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

Rape and pillage

In the late 70s early 80s Nova Friburgo was designated as a nature reserve of the 'Mata Atlantica'. That is more than 30 years ago. There are pages and pages of rules (laws?) about what you can do on your land, what you can build, what trees and how many you can take down and all that government (----). I know a lot about it, but understand little. For over a year I tried, through an agent, to receive the rules (laws?) that applied to a piece of land I wanted to buy. I wanted to buy the land and over several years invest some of my retirement funds in building three small houses in the forest. This would have kept upward of 10 men working through at least 3 years. I was unable to obtain a written document saying that I could buy, build, and sell houses for individual families. The men in city hall did not want to commit, with signature, that they knew and understood the rules (laws). It was finally suggested to me that I go ahead and buy, and begin to build and see "if anyone figures it out and if they do you will just be fined" that's what everyone else does. I gave up in frustration.

I see that this may very well be true. The first photo is of a property on the road to Lumiar (protected forest) that the owner cleared, burned (note the trees he left have also been damaged) and the others are before and after of a piece of land that we can see from our veranda. The cleared area were there are some cattle grazing (and Camillo will say people have to eat) that keeps mysteriously enlarging and now they have TAKEN BULLDOZERS to a hillside - removed trees and complete hillside - and are going to build a 'futebal clube, social' whatever that means. I know this road is supposed to have single housing and tourist related businesses ... and forest, according to the 1980 laws. Progress or rape and pillage?

double click to enlarge the photos

gingerv from Nova Friburgo, nature reserve