Sao Paulo Reports

[SamaRiding]

I always used ATMs in Bradesco bank locations and as for as I remember, they all charged R20 per transaction irrespective of withdrawal amount.

Is there any way to identify these free ATMs?

I am not sure if there is a way see on the outside. It's possible it also depends on your bank or card. I use this Bradesco branch in Moema. No fees for me.

Bradesco.

https://goo.gl/maps/GuhPdMKVk7SxhhKz6

[Sperto]

Regarding Bradesco ATMs. There are ATMs inside Bradesco banks that allows withdrawal of 2500 reais. Sometimes not all machines allows that amount so you have to try the next machine. I never seen a ATM inside a Bradesco bank that charges a fee.

There are ATMs called "24 horas" in pharmacies, supermarkets, gas stations etc. These machines usually charge a fee. These "24 horas" ATMs works for several banks and could probably be mistaken for being a Bradesco ATM.

[Lalabo]

There are two types of Bradesco ATMs. The single machines in a pharmacy or gas station. These will charge you a small fee 20 r and limit withdrawals to 1000-1200 r. The good Bradesco ATMs are in the bank branches. They don't charge a fee. The daily withdrawal limit at Bradesco is 2500 r. To withdrawal that much in one transaction, look for machines that dispense either 100 r or 200 r bills, not max 50 r. If the machine only allows you to withdraw 1250 r, you can repeat the transaction to get another 1250 r. The 2500 r daily limit is a Bradesco policy, not Your bank policy. My bank allows a very high withdrawal limit. If I max out at Bradesco, I can go to other bank like Santandar and get more money. You will need it if you go multiple days to Scandallo!

I always used ATMs in Bradesco bank locations and as for as I remember, they all charged R20 per transaction irrespective of withdrawal amount.

Is there any way to identify these free ATMs?

[EverythingBlue]

How many guys here have written "I'm fluent in Spanish but damn I can't understand anything in Brazil without Google tradutor" in the last year? I got news for you guys. You ain't "fluent" in Spanish if you can't understand a bit of Portuguese. It's hardly even qualifies as a separate language, and many consider the distinction to be at he level of dialect rather than language. I'm not saying Portuguese is not difficult, it can be. But it challenges my credulity to believe someone "truly" fluent in Spanish would be completely lost with Brazilian Portuguese which is easier than Portugal. I mean I never ever considered myself fluent in Spanish but just studying pimsleur Portuguese for a few weeks prior to visiting Brazil for first time in 2005, way before smart phone tradutor and I was immediately "conversational" and I am not even good with languages. So any self proclaimed "fluent" Spanish speaker should blow away my experience. Just saying.

In my recent experience, the first couple of days were rough and I couldn't understand a lot of things being said to me, as simple as they were once I started catching on days later. Some of the comments made by fluent Spanish speakers may have been made in the early days of their visits, and if they were only there say a weekend, chances are they never got a chance to improve and thus their statements remain that they cannot understand anything.

Me, even though I struggled at first, I made it a point to try speaking to Uber drivers, the receptionists at CLínicas, and the girls themselves without pulling my phone to use Google Translate, so I could learn. But I still had to do it from time to time if I really wanted to communicate something important.

In my case I was there 10 days, and by day 5 I didn't feel too bad and was able to get by fairly well. But don't get me wrong, the language is not so simple as it seems at first, it takes time. Just my 2 cents.

[Nounce]

2,000 BRL right?

Yes. 2000 BRL.

[SamaRiding]

2,000 BRL right?

There are two types of Bradesco ATMs. The single machines in a pharmacy or gas station. These will charge you a small fee 20 r and limit withdrawals to 1000-1200 r. The good Bradesco ATMs are in the bank branches. They don't charge a fee. The daily withdrawal limit at Bradesco is 2500 r. To withdrawal that much in one transaction, look for machines that dispense either 100 r or 200 r bills, not max 50 r. If the machine only allows you to withdraw 1250 r, you can repeat the transaction to get another 1250 r. The 2500 r daily limit is a Bradesco policy, not Your bank policy. My bank allows a very high withdrawal limit. If I max out at Bradesco, I can go to other bank like Santandar and get more money. You will need it if you go multiple days to Scandallo!

[Trojan22]

Thanks for the suggestion, I plan to try it.


That was my experience as well until the day you left. I went to an ATM and was able to pull 2000 in one transaction and it gave me 100 BRL bills with two choices of combination.

2,000 BRL right?

[Member #4732]

Although I agree with you that Portuguese and Spanish are quite similar, especially the written part, I traveled to Brazil with folks who were native Spanish speakers, one was Mexican and the other from Colombia. Well, they had all sorts of trouble with Portuguese. I suspect if they took the time to learn Portuguese, they would get it quickly.

"Portuguese and Spanish share an 89% lexical similarity, meaning that there are equivalent forms of words in both languages. "

See my reply to ET. I did not mean to imply there are not linguistic differences. I merely meant that a truly fluent Spanish speaker should be able to "communicate" fairly quickly one on one with a Brazilian who is dumbing down their Portuguese in order to communicate. I am not talking about giving presentations at business seminars, nor understanding 3rd party conversation between Brazilians. I am talking about basic get around town communication, not cross language fluency. Language is very overloaded, there is a lot of detail that is necessary to speak fluently which is unnecessary to communicate effectively one on one. You can get by with a lot of small errors and still be understood due to the redundancy.

