Happy New Year - Bonne Année - Feliz Ano Novo

Happy New Year from the Dancing Bear and friends! Although I was greeted with a great gust of winter upon arrival in Canada, Mother Nature and I have arrived at a compromise -- she lightened up a bit and I bought a new pair of gloves. Everyone is happy!

Happy New Years to all! May January 1st usher in a year full of peace, fun, family, friendship, laughter, adventure (only in a good way!), and limited contact with bureaucracy (please don't mention the car), both foreign and domestic for everyone. Adeus 2005.

Hello Goodbye

Tomorrow, I trade this:

For this:

Good thing I like the white stuff, although a sure sign that I haven't been around it for a while is the fact that I almost forgot to pack socks for my trip north. Would have been pretty cold out there in my flipflops!

Strange Logic

Several chains of bank machines in Brazil can recognize foreign bank cards and subsequently ask whether I would like service in Portuguese, English, or Spanish. When prompted, I always chose Portuguese, thinking that this will trick the bank into giving me a preferential exchange rate since, clearly, as a Portuguese speaker, I am not just a tourist but rather someone who lives, works, and breathes Brazil. Although I am not sure what would possess me to come to this conclusion, there's no harm in trying, is there?

No Dying Please, We're Brazilian

This article came through the Associated Press last week -- just in case Christmas Shopping and the Canadian election coverage weren't stimulating enough!

In Protest, Brazil Mayor Outlaws Death
By STAN LEHMAN
Associated Press Writer

BIRITIBA MIRIM, Brazil (AP) -- There's no more room to bury the dead, they can't be cremated, and laws forbid a new cemetery. So the mayor of this Brazilian farm town has proposed a solution: outlaw death.

Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva's proposal to the town council asks residents to "take good care of your health in order not to die" and warns that "infractors will be held responsible for their acts." The bill, which sets no penalty for passing away, is meant to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo.

"Of course the bill is laughable, unconstitutional, and will never be approved," said Gilson Soares de Campos, an aide to the mayor. "But can you think of a better marketing strategy ... to persuade the government to modify the environmental legislation that is barring us from building a new cemetery?"

A 2003 decree by Brazil's National Environment Council bars new or expanded cemeteries in so-called permanent preservation areas or in areas with high water tables. Environmental protection measures rule out cremation. That left no option for Biritiba Mirim, a town on the so-called "green belt" of rich farmland that supplies fruits and vegetables for Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. The town produces 90 percent of the watercress consumed in Brazil.

Most of Biritiba Mirim sits above the underground water source for about 2 million people in Sao Paulo, de Campos said. The rest is covered by protected forest. More than 50,000 people already are buried in the 3,500 crypts and tombs in Biritiba Mirim's municipal cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1910. The cemetery ran out of space last month and 20 residents who have died since November were forced to share a crypt. But even that solution has limits.

"The crypts will be filled to capacity in six months. ... We have even buried people under the walkways," de Campos said. "Look, people are going to die. A solution has to be found, or we'll have to break the law." At least 20 towns within 60 miles of Biritiba Mirim have a similar dilemma, de Campos said, though none has ordered its citizens not to die.

Biritiba Marim isn't the first Brazilian town to draw attention with an unusual law. A few years ago, a mayor in Parana state banned the sale of condoms, arguing that his town needed to increase its population to keep qualifying for federal aid. Drugstores ignored the ban. De Campos said his town wants the Environment Council to change the wording of the cemetery decree to allow exceptions approved by environmentalists.

Biritiba Mirim has set aside public land - five times the size of the current graveyard - for a new cemetery that environmental experts from the University of Sao Paulo say, "will not affect the region's water tables or surrounding environment," de Campos said. The Environment Council declined to comment before a meeting to discuss the matter with local officials Thursday.

Meanwhile, town officials say they are hoping no one else dies.

