Back ‘home’

It is time to write about my return to Brasil.  I have been here for a week and am just starting to get over my usual identity – cultural – confusion, a minor crisis.  After driving in the US for two months; wide open roads, huge parking lots and traffic rules (basically) followed, and shopping where more than one cart (or person) can pass down an isle at a time, and being where no one walks on the streets - even in downtown Houston, coming back to Brasil is always a shock to my system. 

This last week was an extra challenge to drive and to walk in Nova Friburgo.  Before I left the streets were already clogged with cars and people but now, after the sense of space you get in the US, I’ve felt claustrophobic.  In Brasil, everyone receives a 13th salary, an extra months wages, in November / December.  Just in time for Christmas shopping and paying year end taxes.  It is normal for there to be a lot of people on the streets in December, but it seems that this year it is extremely bad.  A byproduct of the good economy?  Whether on foot or in the car, darting and dashing to avoid those who seem to stop for no reason, talk on their cells in the middle of the sidewalk, park wherever it is convenient for them.

The election of the last mayor (Prefeito) was based on his promise to improve the transit in Friburgo.  The government changed some street directions, made a few more one-ways with parking only on one side.  More parking lots with exorbitant hourly rates, actually with 30 minute rates when you can’t do anything in less than 1 hour, have popped out and, last but not least, they hired a consulting firm – a private transit company – to find the solutions that they have not been able to find and still be re-elected.  But this last week it was abundantly clear that nothing is solving the problems.    Cars were still double and triple parked, flashers flashing because everyone knows that if you put your flashers on it is okay to park anywhere you want and block all other transit.   My 15 minutes from the house to my appointment took well over an hour – not to mentioned the drive home.   Yes, I could take the bus, the one that was stuck in the traffic right in front of me..... The one that is so full of people coming in from the countryside that there was room only to hang from the rafters .... The bus / company that is owned  by the mayor and his family? 

Yes, I could.   I am not sure though that this would help me feel better during this transition period between the US and Brasil.  I am suffering culture shock – plain and simple.

Currency exchange rates

After last week's Friday Shoot-out, I received several comments about the cost of food here - or comparison with food prices in other home towns. When I read the other's entries there were several that gave the prices of some meals then converted those local prices into US Dollars. I often get asked by friends in the US what it means when I say something like 'gas is R$2.63 per liter.' It means that gas is very expensive here.

All of this is about expats converting prices to their home currency then saying it is 'cheap' to live in Brazil.  Or when a news report says someone in Africa makes only a dollar a day. These kinds of report really have no meaning.  It is the purchasing power of the local currency in the local economy that counts.

 

I just read in http://expatbrazil.wordpress.com/ that "Approximately 9,200 people stood in line in Mauá, SP,  greater São Paulo, f or six hours to register to take the test for 120 part-time jobs with the Mauá’s county government.   Salaries for the jobs range from R$835 to R$945 ... per month." This is about 1.5 to 1.75 minimum salaries.   {like minimum hourly rates in the US}

 

If we go back to the gas prices I mentioned above, converting not the price but the volume is significant. A gallon is 3.78 liters.  So we have to multiply the price by 3.78 to get a comparison on prices of gas. A gallon of gas in Brazil would be R$9.95. To fill a 10 gallon tank on a small car once would cost more than 10% of the monthly salary for these Brazilians looking for a government job - if they even had a car.

 

Many expats are paid in a combination of local currency and in their home currency. Their companies pay them a living allowance in local currency plus put money in the bank back home.  If you want to live really well here as many expats do, (compared to their Brazilian counterparts) they must convert part of their home money to local currency also.  So converting currency to determine the true cost is okay.  I receive a small amount doing accounting and I'm paid in Reais - so for me the cost here is the cost. Even if I convert the gallon of gas to the dollar it still costs US$4.42 a gallon - Gas is expensive here. ** it cost me about R$125.00 to fill up my car, this last nearly a month - it is right at 10% of my pay. This is only one example of using exchange rates when living abroad : in my earlier blog I said, " My meal was R$9.62 and Camillo’s R$8.96." If I converted this to dollars by today's rate of 2.24 then my plate would have been US$4.27 and Camillo's lunch would be US$3.98 plus a soda or water - Yes it is cheap to live in Brazil if converted to American currency but the last time I was in Houston I went downtown to have lunch with friends - my pasta plus tea plus tax cost over US$17.00 which to me is totally out of line.... everything is relative to income...

 

go to this link to be SHOCKED and APPALLED!

http://expatbrazil.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/off-topic-what-does-a-trillion-dollars-look-like/

The collapse of the Mury-Lumiar Road

Road to Lumiar VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today it is raining again. This rain, at this time of year, always brings back to me with some trepidation the landslides that we often have during the summer months and how it is possible for whatever man has built below goes right along under a massive pile of mud and boulders. For example in late summer 2005, it rained continuously for days on end and the mountainsides started sliding and about 4 km from the house a portion of the road to Lumiar came down – I mean a crater of about 200 meters across opened up in the middle of the night – taking with it about 8 homes and a good chunk of road. That same weekend along the road to Lumiar 3 other spots opened or threatened too, and the complete road was closed to traffic. All the farmers and other country people that depend on this road to get to market and to buy supplies had to walk miles to catch the busses that were unable to go past the first slide.

