Recife Guide did a feature on the city of Bezerros in the interior of Pernambuco (about 50 min from Recife). Judging by the photos alone, it looks like a great place to be! Of special note is the Papangu Carnival and the Serra Negra region. Check out the link to know more!
For a peak at the Carnival there, see the photo slideshow below from photographer Jose Alves Gonçalves (with a song by Lenine called “Leão do Norte”).
Having surpassed the barrier of false notions (I’m no longer a tourist), I am slowly settling into the reality that is Brazil. When the vacation period ends and the reality starts to arrive, the Brazil you thought you knew becomes almost as foreign as you once found it to be. My friend explained it in the following manner. First it’s all love, then it’s all hate, then it’s somehow bearable, then you find equilibrium. Currently, I’m slipping into the third phase but while these rights of passage pass through and around me, more and more things I just don’t understand (but try to accept because I’m an outsider). Although as part of the bearable phase, one accepts first and asks questions later…which brings me to the current topic.
1. Why are ATMs (caixa eletrônica) used for so many functions where most of the time they are located within the bank? The lines for these ATMs are crazy long and the customers in each take an average of 5 minutes plus to use them. All the meanwhile, inside the ‘bank’ bank, there is generally quite a lot of employees with no one to attend to. Now, perhaps I’m just the only crazy one of the bunch but why not have the employees assist the customers while the ATMs are used for taking out money or depositing it? If such a thing would become reality (and I know I’m dreaming here), there would be practically no lines at the ATMs (also meaning there would be no line for somebody to cut into) and no one would get stressed with a simple trip to the ATM. Just an idea…
2. Why do oh-so-many businesses use false advertising in Brazil? By offering more products or services than one actually can provide, the only thing one creates is confusion (and probably disappointment) on behalf of the customer when they arrive at your enterprise and inquire as to a product or service which they saw or heard advertised. What is created in these circumstances is a less-satisfied customer (when they get less than they want), an entirely non-satisfied customer (when they prefer nothing over getting less than they want) as well as an employee that has to explain the reality of the situation to the customer and thereby waste time (and as we all know, time is money). From an ice-cream stand on the side of the road that advertises 15 flavors but routinely has in stock a mere 5 or 6, to a larger business (which can take hundreds of thousands in investment to start) that officially lists more services than every single employee at that company knows are actually offered. I don’t get it…
“Two city guards in crisp uniforms marched across the sands and ordered Javier and his friend to stop their game, a “keep-up” between several players that is much loved by Rio beach-goers.
“It’s ridiculous. No one’s here, it’s a public beach,”said Javier, wearing swimming trunks and gesturing at the near-empty section of beach on a recent afternoon.
No matter. Under rules aimed at bringing order to Rio’s famous beaches, ball games are among the undesirable activities being curtailed or banned as the city that will host a World Cup and Olympics within seven years seeks to clean up its act. But the shock of order policy is running into resistance on Rio’s sands, amid worries that it will kill the soul and spontaneity of beaches like Ipanema and Copacabana, which have been celebrated in many a samba and bossa nova song.” – Source (more here)
This is completely ridiculous. Rio’s problems are not with pick-up games on the sand, nor with barracas, nor with boom boxes. Next, Rio’s government will want to regulate how much sun shines on the beaches per day.
If you would like to see the Rio of the past, present and future, O Globo has a Multimedia show called Rio Na Cabeça.
I read about this the other day when the news broke but at that time, it was only in reference to a boy with needles, now more information has come in and macumba is involved (must be why my macumba post picked up hits) and they have the suspect in custody, plus the int’l news is all over it.
“A Brazilian toddler found with 42 sewing needles inside him has been airlifted for emergency surgery. Doctors have rushed him to a specialist cardiac unit in Salvador after discovering two needles in the left ventricle of his heart. Police earlier said his stepfather had confessed to sticking the needles into the two-year-old boy. Roberto Carlos Magalhaes told them his mistress had told him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife. Doctors plan to extract the most dangerous of the needles – but removing them all will be too risky.” – BBC (a little more here, plus video)
Brazilian court to rule (again) on whether Sean Goldman should be returned to David Goldman, his legal and biological father. The video link is here.
Update: It seems the rule was in favor of the real father but the Brazilian family can appeal yet again. Here’s what the maternal grandmother said in a letter to the president yesterday, which I find funny as “authentically Brazilian feelings” as she calls them below have no basis in this case. It’s a legal matter and legally, we know who the child should be with.
“Silvana Bianchi, Sean’s maternal grandmother, wrote an open letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just hours before the Tuesday ruling, in which she said cultural differences and international pressure were driving the case.
“Our moral foundation values the mother’s role. In the absence of the mother, the raising should be done by the grandmother,” she wrote. “That’s how it’s done in Brazil, from north to south, regardless of race, religion or social class. It’s natural that foreigners, with a different foundation, would not understand these authentically Brazilian feelings.” – Source
“The bike rental service from the Mayor’s office of Rio, which began at the start of the year, has been suspended due to theft. In the last two weeks, 56 bicycles have been stolen and just between the 10th and the 13th of December, 38 of those 56 were stolen.
The service was started in January with 18 stations throughout the Zona Sul. The models are exclusive and the bicylces, indentifiable. Those who are found with them will be accused by the police and denounced by the Public Ministry. The Secretary of Security stated that both the civil and military police are working to identify the theives.” – Source (translated from PT, found on Twitter through Brazil Travel Blog)
Frankly, I’m surprised Rio thought it would work when it failed in another international city, Paris.
On TechCrunch yesterday, a story popped up on the history beind Mercado Libre (or Livre, in Brazil) by writer Sarah Lacy (who was headed to Brazil back in August but things went south, figuratively, and she didn’t end up going). Although the article deals with Argentina mostly, it gives a good run-down, with Mercado Livre as an example, of the ups and downs of a successful tech company in South America.
“The percentage of Brazilians, who are 10 years or older, that are online increased 75.3% in the last 3 years, going from 20.9% in 2005 to 34.8% in 2008 (or 56 million users), the Brazilian Institution of Geography and Statistics stated on Friday.
The increase occurred just as much among men (21.9% in 2005 to 35.8% in 2008) as it did among women (from 20.1% to 33.9%). Last year, the utilization was larger among the youth: those between 15 and 17 years old registered the highest percentage (62%) of people that went online and also they represented the group with the highest increase in the last three years (when it was at 33.7%).”
- Source (more here, in PT)
According to a new study on product price comparisons which analyzed 26 products in 33 countries, São Paulo came in 3rd place in terms of the top 20 most expensive cities in the world! Also of interest is the lack of American cities on the list.
1) Oslo, Norway
2) Copenhagen, Denmark
3) Sao Paulo, Brasil
4) Paris, France
5) Reykjavik, Iceland
6) Stockholm, Sweden
7) Helsinki, Finland
8) Dublin, Ireland
9) Sydney, Australia
10) Rome, Italy
11) Tokyo, Japan
12) Amsterdam, Netherlands
13) Vienna, Austria
14) Brussels, Belgium
15) Berlin, Germany
16) Cape Town, South Africa
17) Moscow, Russia
18) Istanbul, Turkey
19) Lisbon, Portugal
20) London, England
The makers of two up-coming documentaries have put out trailers, both which I found out about via The Good Blood. Both look interesting. The first deals with a group of barely-teens who surf the waters of Rio de Janeiro and the second is about Brazilian music through the eyes of foreigners.
The links to the two trailers are here and here!
PS. – As a brinde (freebie), here’s another (short doc) I found on The Good Blood, called Temporal: The Art of Stephan Doitschinoff, which is really cool.
