Some Perspectives from the States

by John Neely

Back from Brazil almost a week, I thought I’d get a few final thoughts out before they’re gone. On coming back to the States, naturally felt a bit of culture shock on feeling and seeing what a cushy existence we have in the US, compared to fairly widespread poverty, though not starvation level, in the Amazon (there is always fish from the rivers). We mostly spent time with the upper 10% of Brazilian society (Rotarians), who by American standards would be middle class—nice but not extravagant houses or condo apartments, with jobs, good food and leisure time.

Most Brazilians in the Amazon survive at or just above subsistence level, with low paying jobs (lucky few) with larger companies or the government, small street businesses, selling anything from clothing to food to hardware, the parking mafia, fishing/agriculture, and prostitution. Make shift housing of cheap bricks or wood, mostly on the periphery of towns, was constantly cropping up. Squatters would take over any vacant land, cut down trees and built a shanty; soon churches and stores and futebal fields would appear, and the land owner would be helpless to remove them (this was happening to Uniron University in Porto Velho, just across from campus). What kind of real estate agents sell these houses? Legal title must be near impossible.

Street life and public areas can be somewhat depressing for foreigners, given piles of uncollected trash, strong odors of no telling what, open sewers and poorly maintained sidewalks/streets and parks. Within the larger cities, the high rise condo apartmento building continued its spread to even higher levels—highest in Belem was a new 40 story twin tower. With a doorman for security, walled courtyard, and pool/party area, this model is irresistible for folks with money.

But then there are the warm and friendly Brazilians: easy going, always ready for a chat, close knit extended families, love of music and drinking the afternoon or evening away (mas uma caipirinha, por favor). Late for a meeting or event? Museo not open today?--nao problema, let’s just chat or enjoy the street scene, or change plans. This attitude drove more than one American team member crazy (no names), but others got with the Brazilian approach to things (did we have a choice?).

The Zona Franca (free trade zone—no customs) of Manaus and our tour of the aluminum processing plants near Belem gave us a chance to see the north of Brazil changing cultures. In Rio Branco and Porto Velho, working Brazilians tend to go home for the traditional large lunch and soneca, or nap, before returning to work about 3:00 until about 7. The work pace seems slow and sporatic. Our Rotarians in Manaus, in contrast, worked in factories or businesses with more modern work schedules—short breaks for lunch then back to meeting production quotas. Not much putting off until manha.

Even at the hydroelectric plant near Porto Velho, work ethics as well as work skills were being taught at the Uniron University skills training center, by a German firm (Odebrecht) building the dam. And in Belem, the massive bauxite to aluminio plant, with 3,000 employees, clearly had output foremost in mind, as workers in uniforms broke at the same time for lunch and machines kept production going.. No wonder we met so many people from Sao Paulo in the north, with their diligence, skill and know how seizing opportunities in a land of abundant resources.

Suggestions to Improve Future IGEs

This is primarily for Rotarians in District 4720, but probably applies to 6920 and other Districts as well. Overall, I believe the team felt that Rio Branco had their act together the best, primarily because the outgoing team leader (Carlos Junior) and all four team members live there. Porto Velho was reasonably organized, led by the efforts of Fernando Prado, whose family (non-Rotarians) housed, fed and transported us, and Fernando had lead a previous IGE team to the US. The Manaus experience was positive, though driving distances between host family houses was tough—up to 2-3 hours per day in the car for some of us. Though Rotarians and families (Edinaldo, Ronaldo, Vera/Ronald and Geraldo) were friendly and fun in Belem, our visit was obviously put together at the last minute, and Jenny and Alison were housed too far away in the suburbs. Apparently the Belem folks learned they were to host the Americans only 2 weeks before, at the District Conference. The team was also very tired by
the time we got to Belem. Specific suggestions:

1. Consider doing 3 weeks for IGE, not 4—team was tired and ready to go home by the end.
2. Appoint an IGE coordinator for each city at least 2 months before the visit; each city coordinator should have a planning committee of 3-4 Rotarians; by 30 days before the IGE visit, identify in writing the host families and draft a tentative schedule of activities, including professional day visits; District Governor needs to delegate these duties through a District IGE Coordinator, but monitor to make sure it’s being done.
3. Host families should live fairly close to each other, to minimize transportation time for team members; center cities are best, assuming there are places where team members can walk/explore on their own in spare time; avoid unsafe neighborhoods.
4. When possible, separate team members in individual homes, to encourage them to speak the language, and have their own special host family experience (women on team stayed together in every city).
5. Host families with children or young people are generally preferred, to give team members a better understanding of family life.
6. Allow one free day per week, for unplanned time for team members, to spend time with host family, exploring on their own, or getting together without Brazilians (to talk over any team issues).
7. Team members generally like to visit night clubs/bars at night, so identify younger folks to take them out on occasion; make arrangements for late night entry into host family homes.
8. Formally structure relevant professional days in each city, asking team members ahead of time (when possible—email, at District Conference) what would be most interesting.
9. Minimize time team spends listening to speeches at the District Conference; language barrier was too much for some; structure alternate plans.

Lessons for future team members? Be flexible (flexibilidade) and go with the flow; focus on the positives, and don’t let issues of uncomfortable housing, food or even physical concerns get you down. And learn as much Portuguese as possible before you go—the experience is much richer and fuller when you can communicate (I believe the Brazilians were impressed by how much we did know, and it certainly helped Alton achieve his goals.)

