I had the unbelievably good fortune to go to Brazil, my dream country, for 12 days, from 24 March to 4 April this year, 2009! The company I work for, Eurocentres Cape Town, is a language school that teaches English to foreigners. Part of the way such schools market themselves is to attend industry-related expos in different countries. A colleague and I went to a language travel expo (BELTA) in Sao Paulo, then we split up and did agent visits in different cities, where we marketed our school and city. We spent about a week in Sao Paulo, then I went to the north-east, to Fortaleza, Recife and Salvador.
We flew to Johannesburg from Cape Town at 06h00 on Tuesday 24 March, and after a 2-hour wait, took an 11-hour flight to Sao Paulo. Interesting how one actually gets through it and ends up feeling that it wasn’t so bad after all. I spent a lot of time with my “Brazilian Portuguese Phrasebook”, which I thoroughly enjoyed using, and which helped me get by quite nicely in Brazil. We also had our own tv screens, so I watched two movies, “Quantum of Solace” and “Music and Lyrics”. Enjoyed the second, but not the first. Had bought myself Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams From My Father, as a gift to myself for achieving my dream of traveling to Brazil, and spent a lot of time devouring it during the flight. A fascinating read. He uses words like a magician, and the issues he explores in the book felt very close to aspects of my own life. I also feel a connection to him because we were born in the same year, 1961.
Landing in Brazil at 15:30, their time, was hectic, because SA is 5 hours ahead. I think it took me two full days, at least, to start feeling ‘normal’ again.
Once at the hotel, we met up with some other Capetonians, also there for the expo, and had supper with them every night while in Sao Paulo. I remember looking at my watch in the restaurant, that first night, and feeling SO disorientated, because we’d been awake for about 25 hours!
We had some free time in Sao Paulo before the expo. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do, given budgetary constraints, but we did quite a bit of walking. Sao Paulo is huge - apparently the third largest city in the world. Getting separated from my colleague, while walking in the city on Day 1, and making my way back to the hotel without a map, was a lot of fun. Used my phrasebook to ask for directions, but just stared blankly when the response came in rapid-speak-Portuguese!
The expo was a first for me, but not for my colleague, Althea, who’s been in the tourism industry for 12 years, and has been in marketing for most of that time. She attended the expo alone last year, so I got to benefit from her experience. She was really cool to travel with. Interestingly enough, we hadn’t worked closely before the trip, and we’re right back to that again. It’s because our portfolios are so different. I like and respect her a lot, but I know that we’re not suddenly going to be best friends now.
Anyway, that was the first part of the trip. We did the expo for three days, along with the other South Africans. We set our stands up in a sort of semi-circle, and it was definitely the most vibey (vibiest?) section of the entire exhibition centre. There were language schools from all over the world – the UK, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, as well as countries like Norway and Sweden. Lots of other countries were also present – Switzerland, France, Korea, etc.
On the first evening, there was a cocktail party after the day’s proceedings. I was really tired, because we’d arrived at the venue at 11:00 to set up, and the expo was open to the public from 14:00 – 19:00, which meant we’d been there for 8 hours by the time the cocktail party was due to start. I watched in amazement as Althea made her way around the party, networking, handing out her business cards, etc. I was struggling to keep my eyes open! All I wanted to do was SIT DOWN!!
For the duration of the expo, we worked closely with the South African Consulate, whose staff were fantastic, helping us at the event and also taking us out for supper one night. I was fascinated to hear the Consul and Vice Consul (South Africans) speaking fluent Portuguese. (I absolutely love the language, and already sing a few Portuguese songs, like Agua De Beber, So Danco Samba and Rosa Morena.) Some of the schools used Brazilians who work for the consulate to translate for them, but we employed one of our ex-students, Diego, who’d actually worked at our school as an intern, after his course. He’s about 19 or 20, is doing his final year of his degree, and all he wants to do is find a job in Cape Town and stay here permanently!
