Andrew Dwyer

Have just done my first free charge, 61kwh courtesy of BYD Chainat. Wasn't going to bother but stopped off on the way back from the mil’s and had a little look at the app, 5 locations ( red spot ) available on my route and to my surprise a DC charger available 5km down the road, well …. it would be rude not to !. Got some help from a lovely lady in an Atto 3 as found it a little confusing, anyway got filled up but am now not sure about this “ redeem code “ button. What does it mean ?

Yes, we must have stood out as easy targets, totally green to be honest. This was a one off and on later visits to Copa with friends they would often stop the car in the early hours for a chat/laugh but was never approached blatantly like the first time back in 1994.

The sex for sale aspect of Brazil is rife, as blatant and in your face as in Thailand, “ red light “ districts are common especially in the larger tourist towns with transvestites as common as females. My first time visiting Rio with some colleagues after work we headed to Copacabana and sat at one of the many outside restaurants on the extra wide sidewalk. An American in our group had a small grasp on the language but to be honest no translation was needed. Shortly after sitting down we were surrounded by 7 or 8 working girls each one sat at a different table. To get our attention they would throw small balls of paper at us. When this failed they approached our table one by one and went round each one of us asking if we were interested. After it was apparent we weren’t they disappeared disgruntled and we weren’t bothered again, word spread we were cheap Charlies . While it was quite comical it was also very sad to see the desperation. While no doubt some of our group did pay for female company at a later date we all felt a little intimidated by the in your face aspect of the proposed business transaction in this famous tourist area.

Yes, Porcão ( Big Pig ) is a great chain as is Fogo de Chão ( Ground Fire ). Have yet to have a rodízio outside of Brazil with the quality and variety of meats that are on offer there. Once had a terrible experience in Toluca, Mexico ( Fogon do Brasil or something along those lines ). I loved Rio with its laid back atmosphere and although there are undoubtedly places to avoid I never felt threatened there. Often think that retiring there would have worked out well. Yes, easy to meet Brazilian women, i know of many in my industry who ended up taking a brasileira back to their home country, including my ex brother in law in Denver. A young American friend/colleague, he met a nice young lady in Pouso Alegre and when i returned after a couple of weeks in the U.K. they set me up with a blind date with his gf’s sister ! I guess it worked out for both of us, i ended up married for nearly 20 years and he took his bride back to Denver where they started a family.

I do see the similarities between São Paulo and Mexico City, both at a really fast pace with different areas of rich and poor and everything in between. Occasionally would drive into São Paulo for a weekend with friends and would always get hopelessly lost, such a huge metropolis I had no idea where i was. Whereas driving in Rio was excellent, everyone in holiday mode and being on the coast very easy to navigate, of course the population of Rio is around half that of São Paulo.

I only visited Salvador once on a few hours trip from a cruise , just enough time to see the sights up on the top. But worked in Recife, Aracaju and Fortaleza so got plenty of the northern beaches experience. Ubatuba was our nearest beach, more popular than classy and attracted the tourists from São Paulo. The small town we lived in survived purely from coffee growing and had a unique micro community of rich land owners and poor people who worked for them, a real step back in time. As a world travelling Gringo ( as a Brit not strictly a gringo but i didn’t mind ) presumably loaded !! ( i wasn’t ! ) my wife soon integrated us into the rich land owner clique, i hated it as a simple mechanical engineer on a cushy assignment. But I did like the advantages being friends to the elite ( for a small agricultural town ! ) would bring, a couple’s parents owned an apartment in Ipanema ( bought in the 60’s with sacks of coffee allegedly ) which we visited frequently in groups, sometimes we would be relegated to the hotel next door but it was all good, even the 6 hour drive was worth it. Some other friends had bought an apartment on Copacabana which was an awful apartment but did allow us to enjoy the New Year Fireworks at leisure then crash in the apartment on mattresses ( Thai style ). Loved Rio, despite the extra expense, and got to know the place quite well, had worked in a factory nearby, Santa Cruz, on many occasions and became the guide for visiting colleagues. Young Darren and myself ( late 1994 ) on Sugarloaf, Darren in yellow. On an expansion of the factory ( 1996 ) we were all put in a hotel ( few Brits many Americans ) in the most southerly beach of Rio ( Recreio dos Bandeirantes ) , we attracted a lot of attention from locals/girls/drug dealers and the police but we had a blast. One American quit his job there and then because of a local girl hoping to get hired at the plant ….. he didn’t, but I did hear years later he was hanging in there, 6 months US, 6 months Brazil, from a colleague of his ! Such is the power of a young exotic female !

I should clarify, it was an American company but i was working for the U.K. subsidiary.

The tax rate is high but it is like Thailand ( or it was during my time 1995 - 2016 ) very easy to avoid if not working directly for a Brazilian company. As a Brit non resident i claimed my tax back every year but was working for an American company and never paid the Brazilian government one centavo. The ever increasing work load and a marriage of convenience started to take its toll so in early 2016 i said goodbye to working, to my marriage and to Brazil and sought pastures new.

Bacalhau normally quite expensive but compulsory at Easter time.

I had a lot of colleagues ( and family ) visiting over the years so a visit to the Brazilian barbecue was always on the cards whichever city we were in. We even found a pizza rodízio which was tremendous, especially the dessert pizzas !! In general Brazilian food is European based with a a little South American twist.

Yeh Caipiroska ( vodka in the place of cachaça ) was a good option. The problem I found with Caipirinha was the bitterness often overcome with excessive sugar. Not a great lover of gin I was likewise disappointed with a Singapore Sling at Raffles in 1988.

