I’m blogging from Sao Paulo, Brazil where I’m to give a talk at a conference on “Liberal Democracy: Freedom and the Rule of Law” sponsored by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

A volunteer, a local businessman, picked me up at the airport. It emerged he was Jewish, his family had come to Brazil in the 1930s to escape the Nazis.

But more astonishing was that his wife also is Jewish; her family came to Brazil in the 1500s to escape the Spanish Inquisition. (Which has now given me the chance to use one of my favorite Monty Python lines.)

Sao Paulo is home to many communities – Japanese, Korean and Lebanese also among them. Walid Phares has arranged for me to have dinner with some Lebanese-Brazilian friends of his. Also, walking around this city today I happened upon a small park and saw a statue of someone I thought I recognized. Approaching it, I read the following inscription: “Rafic Hariri – Heroi da Reconstrucao do Liban.”

Sao Paulo is not a touristy city. I like that about it. It’s lively: plenty of street artists and performers, and street food (including sugar cane drinks, chilled coconut milk, corn soup, and Japanese yakisoba).

It’s also interesting to see service stations selling not only gasoline but also “alcool,” alcohol fuel made from sugar cane. Currently, the U.S. imposes a 54 cent per gallon tax on alcohol fuels from abroad. We should get rid of it – it’s time politicians stood up to the domestic sugar and corn lobbies. Even my libertarian friends should be able to support the abolition of a tariff.

One negative note: The Brazilian government does not make it easy for Americans to get visas. The cumbersome procedure seems intended to encourage you to consider other travel destinations.