Things get tricky fast, however, because not everyone does the double kiss and sometimes the double kiss morphs into something else depending on the closeness of the relationship. Brazilians can easily read one another's signals and can execute greetings flawlessly, but even at four months in I am still awkwardly bumping noses and letting go of hugs too early or too late. It's super uncomfortable at times but thankfully most Brazilians just laugh it off and chalk it up to general gringo ignorance about kissing as a form of greeting.
The most common thing that trips me up is going for the double cheek kiss when only a single one is required. I still haven't figured out the situation and social cues that require this but it seems connected with the personality of the other person and how well I know them. With my close male and female friends at the university we greet with one kiss on the cheek and then a very close hug. If I meet someone for the first time we always give two kisses. The gray area in-between meeting someone for the first time and then becoming friends along with the small but important subtleties like how long to linger with a kiss or hug and the distance from the placement of the kiss to the mouth of the other person create a lot of room for error, especially for the untrained foreigner. If you're planning on spending some time in Brazil, you had better be ready to start doing some kissing!
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