Wednesday, July 16
Location: Porto Alegre, Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil
Today's weather: 15░C, Rain
Today I got up about 8am. The rain, as foreshadowed by
yesterday's grey skies, has arrived in force. I spent
most of the morning replying to email and uploading some
changes to the Amazon Adventure web site. At 11:30am I
left the apartment to catch a bus into the central city.
Fortunately it wasn't raining hard, so my jacket was able
to keep me dry enough.
I met Susi and some of her friends outside her work,
and we wandered around the corner to a small restaurant.
Lunch was a buffet, and we were able to pile up our
plates with food for about R$ 7 per person. We talked
about life in Brazil and how it compares to New Zealand.
Susi and her friends became excited when I told them how
much people in New Zealand get paid – the salaries
in Brazil are about half of what we would get paid in New
Zealand.
After lunch I went to visit the Public Library
(Biblioteca Publico) where I had intended to write some
letters and to do a little reading. But the Public
Library was very small – it was just one room in the
corner of a building. I felt sad for the people living in
Porto Alegre, because libraries are important for
people's education. Because Porto Alegre is such a large
city (1.3 million people) I felt that it should have a
large library comparable to those in New Zealand cities
– but lack of money is a problem. Books are very
expensive in Brazil.
I went for a wander around the city. The shops were
comparable to New Zealand in terms of what they sold
–but the buildings look very run-down and dirty
compared to New Zealand. Buildings aren't as comfortable
and pleasant as in New Zealand – most lack carpets
and only have simple furnishings. Many of the buildings
seem to have been built in the 1930s and 40s, so seem
quite old. After an hour, the rain started again. It soon
became a torrential downpour – forcing me to run
from shop awning to shop awning. A lot of the women in
Brazil seem short, which meant that I had to be very
careful walking around to avoid getting slapped in the
face by open umbrella at face height. I eventually found
refuge in a small cafe where I wrote several letters and
waited for the rain to stop.
At 6pm, I returned to Susi's work. We went to visit an
art centre showing exhibits from local artists and
included several rooms with art by local schoolchildren.
The children's drawings and paintings were similar to
children's art in New Zealand – there were pictures
of their families, friends, pets, and where they lived.
But there were also a few pictures of boats, Indians,
monkeys, and other things specific to living in Manaus.
Afterwards, we went to watch Susi's soccer (football)
team practice and play at an indoor soccer pitch.
Unfortunately Susi can't play for several weeks due to
the fact that she has a very sore nose right now. But she
made sure that she was there to cheer them on. This she
did very loudly and enthusiastically – like most
Brazilians. Brazilians love soccer even more than New
Zealanders love rugby. Members of the team stopped by to
say hello to Susi and wish her a speedy recovery. They
miss her because she is their best player (or so she
tells me).
We then travelled to pick up Marli and Camilla for
dinner at a friend's house. The friend is Cristina, who
hosted a wonderful New Years Eve party when I first
visited Brazil (arriving on December 31). She works with
Susi, and lives with her friend Josanna. Cristina and
Josanna cooked a beautiful gaucho-style barbecue, using
giant skewers and a brick oven similar to the one in Nova
Brescia a few days before. The meal was quite late
because Brazilians tend to start eating dinner at about
9pm – much later than we do in New Zealand. We all
talked over dinner – though Susi and Josanna got
into a small argument over soccer (they support different
teams). We all helped with the dishes, and Cristina and I
had a play swordfight with the skewers. Cristina won . .
. but I should add that it was only because I let her.
We left Cristina's and arrived back at home at
11:30pm.
   
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