In one of my previous articles, I wrote about the general lack of geographical knowledge of the vast majority of many people in several countries, especially the more industrialized and wealthier ones. Having so many resources would lead one to be believe that these citizens would be better educated in all realms including geography. Sad to say, there could be nothing further from the truth.
When it comes to South America, even less is known. And when one mentions Argentina, many times the first word that comes out from the non-informed is "Rio de Janeiro". I have had my patience stretched to the max when I hear this and bark back saying " Rio is in Brazil, Buenos Aires , the capital of the country, is in Argentina". At this point , I wouldn't even venture to ask if they knew what the capital of Brazil is. And it is not Rio!
One thing that they do seem to know is that Spanish is the language of the country although I'm sure that they also think Spanish is spoken throughout all of South America. Portuguese is the language of our neighbors in Brazil to the north and is spoken by nearly 200 million people as their mother tongue and its importance and most recently its speakers have not trickled down to Tangolandia but rather invaded.
I lived in the second decade of my life in Rio de Janerio, "a cidade maravilhosa" as it is commonly known; the marvellous city in English. I loved almost every moment in that city. I had jobs which paid well for the amount of work I did. I made many friends, got to know the city as well as many parts of the country better and lived in a beautiful, huge apartment in Copacabana 1 block from the beach which I shared with a wonderful English woman, Elizabeth ,aka Pin, and her 2 daughters. Pin was divorced from a Brazilian man she met in England when he was studying. They married, had 2 children, moved to Rio, had yet another one, he confessed his homosexuality, they divorced and then I met Pin.
Upon my arrival in Rio, I quickly sought a job although I could not speak any Portuguese and had never been there before in my life. Yes, knowing Spanish helped but as close as they sometimes are or seem, I couldn't speak the language of Cabral, Carmen Miranda or Paulo Coelho. I also knew that the option for staying in hotel would have to change if I was to stay for an extended period which I did. Armed with the local newspaper, Journal do Brasil, I found a room in the flat of an elderly Brazilian woman and left my hotel in the Botafogo neighborhood called by chance, Buenos Aires.
I also went to language schools teaching English looking for a job as quickly as I could. And illegally, as I had no Brazilian working permit, I got a job with an institute which sent me out to various prestigious institutions to teach. Or at least to show up and listen. One such institution was the Bolsa de Valores do Rio de Janeiro ( The Rio Stock Exchange).
My student who held a very high position at the Stock Exchange was a woman who was placed there due to her amourous relationship with a man at the top of the Bolsa. I am sure was was very good in "many positions" but in her officially paid one, she wasn't. I eventually heard of her dismissal from that posting. However, the man paying, AND DID HE PAY, wanted her to learn English although she really didn't care about it or its fruits in her future. Our classes had laughs and tears but no grammar lessons, no verb conjugations, no false cognates: she spoke about her love for this man, her doubts, her fears, their sex and their plans together. Em portugues! And I began my intensive REAL Portuguese lessons while getting paid for them. Not a bad deal I'd say!
The school also sent me to work at EMBRATUR, the Brazilian state tourism authority, IBM and other places. They also told me that the director of the Copacabana branch had a huge flat and was looking for someone to rent a room in it. That's how and where I met Pin.
I eventually left Rio, fluent in Portuguese and rich enough to purchase my first apartment in Buenos Aires in cash. I would say it was a good stay. And Pin not long after left to go back to the UK. And just as Argentina was waking up from its horrendous military dictatorship years, I also left BA for America.
And from America, it was much easier to visit Pin in East Grinstead, West Sussex. Little did I know that East Grinstead was the world headquarters for L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology and that Pin and family were very involved and active members of this cult which saddly saw me never to have contact with her again not due to her "religious" convictions but rather due to her constant endeavors of brainwashing me and culminated in an attempted kidnapping forcing me to throw myself out of a car as it was in route to Saint Hill Manor, the heart, soul and pulse of John Travolta and Tom Cruise's "alma mater".
A sad ending to what was such a good thing and probably what my student at the Stock Exchange also eventually said.
But here I am back years later In BA finally telling you about the invasion of the Brazilians. Yes, finally!
Well, according to sources both inside and outside of Brazil, it is a fact that the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has brought some 24 million Brazilians out from the poverty level and some 31 million have climbed to a middle class status, a first in that and many Latin American countries. And for those who have attained this new level for the first time in their life, they want to travel. And while very nationalistic about Brazil, they want to go to a foreign country and so many, I mean MANY, visit our country. It is estimated that 2 million will visit this year alone. And they are everywhere. On downtown streets such as Florida and Avenida de Mayo. In shops all over town even in the bakery and optical shop next to my building. I was at a bus stop when 2 middle-aged Brazilian stood next to me waiting for the bus and as we were waiting more Brazilians joined to queue. And they are all carrying shopping bags from every imaginable store possible. Bags which hold clothing , shoes, souvenirs, small electric appliances, tools, wires, locks, light bulbs, furniture polish, soap, etc; when I said eveything, I meant everything.
Argentina is no longer a cheap destinations even with USD or Euros.OK, If you compare the prices of flats or rentals in NYC or London or the prices of a steak dinner in Tokyo or Paris, yes it is cheaper. But generally speaking for most visitors and all Argentinians, it is not. But the rate of exchange between the peso and the Brazilian real is very favorable for the visitor from Rio, Sao Paulo or Porto Alegre making Argentina much cheaper than it is at home for them.
Mind you, as a guide, I have tons of possibiltites to work with these groups coming here in droves; however while I love Brazilians and find them very open and fun to be with, to work with and for them is another story. 9 am departure may happen at 945 or 10. Interest in historical sights are low on the priority list after shopping and it's hard to show the sights after dark has fallen and the shops have closed leaving sightseeing one of the only other possibilities. But there always is dinner so let's skip the sightseeing today!
To be fair, there are many cultured Brazilians and the above-mentioned occurences are not uniquely Brazilian.
That having been said and done, I think you understand that I don't normally work with Brazilian groups here in BA.
Every Friday evening to maintain my fluency , I attend a weekly 2-hour Portuguese conversation "class" in a Brazilian-run language institute. And it is amazing; even during the summer time when so many portenos are on holiday, the school is chocker-block full of students at varying levels of "a lingua portugesa" studying mornings, afternoons and nights. Portuguese and the teaching of it is a big business now and so many realize its importance and want to jump on the bandwagon and get a piece of the pie, or maybe I should say fork of the feijoada, while the going is good. Even the conversation class is on waiting list status and to enroll in it, one must have an advanced level of fluency.
It is said that within this next decade, Brazil will be the world's 5th economic power. It has the resources and man power to reach that, it is true. But one thing which often puzzled me when I see the "verde e amarelo", the green and yellow flag of the nation are the words written on the banner which emcompasses the blue disc and its 27 white stars. The words say "Ordem e Progresso" or Order and Progress, something which at least to me until now was quite contradictory to the country I knew.
But things can change and so can people and their attitudes. The Turks saw this with Ataturk, the former Iron Curtain countries saw their biggest Communists became today's biggest Capitulists so why can't it happen in Brazil?
But one thing that surely will not change is the importance of this beautiful language which when sung by a suave and sweet voice makes one melt. So dig out that bossa nova album or even Brazil 66, make yourself a caiprininha and dream of Rio. Enough caipirinhas and you'll think you're in Rio.
Ate logo e obrigado.Tchau.
SES
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