Now that the World Cup has kicked off and Brazil are off to a winning start, the clouds of protest that hung over the tournament have lifted — at least for now — according to Bermudian Gino Smith, who lives and works in São Paulo.

“The mood was definitely subdued here compared to previous World Cups,” said Smith, who moved to the city four years ago with reinsurance company XL Group. “However, my impression is that the mood is changing quickly and much of the discontentment will take a back seat to the excitement as Brazil continues on their winning streak.

“Everyone donned their national team jerseys on opening day and the airport was full of fans in transit also wearing their national colours. Bars were full as patrons flocked to their local watering holes to watch the opening game and the roads were empty — in a city that suffers daily from traffic jams.

“We flew to Fortaleza [on Thursday evening] to attend the game between Costa Rica and Uruguay and it took us less than 30 minutes to get to the airport — a trip that usually takes an hour with normal traffic and up to three hours with heavy traffic.”

Smith added that the unrest, which continued up to opening day with police using tear gas and rubber bullets to break up demonstrations and strikes protesting at government spending on the World Cup, was not as bad as it might appear in the international media.

“To put it into context, the only notable signs of the strike were that several [of our] employees either arrived late to work or asked to leave early to avoid the traffic,” Smith said. “The subway workers were on strike for several days trying to negotiate higher wages. São Paulo already suffers from standstill traffic jams and this only made things worse as people migrated to other forms of transport. The salary increases were agreed to earlier this week and the subway system is up and running.”

Smith believes visiting fans have little to fear from the street protests. “My impression is that people are angry at the Government, not at Fifa,” he said. “I think football fans will be embraced. Despite the issues reported in the media, Brazil is a football nation at heart and the people will embrace anyone who shares their love for the game. Aside from minor opportunistic criminal incidents that you would find at any major world event where people are congregated, I don’t think visiting fans have anything to worry about.”

Despite São Paulo’s chaotic transport and urban sprawl — it is the largest city in Brazil and, with a population of more than 11 million, the world’s seventh largest — Smith said that he loves living there.

“São Paulo can be a bit overwhelming at first, given its sheer size and population density, but you soon begin to appreciate what it offers,” he said. “It is a major metropolis — noisy, fast-paced and geared toward business — very much a Latin version of New York City.”

Smith was seconded to the city in 2010 by XL Group’s reinsurance segment to develop its underwriting operations after the privatisation of the Brazilian reinsurance market in 2008. He was promoted to chief underwriter in 2012 and is responsible for reinsurance underwriting across Latin America.

He lives with his wife, Monica, and daughter, Sofia. “We have all adjusted very well, fully embracing both the language and the culture,” he said. “My wife is Costa Rican and we lived in Buenos Aires for several years, so our Spanish gave us a head start with learning Portuguese. We are all fluent.

“Brazil is a great place to live with a very rich culture. The people are friendly, laid-back and welcoming to foreigners. I recently read that over 70 per cent of expatriates who come here to work never leave.

“You have everything here from beaches to mountains to the jungle. The options on things to do are virtually unlimited and it has some of the best restaurants in the world. As a food connoisseur, this is one of the things I appreciate most about São Paulo.”

For now, though, it seems the Paulistas, as the city’s residents are called, along with the rest of Brazil are happy to eat and drink football again for the next four weeks.

n Chris Gibbons is a former Sports Editor of the Mid-Ocean News and Deputy Sports Editor of The Royal Gazette.