In Brazilian music, song lyrics often contain the Portuguese word "saudade." The word has no direct translation into English, but it basically means intense longing, or nostalgia. When the word is used in Brazilian music, it is sometimes used to refer to a person, but it is also frequently used to refer to one's longing for Brazil. After spending a few weeks in Rio, São Paulo, and Salvador, making some good friends and unforgettable memories, I now have a much better understanding of why the word "saudade" is used so often by Brazilians.
One of the most important reasons I wanted to spend my winter vacation in Brazil was to demystify the romantic, idealized perception of the country I had been retaining for the past couple years. I wasn't always interested in Brazil, though. During the first couple years of college, while studying Latin American history, I purposefully avoided classes on Brazil in order to dedicate more time to Spanish-speaking Latin America. Then I saw "City of God," and my entire impression of Brazil changed. An interest in the country was ignited, and hasn't died down since. Acting on an impulse, I decided to take a Portuguese class my senior year. With this class, my perception of Brazil continued to be developed, until, eventually, I discovered I had actually fallen in love with Brazil. My love was fueled by images of the perfect beaches of João Pessoa, the smooth, flowing sound of Portuguese, and by Brazil's torn but impassioned history and society, which was represented in City of God, now my favorite movie.
Needless to say, I greatly anticipated my arrival to Rio de Janeiro, the city I chose to fly into from Montevideo and to use as my "hub" as I traveled to and from other Brazilian cities. Not only was I excited, trying to imagine what Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer would look like from my airplane window, but I was also scared to death. While packing, I looked at each item I placed in my backpack and imagined how I would feel at the moment it would be stolen from me--my journal, book, camera. As a solo traveler in Brazil, to me it wasn't a question of whether I would be robbed, but when.
My first couple of days in Rio were tinged by this fear. I was staying at a hostel in Ipanema, which is a very safe part of Rio, even at night. For the first couple days, I constrained myself to "safer" parts of the city, and even in those places I refused to take my camera. My actions were justified by the various stories I heard from other travelers, and even Brazilians: two of the people I lived with at the hostel had been mugged at knifepoint the week while I was living with them. It wasn't long before I noticed that holding on to this fear was altering my perception of the city in a negative way. As soon as I made this realization, I promised myself that I would not allow "being responsible" turn into "being paranoid." And it was after this that my trip really began.
Of course, I still spent time visiting the "touristy" spots. I hiked up to Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), and saw Rio from Sugarloaf (Pão de Açucar). From these spots, two of the highest in the city, it's easy to understand why Rio maintains a reputation as being one of the most gorgeous cities in the world.
This is the view from Christ the Redeemer. The hill on the right is Sugarloaf, which always has boats sitting in the bay at its base.
He has a pretty good view, huh?
After seeing Rio from Christ the Redeemer, I went over to Sugarloaf to see the view from there at sunset. This is the view from the gondola that travels up the hill. The beach on the left is Copacabana:
The view is dramatic since the sun sets right behind Christ the Redeemer (the statue is located at the top of the highest mountain):
Hang gliding provided a different view of Rio, since we ran off a ramp located over some of the less frequented beaches. This is the ramp I ran off, with one of our assistants napping on it:
Honestly, hang gliding didn't provide the adrenaline rush I was expecting, although it did provide some impressive views. I guess I'll just have to wait to go skydiving. While the views from these high places were stunning, I think the real beauty of Rio is most easily found on its beaches. Whereas most of the more beautiful beaches I've visited in my life (Cancun comes to mind) are mostly notable because of the perfectly blue water, or immaculate, white sand, I found Rio's beaches to be especially beautiful because of the landscape surrounding them: dramatic hills frame Rio's beaches, while, looking out to the ocean from Copacabana or Ipanema, one sees numerous little green islands dotting the sea.
This is a view of one of Ipanema's calmer sections. A little farther down the beach it becomes packed.
Of course, no description of Rio would be complete without mentioning the beauty of Rio's locals, called "cariocas." They spend so much time on the beach and/or practicing soccer that it should be no surprise they are usually very fit and perfectly tan. Not only that, they drink tons of juice--there's a juice bar on at least every other block in the beach neighborhoods. One of the things I really enjoyed in Rio was taking part in their healthy lifestyle--going running, then lying on the beach drinking açai (a thick juice made from an amazonian fruit--it tastes amazing!). I felt like my health improved immediately by me just being in Brazil. Speaking of juice, even on the beach there were tons of people walking around selling it, in addition to other items. One man walked around wearing a hat filled with pineapples--he would sneak up to an unsuspecting group, then yell "AAAABACAXI!!!!" (pineapple!). Watching him and people screaming at him provided lots of entertainment.