A Day in the Dumps - A post about a lot of garbage

I spent Friday morning in the dumps. The Muribeca Dump to be exact. Muribeca is the landfill that receives all of Recife's as well as one of its neighbouring city's garbage, approximately 3,000 tons a day of it. Close to 2,000 men, women, teenagers, and unfortunately children work in the dump rummaging through the waste picking out recyclable materials for sale. Watching the people sift their way through hundreds of bags of refuse is one of the hardest things. Fortunately, there were no children there yesterday morning as they tend to sneak in at night when they cannot be caught by the police that patrol the area.

Life in the landfill is difficult -- one study showed that in a ten-year period there was almost a 100 percent turnover in the pickers. Further research into what happened to the missing pickers revealed that a shockingly large percentage had died -- either through violence [the landfill is also a common hideout for thieves, bandits, and assassins] or through disease and sickness. Hopefully some were also able to move on to safer pursuits.

During our visit to the dump, a young Brazilian who works with the garbage pickers -- catadores in Portuguese -- asked us what word we used in English to describe the people who do this type of work. I had to confess that in Canada there are so few people who sift through garbage, that in fact we do not have a word to describe the workers, other than a literal description of the action.

What angers me is all the propaganda that exists in terms of Brazil's recycling ability. Articles in magazines will constantly laud Brazil's incredible success in recycling -- close to 100 percent of recyclable materials are actually recycled. In many areas -- pop cans for example -- Brazil, at a 92 percent recycle rate is one of the top recyclers in the world. What is missing from the articles is the fact that this success is due to neither systematic government efforts nor any conscientiousness on the part of the citizenry. Yes, some efforts do exist in terms of encouraging people to separate their garbage into organic and recyclable materials. However, these efforts are often few and far between and those who truly deserve the credit for the country's incredible recycling rate are without a doubt some of, or perhaps the, most marginalised workers that exist. Usually working without any kind of protective equipment -- gloves, mask, closed shoes -- these unsung "heros" of Brazil's success are people who receive nothing from Brazil in return.

The Four-point Five-point Fort

Last weekend, in an effort to continue to broaden my horizons in my own city, I headed to the Forte das Cinco Pontas - or the Five-Point Fort - located on the shores of downtown Recife, protected from the Atlantic ocean by the city's famous reefs [after which Recife is named]. The Five-Point Fort was built in 1630 by the Dutch after they conquered and expelled the Portuguese from Recife and its environs. The Portuguese destroyed the fort after reconquering the Dutch in 1654 and rebuilt it in 1677, although this time in Portuguese-style with only four points. Although the Portuguese rechristened the fort São Tiago, in true Recife fashion -- at least the Recifenses come by their persistent use of long-gone landmarks honestly -- it became known as São Tiago das Cinco Pontas. Today, it is again simply known as the Five-point Fort. After housing a prison, a military barrack, and a government ministry, the fort is now home to the City Museum which documents the life and times of Recife.

In true Murphy fashion, I didn't call ahead before visiting and arrived to discover that the museum would be reopening two days later following a year of renovations! Oooo ... so close, yet so far. The grounds were still open, so I had a fun time walking around inside and on the perimetre, but I will need to head back in the new year to check out the exhibition. Stay tuned for more caipirissima reviews....

How to Tell that it is Time for a Vacation

This morning after waking up I started looking around for my glasses, usually to be found on my nighttable. Looking being the key word here, as usually the morning search for my glasses involves quite a bit of fumbling. After a few seconds of looking, I realised that I was looking and looked up to see if I could see anything else. And yes, indeed, although foggy, I could in fact see everything around me. Shaking my head to clear the cobbwebs, I headed into the bathroom where I found my glasses sitting on the counter next to my empty contact lense cases. Nice! I am not sure if this is better or worse than the last time that I felt I needed a vacation when I accidentally threw out an envelope with R$150 [CAN$80] in it. Fortunately I realised the mistake before the contents got too far!

Perversion & The Perils of a Sketchy Mail System

Earlier this week it occurred to me that I hadn't received, or consequently paid, a phone bill in months, well six or seven weeks at least. I called the phone company to enquire only to learn that my phone line was about to be blocked due to my serious delinquency. For some reason, pleading non-payment due to non-receival didn't seem to earn me much sympathy!

