and some of the best examples are under fire By Claire Rigby The streets of São Paulo, for a city of almost 20 million, are far from teeming. Quite the opposite. Where other Latin American cities are characterized by(…)
Did you know Brazil is expensive?
When I moved here two years ago from London, I was shocked by the big increase in cost. Brazil is now an extremely expensive country, and it has been for a few years now. Numbers that came out last week ranking São Paulo the world’s 12th-most expensive city – above London, Paris, and New York – will come as(…)
The people’s team
The legions of fans in the outskirts of São Paulo that celebrate and suffer along with Corinthians, arguably Brazil’s toughest soccer team, are maddeningly close to clinching the South American title. By Dom Phillips “Hawk steals reporters cell-phone at Corinthians training,” is not a headline sports reporters tend to write. Yesterday one did. The story(…)
Pride and Prejudice – Gay parades and gay rights in Brazil
By Claire Rigby Is São Paulo the gayest city in South America? Does size matter? If so, then probably. At noon on Sunday, São Paulo’s Pride parade, the ‘Parada’ kicks off at the MASP museum on Avenida Paulista, 16 years after the first march gathered about 300 people and ended in uproar when the police(…)
Network desperation
Despite sky-high prices, experiences with cell phone service or at airports in Brazil are often not just bad. They can be downright Kafkaesque. By Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro I think my smartphone is having an existential crisis. It spends an inordinate amount of its time either Sem Serviço (without service) or Buscando(looking), rather(…)
São Paulo – shock and awe kind of beauty
Our beloved metropolis is aesthetically powerful, but in the traditional sense, it’s no looker. It’s a shame the architectural treasures we do have are so sparse and so unknown – because they are so very good. By Claire Rigby There are plenty of cities that are a thrill to touch down in: the descent into(…)
The northeast is back
Walk around Rio or São Paulo these days, and it’s easy to feel the economic boom Brazil has been enjoying this century. But what region of Latin America’s largest country has done the best? The Northeast. In the last decade, the traditionally poor Northeastern states have grown four times as fast as the richer areas(…)
Who is Neymar?
This flashy and hugely talented kid has been dazzling fans in Brazil for years. He’s likely to be one of the best in the world – but will need to play in Europe first. By Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro Who is Neymar? You mean you don’t know? You must be American. He is(…)
