some thoughts about brazil so far: a reflection

i’m in fortaleza, ceará, brazli (city, state, country) for work, april 23-29. these are some things i’ve learned by observing, things people have told me unprompted, or things i’ve observed that i’ve asked more about.

• on the taxi ride from the airport to the beach hotel we noticed a wall of mid-rise buildings… like a huge number of them. apparently they run along a main river that flows through the city. i wonder how occupied they are and if they’re a way for wealthy people to park capital internationally. this is happening in boston and in nyc so it wouldn’t suprise me if it were happening here.

• also on the taxi ride, i noticed that so few people were outside. but because this isn’t my context, i wasn’t sure how to read that. maybe people just don’t go outside on sundays because they’re all in church? or maybe it’s just too damn hot and people stay inside in air conditioning. or maybe everyone goes to the beach all the time since it’s so close?

• when we got to the hotel, it looked like the beach was really busy. maybe this is a partial answer to the previous questions.

• i learned from our trip consultant (daniel - who is a local musician), that brazil has a crazy security problem. on one hand, people perceive the streets and city as unsafe and as having a high crime rate. this results (for some fucked up political reasons) in a response that is to build walls and install electric fences. unfortunately, as daniel shared, this increases the likelihood of crime on the street because of lack of eyes on the street (h/t jane jacobs). the crazy thing, though, is that there are people in (or recently left) politics who have intimate ties with the security corporations. like the vice president was something like the brother of the ceo of a major security company. so, of course (intentionally or not), the solution to the security problems are going to be physical.

• there was a bottle fight in the kitchen at the spot on the beach we ate at. it was unclear who started it (someone from the beach/street? an internal staff fight? a customer?), but the kitchen staff was definitely throwing bottles to try to get someone out. broken glass everywhere. after the fight was over, everyone just sat back down and kept eating. i hear this is fortaleza.

• people were hawking wares (sp?) while we were seated at the table. the waitstaff seemed to know these people and didn’t send them away. interesting.

• near the end of our meal, someone came up to our table and asked for our leftovers. first time i’ve seen that happen before. i kind of hate it and also kind of appreciate it. it appeared that the person was living out doors. after they had bagged our food, she (i’m guessing) went to join someone she knew (a man) nearby and show/share her find.

• it feels very strange staying in a really niec hotel on the beach and then telling people we don’t have money to give them when they ask.

• it also feels strange to be staying in a hotel on the land that the community we’re learning from (conjunto palmeiras) was forcibly removed from.