Paying bills in Brazil is always an adventure. Often bills can be paid at a bank, however, not all banks have agreements with all main service providers. So Bank #1 will accept payments for the telephone but not the electricity. Bank #2 will accept payments for the electricity but not the long-distance plan. Bank #3 will accept the cellphone bill but not ... well, you get the idea! Another common way of paying bills is to directly deposit the money into the service provider's account. This is by far the most annoying way since you never know which bank you will need to find and how out-of-the-way it will be. And of course, if there are several bills to pay, you can guarantee that the accounts will not be with the same bank! Internet banking is catching on here and I think that it will be the next thing that I investigate. The caveat being that poor people can easily have neither a bank account nor internet access, making this option clearly out of reach.

The one place that accepts all payments is, surprisingly enough, the state lottery kiosques. Personally, I find it a little odd [read: perverse] that people need to line up outside the lottery booth to pay their essentials of life. By the time a client has handed over significant amounts of money I am sure that the temptation is high to try and win some of it back. One for Telemar. One for the State. One for CELPE. Two for the State. One for Claro. Three for the State.

So this morning, in an effort to remain connected and tarnish-free, I scoured the neighbourhood for a lottery booth. Fortunately there was one nearby which was open until noon. I diligently paid my bill and managed to get out before succumbing to the allure of the draw.

Fun Pic

Here's a fun photo that I took last weekend on my way home from a little Christmas shopping. The two things that I love about the scene are first, the contrast between the old & crumbling and the new & flashy; and second, assuming that the same person owes both the house and the motorcycle, he or she [likely he] clearly loves turquoise!

The Politics of Kissing - or - How to Rate the Success of Work Meetings

In Brazil, the two-cheeked kiss is the standard greeting between friends and colleagues as well as between friends of friends and colleagues of colleagues of colleagues. Although some North Americans find this odd, as a good girl from Montreal, this is a custom that was already second nature, and had been incorporated into my Activities of Daily Living well before Brazil came onto the scene. What is different in Brazil though is kissing people you don't know or people you just met, particularly within an external working environment. When I first starting travelling to Brazil we used to rate our meetings by whether or not we would kiss at the end. A typical evaluation would go like this:

Colleague: Hey, how did your meeting go with the Board of Directors of Important Organization #1?
Me: Well, it started out tense since we were talking about finances, but things improved and in the end we kissed.
Colleague: And what about the meeting with the Executive Director of Important Organization #2?
Me: Not so well. It was a handshake on the way in and on the way out.
Colleague: Oh well. Maybe next time.
Me: Yeah, maybe next time. You win some, you lose some.

In Recife, or in the Northeast in general, we also end up kissing before meetings. A sure sign that things will go well! Of course, it takes a while before settling in to the task at hand since one needs to circulate the whole table kissing everyone before being able to start the meeting.

Another cultural lesson is learning how to sign written business correspondence [predominantly email]. The ubiquitous Brazilian sign-off in emails is abraços or literally, hugs. The hugs can be normal [abraços], big & singular [um grande abraço], strong [um forte abraço], for all [abraços para todos], affectionate [um abraço carinhoso] etc. Now although abraços is translated as hugs, it is used more in the manner that we would use the word cheers to end an email, and in that sense is just a standard casual sign-off, nothing more, nothing less. More formal emails would merit an antenciosmente or, attentively yours.

The trick, however, is knowing when one can and/or should switch from using atenciosamente to using abraços, since in our North American minds hugs are hugs are hugs even when they mean cheers. Is it after one email? Two emails? After meeting in person? After talking on the phone? If you are more senior than the correspondee? If you are more junior, but the correspondee uses it first? If it is a man? a woman? A Minister? An Ambassador? If you like the person? If you don't like the person? And what if the person annoys you and you don't want them to keep in touch? So many questions! Alternative sign-offs of beijos [kisses] or beijinhos [lots of little kisses] are reserved for close friends and usually cause little confusion.

In any case, after more than four years, I think that I have mastered workplace kissing and hugging and don't think that I have caused too many scandals. My problem now is when I am back in Canada and working and kissing and hugging somehow don't go hand in hand. Such a strange thought now! Perhaps an area in which I will have some reverse culture shock once back home. Until then, however, .... um forte abraço para tod@s e agradecemos a sua presença!