Lasting memories? Clearly the people in each city: For me, Rio Branco: Fred and his family Magna, 16 year old Joao Paulo (I expect he’ll figure a way to study in the states) and little Maria Fernanda, Fred’s nephews Ricardo and Rodrigo, the modern real estate developers (incorporadoras), and big hearted Coelho, and his sons Talis and Tasio; Porto Velho: Fernando Prado, his 3 sisters (Rita, Paula, and Claudia) who hosted team members, and Fernando Fernandes, the Indy car driver, Dr. Benedicto and his charming linguist wife, and Vitor and his girlfriend, who was perfectly happy to see Jenny leave town; Manaus: Katia, her mother and their various other family members and “secretary” Nilian, the non Japanese speaking Japanese Gerson, his family and Paolo, Fabio and his opinionated uncle Fernando at the bicycle/moto factory (“Debeers diamonds pays the Brazilian government to keep Indians on their reservation over the richest site for diamonds outside South Africa”, uncle explains), Flavio, Jose Roberto, Airton the ladies man, Fabio Rafael, the port property developer (we may do a deal) and our faithful
driver Edinaldo; Belem: Ronaldo, his wife Raimunda, father-in-law Severino, Edinaldo (Edgy), Geraldo, the future District Governor, Nabih the Lebanese, Ronald the American and is ex-GD wifeVera.

Ate a proxima vez, gente boa!

Not to worry. We have not left yet!

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/05/23/brazil.crash/index.html

For those news junkies who may be aware of last night's plane crash in northeastern Brazil, you should know that we are safe and sound and still on the ground. Our flight does not leave until 2am tonight... See you back in the States! xoxoxo

Top Ten from Brazil

I have always been a fan of lists... that is, making lists, and then not quite accomplishing all the items on said lists. David Letterman certainly puts lots of stock in lists, and I am ready to do the same since we are down to our last day overseas. Below is my amateur attempt at a Top Ten, specifically the Top Ten Things I Have Learned While In Brazil.

10. The myth of Brazilian beauty is true. If you are a male. And you believe the hype.

9. If you forget how to say it in Portuguese, just smile and nod. Or else embarrass yourself in Spanish.

8. Rotary meetings are better with blazers. Just kidding.

7. Everyone should know their caipirinha limit. Three is good. Two is better, for the sake of the rest of us.

6. There are two seasons in Brazil: the season when it rains every day, and the season when it rains all day.

5. There is no need to eat dinner. (You should have stuffed your face at the lunch buffet.)

4. Tarzan does not live in the jungle, nor do many leopards or monkeys. Go to the zoo instead.

3. Stop signs are optional. So are most traffic signals, especially red lights.

2. Trundle beds are not just for Puritans anymore.

1. There is no place like home.

A Rundown

I have not had the most internet use these past two weeks and have neglected this blog a bit too much, so I will try to make up for it here by giving a quick explanation of what I did and thought of the previous two cities (Porto Velho and Manaus).

Porto Velho:
Ate pizza with the whole group and met my host for the week. Eventually got situated in my room and slept rough (I always sleep rough the first night in a new place) and got up and fought with the door to open because it was stuck (probably because I ran the A/C too high), and then preceeded to break the shower somehow, as it would not turn off. I was told none of this was my fault, but it was me or Murphy and either way I was the last one to touch it and I've played hot potato enough to know the rules. Ate, and was swept away with John (who would be coming over to this apt every morning for a ride) and Alton who is being hosted by what becomes our weekly driver and happy host Fernando Fernandes, "a man so nice they named him twice," as I became fond of saying. Side kicks/fanbase for the week (I'll apologize here for name butchering) was the motherly host of Haeuda, and the local rotarian son Vitore, who along with Fernando "dois" (Fernandes) came along on most of our adventures. This was the personal part of my week and since the highlights of the different things we saw have been pretty well covered, I'll spare you all the doubling up of things and just move forward.

Manaus:
I enjoyed the city of Manaus and the people who hosted us, the events were fun and different, and no one was anything but gracious and giving. We met lots of people who spoke English and lots of people with interesting stories and situations. The group was, as previously hinted at, taxied around by a single driver for the entire week. This is understandable and certainly an acceptable situation since we spent every day going to the same events. The problem with this is that with a single driver you put 5 GSE folks + 1 driver in a car and with the 5 of us staying at 4 different homes you had a drive consisting of minimal of 45 minutes (this would mean no traffic and hitting all green lights and missing no turns etc), and usually the loop to pick folks up took around 1:30 one way which meant long trips in the car around the city, and a trip home, if you were at the end of the line was quite a trip. The roads are lumpy and although overall the drivers are better, there is a lot of traffic (reminds me of Atlanta) and the roads are confusing. Anways, we had some wonderful events along the way and all of the clubs were different and interesting and as long as I forget the riding around for 6 hours a day in a minivan on bumpy roads I have to admit having a good time.

The Boi-bomba was the first massive cultural experience and since I was pretty exhausted when I saw it all I will use Wikipedia (as the explanation here is pretty solid for this) to explain what it is that I witnessed.
Boi-bomba:
Bumba Meu Boi or Boi Bumbá is a popular regional festival which takes place annually in North and Northeast Brazil in Parintins. Traditionally held over the last three days in June, since 2005 it has been set as three days of the last weekend in June. It tells the story of the death and resurrection of an ox. This event also pits the two famous Samba Schools "Caprichoso" with the colors blue and black bull and "Garantido" with the red colors and white bull. Each side tries to tell their version of the story with music, dance, animatronic float(parade), and songs. The two sides are so strongly divided that streets can be clearly be seen to be color divided. The town of Parintins is the only place in the world where Coca-cola ads are in blue. (Everett note: I saw these blue ads in Manaus, and I kind of doubt it is the only place in the world).

