Life's Way of Bringing You Magic —Ep 74 with Werner Trieloff
The Relocated South African | Emigration storiesPlay episode
Show notes
Werner Trieloff left the Free State at 21, chased whiskey and languages through Scotland and London, then followed a Brazilian love story to Porto Alegre in 2008 with only enough Portuguese to order a beer. Nearly two decades later he runs a business connecting Africa, Brazil, Europe and the US — despite qualifying as a CA and never doing a single day of actual accounting since.
Jan and Werner get into Brazil's brutal tax bureaucracy (rules can change ten times a day), the WhatsApp group of 55+ South Africans in Porto Alegre swapping milk tart recipes, and why joining a local rugby club and a motorbike gang did more for Werner's integration than any expat community ever could.
"Life has got its way of bringing magic to you." — Werner Trieloff
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TIMESTAMPS
00:10 – Welcome to Werner in Porto Alegre
00:52 – Where Porto Alegre sits in Brazil
01:53 – Free State roots, early moves abroad
03:11 – Meeting a Brazilian in Austria
03:52 – Learning Portuguese from scratch
04:55 – Whiskey connoisseur talk begins
05:33 – Talisker 18 and Japanese Hibiki
06:05 – From CA to management accounting
06:52 – Hired without speaking Portuguese
11:14 – Business grounding without doing accounting
11:49 – South Africa, easiest entry to Africa
12:46 – Africa's cultures vary country to country
13:23 – Comparing Brazil and South Africa culture
13:53 – Brazil's brutal tax complexity
15:04 – South Africans in Brazil WhatsApp group
16:57 – Continental Brazil, huge regional differences
18:43 – Regional food differences across Brazil
20:43 – Braai with just salt, no spice
21:04 – Physical safety versus South Africa
22:57 – Corruption and policing realities
24:52 – Public healthcare system SUS explained
26:35 – Visas, red tape, bureaucracy
27:35 – Company registration much faster now
30:42 – Biggest sacrifice: distance from family
34:09 – Advice: find a local sport
36:42 – Wife's adjustment to South Africa
37:37 – Cost of living in Brazil
38:58 – Minimum wage and daily prices
40:20 – Comparing prices to Portugal, UK
41:05 – Housing costs, apartment living
41:56 – Would he ever return to SA?
43:21 – Raising bicultural kids in Brazil
44:55 – Advice to his 22-year-old self
46:06 – How to connect with Werner
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Connect with the podcast:
Website: www.therelocatedsouthafrican.com
Podcast: The Relocated South African — available on Spotify and all platforms
Werner's on LinkedIn (Werner Trieloff) if you want to reach out about business in Brazil or planning a trip there.
If this one hit home, send it to a fellow South African abroad — and follow the show wherever you listen.
