A romantic vison of Brasil

Over the last couple of years I have written about many things in Brasil that I don't understand, that I don't like, that I see as wrong, and few times, what I feel is right. This morning as I walked to the gym at about 10:30, walking along listening to an 'easy listening' samba on my Shuffle (I don't know the artist or the song title, it isn't important), but as I strolled along, the street bright with sunlight, the colors clear and true, it seemed that the others: pedestrians, bicycles, cars, dogs, the men in black, (no, no the buses I blocked out of my romantic version!), all moved and swayed in a sophisticated ballet - a ballet that followed the rhythm of the samba playing in my ear. Romantic, yes, but the stuff of great cinematography.

There are things I don't understand

It was April 6 when I have wrote on the blog last. This month has gone very fast. Rosemary is traveling again, Camillo and I have spent a week in the mountains and for 4 days I have not been able to download photos onto the blog.
On Saturday, we drove over to look at the work going on down in the valley. (see government/culture Aug 5, 2007) to see up close what is going on.
It has been more than eight months, and they are still working away. Aparently they (I don't know who 'they' are) have scraped back more of the mountain and hauled away tons of dirt and stone. As you can see a super structure is now being built. This is going to be a SOCCER field. And this looks like concrete bleechers with possible locker rooms below. I would bet that this project will take another year to be completed. What I don't understand is how they will ever get the investment back? The cost of the land, permits, (assuming they have permits to remove trees AND soil which is not a given), huge tractors and other labor, concrete work, actually putting in the soccor field, then maintainance of the field and grounds (although this is not a cultural habit of Brasil - maintenance of the investment, that is). All of this on a narrow dirt road about 15 kilometers from Friburgo. How will people get to these soccer games? Where will they park if they drive? Say the bleechers hold 3000 people that could be 1500 cars driving up the a curving, narrow, rutted country road to PAY to see games. Where this dirt road meets the Muri-Lumiar road there is no light or stop signs, and it is on a rather sharp curve so it is hard to see oncoming traffic, I don't understand the planning of this investment. What is its purpose? [it has been suggested that SAF is building this soccer field and that the owner has LOTS of money and MAYBE it will be used for training of pros but how can you have a training field without houseing, hotels, resturants (bars there are plenty)]- this is beyond my American - 'make money with your investments' mentality. GingerV

Fog, Fog, and more Fog

Even though it is still summer in Rio, in the mountains it is starting to feel like winter. For two days now it has been foggy with rain. Yesterday in the evening we put a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed the bright flames, Camillo with his pipe and me with my book and rocking chair.

Of course, because it is raining we were without Internet service this morning and with no cable TV this whole weekend. I can't say that it is harmful to us to sit in front a fire with a book instead of watching re-runs all evening on TV. I was also inspired to clean out my desk, cook fried chicken for lunch, load CDs onto the Ipod, and to make caqui (Kaki) jam. This is my first try at using the caqui from our yard. Usually I am so wrapped up in sitting in front of the computer I give them away as they ripen. While cleaning out my desk I found a journal I wrote in my first year in Brazil.

here is an entry made in June 2003

Winter Mornings Damp with dew - leftover night clouds, roosters crowing, saws buzzing - cleaning - preparing for spring. Sun's rays breaking through - valley's clouds rising, holding the morning sounds close to the ground. Sweet silence close to the house - sounds of others drift, coming on the breeze through my window.