Seriously, though, it's hard to imagine just how athletic the Brazilians are. I always enjoyed sitting on Ipanema beach and looking along the shore, where, even in the winter, there were so many people that it was sometimes hard to see the sand! But something that always made me smile was that in this enormous crowd of people, there were innumerable soccer balls flying in the air. The most popular game on the beach is to stand in a circle with about six people and to just juggle a soccer ball without letting it touch the ground--like hacky-sack with a soccer ball. It wasn't uncommon for a group to go ten minutes without their ball touching the ground. There was one guy I would specifically look for--I swear he must be some sort of professional soccer player. He would balance the ball on his foot while coaching the others in his circle. Then he would point to his temple, kick the ball up, and balance it there. Then he would balance the ball on his forehead, then his other temple. Then he would rotate it to the back of his neck, and using just his head and his neck, toss then ball 30 feet in the air, then he would catch it behind his neck again! Nuts.
This Brazilian commercial (in Portuguese, if you want to hear what the language sounds like) shows Ronaldinho doing the moves I saw on the beach. Before I was in Rio I thought only players like Ronaldinho could juggle a soccer ball like this, but I actually saw these moves on the beach in Ipanema:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0rVtLwlTo&mode=related&search=
Several people have asked me what I would say was the highlight of my time in Rio. While sipping juice and caipirinhas on the beaches was wonderful, a few other experiences come to mind. One night, I went on a boat party in Rio's bay with some friends from the hostel, where we were served unlimited caipirinhas (similar to mojitos, but made with a sugarcane alcohol called cachaça) and Brazilian barbeque. After the boat party, we went to Lapa, one of the more popular spots to experience Rio's nightlife. Cariocas know how to party--the clubs were overflowing, and the party had moved into the street, where people walked around selling tequila shots from trays they carried. Inside a club, all types of music were played, from hip hop to salsa to the modern trend in Brazilian music, funk (pronounced "funky;" Brazilians tend to add the sound "ee" to many words they've adopted from English, which means rock is pronounced "hockey" and rap "happy"). And the Brazilian sensuality definitely persists in the clubs--people dance very, very close, and aren't afraid to get low.
Attending the Live Earth concert on Copacabana beach was another highlight, more because of the atmosphere than the performances (although it was fun to dance to Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" and Pharrell's "She Wants to Move"). In the audience of about 750,000 people (the Rio concert was the only one that was free, so it drew an enormous audience), favela kids joined businessmen, and I found myself in a group of people from Amsterdam, South Africa, Argentina, and Chile that I had met before on the boat party (I was surprised that I didn't see many tourists from the US during my trip).
I think, though, that if I had to name only one highlight--not necessarily the most fun experience, but one of the most unforgettable--it would have to be my visit to Brazil's largest favela, Rocinha. "Favela" is the word the Brazilians use for a community similar to a shanty town, but with its own distinct culture. For an impressively accurate depiction of life in a favela (featuring actors that actually live in the favelas), see the movie "City of God." The tagline for the movie is "Fight and you'll never survive..... Run and you'll never escape," which echoes some of the feelings I heard from individuals living in Rocinha.
Basically, these huge communities developed as displaced communities illegally claimed land as their own. As shacks gradually filled every available square inch of land, people began selling their roofs, which resulted in many of the buildings having different colored floors. Unfortunately, this also resulted in the frequent collapsing of homes, due to unstable foundations meant to support only a single-level home.
The government and society largely turned their backs on the favelas, allowing them to develop their own culture and primitive infrastructure. With no official law enforcement, waste management, or education system, it's not hard to imagine that these communities are filled with waste, drugs, and violence. It is estimated that one-third of Brazil's population lives in favelas (they exist in most, if not all of Brazil's larger cities, not only in Rio). For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favela and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocinha.
One example of how the people living in the favela get by without basic utilities from the government is electricity. Basically, someone acquires access to electricity, and everyone piggybacks. The same occurs with water, which is channelled into the favela from a nearby jungle. In these photos you can see the multitude of wires that accumulate as more and more people take electricity:
Today, people living in Rio outside favelas generally have a negative, fearful perception of those who live inside favelas--oftentimes they are seen as violent drug dealers and lawless robbers. This negative perception is somewhat justified. Favelas, being the ever-present symbol of the enormous and blatant split between Brazil's wealthy and poor, are often located right next to some of the wealthiest parts of the city. As a result, people living in the favelas oftentimes go into these wealthy sections and mug or pickpocket individuals. A good example of this occurrence is Copacabana, which, although very wealthy, is bordered by two favelas. People living in the favelas oftentimes walk down to Copacabana to prey on individuals, which has made Copacabana a dangerous place to explore at night.
In spite of this negative aspect of the favelas, people frequently fail to realize that those who live in favelas play a very active and beneficial role in Rio's economy and everyday life--they oftentimes have jobs in the wealthier parts of the city, at restaurants and hotels, for example. Many people living in favelas are trying to show individuals on the outside that living in a poor, violence-ridden area does not make them bad individuals. For this reason, the favela of Rocinha has begun receiving visitors who are interested in seeing the way of life in the favela, and the truth behind the rumors and stereotypes.