After our time in Sao Paulo, we split up, and I took my first domestic Brazilian flight on my own to Fortaleza. The flight was fine, but at the airport, before leaving, I had a mild panic attack when I saw Althea disappearing out of sight, after checking in for her flight to Brasilia. I took a deep breath, reminded myself that I was 47 and had experienced - and survived – so much on my own in the past, and then I felt my usual sense of calm returning. Phew!
After an easy 3-hour flight, I landed in Fortaleza, filled with all kinds of feelings. People had warned me that the north was very dangerous, but as a Capetonian I already operated with a healthy sense of distrust. I’d also been told that no-one spoke English in the north, so I anticipated having to take out the phrase book at regular intervals. At Fortaleza Airport, however, besides the fact that there were signs warning people to use only approved taxis, the place felt fine. I loved the tropical climate, with its warm evenings. Reminded me a lot of Durban, where I’d spent four and a half happy years of my childhood. I was very aware of the fact that I was ALONE in a non-English-speaking country, in a part of the country that had been portrayed by people further south as quite primitive, but I had actually spent the entire flight doing Mind Power about how strong and powerful I was, capable of achieving anything I set my mind to. By the time I landed, I was absolutely ready for 3 days alone in Brazil’s north-eastern cities! While waiting for my luggage, I looked up at a tv screen close to the baggage area, and saw an amazing Brazilian musician singing an even more amazing song. I looked around at the people waiting with me, and everyone just looked tired and bored, like they hadn’t even seen the screen. There I was, half jumping out of my skin with excitement, and everyone else seemed so blasé! I suppose it’s like Capetonians, when kids on the street do gumboot dancing and all the tourists whip out their cameras….. Yawn!
The drive to that hotel was weird. It felt like I was driving through a place that had been devastated by a nuclear explosion. I kept expecting to see Will Smith and his dog! Buildings were all dilapidated and very grimy. Roads weren’t in a good condition either. Street lighting was dim. It was strange to see the odd group of people standing and chatting, ordinary people, moms in overalls, dads coming home from work, kids playing. Hard to determine the class of people (typical South African!). Really confusing. So very different to what I’m used to. In SA, there are such clear distinctions between townships, slightly better areas, middle class, upper-middle class and posh areas.
I kept trying to understand what I was seeing, and I felt sorry that I hadn’t done any in-depth research before the trip. I knew the bigger historical picture of the colonial rule, etc. but the present-day look of the city was as if not much real recovery had taken place. I struggled to remember when Brazil had gained its independence and what its more recent history was. Coming from a country that is still struggling with so many socio-economic problems, I couldn’t help wondering what kinds of issues were faced by the inhabitants of the creepy town I was driving through. My heart ached as I came to the conclusion that social issues faced by poor people all over the world were probably very similar.
The taxi driver dropped me at my hotel, Holiday Inn Fortaleza, and I thanked the universe that some of the staff spoke English, the place was smart and clean, my spacious room was more like a suite, the shower was fabulous, the tv worked and the internet connection was all in order. It was quite late, I ordered room service and caught up with my e-mails. I was curious when the courteous porter told me to look out of the window as soon as I woke up the next morning – he said I’d get a lovely surprise. And oh man, what a sight met my eyes the next morning. Because of the heat in Brazil, I woke very early every morning, about 5am, and that morning was no exception. I opened the curtains and there it was, right across the road from the hotel……….. the sea!!!!!!!! That was after 6 days in Sao Paulo, where I hadn’t see the sea. I realized that my trip had come after a period of a few weeks where Carl, the kids and I had spent a lot of time at St James beach, usually in the evenings. Seeing the sea across the road, all I wanted to do was get into the water, it looked so inviting. I checked my time, realised I had more than enough time to walk on the beach before my 9am appointment, got ready and went downstairs.
I spent about 45 minutes walking on the beach, taking photos and trying to get the feel of the place (so different, the area I’d seen the night before and the area here on the beachfront!). I felt sad that I’d just have one day there, taken up by meetings, because the brochures I saw at the hotel indicated that there was a lot to be seen. I had only two appointments in Fortaleza, and both went very well. While I was doing the training with one of the groups, there was a loud noise outside, which I thought was a truck passing by, but it turned out to be a cloudburst! It was quite spectacular. When I left, later, it was hot once again, and there was steam rising from the tar. After my second appointment, the person I’d met with dropped me at a nearby shopping centre, so that I could buy a few things, and showed me where to catch a taxi back to the hotel.