My experience of Boi Bumbá was basically a giant canival type event with literally thousands of people dancing in syncronization with each other depending on the song being played. It is an impressive sight to see, and standing amongst it left me awestruck (for William and Carolina I used this in context).

Here is a YouTube Video that shows some of it.

Now we are in Belém and more will come of this week shortly. Maybe even by me.

-Everett

Thoughts as we Leave Manaus

Arrived Belem last night, to new group of nice families. But a few more thoughts about Manaus. Economy of Manaus dominated by 500 or so factories in the Free Trade Zone (Zona Franca), which have created thousands of jobs. Toured bicycle factory that was busy, despite somewhat slower economy. Same company builds motorcycles too, and they had just closed it for 30 days. Folks can apparently still afford bikes, but moto's are a bit out of reach. Manaus folks say that government policy for Amazonas is to create high tech jobs that do not require much land, so that the state has only cut down about 2% of it's forests, compared to 10% in Acre (Rio Branco), 20% in Rondonia (Porto Velho) and 40% in Para (Belem).

Many Japanese in Manaus--Alton stayed with Gerson Aoki, whose son and daughter spoke decent English. Gerson spoke English well too, but none of his family could speak Japanese. They are third generation, from Sao Paulo in south. Kind of strange to hear educated Japanese speaking primarily Portuguese--aculturation seems complete. Most of the successful Rotarians we meet in the Amazon seem to have some connection to the south, especially Sao Paulo. Paulo, a Japanese Rotarian working in logistics in Manaus (warehousing, trucking) said that most products leaving the Amazon pass through Belem to the south, so that Belem is more of an intermediary city, without the strong manufacturing base that Manaus has.

On Saturday we drove about 100 km to Presidente Figueredo, with younger Roteract members; saw several nice water falls, swam, then got rained out , so skipped caves/hike because of muito lama, or mud, which we have seen a lot of. That night Alton and Everett had enough energy to go to a big spectacle called Boi-Bumba in the Sambadromo--thousands of folks, with folkloric dancing and very loud music. On Friday we took a Rotarian's rather large yacht to see the meeting of the waters--Rio Negro and Amazon meet, mixing cooler, darker acidic water with warmer muddy water, that mix slowly--touristy but interesting. Jose Roberto and Airton (both single and scouting) started us early with caipirinhas; stopped for lunch at a floating restaurant, with tourist gifties, but with nice wooden trail back to see Victoria Regia, or big water lillies. All returned sun burned.

Attended pleasant party of Rotarians, their families and our host families for a Japanese/Brazilian meal, with sushi. Live music, Everett stayed latest. Earlier, also attended Rotaract meeting, with 10 or so teenagers (or slightly older); mostly children of Rotarians; Rotaract seems to be more active here than in the States.

Spent too much time in car in Manaus, with motorista Rinaldo. Rotarians had hired him to pick us up and return us to our houses, which meant 2-3 hours per day in the car. Everett seemed to get the worst of it, Alton got dragged out (?) once or twice at night to clubs by our driver Rinaldo, who became our good friend. Good driver, and we'll remember his plaintiff call to temptation-- Jeennny, Aleesun, danca forro...

Back to Belem, for Rotary meeting tonight, the first of several.

The Secretary

During our trip here in Brazil, we are learning many different things. We learn what we love about our country, the things we miss, the things we could change, and even the similarities. The one thing that we in the U.S. dont have is the Secretary, as they are called in Brazil. Well, some people have them, but only the extremly wealthy. We call them house maids. After sitting with my Brazilian families, I have learned all about them. Every day from 8am to 3pm, a woman comes to the house and begins to do the things we Americans do for ourselves. Cook breakfast, wash clothes (not only fold them but iron and press each and every piece, socks and underwear included) better than your local dry cleaner, clean after every mess, sweep and mop the floors, yard work, cook lunch, prepare the table for dinner, and wait for more mess. Wow, I know I said a lot, but thats what they do. They are very loyal to the family and do the work without a gripe or complaint. Spoiled you may say, well yes it is spoiling. Ive gotten use to having my own maid. We each have stayed with 3 different families so far, and we have all had maids. It is very common here, and the Brazilian families think we have them too. I had to tell them ¨Naw, i aint got no maid." They respond in disbelief, ¨Por Que No?¨ I say, because I cant afford one. I then asked, how much do you pay her, she said 500 Reis a month, which, hold your breath, is equal to $250 a month. I said, if thats how much they were in the US we would all have them too. I told her in the US her service would be worth no less than $1200 a month or equivalent to 2400 Reis a month. Her mouth dropped and said, Wow I see. So until we can pay $250 a month for a maid, I think we will be washing and ironing our own clothes. We will be cleaning our own floors and cooking our own food. So for now we are gonna enjoy our maids cause when we get back home, it will be business as usual for us, The American Way. Tchau tchau.

Something´s Fishy... Again

Day #1 in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas:
After a leisurely morning and a painless Rotary luncheon, we headed out for a tour with a local guide, Rodolpho, and saw several museums, landmarks, and downtown attractions. I will sum up the afternoon with the photos below...