Pão de queijo ( cheesebreads ) are another Brazilian national treasure, highly overrated imo. But a visit to a Rodízio ( meat overdose restaurant ) is worth a visit if only for the experience . The variety of different meats and an extensive salad bar ( with a lot more ) is impressive, picanha being the highlight and my personal favourite Cupim ( the hump seen on certain cattle ) extremely fatty but delicious if tender.

Indeed , feijoada comes in varying degrees of taste and price as does Caipirinha. Cachaça ( or Pinga as known locally ), main ingredient of a Caipirinha, comes in varying degrees of nastiness. My friends would drink shots of it and swear it was as good as a high class whiskey or tequila, only in price !! Fashionable bars ( Cachaçarias ) in the bigger cities stock thousands of different levels of the stuff. I would drink it to be sociable but never really enjoyed it.

Red tape problems are common in Brazil and I had great fun getting my id card ( RNE, Registro Nacional Estrangeiro ) and driving license, both only obtained from the capital of the state ( Belo Horizonte ) some 400 km away. Took me 1 year and several trips to get the RNE , a small piece of paper with my photo stapled on ( protocolo) looking decidedly worse for wear at the end. A permanent visa is available based on marriage or employment and subject to the usual police and medical checks …. and an extended state of patience !! but gives citizenship and everything except a passport and the right to vote, naturalisation is needed for these two items, not really necessary imho. The driving licence, as here, is translated from your home license with a few medical tests and a strange coordination test to check both arms and hands work in sync, many people failing the latter

Brazilian food is indeed highly regarded by the locals but to others not so much. Rice and beans with everything and they have quite an obsession with farofa ( cassava root ground into a powder ) which can only be described as sawdust, of course every country has its favourite ( som tum here, baked beans in the U.K., grits in the US etc ) which others struggle to understand the obsession. Feijoada is a national treasure, based on a traditional stew where the landowner would give his slaves the leftover pig parts to sustain themselves for the week it obviously contained the snout, the ears and the bits that would normally be discarded. But the modern version uses better class of ingredients and although found extensively in the tourist areas Brazilian people have great pride in their “ slave casserole “ and eat it regularly. Portuguese is generally required to exist comfortably in Brazil but closer to the various borders a schoolboy knowledge of Spanish will get you by ( Portunol as known by the locals ). Regional accents are in place and are quite obvious even for an untrained foreigner.

Brazil is a very diverse country and due to its size ( 9/10 the US ) has various different regions. The tourist traps of Iguaçu Falls, Rio and Salvador obviously attract the most attention but Brazilians also flock to the remote Amazon city of Manaus, the southern region, in particular Canela and Gramado, to immerse in the Germanic experience complete with snow ( albeit what we would call a light frost ! ) and the rustic picturesque cities in Minas Gerais ( Ouro Preto, Tiradentes and Diamantina ) famous for gold and diamond mining widely exploited by the Portuguese using the slaves brought in from Africa. The population also very diverse, the descendants of African slaves mostly settled in Rio and Bahia at the end of the Gold Trail ( the route from MG to the ports ). The Europeans settling in the south for the more temperate climate and the Japanese seeking refuge in São Paulo at the start of the 1900’s, interestingly a large number of Brazilians have also settled in Japan presumably encouraged by seeing the Japanese culture. One has only to look at famous Brazilians Pelé and Gisele Bündchen to see the extremities of the population, one can remain inconspicuous in Brazil until you open your mouth or you are wearing socks with your sandals.

Lived in Brazil for 20 years, Sul de Minas Gerais, 300km north of São Paulo and 460km west of Rio. The first 10 years were a blast but the last 10 was just going through the motions, mainly matrimony related. Loved the place, travelled all over, from Fortaleza to Porto Alegre. Made many good good friends and remain in touch. A great experience and don’t regret any of it, except maybe the marriage !!. Worked extensively in Brazil, Argentina and Chile but Brazil is definitely my favourite of the three.

Get ready ! Just landed for BYD Seal - Ireland

I had one pedal driving in a HEV i owned, as it was the first car i owned with any regen i started off on the lowest level through to the highest before i went one pedal driving and loved it. It’s all about moving your parameters for coasting and once you get the hang it is great. But going straight into one pedal driving would definitely be strange.

Maybe they are one and the same ? I mean, has anyone ever seen them under the same bridge at the same time ?

If, like me, you wash your Seal yourself and nine times out of ten forget to leave the wipers in the upright position before washing, then decide not to bother raising them as it involves turning the car on, going to service/overhaul and clicking on the “front wiper check “ switch ( is it me or was that called something else before ? ) ! Do not despair as after stopping the car you can just hold down the wiper stalk for a few seconds and the wipers move to the upright position. Thankfully using both options the wipers do not automatically go to their normal position when starting the car, causing possible damage to the bonnet if you forgot to place them back on the windscreen, unlike my previous car !!

Very useful to know this, seems like it is something to do with leaving the car with an open door or trunk for a period of time sends it into sleep mode. Seen a few cases on FB and the solution seems to be, as in the video, by pressing the door handle button. Incidently, i have had the steering wheel message a couple of times, turning it fully to the left and right clears it. I thought it might have been something to do with leaning heavily on the steering wheel when entering and needed re-zeroing but apparently not, found this:

I agree, i didn’t know that a yellow book would be accepted by DLT for driving license renewal in some locations. Will look into that if i need another , maybe i will get lucky and not have to go cap in hand to immigration, although hopefully in 6 years time they will have forgotten!.

The op doesn’t have a yellow book but he does have a COR.

I am a Brit , British Embassy unlikely to help I would imagine .