I read a pretty scary story about crime & violence & a prison gang uprising in San Paulo(sp) a couple of years ago in Vanity Fair and it spooked me quite a bit.  Is Brazil really anything like that, and/or is that isolated to San Paulo?  Never been there but have always thought of it as kind of the Southern American version of Canada, ie. close to the US in many respects, but a little more on the socialist side.  Obviously, I'm not that educated on Brazil, but never envisioned it like the almost apocalyptic anarchy situation that was portrayed in that article.