Sex, football, samba and beaches?

The more discerning traveler might also come up with favelas, cocaine, poverty and street crime.

Why? Because that's all their guide book bothered to tell them. The travel industry is all about selling the myth and publications like the Lonely Planet play ball by hyping every destination to the max.

Gringo Guides exists to explain travel in Brazil as it really is beyond the reach of cliches and promotional bullshit. Our team of Brazilian and Western writers know the country intimately from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon, from the beaches of Bahia to the hills of Minas Gerais. After years of extensive research they can now reveal to the traveler and gringo exactly how Brazilians see Brasil:

Sex, samba, football and beaches.

Five things Brazilians believe about Gringos

1.Gringos can't dance.

2. Western men only come to Brazil for the women. Probably for the prostitutes.

3. All gringos are rich. If they claim to be poor it's only because they spent all their money on #2.

4. Western women are ugly and wear obscenely large bikinis. Which explains #2.

5. They're boring. They worry about you turning up on time and don't accept reasonable excuses for standing them up. Like your favourite tele-novela was on TV.

Belize Beach Guide