All the taxis I used were very clean, very smart and fully air-conditioned. Even though most of the drivers couldn’t speak any English, what was so cool was the music I got to listen to, all the time – Brazilian music!!! It was like the soundtrack to my trip, and I wallowed in every moment of it. Brazilian music has been in my heart for many years, and my strong attraction to the country is definitely linked to its music. As well as its people, of course, who look exactly like Cape Town people, or more specifically, the so-called “Coloured” people (a term institutionalized by the Apartheid government, referring to people of mixed descent, the group I was born into). That’s quite a broad generalization, though, because you can see the different influences – German, Japanese, African, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, etc.
I went back to the hotel and typed up my reports, then repacked my bags before leaving for the airport. I had a one-hour flight to Recife, but went to the airport early, choosing to rather journal while waiting for my flight, than to risk getting stuck in traffic and checking in late.
Recife
The flight was very good, and once again the signs at the airport warned visitors to use only approved taxis. The approved taxi I took was driven by someone who drove so wildly, I felt like my organs were being flung around from side to side, inside my body. That was the only taxi ride in the entire trip (and sometimes there were six or seven rides a day!) that was not fun. When I got to the hotel, I was told that I was being moved to a nearby hotel because there’d been a blackout on some of the floors. Their driver took me down the road to the other hotel, and I checked in, exhausted, getting to my room close to 11pm. I got myself sorted out quickly, getting to bed as soon as possible, because I had three appointments the next day, starting at 8am, and a flight to the next city at 6pm. The three training sessions went very well, but with the last one at 3:30, I had to cart my luggage around with me. I can see what a rushed day it was, because I have only eight photos of that city, and three of them were taken from my hotel window! The rest of the day was meetings and taxi rides. Met really interesting people at all the agencies I visited, mostly women, 20-something, all really keen to visit Cape Town.
Salvador!
Flying to Salvador was very exciting, because I was going to meet up with an ex-student, who was fetching me from the airport. In the two days I’d been on my own, I’d felt really strange – no-one knew me, no-one said my name, and as liberating as that was on one level, it was also an eye-opener as to what made my life make sense (to me).
Once again, a great, smooth flight to Salvador – quite short, again, +- 1 hour – and there was Adelmario waiting for me. Nice feeling. We dropped off my stuff at my guesthouse, which was in a narrow, cobbled street in the historic city (absolutely rich in history, built in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries), completely different to anything I’d experienced up till then, in Brazil or anywhere. We walked through some of the streets, and I took a ride in the elevator that connects the lower city with the upper city, called Elevador Lacerda. When you’re there, you can’t help but be struck - and sobered - by the glaring poverty of the people. It’s like being in Cape Town. Kids come up to you and beg, drunk women tie little ribbons on your wrist and then harass you to buy their handmade jewelry. Adelmario told me that the idea is to pray for something you want (with some saint as your intermediary), and to keep the ribbon on until the prayer’s been answered. My no. 1 prayer was to get safely back to South Africa and put my arms around my kids. The very visible presence of the police, on practically every corner, alerted me to other issues in that part of the city. Basically, I needed to be as vigilant as I normally am back home. The only difference was, I was now the tourist, the outsider.
We stopped in at a restaurant for something cold to drink, because it was still 30-something degrees Celsius, even though it was about 10:30pm! To my delight, there was a singer-guitarist doing some of my favourite Brazilian songs, as well as a whole lot of others I’d never heard before. We chatted a bit and exchanged contact details. His name’s Silas Giron, and you can find him on MySpace. Lovely guy, lovely music. Plays like a wizard, sings like an angel.