To continue with the fishy theme from my previous post, here are some of the most famous creatures from the Amazon´s rivers: piranhas.









The Japanese colony in Manaus includes a small but impressive museum of fish and insects. This enormous pirarucú is an Amazon catfish that grows to about 9 feet long. It takes in big gulps of air above water and then holds its breath for 20 minutes at a time.


The tanbaqui fish.


Iridescent butterflies.


Everett enjoys some warm and fuzzy spiders.













The Palácio Rio Negro, an example of the lavish homes built by Europeans during the height of the rubber boom in the Amazon from 1870-1920.










The ornate interior of the Teatro Amazonas, built in 1896. Most of its materials were imported: ironwork from Scotland, ceiling motifs from Paris, pine floorboards from Italy, and folding armchairs from elsewhere in Europe.









View from the back of the Teatro. The darker corner of the cobblestone street retains the original rubber coating that dampened the sound of the horses and carriages so as not to disturb the performances inside.









Rodolpho points out the 12,000 pieces of wood inlaid into the theater floor without the use of any adhesives.











The plaza outside the theater with an undulating aquatic pattern reminiscent of the nearby river.












A lopsided neo-Romanesque church downtown. Legend has it that the materials for the missing second tower were on their way over from Europe, but they were lost in a shipwreck.

"The Parking Mafia"

I have to dedicate one blog to the parking mafia. You may be wondering what "The Parking Mafia" is exactly. Well, my first encounter with this secret band of theives came on the first day of our visit to Brazil at the moment our vehicle stopped to park for the very first time. Yes, if you stop, put your car in park and step away from your vehicle, Brazilians are then subjected to this mafia. They are strong in numbers. If I had to guess there is one Mafia member per one block on every main street in every city in Brazil. I can safely assume that they have marked territory because you will never see more than one of them in a place at a time. They don't carry guns, knives, or even sticks. They never have a tough or threatening appearance, so you are never afraid they will attack you physically. Most American women could put a one-two punch or a swift karate chop on them and they would fall into the street and roll to the curb in pain. Their power comes from the consequences of your actions and not the might of their fists. They don't talk, they don't ask, but they stand in the shadows of your car door and wait, lurking like snakes daring you to put your car in drive before acknowledging their presence. Poof, out of nowhere they appear, standing next to your window. They don't put their hands out and never say a word. Brazilian drivers reach into their dash console, pull out no less than 1 Real (Unit of Currency), hand it to the man and even tell him "Thank You." Thank you? Yep, Thank You. An efficient Mafia member can probably make 50 Reis a day, probably more than a city police officer, yet the Mafia goes unregulated by any laws. Off duty police officers pay them the same way, too. The reason their profession is so successful is because they have been working off the fear of Brazilian drivers for decades, I would assume. It is said that if you do not pay them their unjust dues, they will tag your vehicle, take note of the model and license plate, relay the information to other members, and soon your vehicle will be vandalized because of your disobedience to the Mafia. They stand in the streets as supposed auto security when in fact they are the real threats to your vehicle. So to summarize how the "Parking Mafia" works, it goes like this:

1. They wait for you to return to your vehicle
2. Brazilian drivers think about the consequences
3. They reach into their dash and pay no less than 1 Real
4. You tell them Thank You
5. They assist you with hand gestures out of your space (Not Needed)
6. You drive off mumbling to yourself in disgust
7. You make change and put it in your dash console for the next time you park.

I don't know if this would work in the United States but I don't want to find out. A person can spend 5 to 10 bucks a day just because of fear of the "Parking Mafia."

Everett dons a hard hat and mask for a tour of the privately owned port for soy bean transport

Half Way Through

Okay, it's team leader time: I am sitting on the porch of a new 6 story apartment/condo building in Porto Velho, in the shade, looking out over the city. Just had breakfast of caju juice, Brazil nuts (castanha) and crackers (bolaches), though normally I have fresh bread, cheese and ham, fresh fruit- bananas, mamao, melon, and cafe in various delicious forms. I see: mostly one story, somewhat older houses of brick and stucco, with spanish style tile roofs; a few wooden houses, though brick/stucco are still the preferred building material--even in the wood center of the world (most wood is exported for much needed income); on top of most houses are ubiquitous blue water tanks for each house; each house has a small walled courtyard, for laundry, parking, sitting in the evening; on top of each wall is either sharp broken pieces of glass, or the newer electric wire/fencing; on the sidewalk are concrete trash containers on pedestals, about 2'x 2'x 2', raised to keep the street dogs out presumably; a few tall trees in the distance, but mostly it's urban; a large cell/TV tower. There are several 5-7 story new apartment buildings, and I see two new high rise condo buildings--maybe 10-12 stories--in the distance; these monsters are the wave of the future, as incomes rise, providing obvious security from street crime; they say there are maybe 30-40 of these in the early planning or construction stage, given the current booming economy.

The states of Acre and Rondonia, located next to Bolivia and Peru, are booming, despite a bust in the rest of the world. The federal government is pouring money into the area, as part of a 20-30 year old policy of developing its interior (think Transamazon Highways), in part to keep the world and America from claiming the Amazon as some kind of world resource, and in part because of the rich natural resourses (wood, rubber, minerals, etc.). The meetings a few weeks ago between the presidents of Peru and Brazil, touting a new highway to the Pacific for trade and regional develop, are part of this strategy. There have been 4 stretches of boom/bust in the Amazon economy: rubber in the early 1900s, gold mid century, wood for the last 30 years, and now the construction of 3 huge hydroelectric dams, coupled with massive government spending on infrastructure and social services. The state of Acre apparently gets 80% of its annual budget from the federal government, the employees of which are buying the high rise condos (from our real estate friends in Rio Branco and others).

