There always seems to be five guys traveling in the back, that drink beer, and talk real loud. Brazil is modern with truck stops along 4 lane highway and a McDonalds every 50 mile. As you pass cities you can see corporate type building lining up along the main highways. So the factories have access to the highway. This is the only country where I have seen lots of factories in South America.
Prosperity seems to be where there are trains, and factories.
Rio de Janeiro, Where everyone in the hostel parties till 5, sleeps to noon, and seems to catch their airplane for home. The hostel is 10 dollars USA per night. The most expensive I have paid, the same as Argentina. and Venezuela. Chile was a 5 dollar country. Brazil is normally about a 6 dollar a night country, for rooms.