The Party Continues...

With the Brasil’s win on Friday, hopes remain high despite the injury of a key player (Neymar. Jr) and plenty of Brasilian flags hang from the apartment buildings and team jerseys worn. Yellow and green are definitely the IN colour in these parts.
 

I am in the beach city of Natal after spending a relaxing time in Joao Pessao with plenty of nice accessible beaches and a pleasant and safe city centre with a bit of historic flair (multi-coloured buildings). There were not too many foreign tourists in the city which often gets over looked but there were a fair number of vacationing Brasilians. Because of the World Cup, vacation and school holidays time which is normally in July got moved to June. I spent the day with some friendly Brasilian teachers and a Chilean (who was still recovering from his team’s loss to Brasil). and joined them with a hired driver to visit nearby beaches and then a two hour drive to the Campina Grande for the largest Forro celebration and festival of Sao Joao. The festival runs for a whole month as the feasts for Santo Pedro and Antonio are also celebrated just so they won’t be left out.

 

Farro and all the traditional dress, music, dance and customs is best described as Braillian’s version of country music. There were lots of live bands playing in various stands and the whole site was constructed to look like a Western town complete with wooden churches, taverns and shops. Families walked around and couples danced the two-step (or if you were drunk, you ended dancing by yourself). Needless to say it was a fun time and despite the communication problems with the Brasilians and Chiliean, they were very helpful and hospitable. That is one of the advanatges of traveling alone, people are generally more open to talking with you and in this case, join their group. On the other hand, it is nice to share experiences and expenses with another person or someone to look after your stuff when you need to use the bathroom in a busy bus station.

After close to a month in Brasil, I have made some observations about this country and its people:

1) Brasil is HUGE. I have only seen a small part of the North West but essentially there are either beaches to visit on the coast, mountains and plateaus in the centre and the Amazon jungle (which I will save later in my trip as it is quite a fair distance away and flying to and from these places are expensive).

2) The people are great. Friendly, honest, open and extremely helpful from locals offering seats to elderly people or concern for me carrying my backpack to helping me when I am lost. Although locals may not approach you, when you ask for help, they go above and beyond. I also like the emphasis on families here.

3) Brasil is expensive for both tourists and locals. With the minimum wage of $840 Brasilians Reals (or $420 Cdn) a month or average income of $5000 to 7000 Brasilians Reals a month for the middle class. Then factor in the costs of rent, cars whcih are almost double, food, eating out which they like to do ($10-20 Cdn for a restaurant meal) and a incredible 53% income tax. I feel that at best, Brasil is maybe 10% cheaper than Canada but programs, services, health care, education, infracture are definitely not 90% of our standard of living. Conclusion, the Brasilians are getting ripped off. Whether it is the lack of schooling, roads, social programs, crime and security. Drinking tap water is not recommended.

4) Brasilians are not picky eaters. How else can you explain the popularity of the  charge by weight of food at local eateries some of which are $25 Cdn per Kg. Meat, potatoes, rice, vegetables are all the same. I also find that they do not use a lot of spices in their food and either it is rather bland or too salty or sweet for my taste. I hope I am not insulting any Brasilians but I have not been enamored by their cuisine or coffee (which tends to be very sweet) and find they are not concerned if the food is freshly cooked or hot. The restaurants also have this irritating practice of charging meals for two people and if you ask for half portions, either they will not do it or they will charge you 65% for 50% of the food.  Crazy.

5) There are a lot of pharmaries here. Almost two or three blocks will have one.

6) Brasilians like using the finger wag to denote a negative. Whether it is a mother saying no to her children's request for ice cream, a bus driver telling you are in the wrong bus or a national furbol star arguing about a referee call. The finger wag will come out and at times I have used it!

7) English is not spoken fluently, by most Brasilians especially in the north despite the government's free English classes for locals in preparation for the World Cup. It can be tough to get around but I guess that is traveling.

8) Brasilians have a general distrust of their government and consider them corrupt and not accountable. When I asked what they can do about it, there is general apathy to the electoral  process and all the different polical groups are the same. The locals are mad about their government overspending on the World Cip and stadiums.

9) The juices and fruits are great and abundent though they often add sugar to the juices.   Every breakfast comes with fruits, a great way to start tge day. However, they only make eggs scrambled or over easy well done. I tried to get them to boil, poach or soft over easy my egg in the hostels or restaurants. They just don't do that here.

10)  In order for locals to afford things, there  are plenty of no-nterest lay away plans for furniture, appliances, holidays, and yes, even  the treasured futbol jerseys.

11) Malls are definitely gathering places for locals and the Brasilian games will have giant TV screens and cheering fans. I love it when they sing their national anthem.

12) There does feel to be any racial tension here as in some other countries. That is one thing I like about Brasil, people seem very integrated in their history, cultural and way of life and there are plenty of mix couples and families.

I am off to arrange a  3 hour flight or 43 hour bus ride to Brasilla to meet another set of friends from Canada for the third place game.