Rio Report

Since I never reported anything about my most recent trip to Rio [waaaay back in September], I thought that I would post this photo of us enjoying a casual moment in the Botanical Gardens. On closer examination, there is one funny observation to make. In the photo are two Canadians and three Americans. Now check out everyone's arm position and try to guess who is Canadian and who is American. Funny eh? Who knew that walking was such a culturally ingrained activity!

Why it's Hard to Walk on the Sidewalks of Recife - Reason #4

I admit that sidewalks like this are more commonly found in the narrow back alleys of the older city-centre rather than in newer neighbourhoods like Boa Viagem, but since I started the Sidewalks of Recife series, I couldn't pass up the opportunity!

Is it the City of God or the City God Forgot?

In addition to good eats, another thing that Recife excels at is violence. According to statistics gathered by the Mortality Information System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Recife is tops when it comes to firearm-related mortality. When compared to other state capitals, Recife consistantly comes up in the top spot, particularly when the data is segregated by gender. Violence in Brazil has generally increased dramatically in the last twenty years, and although the reasons behind it are complex, the basic factors of poverty, low education levels, illiteracy, lack of adequate housing, overcrowding, lack of access to public services including schools, health care and the justice system, and the growth of the organised drug trade has led to firearm mortality rates in the urban periphery and young male population that exceeds rates found in countries embroiled in a state of civil war.

In Recife, the majority of firearm-related violence is found in the informal settlements [shantytowns/favelas] around the periphery of the city. While the rest of the city is not violence-free, one just needs to keep aware, but not necessarily limit one's activities. The following graph gives the data for the top three state capitals in each of five categories. I also threw Florianópolis -- largely regarded as one of the nicest cities in Brazil -- in for comparison.

City	Target Population	Firearm-related Homicides per 100,000
		1991	2000
Recife	Total Population	41.7	56.5
Cuiabá		6.1	48.4
Rio		48.5	43.4
Florianópolis		4.1	7.2*
Recife	Total Male Population	93.6	125.3
Cuiabá		10.0	104.0
Rio		104.4	90.6
Florianópolis		8.1	14.5*
Recife	Male Population Aged 15-19	125.81	222.13
Rio		214.59	202.89
Cuiabá		14.23	181.93
Florianópolis		16.36	11.49*
Recife	Male Population Aged 20-29	210.12	327.39
Rio		241.57	220.62
Vitória		155.38	206.99
Florianópolis		16.49	21.60*
Recife	Male Population Aged 30-39	147.28	162.48
Vitória		95.52	139.87
Cuiabá		16.60	134.65
Florianópolis		10.02	29.54

One shocking realisation when looking at the figures is not just the level of firearm violence found in Recife [the firearm homicide rate for Recifense males 20-29 years old is an astounding 329 per 100,000], but the exponential growth of violence in other state capitals. For example, while Cuiabá has lower levels of violence than does Recife, in some cases their level of violence has increased by over 1800% in the ten years covered by the study.

In an effort to curb alcohol-fueled violence, this past week Recife instated a Dry Law [no alcohol sales after 11pm] in select neighbourhoods prone to high levels of violence. The decision was made following the example of Diadema, a São Paulo suburb which managed to cut its overall homicide rate from 141 per 100,000 -- at the time the highest homicide rate in the world [compared to Recife's 56.5] -- to a quarter of that within a five year period. Although limiting access to alcohol will certainly have an effect, an equally dedicated investment in improving social conditions needs to accompany the process as well. It will be interesting to follow up on the statistics in a another year or two, and until then, keep your chin up and your eyes open.

* Denotes the cases when this is also the lowest value for all state capitals.

All In the Name of Quality Research

One thing that Recife does well is restaurants, and one is always able to find an excellent plate of food taking into consideration one's budget, taste, style, and location. While the variety of São Paulo, where one can find food from most corners of the world, is not available, the options in Recife are next in line. In fact, the Recifenses reluctantly agree that São Paulo has more options, but they attribute this fact to population size more than anything else.