There were two broad questions I brought to the Amazon, left over from my days 35 years ago living in the Amazon: what has happened to the Amazon rain forest, and how have the indigenous Indians fared over time? So briefly: A Floresta: despite major legal and illegal logging over the past few decades, the federal government seems to be taking steps to protect what remains, within reason. A recent federal law set up the 80/20 rule: you buy or plan to develop , say, 100 hectares, you can clear cut (cattle, soy beans, fruit trees, sugar cane) only 20 acres and the rest must be left basically as forest. The 80% forest can have managed cutting of timber, but not clear cutting, and most wood now from whatever source has to be certified (Forest Stewardship Council, I believe). Though depending on who you talk to, there is still a lot of illegal logging going on, often floated down past inspections at night, or mis-marked. Common woods are mahogany, castanha (Brazil nut), Ipe and others.

The indiginous peoples are another story. Our trip to the very much out of the way colony of Americans (and other foreigners) at the Summer Institute of Linguistics (google if you want, or type in http://www.jocum.com.br/), gave a good initial glimpse. The evangelical religious group has been learning and transcribing languages of indigenous peoples for 50 years, in the Amazon and elsewhere, in part to be able to bring the Bible to the `savages,´ but also to slowly acculturate them into society, providing food, education and social services along the way. Not having a firm appointment, we drove a long a potholed dirt road for miles, next to heavy industrial activity along the Madeira River, finally driving into a neat set of buildings in a pleasant natural setting. Not many people around, as school did not seem to be in session. After some fast explaining, we were shown around the campus of maybe 30-40 houses and buildings, by a very nice Swedish guy (Emmanuel) who speaks Portuguese well and English acceptably for our group. We saw school rooms, health centers, labs, training rooms and maybe 20-25 houses, for missionaries and staff. We met an American couple from Nebraska that maintains a small pontoon airplane, used for reaching remote jungle villages.

Turning down an offer for lunch (though we were hungry), we met with Emmanuel and an American woman of about 50 who has been with the institute for years, along with a tribal chief who happened to be visiting for consultations. We talked about approaching new tribes, gaining their trust, learning the language, and bringing education and support as needed. They emphased that religion is not the main focus, but rather gently bringing them into Brazilian society. The chief (short, darker, jet black hair) spoke in passable Portuguese about the shifting government (FUNAI) policy toward the Indians: either patronizing handouts and programs, or completely leaving tribes alone, leaving them to the mercy of illegal miners and loggers that inevitably invade their territory. He felt the government simply did not respect them as equals, and seemed to like the institute's approach better. Is the overall condition of indigenous peoples in the Amazon improving or getting worse? His answer was clearly worse, and he spoke pessimistically.

Okay, so much for "Make Dreams Real," the Rotary International theme this year (Realezemos Os Sonhos). Headed to lunch today at the house of Dr. Benedito, whose charity dental clinic and Rotary sponsored cancer family support center we visited yesterday. His wife Zenaide (?) works at Uniron (the local private university we visited several times), teaching linguistics herself, and who turned us on to the visit above. For lunch we can expect a heavy spread of rice, beans, farinha, farofa, befe, fish, fruits, fruit juices and vegies. Maybe I'll get a little exercise today.

Dam it all...

If you have seen the recent news about severe flooding in Brazil , please do not worry about us. We are high and dry in Porto Velho. I caught a bit of local TV, and much of the flooding seems to be in the northeast part of the country. Yes, we are heading towards that area in about 9 days, but hopefully the worst will be over by then.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/05/07/brazil.floods/index.html

Speaking of water, we visited the site of the massive hydroelectric dam 5km upstream from the city. Wow. Not only is it an incredible earth-moving project, but it must to adhere to stringent environmental standards. No telling which restrictions may have been eased for this very profitable endeavor...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6286804.stm

Our Odebrecht project manager/guide for the quick tour was fairly slick in his recounting of the details of construction; he has had a few PR lessons, I am sure. One encouraging detail that did stick with me during his spiel (em portuguese) was the allowance for the local fish population: the dam will include two `ladders,´ one on either end, so that fish can still migrate freely for spawning purposes. If I understood our guide correctly, the Madeira River has the greatest diversity of fish of any river in the world, and it is also the fastest flowing river in the world (proportional to its size), so those fish will need all the help they can get to navigate around the huge dam.

Below are a few more photos from the past couple of days, and that´s it for now. We are off to visit the port (yes, Porto Velho means Old Port), then a few more sights around the city. Atelogo!

an unauthorized photo of Indians (yes, i stole their souls and will pay for it later...)

the local fish market

an abandoned rail yard downtown

Rotary Club meeting

cheers at the local brewery

City #2:First Days in Porto Vehlo

Monday, May 4

On Monday, May 4, we had to say goodbye to our new, lifelong friends from Rio Branco. It's unbelievable how close you can get to people in only one week. Though it was very sad to leave, we boarded the airplane to Porto Vehlo at 4pm to go on to our next adventure.

After an hour flight, we arrived in the Porto Vehlo airport to a welcoming group of friendly Brazilians. We met the families that we will be staying with for the next week and headed off to a wonderful dinner together at a very nice Italian restaurant here. We spent a relaxing evening getting to know our hosts and tried to get some rest for the busy week ahead.

