Life's a beach . . .
Monday January 1, 2007
I was teaching English in one of the village schools within six months of arriving and after a year or so taught at a local university. For the past couple of years I?ve been a director of a couple of companies and, among other things, do translations into English.Life is relaxed, often noisy. On a recent visit to Britain I kept wondering what I was missing and realised it was a complete absence of music in the streets. I was in London earlier this year at the time of the Notting Hill Carnival and I couldn?t understand why it was all over by tea time. Carnaval ? Brazilian-style here ? starts at 10pm and goes on until breakfast for a whole week or more. There?s not much of Britain I miss, least of all its general grubbiness and what seems to be too many people in too small an area.
Most Sundays and many other days (there are lots of holidays) are spent on the beach along with everyone else. If you want, you can be like most Brazilians and sit in a beach bar and chat to your friends.
We live 700km from a city and 1,500km from the industrial and commercial south, so supply lines are a bit fraught and occasionally we can?t buy things ? things one can do without ? for a week or more at a time. But there are supermarkets and corner shops just like anywhere else. If I didn?t bring them or have them sent from the UK, I?d badly miss Earl Grey teabags. Electric kettles are hard to get ? impossible where we live.
I guess security would be in the minds of anyone coming to Brazil, and I have to say that I?ve found it a no more dangerous place than the UK ? actually less so. It?s true that one has to be a bit perceptive and avoid the more obviously perilous parts of towns and cities, keep out of the way of drug-dealing and dealers and not advertise inordinate wealth if one has it. Like anywhere else in the world, it?s sensible to carry cash for one?s daily needs and not a fist full of bank notes.
Life has changed a lot in six years. When I came here there was a waiting list for telephones two years long. Now I have a 100Mb internet connection strung over the trees into my office with a wireless connection to the house. Cellular phones are everywhere and land lines are two for the price of one. The principal roads are all paved (albeit with holes that do terrible things to car exhausts) and rubbish is collected twice a week.
The bit of Brazil where we live is like living in a UN colony, with Brazilians from every part of the country, as well as French, Germans, Swiss, Italians, Portuguese, Spanish, Argentinians, Chileans, Norwegians, New Zealanders ? and many more. There are huge divides in income, but to my mind foreigners bring income and work to local people here and their diversity is a benefit.
Our local airport, only a few kilometres and a ferry crossing away, has daily flights to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador (Bahia) for connections to scheduled international flights. But we can also take up 'seat only' options most weeks on unfilled charter flights direct to Europe.
There are films every week, theatre sometimes and music in the village. For something more sophisticated, the nearest city is 40 minutes away by plane (or 11 hours on the bus).
After a dozen years or so here, my daughter is considering moving back to Europe to provide a European education for her two children (four and five). Outside the cities where there are very expensive international schools, even private education in Brazil leaves lots to be desired in academic terms (although it?s good at encouraging independence).
But Brazil is my home, and having travelled a substantial part of the world, I haven?t found anywhere better.
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