The next day I had three appointments again, and by this time, even though I was so chuffed to be in this wonderful city that affected me so intensely (hectic slave history and almost as hectic present-day issues, not to mention the sultry tropical climate,……. oh, man!), I was really missing my family a lot, and couldn’t wait to be on the flight back to CT. To my surprise, Adelmario had booked time off from work, to take me around his city, so after my first appointment, he fetched me, took me to my second one, and then for lunch and more sight-seeing before my third one. After that, we went back to the historic city and strolled through the narrow streets, where many of the terraced houses have been turned into restaurants or shops. I regretted having bought souvenirs in Sao Paulo, because in Salvador I found the kinds of things I’d been looking for – musical instruments, especially, as well as really nice, locally-made, inexpensive jewelry. The funky clothes (think Bahia, beach culture) made me want to cry, because I just didn’t have any money left! I have to go back one day – with my kids!
That evening, we got dressed up and went to a cool, upmarket restaurant, where a live band was playing bossanova music. Turned out to be awesome, with exactly my kind of music, plus an added surprise – playing the Bahian kitarre as a special guest, was Aroldo Macedo, the son of the person who invented the instrument! After the show, I introduced myself to the band and we chatted. Musicians are musicians, wherever you go. Got Aroldo’s card. He owns a music school in Salvador, where he teaches children to play this typically Bahian instrument. It looks like a miniature electric guitar and works on the same principle. Has 5 strings, and has quite a high-pitched sound. Played properly, it’s an incredible addition to the Brazilian rhythms. A fascinating part of Aroldo’s father’s story, is that he single-handedly got the annual Bahian Carnival to the black people, by mounting a speaker system to his car and driving through their areas. Eventually, his efforts resulted in the total desegregation of the carnival. How cool is that? So, so familiar.
When we were in Sao Paulo, we were taken to a live music venue (Roda Viva) by Diego, who used the evening as an opportunity for a little reunion of Eurocentres past students. Two very special past students, Silmara and Christiano, flew in from Curitiba and Rio respectively, and joined us for what proved to be an unforgettable evening. Hard to believe it was a soloist (singer-guitarist) performing, because he had everyone on their feet for most of the evening. I loved the way the locals got involved in singing along with him. It was a great atmosphere! Definitely one of the highlights of my trip.
Reflecting 3 months later:
It’s now 23 June 2009, and tomorrow will be three months since my departure for Brazil. It’s a country I feel powerfully connected to, and I don’t fully understand why – I just am. The language moves me, the music moves me and the people feel like my people.
I came back with quite a bit of music, on CD and DVD, and my absolute favourite is Djavan, a singer who hails from Alagoas, in the north of the country, close to Salvador. I love his voice and his guitar playing, and his compositions are brilliant. I first saw him on a tv broadcast of the Latin Grammy Awards, and that must have been in about 2004 or 5. He performed his well-known song, “Faltando Um Pedaço”, and it was so beautiful and stirring, that I cried! I recorded the show, and watched him singing that song over and over again. Now that I understand the language a little bit (thanks, Diego, for the dictionary!), I’m even more struck by his ability to convey emotion with his voice – even when I hadn’t understood the lyrics, I’d felt the song.
Other songs of his I really like are Samba Dobrado, Alagoas, Numa Esquina de Hanói and Pedro Brasil. His song, Triste Baia da Guanabara,, brings tears to my eyes, because Salvador-Bahia had such a profound effect on me.
Of course, no-one can claim to be a lover of Brazilian music without acknowledging Antonio Carlos Jobim, or “Tom” Jobim, as the Brazilians say. I was lucky to be given a CD and two DVDs of his music, by Diego and Adelmario, and those songs will be among my favourites forever.
One thing I’m sure of is that I’m going back to Brazil, and probably not only once. I want to take my children there, and explore more of the country. Since my return I’ve found out a lot about the country, and I’m more eager than ever to go back. I’d love to reconnect with all the special people I met there. I want to see the waterfalls, the jungles and, how could I forget…..Rio de Janeiro! I want to walk along the famous beaches of Rio, watch the locals doing the capoeira, and be right in the middle of live bossanova and samba music! I want to feel the heat of Brazil on my skin again, and plunge into the lukewarm ocean.
On 27 May 2009, I finally wrote a song that was inspired by my trip. I knew it was just a matter of time. It’s called “Salvador”, and soon I’ll be adding it to this blog site.