Camillo and I (and our grandchildren for the USA) were fascinated with the construction to replace the road. It was completed within four months. Considering how badly the roads are normally built and maintained this repair was top notch engineering. (We won’t say it should have been done this way to begin with) It has to instill admiration, the determination and quick action that the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro brought to this project.

In less than a month the remaining parts of homes had been removed, (much of it by the owners who hauled it away on carts to use in their next house), and high retainer wall with a temporary bypass was completed. One lane of traffic could pass, allowing the much needed busses to get by while the new road was being completed. We watched it go up and I would say that it will not come down again for a few 100 years.

[I have been reassured that our house which sits on the side of a pretty awesome hillside, WILL NOT come down – something about piles that were driven down to bed rock……hum… that was a very big hole which could easily swallow house, piles and all]

On the Veranda – Nova Friburgo

From The Veranda VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We arrived back in Friburgo this afternoon after nearly a month in Rio. The silence here almost hurts your ears. No, maybe it was the noise in Rio that hurts your ears and the silence here is a shock after all the noise. When up here in the mountains we eat breakfast out on the balcony, I cook instead of so much eating out in restaurants, we wear sweaters in the evening, sometimes we put a fire in the fireplace even when it is ‘summer’ and listen to classical music, life is different here. No six year old playing his DRUMS that Santa brought while we are trying to nap. No construction that vibrates through the apartment and leaves dust on everything. Just silence (and the barking of dogs across the valley)

Driving up today included the same problems that we always encounter on Rota 116. I am the only one that drives within 10 miles (above) of the speed ‘limit’. I really think that no Brazilian driver understands that those numbers posted along the road represent the max you are to drive not the minimum. They don’t understand that a double yellow line means ‘it is not safe to pass’. No mater what the risk a Brazilian driver MUST be in front – if I am driving 85 in an 80 they still must pass. They don’t understand that around the next bend in the road will be a large truck lumbering up the steep grades and those cars you just risk your life, and everyone else's, to pass will now want to pass you.

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

Rape and pillage

In the late 70s early 80s Nova Friburgo was designated as a nature reserve of the 'Mata Atlantica'. That is more than 30 years ago. There are pages and pages of rules (laws?) about what you can do on your land, what you can build, what trees and how many you can take down and all that government (----). I know a lot about it, but understand little. For over a year I tried, through an agent, to receive the rules (laws?) that applied to a piece of land I wanted to buy. I wanted to buy the land and over several years invest some of my retirement funds in building three small houses in the forest.

This would have kept upward of 10 men working through at least 3 years. I was unable to obtain a written document saying that I could buy, build, and sell houses for individual families. The men in city hall did not want to commit, with signature, that they knew and understood the rules (laws). It was finally suggested to me that I go ahead and buy, and begin to build and see "if anyone figures it out and if they do you will just be fined" that's what everyone else does. I gave up in frustration.

I see that this may very well be true. The first photo is of a property on the road to Lumiar (protected forest) that the owner cleared, burned (note the trees he left have also been damaged) and the others are before and after of a piece of land that we can see from our veranda. The cleared area were there are some cattle grazing (and Camillo will say people have to eat) that keeps mysteriously enlarging and now they have TAKEN BULLDOZERS to a hillside - removed trees and complete hillside - and are going to build a 'futebal clube, social' whatever that means. I know this road is supposed to have single housing and tourist related businesses ... and forest, according to the 1980 laws. Progress or rape and pillage?

double click to enlarge the photos

gingerv from Nova Friburgo, nature reserve

A New Day

After four days of rain, I woke this morning to bright blue skies, night fog rising from the valley Stucky and singing birds. Hum? It is also very quiet. No buses on the road below the house, no school children laughing as they walk to the bus, only birds singing and dogs barking, it must be another holiday in Brasil.

Camillo has been in disagreement with me over holidays in Brasil. He says we have more time off in the USA. But since he has been trying to organize some meetings in Rio, he is now seeing the error of his thinking in this. Everyone from waiters to top executives have a 30 day vacation starting after one year of employment. In the States, until you have worked for a company for five years, if your lucky, you get ten days of vacation a year. After five years, you get 3 weeks, and if you make it to 20 years you might get a month.

Brasil has mother's day, father's day, children's day, saints' days, world cup days, carnival days, Christmas days, New Year Eve Days, Easter days, .... and today is Labor day and I think May day also, so if it weren't labor day they wouldn't be working anyway. On holidays, all the schools are closed, (Oh! schools also have summer and winter breaks), shops are closed, some restaurants are closed, government offices are closed and worst of all MY GYM is closed. Also, I think that there is a day before and a day after each holiday when nothing happens because they are getting ready for or recovering from a holiday.

In the states, there are by standard 10 paid holidays a year. AND the stores and restaurants are never closed because holidays are the best shopping days for all those women at home for the day with nothing to do because their husbands are watching football games all day. Hum! maybe there is room for improvement there.

I wonder if any government body here has ever related the holiday issues with low national productivity numbers and sluggish economic growth? Speaking of productivity I'd better get to work.

GingerV