It is quite conceivable that one could come to Brazil for a month and never venture beyond either Rio or the Zona Sul. There would be nothing wrong with this scenario either. However in any country that spans 4 or more time zones this constitutes a postage stamp-sized tether. Here are some of the ways I filled up the proverbial bucket before leaving.
A Churrascaria survey tour. Churrascarias are the Brazilian equivalent of the Gaucho Asados found in Argentina, basically a slow barbequeue. Where they differ of course is in the method of delivery and the variety of their offerings. The meat is served Rodizio style which is where the waiters circulate throughout the dining room with a skewer of meet and a knife. If the token on your table is facing green side up the waiter will shave off a cut of whatever he is serving, if the token is red side up he will keep moving along. They all operate on a prix fixe scheme so you are only limited by your intake capacity. At any given time there half a dozen waiters moving about the dining room with a seemingly endless selection of beef, chicken, lamb, pork, duck. Further, within each category of meat early every type of cut is offered as well. The winner hands down was Porcão which without any touch of irony means "big pig" in Portuguese. Although opinion seems to be split between Plataforma and Porcão as to which is the best Churrascaria, my vote rests with Porcão. In addition to its quality BBQ it has its share of that "see and be seen" element. I thoroughly enjoyed my friend Fabio, a Leblon local pointing out the different TV stars, football players and politicos while detailing their accompanying scandals. That´s entertainment.
On Wednesday night I attended a football game at the fabled Maracana´ Stadium. Maracana´is the biggest football stadium on the planet. Before receiving a face lift for last summer´s Pam American Games the capacity was 200K. After removing the terrace style seating the number is somewhere closer to 120K people. The game was between Flamingo which is Brazil´s most popular team and Sao Paulo´s Corinthians, a classic rivalvry for urban supremacy. A football game at Maracana´ has no comparison in any of the big 3 sports in USA. The Flamingo fans make the Red Sox fans on Yawkee Way in Boston look like choir boys. I think with the exception of automatic weapons everything is permitted to be brought into the stadium. I am trying to think of a 20 piece samba troop trying to enter Madison Square Garden with their drums on game night and it just doesn´t compute. There were passages of time where between the smoke from the fireworks and flares and the flag waving it became very difficult to see the field. It was like the Nuremburg of sporting events. Everything reaches an apoplectic peak of course when Flamingo scores. The movement of 80K fans in unison causes the concrete beneath your feet tends to undulate ever so slightly but enough for it to register. It also begins to rain, it rains beer, water, coke, plastic cups and cans. It also becomes evident that this is no place for a freshly pressed button down shirt. The game ended with a 2-1 victory for Flamingo after which the madness moved from the stadium to the street.
A visit to a Favela. Initialy I had mixed feeling about visiting a Favela. On one hand there seemed to be something touristcally exploitive about it. Yet on the other hand with a population of over 2 million people and a growth rate of 6 percent the favelas are clearly a legitimate part of the social fabric that makes up the city. After doing a minute amount of research I found a guy named Marcelo who donated a majority of the money for a guided tour to the community there. The favela I visited was Rocinha. This is the biggest favela in Rio. There doesnt seem to be any type of official census type data but many estimates put it at 100K people. I think most peoples impressions of the favela were culled from the movie "City of God" and up to that point mine were as well. True, drug lords and there soldiers run the favela but they do so along with an elected favela predident. Not everyone in a favela is a drug dealer either in fact these would be a minroity. Many of the maids, porters other service industry people who work in Copacobana and Impanema live here. Most of Rio´s construction workers are favela dwellers as well. Despite the illegal prescense of drugs and guns in the favelas there is little crime. Windows and doors remain open, there is no armed robbery, muggings or rape. This is one of those self regulating elements that are sometimes found in marginalized areas. In the abscense of a police patrol justice is meeted out by the Command which is the reigning power structure of the neighborhood. The Command is generally one of three different drug gangs that control the neighborhood. The kids with guns on the street are soldiers of the command. They are the eyes and ears on the street and report up the chain of command. They are not out for the wallets and jewelry of of tourists in any way. Their armed struggles rests with the police and rival commands looking to make inroads in their favela. The only real danger in visiting a favela or I imagine living there for that matter is getting caught in the cross fire between these elements. Another misconception is that in these neighborhoods there is an abscense infrastructure however this is patently untrue. There are supermarkets, restaurants, bars and bus stations in the favela. Every resident also has access to power and running water. The favelas also have their own community radio and cable TV stations. I dont mean in any way to portray a rosey picture of but what became obvious to me during the afternoon here was that there is a difference between poverty and being "down and out."
Next it´s off to the North East to the state of Bahia, the African heart of Brazil.
CT
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