Earlier this week, a friend from Rio was in town. This friend authors a couple of the travel guides for Brazil and it is always fun to discuss travel locations, great restaurants, and out-of-the-way nooks waiting for discovery with her. So in the name of research and for the future enjoyment of her readers, we set out to discover some previously unfrequented restaurants here. Our first night was a bit of a challenge seeing that it was Monday. Mondays here are slow. Very slow, with all musueums and a majority of restaurants being closed. Unfortunately we had to give up on our A-list and ended up going to the top of our B-list. Needless to say, our choice was a bit of a disappointment which I suspect will make it neither into the guide book, nor into my gastronomic roteiro.

The next night, however, we went to Biruta, Recife's only bar which directly overlooks the beach. Voted as one of the city's best bars, we enjoyed drinks & seafood, the great atmosphere, and the salty sea breeze. Seeing that it was Tuesday, it was still pretty quiet, but I suspect that the live music on the weekends draws quite an animated crowd. In order to access Biruta, one has to skirt through a fairly poor neighbourhood. Not exactly the place where you would want to have to change a flat, apparently some taxi drivers refuse to go all the way to the bar. We had no problems in either direction and the trip was well worth it.

caipirissima rating: Two thumbs up and a definite addition to the Roteiro do Chopp*.

* Draught Beer Route

A Flash of Brilliance

I admit, sometimes it happens. Even to me.

Life in Brazil revolves around papers. Papers, more papers, and other more papers. Birth certificates [including those of your parents], personal identification documents [also including those of your parents], proofs of residency, salary stubs, bank statements, you name it, they want to see it.

The two most important documents for any Brazilian are the CPF [physical personal registry] and the RG [general registry]. Without these two documents, nothing is possible, and in essence, a person who has neither a CPF nor an RG is not recognised as a person by the State. He or she cannot legally work, cannot go to school, cannot receive any health care, cannot vote, cannot open a bank account, cannot legally rent an apartment [although there are so many other documents needed in order to rent an apartment that having a CPF is not even a fraction of the way there], cannot own land, cannot buy household appliances, cannot get a phone line, cannot legally take an intercity bus, the list goes on. The crux of obtaining a CPF and RG rests on having been registered at birth and thus having a birth certificate. Although fewer and fewer Brazilian babies are not registered these days, for those who are not or weren't, it remains difficult to procure the rest of their documents. Life without personhood is not easy and it is almost impossible to aspire to better socio-economic conditions. Without a CPF one cannot even rent a video at the local video store. Enter Karen, stage left....

Two weeks ago, I decided to rent a Friday-night video and headed to the video store around the corner. I was armed with a multitude of documents including my CPF number [I have a number, but the actual card never arrived even after chasing it down for months and months], my RNE [a foreigner's equivalent of the RG] and my passport [nice red passport!]. As excepted, the salesgirl immediately asked for my CPF in order to register me. I handed over the slip of paper with my CPF number on it and indicated that it was the correct number. The girl immediately gave it back to me and asked for the original card. My response that I had never received the card, that this was my CPF and that she could easily hop on the Receital Federal website to verify its accurracy since all information about CPFs is open access through the website [type in the number and out pop the details -- maybe this is why the Receita Federal is the most searched website through Google Brasil] did not get me much further. I pulled out the rest of my documents, but to no avail. There would be no video that night.

The next day, after recovering from the episode, I gathered up even more documents, including a recent telephone bill which has my CPF and address written on it and a bank statement which also has both my CPF and address, and headed to yet another local video store. The girl at store #2 was also reluctant to trust my CPF number scribbled on a post-it note. Getting bolder, I asked for the manager, spread my twelve different documents across the counter, and offered to help them check the Receita Federal website to legitimise my CPF number. Finally, they acquiesed and gave me a membership. And now, for the brilliance of the whole thing. At the end of the process, they asked me if I had any dependents to register under my name. And in a moment of extreme lucidity, I gave them the names of all my known future guests who may or may not want to rent a video during their stay. Of course, the video store now thinks that I have a very large and strange family with no one having the same last name. But hey, at least they'll have the option!