Colégio looks a lot different from the Zona Sul. Around where I live, the streets are packed with high rise apartments, flashy stores, and shopping centers. Colégio, on the other hand, seemed to be mostly single-family homes. Most of the Zona Sul does not feel particularly foreign to me; though there are of course small differences that make it distinctly Brazilian, overall it feels like any of the big cities I've visited in the United States. Colégio, on the other hand, felt very foreign.
I've been in Brazil enough that by this point, neighborhoods like Colégio look familiar enough that it's hard to articulate exactly what makes them look so foreign. However, it was interesting to hear some of the reactions of the other people in my group, most of whom I assume haven't seen many neighborhoods like this before. It's always a slight shock to step off the metro or bus into a neighborhood like Colégio just because the differences from the Zona Sul are so jarring. One person said something to the effect of, "Wow, this is definitely NOT the Zona Sul." Another commented, "Well, they still have buses here." I take that to mean that Colégio seems like such a different world that it's a little strange to imagine it being connected to the Rio's we're used to. Another person said the neighborhood reminded him of his childhood, which was, I think, in the Dominican Republic.
Colégio is definitely not a favela, but by American standards, it still looks very poor. White walls surround a lot of the houses, but they're dingy and covered in dirt and sometimes graffiti. The sidewalks are cracked and uneven, often with grass sprouting up wherever possible. Most of the cars I see in the Zona Sul look new, bright, and shiny, but a lot of the cars in Colégio looked like they'd already led long lives.
In addition to these things, I think one of the key factors that makes Colégio look poor is the presence of open holes in the walls of homes that serve as windows. Since almost every window in the United States is screened and/or glassed in, all the gaping holes in Colégio seem initially to scream poverty. If they could afford to close their windows, they would, right? Wrong. Most Brazilian windows do not have screens and do not seal (though many can still be closed). Homes here don't have central air, so the windows also serve for ventilation. Even in apartments in the middle of the city, there's still often a big gaping hole in one wall near which laundry is hung to dry.
Laundry is the other big thing in Colégio that gives the illusion of poverty. Laundry stretches across the rooftops of Colégio, which to Americans looks very strange. Here, though, air drying clothing is the norm. In the US, dryers are expected and homes that have clotheslines usually hide them discreetly in the backyard, out of sight. In Brazil, dryers are rare and laundry is often hung for all to see. I don't know of many Americans who would willingly hang their undergarments out to dry in sight of the public, but here nobody seems to think twice about it.
The two biggest "indicators" of poverty in Colégio really aren't indicators at all, but rather just differences between the US and Brazil. I guess on some level they do signify a lower economic status since homes in Colégio don't have air conditioning or clothes dryers, but those things are rare all throughout Brazil and are in no way unique to Colégio.
Even though Colégio seemed to be a rather modest neighborhood, Déborah's house had a pool in the back. That's certainly more than I can say for my house in the US. Later, when I was in the kitchen, I noticed that they had one of the nicest, most modern-looking stoves that I've ever seen in Brazil. Granted, I haven't seen that many Brazilian stoves, but even so, the niceness of Déborah's stove caught my eye. That Déborah's family can afford a pool and a flashy new stove indicates to me that they are doing quite all right financially.
Brazilian barbeques are a huge part of the culture here. Because of that, I always thought it a bit strange that I'd never been to one, though I attributed that to the fact that I didn't like meat, so I didn't think I'd enjoy it anyway. As it turns out, though, that meat was some of the best I've ever tasted.
The word barbeque is a bit misleading in the Brazilian sense because there is no actual barbeque sauce involved. Instead, the meat is seasoned and then cooked in an outdoor oven. We had beef, sausage, and something that looked like chicken at our barbeque. Never one to be adventurous when it comes to meat, I stuck with just the beef. Though very tough, it was deliciously savory and had a slight smoky flavor. Déborah's family members would wander around offering plates with small pieces of meat on them to us as we lounged by the pool. That went on for several hours. At one point they brought out a pot of rice and a crumb-like substance called farofa to go with it; that was the closest we ever got to eating an official meal. For the most part we just filled up little by little on the pieces of meat.
The caipirinha, a Brazilian drink made of cachaça (sort of like Brazilian rum), lemons, sugar, and ice, is definitely the drink of choice here. At one point some people decided to make caipirinhas, so one guy scaled the back wall and began picking lemons from the tree that hung over the pool area. The confusing thing about lemons in Brazil is that they are green. Even though I know this, I still have a very hard time convincing myself they aren't limes. It seems, though, that lemons aren't the only strange green fruit around here. After that guy had picked eight or ten lemons, someone informed him that they were actually green oranges - no good for caipirinhas. So the guys played catch with the green oranges as someone went off to the store in search of green lemons.
I expected the barbeque to last for only a few hours, but we ended up staying there from early afternoon into the night. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday, hanging out with people in and around the pool. All the while, mostly English music played from a radio in the background, which I got a kick out of. I like a lot of Brazilian music, but it seems that most people around here would rather listen to American/British music instead. There were about twenty of us at the barbeque, and I'd only known a few people beforehand, so it was a good opportunity to meet some new people.
the view from the Colégio metro station 
the view from the Colégio metro station 
the view from the Colégio metro station 
where the meat was cooked 
picking oranges 
That will teach you to steal lemons--or oranges--or whatever!
ReplyDelete