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I've been there in 2011. Wonderful place. At the time Brazil was recovering from the 2008 crises, which was very light for us, and our economy was probably at i
by marcodiego 3y ago
I've been there in 2011. Wonderful place. At the time Brazil was recovering from the 2008 crises, which was very light for us, and our economy was probably at its top. I had my first job as a programmer and was very well payed compared to locals. I saved all the money to travel there and pay all expenses for me and my girlfriend in about just 4 months; that's how strongly we were economically. At the time 1 Brazilian real was worth 2 Argentinian pesos and 1 USD was worth less than 2 BRL.
At the time, Cristina Kirchner had just won elections and BsAs was full of her posters. Being there at the time felt like being in Europe HDI with south american prices; it was that good and cheap. Cities were beautiful, clean, organized, I spent some time in La Plata which seemed designed in simcity, felt much safer than Brazil and although there were already some signs of decadence like some poor people around, it still looked much better than Brazil.
Around 2014 Argentina had already entered in crises, and so did Brazil. At my job, a new colleague was from Argentina. I think he was a level-headed liberal, he sometimes talked about something like how the situation there was. By that time, 1 BRL was worth around 4 pesos and 1 USD was worth 2.35 BRL.
Two years ago (2022) I talked with a friend. I explained him how in 2011 I could save all the money to travel Argetina in just 4 months, I couldn't do the same now even if I get twice the salary I had at the time: our prices increased a lot and even though at the time 1 BRL was worth more than 30 pesos!
Now, here we are in 2024: 1 BRL is worth around 170 pesos, 1 USD is close to 5 BRL. The article says: "We were mostly left with the impression that it wouldn’t be so bad to turn into Argentina after all.", " I felt safer in most places than I do anywhere in Brazil", "I had an incredible time in Argentina. The country is absolutely stunning, and the people are also fantastic.". Actually it is not Brazil who may turn into Argentina, but Argentina which is turning into Brazil after a long effort to keep social indexes high... artificially or not.
We in Brazil also had our own hyper-inflation period. It happened during the 80's. Prices were so volatile that my father bought things and wrote in boxes what the price was in liters of gasoline, so he could have an idea of how much it had really cost. We took a long time to reach stability, from the 90's to early 2000's, but we got there and I hope Argentina will be able to do the same.
Although Brazil and Argentina are seen as rivals, I really love that country and people and wish them the best.
- Urahandystar 3y agoIs it true the Brazil Real is named after that currency crisis. Meaning the real rate of the currency or just urban legend?
- marcodiego 3y agoYes it is true. And before the new bills came, we a value unit which was called URV: "unidade real de valor" which is portuguese for "Unity of real value". Source: "Por que o 'real' ganhou esse nome? Por que ele matava dois coelhos também. Tem fundo histórico, já que é o nome da moeda anterior ao cruzeiro, e remete à ideia de uma moeda com 'valor real'."[1] Translation: How 'real' got its name? Two birds in one stone. There's also a historic background, since it is the name of the currency befrore cruzeiro and brings the idea of a currency with 'real value'". [1] https://super.abril.com.br/coluna/oraculo/por-que-a-moeda-brasileira-se-chama-real https://super.abril.com.br/coluna/oraculo/por-que-a-moeda-br...
- pjc50 3y agoThis is really true. Renaming the currency did actually help to stabilize the inflation spiral.
- empath-nirvana 3y agoThe currency was named "real" as in "royal", not as in "actual". And it was what the Portuguese and later Brazilian currency was called from the 1400s until the 20th century. (or at least that's the actual etymology of the currency, even though "real" does also mean "actual" in portuguese now.)