I lived in many different neighborhoods in Brazil. While I was in Sao Paulo, I stayed in Butana, near the Universidade de Sao Paulo. It is considered a middle class neighborhood with lots of shops, boutiques, and an open farmer's market every Saturday. The area was very clean, but there was also often constuction work underway to improve streets and office buildings. While I was in Rio de Janiero, I stayed near Lapa, where most of the residents were into an artistic lifestyle. There were beautiful murals on the walls, and I had easy access to a nearby archive. While I lived in Salvador, Bahia, I lived in Costa Azul, which was also considered middle class, but I was also only a few blocks away from the beach and an American-style coffee shop that I would often visit. Finally, in Belem, Para, I was in a rural area where most homes were simple and did not always have running water and electricity.
While most of the communitites I lived in were pretty stable, in Para, I learned that most people struggled finanicially more than other areas. Because Para is one of the poorer states in Brazil, there weren't as many options as other cities. When exploring Belem, it was very easy to see the many piles of trash that were collecting on the streets.
