Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers
For Sale

Sunday, April 20, 2008

There are things I don't understand

It was April 6 when I have wrote on the blog last. This month has gone very fast. Rosemary is traveling again, Camillo and I have spent a week in the mountains and for 4 days I have not been able to download photos onto the blog.
On Saturday, we drove over to look at the work going on down in the valley. (see government/culture Aug 5, 2007) to see up close what is going on.
It has been more than eight months, and they are still working away. Aparently they (I don't know who 'they' are) have scraped back more of the mountain and hauled away tons of dirt and stone. As you can see a super structure is now being built. This is going to be a SOCCER field. And this looks like concrete bleechers with possible locker rooms below. I would bet that this project will take another year to be completed. What I don't understand is how they will ever get the investment back? The cost of the land, permits, (assuming they have permits to remove trees AND soil which is not a given), huge tractors and other labor, concrete work, actually putting in the soccor field, then maintainance of the field and grounds (although this is not a cultural habit of Brasil - maintenance of the investment, that is). All of this on a narrow dirt road about 15 kilometers from Friburgo. How will people get to these soccer games? Where will they park if they drive? Say the bleechers hold 3000 people that could be 1500 cars driving up the a curving, narrow, rutted country road to PAY to see games. Where this dirt road meets the Muri-Lumiar road there is no light or stop signs, and it is on a rather sharp curve so it is hard to see oncoming traffic, I don't understand the planning of this investment. What is its purpose? [it has been suggested that SAF is building this soccer field and that the owner has LOTS of money and MAYBE it will be used for training of pros but how can you have a training field without houseing, hotels, resturants (bars there are plenty)]- this is beyond my American - 'make money with your investments' mentality. GingerV

2 comments:

  1. What kind of car is that from which you took the photo down the road?

    ExpatBrazil

    ReplyDelete
  2. Camillo has a 1975 MP a Brasilian made replica of a 1950 MG. (fiberglass body, VW engine in the rear) It leaks when it rains, the windshield wipers don't work well, it rattles and clanks, and the seats are uncomfortably small for our big (b...s) but we love to drive the back roads in it.

    ReplyDelete