Product Description
“Brazil is not for beginners” warned Antonio Carlos Jobim. In this book, a pair of young beginners from the US challenges that truth. Against significant opposition, Charles brings modern business management to Laticinia, a traditional Brazilian cheese town. Sarah gradually grows as an artist and also uses her latent marketing and facilitation skills to benefit a local self-help cooperative. Alternating between rural Laticinia and crowded São Paulo over ten years, the couple experiences every-day Brazilian life and culture but also attracts surprising new challenges. Into their lives come a Mexican-American vintner and an exotic Egyptian-German poetess. In parallel, the reader follows the fate of a customized van that has been strangely donated to serve the poor of Paraguay. After serving a Paraguayan playboy, evangelical smugglers, and a second-rate soccer team, the van passes to Charles and Sarah. It becomes the centerpiece of an international circle of friends, together fueling the entrepreneurial growth of Brazil.