Two of my experiences living in the interior: at a rather crowded county fair, a group of teens ran by and I thought nothing of it. They ran by again and I took

Two of my experiences living in the interior: at a rather crowded county fair, a group of teens ran by and I thought nothing of it. They ran by again and I took another look and realized it was a group chasing one guy. And the guy from the group, closest to the one being chased, had a proper machete in his hand and was just about to put it into the back of the neck of the one being chased when the latter slipped on something, just enough to be able to regain balance and run away, while the rest chased him. Another time, I heard a ruckus from my room and looked out the window to see a group of about 20 men shouting. I had no idea what it could be about, but later realized it was a public lynching. That is, someone who either did something bad or was just thought to have done something bad, was caught by the group. Usually in these cases, there's no stopping the mob (from collectively beating the person to death). Despite my two comments in this thread about some of the negative aspects of living in Brazil, I was never robbed or anything. And, it goes without saying (or, perhaps it needs to be said), there are many reasons to love the country, culture and people. These very real extremes, of positivity and negativity, make it a confusing place to be.