South of Your Comfort Zone

Returning to Rio de Janiero was, to a certain extent, a test of how effective my time in Brasil had really been. Would I return as starry eyed and disoriented as I was when I arrived or when I had left a few weeks prior? Would this huge city be quite as intimidating or would the heavy Carioca accent stump me in the same way it had when I first got there? The answers….not really.

In fact, upon returning to Rio I realized just how much I had learned over the past month. This time I didn’t walk into places practicing what I was going to say, I’d just go in a figure it out on the fly and most of the time it worked seemlessly. My Portuguese had gone from survival level to a more useful tool that I could use for a variety of things. I was telling stories about my travels and relating important things that I had learned. I was no longer leaning on my Spanish as a crutch quite as much; my new-found comfort with Portuguese allowed me access to a much fuller understanding of my place in Brasil and the culture that surrounded me. Perhaps I was so busy in Brasilia and São Paulo that I hadn’t really had the chance to realize how much progress I had made.

I would be lying if I said that my understanding of Brasilian culture was anything but still in its infancy, but coming here opened a door that was for all intents and purposes shut before; a door that I intend to keep open for some time to come. Coming here has made me realize just how little we know about this country and its people. This dynamic place is one of the most unique places I have ever experienced. Coming here I thought of it as a place similar to its Latin American neighbors. I imagined my experience with Mexico would provide me with context through which to understand Brasil. Now, I’m not saying it didn’t. Brasil shares quite a lot with other Latin American countries, but at the same time it is completely unique on this continent, and that’s not just because they speak Portuguese. Brasil is a country that imagines itself as incredibly diverse, and rightfully so. Brasilians speak about there country as being “many Brasils,” and with a landmass similar to the size of the continental United States, this is easy to understand.

I’m hooked. I’m sold. I am intrigued to learn more and more about this fascinating place and its amazingly complex, diverse and colorful culture and people. I have watched the language spoken by those who live within its realm and have longingly wished to be able to converse at such a level. It’s not just so I can be understood better or to be able to blend in more. It’s the fact that the richer your understanding of a language gets, the more you are able to connect with what makes the people so unique, what makes them think the way they do and what makes them do the things they do the way the do them.

At this point I am but a novice observer, but I know that the more I learn about the language and culture, the more I will be able to get closer to heart of this place. I have made amazing headway in the month I have been here and I have tried to remain the observer. I have told most of the people I have met that I am here to learn, not to teach and I can say without a doubt that my time in Brasil has changed the way I see the world. It’s changed the way I look at life and the way we live it in my two comfort zones, Mexico and the United States, and it has given me a great hunger to learn more. Brasil has given me so much, I can only hope to some day be able to give a little something back.

Next stop, Guanajuato, Mexico.

Até mais amigos!

(Translation: Christ the Redeemer)

Ok, so let me start out by saying it got foggy, but in a sort of mystical way. The day had been sunny and clear. Even the ride up to the top of the hill was clear and bright and the first minute and a half at the top was fine as well… 

…but a minute and a half later, huge clouds of fog began wafting over the hill and soon we could see very little of the city below. Here’s the best shot of the famous Pão de Azucar (Sugar Loaf) I could get.

The clouds were so huge that at times even when you were 10 feet in front of the statue, you could see little of it. But with the sun behind, it created an amazing effect that…well, see for yourself.

And of course I had to get in on the action…

On the way out, waiting for the train down, I took these two shots which I think came out awesome…

In my long, drawn out explanations of the Brasilian elections I have eluded to a “Political Hour” on Brasilian TV. For those of you who have been bored by these posts, check this out anyway. It’s fascinating.