Tuesday, May 5

On Tuesday, May 5, we met visited a private university here and toured the training facilities and classrooms of Odebrecht, the company that is preparing to build the new hydroelectic plant on the Rio Madeira. The plant will cost approximately $12 billion of dollars to complete; it includes 47 turbines. The energy produced here in Porto Vehlo will go directly to Sao Paulo to serve the big city. In Brazil, 8% of the energy used in the country is provided by hydroelectric facilities along the powerful rivers.

During the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with a local media group in Porto Vehlo. It was interesting to learn about the company that both produces the local newspaper here as well as local television stations. After the tour of the media company, we returned to the private university to attend classes in the areas of our respective interests to talk to students about our careers in the United States as well as the Rotary Exchange program. Alison attended classes in journalism and marketing; Jenny attended a class learning about Business & Public Administration; and John, Everett & Alton visited a class on Real Estate. This was a very good, challenging expérience for us. Alison, John and I were "thrown into the fire" as we taught the classes we attended. The students had a lot of great questions for us (of course, questions and answers were in Portuguese... muito challenging para Alison y me!) When classes ended around 9:30pm, we returned home with our hosts for a quick dinner and headed to bed.

Wednesday, May 6

This morning, we toured the facilities of the concrete plant that will be responsible for providing most of the material to construct the hyroelectric plant on the Rio Madeira. It was very cool to see the developing facility and imagine the immense impact it will have on the economy of this city in the state of Rondonia.

Next, we met with a state legislator for Rondonia. Que bom!!! As a public administrator, this meeting was very special for me personally. Government in action in the largest, most powerful country in South America. I love Brazil!

Week One Album: Rio Branco

We already have moved on to our next stop in northern Brazil, but below are a few images from week one in Rio Branco. Many thanks to our hosts there, our counterparts on Team Brazil, and all our new friends! We look forward to seeing you in Macon and Savannah in 3 weeks...


our fearless leaders: Carlos & John


Team Brazil!


Team USA with Paollo


a stroll through the jungle

an eye-opening tour of a favela

Day trip to Xapuri.

Friday:

We´ve ruled out an early morning venture into Bolivia because of some fear of being recognized as foreigners and hassled by the police. As if the 5 of us do not look Brazillian. Why, just the other day I saw 5 red heads in the grocery store who spoke perfect english and live here. Granted those are the only red heads I´ve see outside of mirrors here, oh well, I would rather not have to deal with any kind of harassment anyways, and Xapuri should be interesting enough for one day right?

I ride with Giorgia who is the alternate for the group going to Georgia. She is a pharmacist and her husband is an orthopedic surgeon. Her English is very good and I spend most of the car ride explaining be verbs to her (which she picks up in less than an hour while it took me the better part of 16 years in America to figure them out). We arrive in Xapuri and realize quickly that many things are closed because it is a Federal holiday. No worries because the main reason to go to Xapuri is because of a local hero named Chico Mendes who is considered to be the original advocate for protecting the Amazon rain forest here in Brazil, and his home and Foundation center are open today.

Who is Chico Mendes you ask? Well I am glad you asked because he has a facinating story. I am going to now rip off a history of Chico Mendes for your viewing pleasure:

``Mendes grew up in a family of rubber tappers in Acre State, Brazil, and when he was 9 years old he continued on in the family tradition. However, rubber prices had collapsed in the 1960s, and many landowners were selling their properties to the highest bidder - which in most cases, meant cattle ranchers. Rubber tappers were finding themselves pushed out of their lands.
In the 1970s, he joined the rubber tappers of the forest. They would march down logging trails, overrun forest clearance parties, disarming guards and attempting to convince the ranchers' workers not to continue. In many cases, they were successful at doing so, despite resistance from the ranchers - in 1980, Mendes' ally Wilson Pinheiro was assassinated.

On the evening in Thursday, December 22, 1988, exactly one week after his 44th birthday, Chico Mendes was assasinated by gunshot at his Xapuri home. In December, 1990 rancher Darcy Alves Pereira, his son Darley Alves and their ranch hand, Jerdeir Pereia were sentenced to 19 years in prison for their part in Mendes' assassination. In February, 1992, they won a retrial, but remained in prison. In 1993, they staged an escape, but Darcy was recaptured and as of 2004, was still in the jungle. Some local ranchers are still being investigated.
The murder of Chico Mendes made international headlines, including the front page of the New York Times. Thanks in part to the international media attention surrounding the murder, the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve was created in the area where he lived. There are more than 20 such reserves now, along the same lines as Mendes had proposed, covering more than 8 million acres.´´

In my opinion, if Chico Mendes had not been murdered, Acre and much of Brazil would look completely different. The Rain Forest flows into this city and makes it unique in a way that neither explanation nor pictures can really explain, at least from my explanations and my pictures. His assasination sparked a huge international awareness of how important preserving the rain forest is, much in a similar way that Martin Luther King Jr.´s assasination hurried the mending of race relations in The United States. Although the response to fixing the deforestation here happened a lot quicker than the race relations were mended in the US. It makes me nervous to think the how effective Martyrs can be, but as I look out the window from the 12th floor of this condominium I can easily see where the city ends and the forest begins here, and at the same time know the US is presided over by an African American President and I shiver at the thought of how necessary both men´s sacrifices seem.

The evening was spent quietly by all as we get prepared for our big presentation tomorrow.

