I live in Brazil and can tell you that Rio's weed scene is on the down side these days. You have to know a delivery service or have a good connection in order to get anything worthwhile smoking. Most of the weed down here is garbage, rotten old bricked up shit. It costs anywhere from 50 cents to one dollar per gram. Then there is the good brick weed. Really nice stuff can be goten here in brick form. It may not have the looks most people are used to (nice buds in a ziplock bag), but you can definitely see it is all good buds pressed in there. There is the light green, skunky smelling hybrids, then there are the darker, super sticky bricks of pure sativas, peppery/spycy tasting. Some times this herb referred to as "Amarelo" (yellow) comes around too, but not as ofter as 10 years ago. This type of herb can cost anywhere from 1 dollar/g in São Paulo to 4 dollars/g in Rio, and that's if you can get it up there. From what my friends tell me Rio is really dry for good herbs in the recent times.
In the big cities, all one has to do is go by a couple universities at break time at night, around 9 PM, and good herbs shall be found.
Brazil has many different facets. A quick description would be: The north has the jungle and beaches. The northeast is famous for its beaches. The south east has wonderful beaches, Atlantic rainforest, industry and major financial centers such as Sao Paulo, Rio, and other capital cities. The south is more european-like, has wonderful beaches, the Iguaçu/Iguzu waterfalls, the pantanal which is a place where I saw the most wildlife in a single place. Everywhere you can have well developed and the poorest places right next to each other, there is a lot of financial/social inequality. Few make too much, many make too little. There is crime, yes. But the pople are also really friendly, regardless if poor or rich, and like anywhere else in the world, if you are a tourist, you are most likely to be ripped off in tourist centers, such as Rio or Salvador in the Northeast. Not that it will necessarily happen, just more likely. All you gotta be is travel-wise :)
Food and beer are really good, abundant and relatively cheap in Brazil.
Nowdays you can't go to jail for smoking weed in Brazil, the most you get is a fine and/or community service that can be converted into a fine :) The grow scene is growing here! There is a grow shop that opened up in Rio and they are already representing Home Box for South América and are bringing Canna nutrients, should be available within the next couple of months.
Like Tex, I've also been all over South America. In my early twenties I drove all the way from BC, Canada to Rio covering many thousand km of roads, got to see many different places/cultures and every place has something special to offer, it all depends on what you are after. Just makew sure to do it before you marry and have kids!
Besides my home country Brazil, Venezuela is one of my favourite places that I've been. You have the Caribbean wonderful coast, the sun, beaches, islands... then you go through desert lands until you reach the mountains, I even got to see some snow while in Merida, an university town where you can take the longest and highest gondola ride up to Pico Bolivar at 4,981m high! Then they have the "Gran Sabana", where Angel's Falls is located! just to get there by motorized canoe, what a trip!
Food and beer are really good, not so abundant and more expensive in Venezuela when compared to Brazil.
Argentina is also awesome, havent seen much of it other than near Iguazu falls, but I know it has strong European influence, the cost of living can be more expensive than other places in South America. Argentina has an annual cannabis cup, I think this year is thge 3rd edition. They have a strong cannabis culture there.
Chile was also a wonderful place. The pacific coast, glaciers, awesome lakes and volcanoes, the Atacama desert on the north... I know they have a grow shop that sells the
bio bizz line.
I guess it all depends on what you wanna do, if you want to work or just have fun!
BC