Brazil is a beautiful country, no doubt about it. The land, the people, the beaches, the people on the beaches. It is also a country of contrast. Along side all this beauty, is extreme poverty, sometimes literally. As we drove from Ipanema beach to Barra da Tijuca where we stayed in the Sheraton, the tunnel we went through passed under a favela (shanty town). Up the hillside from Sao Conrado, the town between Rio and Barra da Tijuca is the infamous Rochina favela. In Canada this hillside would hold a nice subdivision of houses with an ocean view. Here in Brazil this favela is home to 300,000 people.
Houses in these favelas are made simply of bricks piled haphazardly on top of one another. Despite open sewers, many of the homes have electricity and television. The military police do what they can to maintain order, even as many of their own live in the same favelas. These men are sure to keep the employment a secret from their neighbours for fear of reprisal. To be a member of the military police is not a glamorous job and they are killed by the thousands every year. I don't share these facts to be morbid but to share the other side of Brazil.
Driving in Rio is an adventure. We were lucky enough to have Lesley's brother-in-law Bert, in our trusty Kombi van, to do the driving. I will say a Rio taxi ride can be a terrifying experience...
Driving here, for all it's madness it relatively mellow in that people are courteous, and I have yet to see any road rage, and not many accidents. One of the regular casualties on the road are motorcyclists. They drive between cars, stopped or moving, at full speed signaling their presence with a honk of their horn. Bert told me one is killed per day in Brasilia (a city of 2.5 million), I can only imagine how many are killed in Rio (7 million).
Food here is great, if you like bread, cheese, and lots of meat. Lesley is a vegetarian, as am I for the most part. I did, for the sake if culture, try the traditional Brazilian dish of Feijoada, a stew of beans, bacon, sausage, and other various pig parts including ears and feet! It is served with rice and farafa, a dish of fried manioc flour with herbs. It made for a delicious Xmas eve dinner, although I think it traumatized Lesley a little. Pastels are also a regular food item, eaten for breakfast or lunch, and usually filled with meat and/or cheese as well as guava, or banana.
It's obvious to me that Brazil has a rich culture full of soul and love. As with many cultures, Canada included, there are discrepancies between the rich and the poor, they just seem more extreme here. An example I saw was a car dealership with 'Blindado' written on the windscreen of the high end cars for sale which translate as 'bulletproof' (literally), across the street from a favela that stretches up the hill.
One of the best displays of Brazilian culture, for me, was a Capoeira club putting on a show at the market in Brasilia below the TV tower. For those who don't know, Capoeira is a fighting style that was developed by the slaves brought to Brazil. As they weren't allowed to practice fighting, Capoeira was developed to look like a dance. There is no contact, and lots of signing and clapping.
All in all Brazil is an amazing place and I look forward to coming here again.
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