Quickly, there are two hours during the day, one at the Brasilian lunchtime and one at dinner time, where all of the television stations get taken over by political ads. For the most part the presidential, senate and governor candidates waste little time putting ads here so it’s a free for all for all of the hundreds of candidates for the lower house of congress. One after another after another candidates spend 15 to 20 seconds trying to set themselves apart from the crowd. Not an easy task to tell you the truth. I have watched this hour of television various times and only a couple stick out in my head and they’re not really the kind of people you would want to vote for. The video below gives you a good idea of what I’m talking about. Some are former soccer players, one’s a son of a famous TV personality, some are acting crazy, and the rest are just weird.

Keep watching at least long enough to see the clown. His name is Tiririca and he is known far and wide and if he doesn’t watch out, he might just get himself elected. My favorite line of his in this video is, “What is it that a Federal Deputy (representative) does? Truthfully, I don’t know, but vote for me and I will let you know.”

If at some point in time you say outloud, “Wow, that person is creepy,” don’t worry, the Brasilian public is with you.

I have been spending a lot of time with candidate websites, Facebook pages, Orkut pages (again, a Google social networking site popular in Brasil), Twitter feeds (which I am yet to understand in their entirety) and other online get-out-the-vote campaigns. There are two that recently have caught my attention.

Dilmabook

So, the leading presidential candidate, Dilma Rousseff, has her own social networking site called dilmanarede. I told a friend here that Dilma had her own social networking site and he immediately said, “It’s Dilmabook” and it stuck. On Dilmabook users can connect with other supporters near by, talk about campaign issues, blog about their positions on the issues, organize rallies and the like. Now, that said, only 2300 people have joined, but they seem active. Below is a screenshot of the site.

+1 Casa de Marina

The next thing that caught my eye was on the Green Party (Partido Verde) candidate’s website. Now, as I have posted before, Marina Silva of the Green Party is far from having a snowball’s chance in Rio de Janeiro of winning this election, but her campaign is dynamic and she appeals to a lot of voters who are unhappy with the two frontrunners. I found the +1 Casa de Marina (1 more of Marina’s Houses) campaign quite intriguing. Not only does it have an online component where people can register their residence a “Casa de Marina” and then access an interactive map that shows them other people near them who have also registered, but it also gives people quick access to easy to make Marina campaign propaganda. It’s real grassroots and impressive. Check out the video below.

So we’ve taken a look at the presidential race and the candidates in this year’s elections here in Brasil, but that’s really the tip of the iceberg. I think the next step is to give a quick orientation to the lay of the land of the elections this year. Aside from voting for president, Brasilians will also be voting for governor (every state and the Federal District), two state senators and every single deputy (or representative as we know them) in the lower house of congress. But before we break down the races, let’s cover a couple of basics:

-Brasil has 26 states and a Federal District (home of the capital city of Brasília), which acts like a state.

-When voting, Brasilians are supposed to remember a number for each candidate. For president and governor this is easy because it’s just the number of the party, but when you get lower and lower in the hierarchy things get a bit more complex. Here’s how it works:

• President - 2 numbers (Example:13 for Dilma Rousseff, 45 for José Serra)
• Governor - 2 numbers
• Senator - 3 number, the first two for the party (13 for PT) and the third is the candidate’s number (Example: A PT candidate who’s personal number is 3 would have the number 133)
• Lower house of congress - 4 numbers (First two for party and 2 candidate numbers)
• State representative - 5 numbers (First two for party and 3 for the candidate).
• The picture below is one of millions of “voter cheat sheets” that candidates distribute to “facilitate” voting because the number system is problematic for many people.

Ok, so now that that’s out of the way, let’s break down the races:

Governador/Governor

Because the governor’s seat is an executive position, similar to the presidency, the election process is fairly straightforward. Brasilians will choose through a choice few “viable” candidates, amongst a few other less viable ones. To win in the first round of elections on October 3, a candidate needs 50% + of the vote. If they do not get it, the top two candidates will move on to a runoff election to be held a month later. There are various contentious races this year and some incumbents who are all but assured reelection.

