Porto Alegre - Brazil

Perceptions of Brazil
Outside of Brazil, the image is predominantly of football, carnival and, unfortunately, street crime and poverty. As with most other countries, this caricature is not really an accurate representation.

Here in the south of Brazil it's a little different. This is the industrial base of Brazil and many international companies have factories and offices here. Poverty does exist but, generally speaking, the average level of income is relatively high and the liestyle is very enjoyable.

Safety on The Street
Crime does exist - but not at the same level as Sao Paolo or Rio. I've been visiting Porto Alegre regularly for 2 years and living here for two years now. I've never had any problems and I find the locals very friendly and always willing to help strangers.

I may have been lucky - but I think that as long as you take sensible precautions (leave the Rolex at home please) you will be safe here.

Climate
The climate here is sub-tropical. The hottest months are December, January and February when it can get up to the high 30's. June and July are the coldest months and the temperature might fall to as low as 3 or 4 degrees Celsius in the morning and the middle of the night - but there will still be some days when the temperature gets up into the high 20's or even the low 30's.

You can't visit Porto Alegre - or anywhere else in Brazil for that matter - without trying caipirinha.

It's made with cachaca - a sugar cane rum, lime, ice and sugar. You need to use cane sugar for this to be authentic.

Basically you take a lime and halve it. Cut out the white line up the middle and remove the pith. Then chop the lime into small segments - say about a dozen for the complete lime. Put the segments into a glass or a mortar and crush them up to squeeze out the juice.

Put the juice and the segments into a nice chunky glass - a whisky tumbler - and then add 3 or 4 large ice cubes. You can crush the ice if you prefer. I like to add a few segments of uncrushed lime as well - but that's a matter of taste.

Then just pour in a generous measure of cachacas and add sugar to taste. You will need quite a lot of sugar to counterbalance the lime, this is not a healthy drink - if the alcohol doesn't get you the sugar will!

After two or three of these you will be an expert in making caipirinha. After two or thre of these you will probably be an expert in just about everything.

If you're drinking these in a cafe or at a friend's house, be careful. The sugar disguises the alcohol and it can really sneak up on you.

You can vary either the spirit used or the fruit. For example, if you substitute vodka for caipirinha you have a caipiroska.

Lots of young Brazilians actually prefer these to caipirinha - because cachaca is so cheap it's seen as a little unsophisticated in Brazil. Personally I prefer caipirinha, after all I can get vodka at my local supermarket whereas cachaca is a little more difficult to come by. I also prefer the taste.

Anyway - check out the video below for a more visual tutorial.