Brazil might be the biggest country most of the world doesn't know a whole heckuva a lot about.
This is beginning to change as financial fortunes for some have soared in recent years, helping lift some 50% of the country into the middle class. Of this figure, 40 million were added to the middle class between 2004 and 2010, under the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
But success hasn't come without problems.