I'm Russian and for me Brazil is associated with football - Gylmar, Pelé, Ronaldo. Besides, the first soap-operas that had been broadcasted in USSR, were from Latin America. For example, the very first one was from Brazil - the famous Escrava Isaura :) I know that Portuguese is a Romance language and that it's wide-spread. But in Russia the most popular Romance languages are French and Italian.

Well, I'm colombian, near to brazil. I can see that this language sound romantic, depending the city. About country is like all country, people nice, happy with some political problems.