Wow!  We have been hit lately with some import fees that you would not believe!  The Brazilian

government is getting radical with their import taxes and it may make sending a package to us much more costly that the content of the package.  Your kind thought might be, "Maybe a needy child could use this cute, almost new, stuffed animal that I purchased for only $1 at my neighbor's garage sale."  Their thought (in Portuguese of course), "This large plush bear must be at least worth $40, that is $92 Brazilian Reais.  Our import tax of 70% will put the import fee at R$64.40"  This is a fee of $28 on a $1 lightly used stuffed animal that really originally only costed $10 new.  It doesn't mean that we don't love to receive packages or that you cannot send anything.  But there are some general things you can do to extend you love to us if you do send a package.  First,  make sure the box is not a large size and that it isn't insured.  Since not every box is taxed, the smaller boxes usually go unnoticed and the ones without insurance make the contents seem less valuable.  Some churches/individuals have offered to pay the taxes if there are any.  This is a very nice gesture but the amount will not be known until the package reaches our postoffice in Croatá.  I have tried to fight this high fee by proving that the contents of one of our packages was less that 1/3 of the cost of the tax. But this only proved fruitless and created a process of receiving a package that literally took 6 months!  The Candy was a bit stale and throughout the box but at least the box caused enough work for the Brazilian Postal Service that it merited a high tax.  The one idea that beats them all is to bring the box when you come for a visit because even though we really like packages but we really really really like visitors.