Brazilian Paradox

People who lived here longer have been telling me how bad and sneaky Brazilians are and that I shouldn’t trust them. People tell me that and I can believe it, it made me angry and I have been refusing to believe that til now. I kept telling them that there are nice and warm people, always happy and smiling, maybe I am a bit naïve perhaps there are more sneaky and untrustworthy people in Brazil than anywhere else in the world. People tells me thing about Brazil, mostly to warn me about its negative part of Brazil but usually. I have been living at this hostel called Sao Paulo Downtown Hostel and sometimes I don’t sleep there, I sleep at my friend’s place and I usually leave my room around 8ish in the morning. On Wednesday I left as usual and didn’t spend the night there. I came back to my room on Thursday evening to find out that all my stuffs were gone, I mean gone and somebody slept on my bed the previous night, obviously someone thought I moved out? Strange but that is what really happened. So I went to the reception and they told me that I should have locked my stuff, fair enough I left it outside, people steal stuff but my whole stuff, used and old clothes, toiletries and some food, that stuff I understand that people steal but what about company’s catalogue about construction equipments. What are they supposed to do with that? I told them that it doesn’t make sense, because if they stole my stuff why would people sleep in my bed? They were just being Brazilians, as we all know Brazil can play well football and they do that in life too, they kick the blame to someone else or the responsibility, they just keep sending me to speak to other person and I need to be pressing them to find out more, apparently the girl who clean my room on Thursday say the bed was empty, but unfortunately the girl who cleaned my bed on Wednesday was there and that I need to wait. I said well, she might have throw it in garbage or put it somewhere but they don’t know where? I have asked the other guys who sleep two nights there and they said when they moved in on Wednesday night it was already empty and when I left my room, I was the only one sleeping there. They told me that my room is a community room, many people come in and out but when people checked in they leave their details and face it, who is going to steal those stuffs, especially prescription drugs and condoms? God knows, I know that they are replaceable and luckily I didn’t leave all my stuff there, I left it at my friends. And for them (receptionists) to just simply blame other guest and refused to investigate more made me believe that they know something, usually the staff are helpful but they were just a pair of ignorant and stuck up people. Then this morning there was this girl who actually understood me and she tried to help me by telling them that I might be right and she felt sorry that if I needed toothpaste I can ask them but how can I brush my teeth without toothpaste, I gladly said no and my friend told me the reason why they offered me toothpaste was because it is cheaper to buy toothpaste than toothbrush. I heard them whispering that it was the cleaners fault, for thinking that I checked out. That’s not the first thing that made me realize how sneaky some Brazilians are, (I cannot say all of them) but the whole system is crap. For me travelling is adventure and sometimes things can go bad but to be honest travelling in Brazil this time has been quite an eye opening experience, you can’t travel here like you travel elsewhere, here you always have to keep both eyes open, even when you sleep, cause they would rip you off with a smile, I can’t trust in Brazilians and maybe the ones abroad are better but even their system is corrupted. I don’t even want to go there. How can you enjoy your trip when you have to worry about everything, from being robbed and your toothpaste being stolen? It’s not worth it; maybe it is really time for me to go back to Australia, back to civilization, where you can leave a dollar in your room and expect to find them after a week.