Taken from the trustworthy source of Wikipedia. More complete information can be found here, but may not be in English.

Chico Mendes Vive! (Chico Mendes Lives!)

-Everett

P.S. For those who catch it in the video, I had little to nothing to do with the quick history of Macon, especially the part the says Macon was founded by Thomas Jefferson, apparently he ordered Fort Benjamin Hawkins to be built there, but I´d hardly consider that founding a city. I thought it was founded by the Little Richard, Otis Redding, and The Allman Brothers Band, but honestly I never looked into it until today. WikiMacon

The District Conference, 4720 style.

Oh my what a week! I am sorry to all of our fans and followers about not having posted anything personally. I have had some time to myself, but much of it has been used to sleep or figure out which clothes are cleaner, and sometimes I am without access to a computer. I will also apologize if my English comes across as poor here. I have been either speaking in abhorent Portuguese or broken English and that make me not feel so smarts when I explains things in my writings.

Here is an overly verbose rundown of Thursday:
Oh boy! what we have all been waiting for. The District Conference. We have been promised by many people that this will be just buckets of fun, and we´d all hate to be disappointed. The conference is being held at the Federal University of Acre here in Rio Branco, near where Jenny is staying. It opened with a typical type of opening with some people talking and some stragglers showing up late, and lots of people saying how excited they are to be here and how great Rotary is etc etc etc. In short, it is rather dry and dull at this point, and since we are not responsible for any part of the conference other than just being there sometimes, and doing a quick 15-20 minute presentation on Saturday, most of us grab our mental baggage and check out while people are giving speeches. This district is geographically massive spreading across 6 states; Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Para, and Rondonia, Roraima. We will be visiting the Capitals of each state, except for Amapa, and Roraima.

We learn quickly that cafeteria food in Brazil is very similar to cafeteria food in the US (read: mediocre to just okay on a good day). Following lunch, we get a tour of the Campus, which is very spread out, from Brazil team member Allan Jones who graduated from this University with a degree in Civil Engineering. After the tour and some waiting around we left and went to Cafe do Theatre where we enjoyed some interesting food that I can only equate to small quiches or appetizers. Allen Jones took Alison and Alton to eat something local, that in English sounds like Tah-cah-cah, and apparently has an effect on the body similar to the way the name comes across. I asked some Brazillians and it seems like they either really enjoy it, or think it tastes just dreadful. i.e. Allen Jones seems to love it, and Carlos thinks it is disgusting. We stayed here awhile and then headed back to our respective homes to get ready for the event we have all been waiting for, the official opening ceremonies! ! ! . . .

My host mother, Izabel, had about 16 of her close friends over for a party because Friday is a national holiday (basically Brazillian Labor Day) and I was as intimidated by a party full of women here as I am anywhere, but they had some pretty tasty wine, so I partook and loosened my proverbial collar while getting dressed for the ceremony. To simplify the opening ceremony in a mathematical equation I will simply say this from my perspective: formal opening ceremony + a language I barely understand + seemingly endless speeches (one speaker went on for nearly 2 hours) + 5 or 6 glasses of wine + half the room of Brazillians sleeping = X. I will let you all use your algebra skills and imaginations to figure out X. Following the ceremony I went home and slept even better than Alton did during the ceremony.

-Everett

Team Presentation

We hope you enjoy our team presentation. We would like to thank Dr. Jose DaCruz, Associate Professor of Political Science at Armstrong University, for his translation and language training of our team. Muito Obrigado, Senhor DaCruz.

Cuarta-feira em Rio Branco!

This is my first chance to blog from Brazil, and there is so much to say!

MONDAY: We visited a newly revitalized city park called Portal principal do Horto Florestal. Lots of examples of local trees and flowers, all of which seemed completely exotic to us North Americans. The park includes a new education center with computer lab and library for school groups-- also a recycling center where they make old paper into craft items. Very clever. In the afternoon, we saw the Palace of the Governor of the State of Acre, the council chambers for the state assembly with enormous wooden inlay murals, and other downtown sights-- then the Museu da Borracha, the Rubber Museum, where you can see the remnants of old manufacturing techniques (cutting diagonally into the bark of the trees, draining and boiling the sap, and rolling the rubber into balls that are floated up the rivers).

TUESDAY: The vocational day! We each shadowed a local professional and learned about our careers from a Brazilian point of view. I had a wonderful talk with an artist who specializes in wedding and news photography. Later I joined Jenny and Everett for a tour of a local slum clinging to the banks of a filthy, flooding river. The place was an incredible study in contrasts: houses falling into sewage, but the people living there had satellite TV´s and cell phones and spotless clothing-- and they were gracious and tolerant of us strangers walking through their neighborhood. Very humbling. And of course fascinating for photography. The state is building new neighborhoods for these people and giving them their own homes almost for free, but some economic and sociological challenges still stand in the way of change... More on that later.

WEDNESDAY: A hike through private land/preservation area a few miles outside the city. MUITA LAMA! (translation: lots of mud) We sampled various fruits straight out of the jungle, learned about the restrictions on tree-cutting, and marveled at the trees over a hundred feet high. Then we saw the Arena da Floresta, the big soccer arena that´s getting a make-over in the hopes that it will be chosen to be the northern Brazil host for the 2014 Copa do Mundo (world cup soccer). Some of us went to our hosts´ homes for lunch, and others went to Big Lunche restaurant for a buffet. Now we have a few spare moments to blog and regroup, and hopefully there will be more chances to get on a computer during the next few days. Our apologies to those who were hoping for multiple blogs each day! We will do our best to keep in touch... And photos will follow soon. Atelogo!

