“I know not what other may say, but as for me . . .”
this “homing pigeon” phenomenon occurs for as many different reasons as we have
for everything else we love in life. Whatever it is that Brazilians do, they do
it with compassion, love, prejudice, excitement,
happiness, celebration, spirituality and expertise (not necessarily in that
order).
“The people are the country.” Brazilians . . . as individuals
. . . are constantly evolving into something else and most of the time into
something better than the last time. They are generally loyal and faithful to
close friends and family and despite their constant “fault finding” with their
politicians, sports figures, and anything else that traditionally is
fault-ridden (including friends), they have a passion for their relationships
in all areas of life. They have no time for racist attitudes and little
patience for those who have that mentality. Brazil is the only true “melting
pot” of the world. Other nationalities contribute to the diversity that we
enjoy about Brazil.
Unlike the typecast image of most Latin American
countries, Brazilians are anything, but lazy. Most of the many citizens of this
internationally loved country (with a land area equal to the continental United
States) have more than one occupation and . . .
frequently . . . this is a result
of necessity and the love of achievement. Also most Brazilians cannot get
enough education and generally take courses throughout their lives. Age seems
to have no bearing on this.
They work hard and play harder yet. Humor is the common
ground they all seem to share and this is conveyed in their version and style
of the television novel and satire. When I lived in Brazil regularly, I could
not get enough of those “Novelas” and for just cause. The ones I recall are
“Pai Heroi,” “Roque Santeiro,” “O Gato Comeu,” “Brega e Chique,” “Que
Rei Sou Eu,” “Ti, Ti, Ti” and many others.
These novels also became international successes
without the advantages of the internet and what made them so special and
different was how the writers would incorporate current events in pieces that
were set in different eras or times. “Inflation” might have been a news-worthy topic
and as such became the subject in a story about a king in mid-evil times and if
the president of Brazil were in a scandal, you best believe it was made a part
of the novel to keep it germane and current, but most of all “satirical.”
This is the Brazilian sense of humor. Each character in
a well produced “novela” would have his or her own theme music and the music
was perfectly and specially made for one them by some of Brazils greatest
songwriters. The “novelas” have beginnings and ends (unlike soap operas) even
though both are video taped and have similar video quality; I will take the
Brazilian telenovela over any soap at any time. Two ingenious comedy minds, Jo Soares and Chico Anísio, were
tremendous proponents of political satire and became famous for their wee
kly
television shows with their twists on politics and life in Brazil. As a North
American, I doubt if political satire would go over all that well here in these
trying days. Brazilians have survived so much more and still know how to laugh and
complain creatively. That’s why traveling to Brazil is always a way to escape
from the negativity of the rest of the world . . . to live on this “Fantasy
Island” of a country, if only for a few weeks.
The Brazilian sense of humor is in their slang, music,
poetry and the way they live their lives. Even in their sports. Brazilians are
such show-off’s in soccer. Any professional team in Brazil could beat any other
professional team at any time, just because of the raw talent seasoned with an
absurd level of training and dedication. Sometimes sports are like a novel unto
themselves with all of the characters playing the game. There are bad boys,
generous stars, stars who serve as tremendous examples of overcoming impossible
odds, stars that are sold to other teams to fund the clubs owning their
contracts (Brazilians hate that) and most of all . . . there are the fans.
I’m a fan of “Vasco de Gama” which automatically places
me against the majority of the fans of other teams . . . especially in Rio. The
most famous of these
is “Flamengo.” The first time I was in Rio de Janeiro, one
of the poorer teams at that time, known as “Bota Fogo” had been losing all year
long, but every time they played against “Flamengo” they rose to another level
of play. This time they had beaten “Flamengo.”
There was dancing in the streets of Copacabana and I couldn’t contain my own
excitement as I watched improvised yet organized parades of banner toting
enthusiasts. Have you ever noticed how this type of crazy celebration is contagious,
even if you don’t know why everybody is so happy?
As for the working gringos who bring their families to
Brazil while they fulfill multi-annual international contracts; they enjoy the
luxuries that Brazilians take for granted . . . the inexpensive live-in maids,
the live-in cooks, the fresh food fairs right at your doorstep, incredible
bargains on the necessities of life and the ever pr
r own under-priced tropical
home near some isolated beach where they would probably hire a “caseiro” (a
well-recommended guard/caretaker) who receives a free place to stay (normally a
hut near the house), a penance to buy supplies and a small patch of land to
plant a garden for the rest of their needs.
There’s nothing quite as hilarious as watching
good-natured potbellied middle-age clowns, who have been drinking and eating
most of the afternoon trying to pull off (waddling) moves that they used to do
so easily during their miss-spent youths.
It’s easy to explain why unmarried young gringo men
return to this country. (I am experienced and extremely prejudiced.) It’s
simply because of the beauty (both externally and internally) of the famous Brazilian women. I know why the girls
here are so beautiful. They know how to enhance the parts of their appearances
that are their best features. They distract you from the flaws, if any. A
certain highlight in the hair . . . a way to make up the eyes to take your
attention away from an ear. Perfect teeth keeps your mind off the over
developed hip area. Perfectly fitted jeans enhance a great lower body build and
so on. 
Throw in their natural curiosity about this new foreigner who can’t
speak her language all that well; and now it’s her chance to use the little bit
of English she learned in school several years ago . . . when she wasn’t paying
attention. It’s the trying! Trying to impress actually impresses more than the
quality of the attempt. Not speaking a language makes one vulnerable.
Vulnerable is good! A young or even older gringo on his own is already at third
base when he gets up to bat. The young lady is interested, but the game has
changed to the visiting team’s advantage. I’ll leave it there, but one piece of
advice to single gringo men visiting Brazil . . . don’t bring a date! It’s like
trying to take snow balls to Alaska during the winter. The same advice goes to
gringo ladies. Brazilian men will fall all over themselves to meet a foreign
girl. “Curiosity” is the secret ingredient.
Good used cars are very inexpensive and generally
always look good, because Brazilians never let their cars get dirty or funky in
any way. There’s always somebody (generally a small street urchin) who makes
small change for cleaning and keeping and eye on your ride while you shop or
take care of business in town.
Also, there are numerous body shops (casas de
lanternagem) that specialize in rebuilding fender benders and repainting the
vehicles like new. This is a lost art in other parts of the world. Why buy a
new fender, if you can fix the old one like new, repaint the car and all for
less than the cost of a factor bought fender? Oh yea! The reason why there are
so many body repair shops is because Brazilians are not as respectful of
traffic laws as we are in other countries. More accidents make for more
repairs. Nobody’s perfect!
It’s like going
back in time for some things. There are tire repair places along every
semi-busy highway and one actually still finds places where they will recap old
used tires for the economically minded. One other thing about tires . . . even
though Brazilians may buy tubeless tires, they will still put tubes in them. I
was told this because the ride is smoother. I have no opinion on that one. I
personally have hypothesized that, if there is a hole in a tubeless tire, it
might well be on the side and not safely patchable, but with a tube you have an
automatic option to repair or patch the tube without losing the tire. That
makes more sense to me.
To close this
section out, for the well acclimated gringo, Brazil is almost always less
expensive than living in his or her own country of origin. The more money I
save, the more I have to help me enjoy t
he more interesting adventures of this
life.
This gringo, Dean
Weston, misses Brazil tremendously, but more than anything else, I miss my
old friends, ex-students and the chance of making even more friends from this
pool of fantastic characters we call Brazilians. For this reason I too am a
“homing pigeon.” This is the Brazil I know and love. Come back!