Senador/Senator

The senator races are still fairly straightforward, but this is where things start to get a bit hairy. Every state (26), as well as the Federal District, have three seats in the national senate for a total of 81. They are 8 years posts and elections are held every four years. This means that in one election cycle there is only one seat open and in the next there are two open (like this year). Instead of holding different races for each seat, Brasilians will vote on their top two choices overall and the two candidates with the most votes will take those two seats. This means that there are a few more candidates than Americans are used to in senate races. On average each state has anywhere between 8 and 20 candidates for senate and of those, 4 to 8 are considered viable. Although this sounds a bit confusing, it is still fairly easy for people to decide on who to vote for. The lower house of congress, however, is where everything gets a bit sticky.

Câmara dos Deputados do Brasil/Chamber of Deputies of Brasil

Ok, hang on because this is going to be an interesting ride. I have talked to many Brasilians about this part of the elections and it is confusing even to them. The Chamber of Deputies has 513 seats proportionally given out to states dependent upon population and other considerations. The state of São Paulo has the most seats at 70 and there are 12 smaller states with only 8 or 9 seats each. Now, ALL of these seats are up for grabs EVERY four years and NONE of them are tied to smaller “districts” within the states. This means that the election is a free-for-all and is flooded with candidates. However, and hold on to the safety bar for this one, the candidates don’t “win” seats, they win proportional votes for their party. Each party then assigns the seats they have won for that state to the candidates of their choosing. In most cases this will be those candidate that got the most votes, but it is at the party’s discretion who they want to appoint.

(A line break is necessary here I think so we can rest our eyes and minds a little.)

So, when voting for Federal Deputies Brasilians can vote either for a candidate or for a party and they vote only once for all the open seats in their state. What this has meant in practice is that there are so many candidates for these seats that Brasilians have a hard time telling them apart (as would anyone). In the state of São Paulo there are over 1000 registered candidates running for the 70 seats. This translates into a different type of campaigning.

During the “Election Hour” on Brasilian TV, Federal Deputy candidates are lined up one after another after another after another giving their 15 second shpeal, but this gives voters little way of differentiating between them. Those who focus their efforts on the TV front are usually famous people (famous soccer players, singers, TV hosts) who will have an easier time getting people to remember their names. Some even use their 15 second slot to act crazy so that people will remember them. No one’s getting their platform across, so why not act in a memorable way so that people will differentiate you from the rest of the pack. It has been mesmerizing TV for sure.

The option most candidates take is to focus efforts in on a certain smaller and specialized populations or interest group. For instance in the Liberdade area of town where there is the largest concentration of Japanese descendants outside of Japan, the candidates tended to be of Japanese descent (see picture).

The other avenue many have taken is to try and build a large internet presence using Twitter, Facebook and Orkut (Google’s social media site. 70% of users are Brasilian), among others. It seems every candidate I come across has 4 to 7 social media sites linked to their official website and they work tirelessly to get their name out to voters. It is a blitz of information for voters, but if a candidate can hook you in, they have a thousand avenues to keep you in the loop.

The buildings are endless here in São Paulo. It is the second largest city in the Americas (behind Mexico City) and is home to 20 million people (11 million proper and 9 million in the greater metropolitan area). São Paulo is feared by many because there is a good amount of crime here, but I have found it quite hospitable. Of course you avoid the dangerous parts and keep an eye out for strange people or behavior most of the time, but the benefits definitely outweigh the downfalls. It is a lively place and is easy to navigate once you understand the subway system.

The city is incredibly hilly and so there are tons of steep inclines and the streets seem to overlap themselves in stacks. There are always places where you can see far into the distance, but most of the time all you can see is tall buildings. The stacked quality of the city is quite charming actually. Yesterday I happened into a mall just off of one of the main drags here and found it quite curious. It had four levels, three of which had exits that led out to a different level of streets. Ah, and it was there that I saw my first starbucks.

