Had lunch with my friend Kieran Gartlan today, he's an Irishman living in Sao Paulo for over 11 years. On his day job Kieran is the South American Correspondent for DTN of Nebraska, one of the worlds foremost providers of information related to soft commodities but as a moonlight job (and hobby) he's developed one of the leading Brasil travel portals, called Gringoes.
Brazil's first portal for the foreign community. Traveling to, or living in, a new country can often be a harrowing experience so what you'll need most is information, and lots of it. For many, this lack of information can result in an unpleasant move, culture shock and even psychological and physical discomfort. Things like, finding a place to live, putting your children in a good school, public transport, buying a car, opening a bank account etc. are all essential to making a smooth transition to your new environment.
Gringoes.com was set up to provide a one-stop source of information for the growing foreign community in Brazil. The Internet is of course the ideal medium for our purposes and makes sifting through outdated guidebooks a thing of the past. We have included as many categories as possible to make your stay in Sao Paulo a pleasant and hassle-free one, but at the same time we try not to dampen the excitement of discovering a new land. Ideally, though, we want to provide more than just information. We want to create a virtual community for foreigners in Brazil, a focal point where they can exchange tips, share gripes, make friends and hopefully organize activities.
In case you're wondering, our website is run by a small team of foreigners and Brazilians. We have devoted a lot of time and effort to updating and improving the site, so we hope you enjoy it and please let us know if you have any suggestions for improvement. The site will be initially based in Sao Paulo but we hope to quickly spread to other cities. Above all, keep surfing on our site and we hope you enjoy Brazil as much as we do.
Check out www.Gringoes.com
