I definitely enjoyed the last week and a half in Brazil. The primary highlight of the week was a jaunt to the beach near Cabo Frio, only 3 hours from Rio by bus ,where we stayed at a very nice pousada. Our intention was to miss the madness of the opening of the Pan American Games, which are going on in Rio right now, and we did succeed in finding peace and quiet, with a hotel nearly to ourselves. Our room had a killer deck with a hammock, all of 50 feet from the ocean. It was even stunning enough that I got up for the sunrise, two mornings, and we extended our stay a night longer than planned. And a good portion of the stress relief of being there was simply related to being out of Rio – it was refreshing to feel safe again.
Towards the beginning of the class we had a discussion about how much middle- and upper-class Rio residents perceive themselves as ‘virtual victims’ of crime. With the help of media reporting that tends to dwell on violence, it seems one of their primary concerns is illegally darkening their car windows so that people on the street can’t see in. I certainly admit to worrying like hell about some of the situations I was in over the last weeks…but the violence wasn’t just virtual. I got punched by a coked-up lady who lived in my building, and classmates got mugged and pick-pocketed on various occasions. One Brazilian friend confided that her 19-year-old brother just admitted to being robbed at gunpoint five times. It’s a tough city, such that I almost felt better getting on a plane than being there. And no one seems to have any confidence in the police force, from which many of the reported human rights violations come, they are notoriously brutal and corrupt. According to the same friend, “We don’t call the police, we just pray.” It’s bizarre to me to imagine that no one can be trusted to come to your assistance in times of emergency, and I can see how that knowledge would certainly change one’s world-view.
Anyhow, I also visited one of the NGO’s I’m going to be working with next year, Pela Vidda. Here’s their old website too, which has more information about their programming. The English-speaking president of the organization was traveling so I spoke in butchered Portuguese to the VP; I’ve really got to get my Portuguese in line over the next couple months, but I was happy to pick up some literature with vocabulary specific to HIV/AIDS. And I’ve bought myself a massive biography of Paulo Freire, so hopefully some dense reading will do me good.
Finally, I photographed the food market on our street on Thursday mornings. All the produce artfully arranged was really delightful – the spice vendor was another favorite.
So, sadly, happily, I’m home now, in New York, though I still have to do my final project for the Brazil class. I’ve still got a very busy summer ahead of me, with some US travel and some much-anticipated Central America time. I’ll keep y’all posted. Beijos.
