Eyes Full of Stars

So I've been thinking about the upcoming trip pretty much all night.  I've been looking for things on Pinterest about Brazil, and I found quite a few lovely photographs, but I'm wondering how much "fluff" and how much "substance" they can be said to represent.  They are breathtakingly lovely, trees full of blue butterflies, sweeping beaches, the obligatory waterfalls I can clearly remember my friend Paulo saying are all anybody outside Brazil knows about Brazil, and the giant statue of the Christ of the Andes.  There are others of brightly-colored houses like little candy boxes all in rows up the sides of a mountain or dotting the sides of rivers.  There are more sedate and grand shots, too, of older buildings, refined like someone's grandparents in their tasteful suits watching the children play in the yard.

Yet I wonder.  How much of any of this is "typical"?  Is this what I'm going to see, or is this just the tourista stuff that accumulates in the corners and edges of daily life?  I will be happy either way, mind you.  I'm just curious.

Here are some things I did learn to be true about Brazil from the CIA World Factbook, that great source of student papers from time immemorial:

The symbolism of the flag:

• "the green represents the forests of the country and the yellow rhombus its mineral wealth; the blue circle and stars, which replaced the coat of arms of the original flag, depict the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889 - the day the Republic of Brazil was declared; the number of stars has changed with the creation of new states and has risen from an original 21 to the current 27 (one for each state and the Federal District)"

Independence Day:  September 7 (1822)

School Life Expectancy:  14 years

Size:  Just a little smaller than the US

Ethnic Mix Stats: white 53.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000 census)

There was more, but that's enough for here and now.  Hmm....