Visiting Sao Paulo I found the trains to be reliable, clean, timely, and used by all segments of society except I assume the super-rich who have someone drive them.
One thing that struck me about Brazil compared to the U.S. is the huge number of people standing around doing nothing. You will never see that in the U.S.: if someone is loitering here, they are a teenager or homeless. But it was huge in Brazil. I am assuming this is because of the extreme unemployment and lack of opportunity.
Unfortunately, seeing so much despondency is likely to affect everyone in the society. You tend to change your outlook on things. I have heard there is an "everyone does it" attitude with regard to paying bribes, stealing services like electricity, etc. This also drags down society.
My wife is Brazilian and she is a very timely person, living in the U.S. Partly due to acculturation but also because of the "I wasn't born here but got here as fast as I could" effect.
One thing that struck me about Brazil compared to the U.S. is the huge number of people standing around doing nothing. You will never see that in the U.S.: if someone is loitering here, they are a teenager or homeless. But it was huge in Brazil. I am assuming this is because of the extreme unemployment and lack of opportunity.
Unfortunately, seeing so much despondency is likely to affect everyone in the society. You tend to change your outlook on things. I have heard there is an "everyone does it" attitude with regard to paying bribes, stealing services like electricity, etc. This also drags down society.
My wife is Brazilian and she is a very timely person, living in the U.S. Partly due to acculturation but also because of the "I wasn't born here but got here as fast as I could" effect.