I traveled to the favela of Rocinha, which, as I said before, is the largest favela in Brazil, with a small group and a guide who was familiar with the community. To get into the favela, we took a bus to a point along a main road in the city, then got off at the foot of a very steep hill. Once there, we had to hire a small army of motorcycle taxis to zip us up the hill, which, while shooting through traffic and on the wrong side of the road, was way more of an adrenaline rush than hang gliding (far cheaper, too). Eventually we reached a level area, got off the motorcycles, and we found ourselves in the heart of Rocinha.
These views of Rocinha show just how closely-packed the homes are:
Things were bustling. There were small shops all around--not those catering to tourists, but shops for people needing plumbing or electrical supplies, cheap clothes, or a quick bite to eat. There were many people out walking to and from the shops. The roads were very narrow and winding. One of the first things our guide pointed out to us was three letters painted on the side of a nearby building: "ADA," which stands for "Amigos dos Amigos" ("Friends of Friends"). This is the name of the gang that controls Rocinha, not only by providing some form of corrupt "justice," but also by funding schools, for example. Because the government has largely turned its back on the favelas, these gangs have adopted the role of providing organization and basic services to the favela, but they maintain their power through violence and drug dealing. To learn a little more about the ADA, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amigos_dos_Amigos.
Venturing off the main road, my group and I began walking along a narrow, winding, and oftentimes steep sidewalk, which, although it only served foot traffic, was referred to as one of the four main "roads" through the favela. Walking along the road, we visited individuals living in the favela, a day care center, people who owned shops such as bakeries, and even an art gallery that showcases work by children and other artists living in Rocinha.
Before seeing Rocinha firsthand, I had the impression that people living in the favela were very hardened individuals, wearing thick skin that shielded them from a daily life filled with violence (not unlike my perception of individuals living in the poorer areas of New York City). As a result, I was surprised by the kindness of the people I met there. People were very friendly, constantly smiling and welcoming me with a "good afternoon." Children eagerly approached me and the others in my group, saying "hello" and asking us to take their picture. The children believe that if their picture is taken by an American, they will become famous in the US. Something I found funny was that the kids will ask to see their picture afterwards, and if you don't have a digital camera and can't show them the image, they call you "poor gringo."
These boys were practicing a drumming routine they were going to play at the opening of the Pan-American Games in Rio. I wish I had a video--they were really getting into it!
Along the main street, there are various children who sell their paintings and other items they've made, such as bracelets. They have been discouraged from begging, and told that they need to use their creativity and ability to earn money. This boy is showcasing one of his paintings:
One of the most popular activities among children in the favela is to fly small kites, which this little boy is holding. His mom saw me walking along and asked me to take a picture of her son:
Two little boys I ran into along the way:
I saw the filth that characterizes the favela--garbage is oftentimes collected and left to rot in enormous piles sitting right next to people's homes, and waste oftentimes simply flows along the sidewalk to an unknown destination. But I also saw the closeness of the community, which, I was told, is something that keeps many people in the favela and not eager to leave it. "If you offered them a job and a life in a nicer part of town, any of them would take it," my guide told me, "But if you told them they had to take the initiative and work hard to get it, most of them would simply opt to stay here in their community." With this I was reminded of the huge importance of education. Describing the dreams of the children in Rocinha, my guide said, "If you ask the children what they want to be when they grow up, all the boys will tell you they want to be a soccer star, and all the girls want to be models or actresses."
In order to get back to the main road, my group and I had to walk along a pathway with heavy foot traffic that is known as the center of the drug trade in Rocinha. It is also where the military police heavily patrol and frequently conduct their searches and arrests. My guide told us before arriving at the road that we absolutely cannot take pictures of two things: the men wearing yellow shirts (who were managers overseeing the buying and selling of drugs), and the military police. Both groups are extremely corrupt. On a previous trip, my guide and her group were actually detained at gunpoint and searched by the military police, who were convinced they were in the area to buy drugs. My group didn't experience such action, but I did see the military police pinning men against a wall and searching them for drugs. A common topic in Rio's newspapers is the crackdowns in the favelas, where the military police will invade and assassinate any number of people it believes are associated with the favela's gangs. Because Rio was hosting the Pan-American games while I was there, which brought a higher level of international attention to the city, the military police had been stepping up its efforts to "clean up" Rocinha and present a more positive image of Rio, whether successful or not.
It's about time I bring this post to a close, but I'll continue my next post with some photos and experiences from São Paulo, Salvador, and Morro de São Paulo. Out of these places, I must admit that Rio was, by far, my favorite. I felt at home there, and the landscapes never ceased to stun me. I have definitely been left with "saudade," but I'm telling myself that I will return, probably to study Portuguese. Even after only a few weeks, my Portuguese significantly improved, and, by the end, I had no problems carrying on a conversation with someone. Even with all its problems, Rio is a stunning place, and I really can't wait to go back.