Arrival In Rio Branco

We woke up the next morning to our first taste of Brazilian cuisine, the breakfast in the hotel was loaded with frutas. Brazilian coffee is very strong, comes with pre-added sugar and lubricates the body like motor oil. Just add a little milk and Viola!, you have and instant jumpstart. John, our team leader gave us 4 mins and 37 seconds to finish our food. We sucked down as much fruits and coffee we could take and were zoomed off to the Sao Paulo airport by a Shuttle Van. Once again, we were processed quickly at the airport. John always points us in the right direction and with the proper advice. Team Savannah was on point, Team New York was not so lucky. One of their team members, A NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER, turned his attention away from his bags for a minute, and yep, you guessed it. Poof! His bag with his ID, PASSPORT and MONEY were gone without a clue. John always told us keep your things close to you in public. Sao Paulo is twice as needy as New York, more people with fewer jobs. Oh, well! We didn't have time to worry about Team New York, Team Savannah had a plane to catch. Chow, Chow! We boarded our plane and were off to Rio Branco. We had a stop in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. 70% of the people got off the plane during the stop and left each remaining passenger with their own row. A good majority of those passengers used the seats like beds, including me. It was nice. 5 hours later, we were finally landing. All we could say was "Get us off this plane", by the time our travels came near to the end. We made it to Rio Branco, pronounced Heo Brawncoo in portuguese. The airstrip was just that, a strip. The pilot had to make a U-Turn at the end of the runway cause he ran out of taxi room. It was a cute little airport but what was even more special was the warm reception we received from the Brazilian group that is soon to visit District 6920 in Georgia. They were all wearing their Rotary Tees and waiving from the viewing tower as we unboarded the TAM Airbus 320. They brought their sisters, brothers, cousins, moms, dads and I think I even saw a pet dog to meet us at the airport. We hugged, we kissed and we smiled with all 20 people who came to meet us. We were also honored to see the Brazilian District Governor and his wife and family. We took about 32 pics in various formats, almost like we were at a huge wedding. We met with our host families and took more pictures. They were so happy to see us, the airport lit up like a Christmas tree for all the smiling that was going on. I mean, thats what you do when you can't talk very well to each other, you smile and keep smiling until your cheeks can't take anymore. :) We jumped in different vehicles and off to see the city.

Savannah to Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil

Oi Mues Amigos! After 3 flights, and 4 cities, we made it to our destination. Whew! We were exhausted. Our first flight was from Savannah to Miami. We had a very warm departing at the Savannah Airport by Justin, Gordan, Bea, Alia and a surprise visit from Grandma Evelyn (My Mom). The group got to see why I'm so crazy and outgoing. "I get it from my momma." I'm sure her charm was sprinkled on our team as we boarded our first plane to Miami. We thought we were gonna have to leave Jenny (LOL) but she made it the nick of time! After a short layover in Miami, it was time to take the grueling 8 and a half hour flight to Sao Paulo, pronounced Sohn Powlu. We watched 2 movies on the flight, Madagascar 2 and some movie about a Girl and Father living on a remote island, an author and her fictious Indiana Jones type character. Anyway, not interesting. In Sao Paulo, a city with 20 million people. Yes I said 20 million, our preparation for the trip paid off. We breezed through customs without a hickup. We even were given express service for being tourist. We could see the curious looks from all the people. They weren't negative looks but you have to admit we look like an odd group of people to be traveling together. 3 tall males, 1 not too old, 1 Red head, 1 muscular black male and two obvious american girls, a blonde and a brunette. We were then whisked away by cab to our hotel in the middle of the night by some Zoom, Zoom, Zoom taxi drivers. I say zoom cause they never use brakes. You have to hold on tight around corners. They drive so fast on turns, the car was equipped with tilt meters to let the driver know his taxi was about to be on two wheels. We were glad to make it safely to the hotel. As we were checking in to the hotel lobby, luggage sprawled every where, other Americans were checking in also. What do you know! Rotary GSE participants from New York. A team of 4, headed to other cities in Brazil too. We met them down at the hotel bar, chatted for a while, viewed the hotel courtyard, which had 5 Peacocks for our viewing pleasure. That's when it hit us. We were in Brazil. Not everyday do you get to have such rare birds around. We retired for the night, because in the morning, we would be back on the plane for a 5 hour flight to Rio Branco, our first city. More to come .......... Ate Logo! (until later).

LINK to our Brazil friends!

http://www.ige2009.webs.com/

Use the link above to access the blog of our Group Study Exchange counterparts in Brazil. They are coming to visit Georgia in two weeks! Veja-o logo, amigos!

One week to go...

With just one week to go before we depart, our group is making final preparations. The video is done, the visas and passports are ready, the shots and medications are taken care of, our Portuguese is improving, and now the packing can begin. Estamos prontos!

Here's an introduction to our group:

JOHN, team leader
commercial real estate broker




EVERETT
property acquisition coordinator




ALISON
photographer and art teacher




ALTON
computer administrator for public libraries




JENNY
Savannah city administrator





The trip will take us across northern Brazil from Rio Branco to Porto Velho to Manaus to Belem. We are looking forward to learning a lot about Brazilian culture, history, and language. We will do our best to update this blog daily in order to share our adventures and discoveries with you. Atelogo!

On the road in Macon with Everett

Carnaval at Jose's in February