Now some of you may cringe (as I did) and some of you may feel tingly when you see the Starbucks logo, but to the credit of Brasil in general, they have their own strong coffee culture. Just near where this picture was taken I came across a stand selling American microbrew beers. I was happy to see that they were importing a Colorado (originally) microbrew, Flying Dog, but after talking to the attendant at the stand I came to find that a single bottle of a liquid I enjoy for a couple of dollars at the store cost 12 dollars a bottle here.

Today, a couple of friends from here took me to the famous market downtown to eat a famous sandwich they make there. I had seen this sandwich on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdaine and so I had to try it. It wasn’t great, but the market was awesome. People lined up by the hundreds to enjoy the market’s weekend fare.

Paulistas (as people from this town are referred to) are busy, dynamic, diverse and for the most part a lot friendlier than in the other two cities I’ve been to. I think they’re just used to EVERYTHING, because there is a bit of everything here, including the largest population of Japanese people and descendants outside of Japan. Instead of a Chinatown, they have a Japantown and it is a huge weekend attraction.

Finally, I have been incredibly impressed with the graffiti around this city. I should clarify…Brasilians differentiate between good and bad graffiti. The word for the bad kind slips my mind (EDIT: My friend Tiago emailed me to tell me the negative name. It is pichação), but they use the word “graffiti” for the artistic kind and it is celebrated here, which gives way to some amazing displays of public art.

A quick election update. My research here has been to look into the online campaigns for the presidential candidates, as well as those for all federal offices, and I came across this video, which was just posted on the main opposition candidate’s (José Serra) website. It’s in Portuguese, but I think you can get the gist of it even if you don’t speak the language. It’s all about the Revolução Digital or Digital Revolution in Brasil and in the Serra campaign.

So let’s talk a bit of politics, Brasilian politics that is. I have been here in Brasil now for almost three weeks and it has been an incredible learning experience on so many fronts. My Portuguese, albeit still at a beginner/intermediate level, has improved immensely and my knowledge of this fascinating country grows daily. So to start us off, lets talk presidential elections. The elections are less than a month away and the candidates are in full campaign swing. The front-runner, Dilma Rousseff of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) is the current president’s (Ignacio Lula da Silva) handpicked successor.

Dilma (Pictured with Lula above) has never held an elected office and is seen by many as someone who will keep the presidential seat warm so that Lula can run again in four years. I wouldn’t count those chickens quite yet though. Dilma has proven herself a tough campaigner and has bested her closest rival in both the televised and the internet debates.

Dilma’s top rival José Serra (pronounced Seha), in contrast to Dilma, has not proven to be a skilled campaigner. He has made several freshman mistakes both on the campaign trail and in the debates. He does, however, have a strong track record as the Governor of the state of São Paulo.

Now, those are the big two and they are fighting it out until the very end. Current Polls have Dilma at 42% and Serra at 32%.

A third candidate, however, has caught a lot of people’s eye in this race, even though she has little to no chance of winning the race. Her name is Marina Silva and she is running on the not-so-powerful Green Party ticket.

Marina is a very intelligent candidate and is most likely the most charismatic of the three candidates. Not to mention her online campaign is leagues ahead of the other two candidates’. Her popularity has grown, many say, because of the fact that she is able to speak her mind and not play candidate so much because she is not going to win. Perhaps. I would also say that many people are discontented with the other two candidates and Marina Silva has worked hard to win them over.

What happens now:

If any one candidate can get over 50% of the vote they will win the election and take office soon thereafter. If no candidate can get over the relative majority threshold, then the top two candidates will go into a runoff election to be held one month later. It is currently believed that Dilma will take the election in the first round, but some estimate that because there is so much talk about her winning, some people may decide to switch their vote to Marina Silva.  I have no idea, but what I do know is that I love talking to people all around the country about what THEY think.

Ah, and, “What do the numbers mean on the campaign propaganda?,” you ask. That will be revealed in Part 2 on the Brasilian elections.

Até mais amigos!

Welcome to the wonder emporium of Santuário Dom Bosco. This is now my new favorite place in the world. Simply amazing.

The outside of this place is really not that impressive. Well, maybe just a little.