Mata de São João, Brazil

With a population of just 30,535, Mata de São João is a sleepy backwater, hardly the vibrant metropolis many Americans dream of when moving abroad. The city's remote location, 56 km from the state capital of Salvador, means a daily grind of navigating bureaucratic headaches and poor infrastructure. And the region's dark history of slavery casts a long shadow, with records from the 18th-century Portuguese Inquisition detailing the "cruelty and torture" inflicted on captive Africans by the local landowning elite.

For those seeking an authentic taste of rural Brazil, Mata de São João may fit the bill. But the lack of modern amenities and pervasive legacy of oppression make this municipality a poor choice for most would-be expats chasing an idealized vision of life overseas.