My point was not that Portuguese is easy but that a lot of posters may be overstating their fluency in Spanish. Fluency is a very high standard, and claiming fluency as opposed to conversational skill is a huge leap. I don't doubt they are all conversational in Spanish. Maybe I am wrong and they are all fluent. If so my apologies to all. Like I said I would never say I am fluent in Spanish and yet I was able to "communicate" very effectively on my first trip to Brasil, probably sounding like a clown but still communicating sufficiently well that I never searched for girls that spoke English, as I preferred the challenge and fun of interaction with Portuguese only speakers. I did do the pimsleur course in preparation so credit to them perhaps.

Did not mean to offend anyone. Carry on.

[Lefeu]

How many guys here have written "I'm fluent in Spanish but damn I can't understand anything in Brazil without Google tradutor" in the last year? I got news for you guys. You ain't "fluent" in Spanish if you can't understand a bit of Portuguese...

Although I agree with you that Portuguese and Spanish are quite similar, especially the written part, I traveled to Brazil with folks who were native Spanish speakers, one was Mexican and the other from Colombia. Well, they had all sorts of trouble with Portuguese. I suspect if they took the time to learn Portuguese, they would get it quickly.

[Member #4732]

. So, as a polyglot, you are quite simply full o it.

Thank you. BTW, I am genuinely curious what else have I been wrong about in your opinion, that caused you to use the "again" ? I am sincerely curious as I do not recall having prior disagreements with you.

[Member #4732]

I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and you are wrong. I have attended professional conferences in Latin America and the conference language was English because those speaking Spanish could not understand Brazilians and vice versa. When I am holding business meetings in a Spanish speaking country, I take a moment and compose myself before entering a room to get into a Spanish speaking frame of mind. Written, Spanish and Portuguese are very similar, it is the spoken words that are the issue particularly the endings and when spoken quickly. So, as a polyglot, you are quite simply full of it (spelled differently in Spanish and Portuguese, but sounds similar). Just saying.

You have been posting for years and I never saw you brag about your Spanish and complain about Portuguese so I was not referring to you.

Nothing you said disproves my observation that people are probably inflating their sense of fluency in Spanish. It's like every guy here write "I'm fluent in Spanish" and I just say they are probably confusing "fluency" with conversational acumen. Yes Brasileiros and Latinos have trouble understanding each other at first, I did not say the languages were identical, I said that linguistically they are closer together than many dialects are in other languages. Most words are cognate. The big difference is as you say phonological. I you learn the Portuguese phonological system you can pretty much convert thousands of Latin rooted words in English to Portuguese, and far more in Spanish. The language is phonetic, what you see is what you say. Pronouncing the sounds are very difficult for me, but knowing what the sounds are supposed to be is not that hard.

There is a big difference between being able to follow a conversation between Brasileiros, very difficult for a non native, vs conversing one in one with a brasileiro. The Brasileiro will slow down, and use simpler vocabulary, and if you respond with portunhol they will understand you.

I think you are overreacting. My point was a truly fluent Spanish speaker should be conversational in Portuguese quickly. I am not saying that they should be polyglots like you.

[Exec Talent]

How many guys here have written "I'm fluent in Spanish but damn I can't understand anything in Brazil without Google tradutor" in the last year? I got news for you guys. You ain't "fluent" in Spanish if you can't understand a bit of Portuguese. It's hardly even qualifies as a separate language, and many consider the distinction to be at he level of dialect rather than language. I'm not saying Portuguese is not difficult, it can be. But it challenges my credulity to believe someone "truly" fluent in Spanish would be completely lost with Brazilian Portuguese which is easier than Portugal. I mean I never ever considered myself fluent in Spanish but just studying pimsleur Portuguese for a few weeks prior to visiting Brazil for first time in 2005, way before smart phone tradutor and I was immediately "conversational" and I am not even good with languages. So any self proclaimed "fluent" Spanish speaker should blow away my experience. Just saying.

I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and you are wrong. I have attended professional conferences in Latin America and the conference language was English because those speaking Spanish could not understand Brazilians and vice versa. When I am holding business meetings in a Spanish speaking country, I take a moment and compose myself before entering a room to get into a Spanish speaking frame of mind. Written, Spanish and Portuguese are very similar, it is the spoken words that are the issue particularly the endings and when spoken quickly. So, as a polyglot, you are quite simply full of it (spelled differently in Spanish and Portuguese, but sounds similar). Just saying.

[Lalabo]

When Lalabo was sitting next to me, he was approached by 2 girls and I got none. Lesson learned, don't sit next to Lalabo when you want girl to approach you.

Yup! That is true. Girls come and talk to me a lot but in the room they screw me over where as you screw them. LOL.

Nounce seems have found a way to maximize value at Scandallo. He has unlimited patient and can hang around for a longtime in the club (which I can't do) and lets the action find him rather than the other way around.

Girls seem to start with 1000 or 1500 but they can quickly be negotiated down to 500-800 as Nounce has demonstrated when I was there. How low girl can go depends on how pretty and popular she is.

[Lalabo]

Based on our earlier conversation, I thought you were going to ask her to visit you in hotel, and not right away. That is why I did not tell you the detail in front of her when we met at the register area. I was going to text you telling you detail about her surgery.

As fate would have it, I change my mind.

[Member #4732]

Every night except Sunday. I don't know when they close but I would assume it is well after midnight. Before 8:55 PM it is 250 real for an hour. After that it is 100 real for the house for an hour and whatever fee you negotiate with the girl. Have to note that it was dead last Saturday night so may be better during weekdays.

These places are all hit or miss depending on day, hour, proximity to feriado, weather. It's Brazil. It's unpredictable and that is "the game" one either embraces fully or one misses out because one wants it easy.