Monday, January 29, 2007

Post #5

Introduction

You may have noted that my first Post, a very brief sketch of Brasil, the country, has gone missing; trying to archive it I bumbled. I did this all by myself, and rebooting it into the blog now will be a major hassle so the hell with it.

However it has resurfaced on the "Gringoes" web site. Gringoes is a site for english language speakers here in Brazil and those in the other countries who want to read about and understand Brazil better. It is not perfect, but I guarantee that you will find it presents different, interesting, helpful news and views about my new country. Check it out at: www.gringoes.com.

a) Quotes

“So what do you do for money?”
“I’m on the dole.”
“I thought these days you had to get a job.”
“I’m a poet. There are no jobs for poets.”
“Neffer were, neffer will be,” said Hamish comfortably. “Even Chaucer had a job.”

My song: “Why does no one else understand the happiness and contentment of the truly unambitious man."
Hamish Macbeth/M.C. Beaton

Culture is pruned by commerce’s loud, swift sword.

No one loves me and my hands are cold.
God loves you; you can sit on your hands.
-from the Gaelic


b) Here is a continuation of my report on my visit to Caico. As often, I precede the narrative with a smidgen of background.

Natal (on the ocean) and Caico (in the desert) are in the tropics, some 5° below the equator. The Sabugi River (Caicó) and the South Atlantic Ocean (Natal) make fine swimming holes.

Caicó’s estimated population is 60,000, with the surrounding region (think metro area - in this case desert farms and villages) of about 150,000.

There are some disadvantages to heat and sun: the need by many for sun block and armpit perfume, but many advantages to a tropical climate, including considerable savings: such as no winter clothes, no heating bills, outdoor living.

In Caicó dry heat climbs up over 100° F on a few midsummer days and the best strategy is to do as they do in Phoenix, AZ: avoid going out. In the evening the temperature drops. The rest of the year is comfortably warm.

Notice that when hanging around outside, one reflexively finds shade to stand in, even if it’s only a telephone pole.

Window panes are not necessary since temperatures are usually in the seventies to nineties, though shutters are frequently used for shade and security. Air conditioning is an expensive luxury; when I was living in an apartment in Natal, we did not bother with the air conditioning.

The narrative continues.
We arrived in Caicó about 10pm Friday night. I strung up my rede (hammock) and slept like a baby in Maria Rosa’s - -Edilma’s mother --casa; think a vacation bungalow for six; small, functional, friendly. It is similar to thousands of small casas I’ve seen in Caicó and Natal.

There is an enclosed patio around Maria Rosa’s casa. It is similar to that found around most lower and middle income family houses, equivalent to, but smaller, than a yard. Here children play; folks visit, read, scratch, or sun bathe. The laundry sinks are in the corner of the patio, nearest the kitchen. There may be a washing machine. Dryers aren't needed; the back of the patio is strung with clothes lines.

Maria-Rosa’s casa is a one story building on a packed-dirt side road. It is on an un-landscaped small plot fronted by two small fig trees. There is a red tile roof. It is made of hollow bricks covered with a white cement. The walled-in patio extends half way around the house. In front the wall is replaced by a gated, protective iron-bar fence from ground to roof. It encloses the front porch which has room to park a moto or a small car. It is locked each night.

I have seen similar arrangements in Mexico and other tropical countries where the front porch is part of the living space and needs to be protected from two and four footed marauders. An occasional night time adventure of Caicó teenagers is to throw a firecracker onto a front porch and run. Wish I had thought of that when I was a kid.

Inside there are five small rooms: a living room (sala), two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a store room. The small kitchen contains a stove, refrigerator, table and chairs, cabinets; it is similar, albeit more compact, then most kitchens I’ve known, but without the crop of appliances found in wealthier societies.

The furniture is similar to what you’d find in your house, albeit much less of it and much less costly. There is a tv; antennas are perched on house tops across Brazil, as they are across the world. Internet connections are available in service stores in downtown Caicó. The phone of choice is a cell.

A major difference, reflecting the tropic life style, are rede (hammock)hooks built into almost every wall and on the porch.

I slept well in my rede in the living room. I moved it to the patio during the day. The advantages of a rede are low cost, comfort, albeit you get a bit kinked, portability and convenience: at night unroll your rede and hang it on the hooks; position the mosquito netting carefully. In the morning re-roll and stow it on one hook, freeing up the room for other activities.

Caicó does have mosquitos. After the first night, when I woke up having donated blood to a few hundred quiet mosquitos, I slept under mosquito netting. Since these voracious little suckers are night feeders mosquito netting is effective and less expensive than screens. Blankets are not needed.

You get used to cold showers.

Maria Rosa does not have a car. They are expensive to buy and run: gasoline, unlike in the US, is not subsidised and is expensive, think Europe. Caicó is a small city where there is good public transportation and inexpensive moto and automobile taxis. When a car is needed, a neighbour or family member supplies one. And, like in NYC but for different reasons, an occasional public taxi is a better solution than owning and operating your very own private taxi.

Generalization: There is a different living style in Caicó than in “advanced” countries and, increasingly, in Natal. In the latter humans, at great expense, modify the world around them to suit their demands for convenience and comfort. In Caicó people largely adapt to the world around them. Both approaches work and the people in both have the same human capacity to be happy, sad, laugh, cry; whatever, whenever, wherever.

Enough about the casa. What makes a dwelling unique are the people who live in it. The picture below is of Maria Rosa, her grandson Jefferson and granddaughter Beatrice. (My face often gets a reaction like Beatrice’s) I’ll have more to say about them in the future.



c) Poems

CLUMSY

Not well co-ordinated
I often stub my tongue
on words
on sentences
on ideas

even on spinach
and spaghetti

on good days
it trips on
a salty, pouting
nipple

- - -
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLED

When Burt Wyman
our Sea Scout Leader
left for Spain
our yawl boat sprung a leak
we didn’t get another leader
our troop fell apart

We no longer patrolled the Palisades
trying to keep walkers on the path
stop people picking flowers
stop big guys from doing it
with girls in the bushes

Burt never came back
from the Lincoln Brigade
disaster at Jarma Valley.

Three years later I joined
the Marines to fight evil
for a while I thought we’d won

- - -
Role Models

Father strode with Jehovah —made
in his image

Mother hugged the Great Spirit
all things to all animals
once a big loser it was staging
a come back.
      
Uncle Noah enchanted along one of
Buddha’s paths

Aunt Dora worshipped eternal deities
The tooth fairy
Santa Claus
Mammon

= = = =

1 Comments:

At 5:29 PM, Blogger Gina said...

As usual...I throughly enjoy your poems so it's only natural that I enjoy your blog. I also love the photos...isn't it great when things come together.

Looking forward to seeing you when you get back to the states!

HUGS,
Gina

 

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