Brazil

Plates: white until 2018, now white w/ blue top stripe; red = commercial vehicles

Portuguese (not Spanish): -ão instead of -ón, -ch/-lh instead of -ll, -nh instead of -ñ

Within the Americas only Brazil speaks Portuguese.

Distinctly red soil in most of the country - light pink (Mato Grosso) to deep maroon (Paraná river); NOT red in the northeast or most of Rio Grande do Sul

Argentina: Spanish + black-on-yellow chevrons → Argentina.

Most common poles look like a ladder at the bottom: rectangular, long segments below, small holes near the top

Paraguay uses similar ladder poles - Portuguese vs Spanish decides.

Sign backs mostly painted black (also common in Paraguay); blue road markers w/ road number + km on roadsides

Chevrons yellow-on-black

Most of South America uses the inverted black-on-yellow.

Chile: Black background, yellow arrow → Brazil; yellow background, black arrow → Chile.

Uruguay: Portuguese + black-background chevron → Brazil.

Argentina: White-red → Argentina; either yellow-black variant → Brazil or its neighbours.

Usually double yellow middle + white outer lines (occasionally single dashed yellow); white-painted kerbs frequent

Many houses w/ orange tiled roofs; blue Fortlev water tanks on roofs; transparent satellite dishes (within LatAm generally Brazil-only)

The transparent dish is the strong tell; tanks/roofs support it.

Gen3: white car w/ stubby coiled antenna OR white car w/ no antenna (often only the antenna or nothing visible); Gen4 cars w/ visible front: blue, white w/ blue stripe, or white; smallcam exists (in S. America only Brazil, Peru, Argentina)

Ecuador: Portuguese → Brazil.

Colombia: Portuguese → Brazil.

Mexico: Continent context decides.

Coverage concentrated in the eastern half; Amazon very sparse - build a mental map of the few western roads

Area codes (DDD) in parentheses, grouped by first digit; codes ending in 1 = major city/state capital; numbers w/o code: 8 digits landline / 9 mobile

2-letter state acronyms on state-road numbers (km markers etc.) - learnable by heart; CEP postcodes on street signs: first 2 digits run anti-clockwise from São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul

Landscape by region:

Flora:

Agriculture: eucalyptus plantations everywhere (esp. south + Amapá); sugarcane → São Paulo by far (+ PR, MS, NE coast); soybeans → MT, PR, GO; coffee → Minas Gerais (+ ES, NE-SP)

Pole types & IDs by state:

Insulators by state:

Lamps & misc: concrete trash baskets → AC/RO (metal elsewhere); two-part lamps → MG/GO; arm-less fancy lamps → NW-Paraná; lamp arm attached directly to pole → MT/MS/PA/AP/RN/PE/SC; Roraima lamp colours: red = Boa Vista/Normandia/Mucajaí, blue = Rorainópolis, green = Pacaraima/Iracema, yellow = Caracaraí; colourful ornate lamp arms (often w/ town name) → Ceará; João-de-Barro nests (mud spheres on poles) → south

Roads: São Paulo has by far the most divided highways (+ phone numbers under km markers); cobblestone → NE + RS; hexagonal concrete tiles → SC & MG; red-brick roads → Acre; random-stone cobble → SE-RS & MG; uneven square stones + dark soil → W-RS/W-SC (same in Misiones, AR); brown-tile pavements → RS; red roadside gravel → Piauí (caution)

Architecture: European (vaguely German) style → SC & the south; wooden stilt houses → Acre (rarer low-lying AM/PA)

Amapá: ALL Gen4 has a smudge front-right + always the white car w/ blue stripe; Gen3 rifts → Alagoas; NW-RS has a distinct Gen3 camera glitch

City metas: SP yellow square pole ID (3 municipality letters + numbers); wrapped sticker street signs → Campo Grande (w/ red-yellow stripe) & Joinville; fully-curved lamp arms → Rio de Janeiro; blue lamps w/ orange arm → Teresina; orange lamp heads → Belém; light-green lamps + multi-counter poles → Cuiabá; white numbered lamp plaques → Belo Horizonte (0/1) & Uberaba (1/2); zigzag pole + yellow head → Caxias do Sul; poles white w/ blue+red stripes → Florianópolis

Recognisable roads: BR-364 (Acre) = rollercoaster road riding the hills, no traffic, blue Gen4 car; BR-319 (Amazonas) = lush flat mostly-unpaved Amazon road w/ bright orange soil + poles all along; BR-163 (Pará) = hilly, curvy, dry/hazy, truck traffic (blue car north, smallcam south)

Landscape spotlights: Uiramutã (N-Roraima) = dry mountains w/ distinctive 'folds'; coastal RS = rare flat wetland

Trekkers & unique cars: Amazon boat+walking trekker on the Madeira/Aripuanã rivers (rainforest + villages); Lençóis Maranhenses NP = sand dunes w/ water pools, white truck w/ black bed; Fernando de Noronha (340 km offshore): white buggy visible at the front, big exposed rocks + boat coverage