Prologue

I have never forgotten a conversation I had with a young lady in Rio a few months ago. She told me that I “get to go to a beautiful place” and she “had to stay in Rio”. She then proceeded to tell me that one day “she saw herself far away from this place”.

Why would anyone want to leave one of the most picturesque settings in the world? The truth is, for the natives, life gives little relief in this place. I see so many people toiling away in jobs day in and day out and wonder how they do it.

That is where we come in. We fly in with our credit cards, bank cards, and dollars and partake in the natural resources of Brazil. During our short time there, we can’t fully understand how life could be so difficult living in such a “paradise”.

After our debauchery, we get on our planes and fly back to our homes that would be considered palaces were they in Rio. We go back to our jobs making dollars that would make us very well-off were we in Brazil.

The purpose of these comments is not to bring anyone down or rain on anyone’s parade, but to acknowledge the obvious differences in the lives we lead and the lives we walk into. It’s all about perspective when two worlds collide. I never forget that I have the best of both worlds.



My disclaimer about this report

This report is about me (imagine that) and describes my experiences on my most recent trip. For those of you that don’t have sense enough to know, it is not required reading. I try to make my reports interesting and different, but feel free to skip it if you like.

Furthermore, this report is devoid of a lot of specific experiences once again. I have learned my lesson. This was going to be my best report yet. I know what I am capable of with a camera and a keyboard. However, my heart isn’t in it anymore.

Why am I bothering to write it then?

Well, once I returned from Rio in July, I knew I would be taking two additional trips during this year. I planned then to write my own trilogy of my experiences in Rio for 2003. (The fact that I worked a couple more in between is irrelevant) For that reason, and since I have been advertising this report for two months, I am putting down at least something to finish what I started. The reporting suffers because of the lack of details, but so what.

To compensate for the lack of detail, I am adding some things to my “what I have learned” section at the end so that the inexperienced can learn from some of my mistakes and observations. I would have loved to have had access to this type of information in one place before I left for my first trip.

Aldaron - Great reporting buddy. Hemp

Aldaron,

I visit Brazil regularly (mainly Sao Paulo metropolitan area) for business. My company has been operating a manufacturing facility for several years to cover the Latin American markets, the countries south of Mexico.

Interaction with local staff at professional and personal level has gone very well and some of them have become personal friend. Various interaction in different social settings (dinner, family lunch, nightclubs) with these friends have clued me in for the life of Brazilians - managing director to factory machine operators.

Even though I still stand outside of Brazilians' life and look outside in, I understand your dual perspectives reasonably well.

With small amount of knowledge, I've been sensitive on two vastly different culture and socioeconomic foundations with my local friends including my lady friend in Sao Paulo (I guess I would call her my girlfriend) and they have expressed appreciation for at least my effort of such.

Once they have recognized me as their 'different American' friend vs. 'typical Americans', I've been like part of their family. I've been humbled many times by them and been trying hard to return the feeling of being humbled to them but I still owe them a lot.

Most of Brazilian friends of mine are hard working folks but respective or equitable financial or social rewards (reasonable salary, ability to get a loan at common sense interest rate, wish for single digit inflation rate and the likes) would not there for them. That drive most of Brazilian crazy and keep them discouraged.

In any case, I'm looking forward to your write-up's.

Cheers!

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this country is so poor. It's almost the same geographical size as the continental United States which means abundant natural resources. It has miles of coastline with plenty of oil out there I'm sure, and Rio and other places along the coast could be even bigger tourist draws if they would just secure the places better. I just don't understand how some countries can't get it together. I really feel sorry for the people. It's a real struggle for them daily. I suppose that is why so many of these girls end up doing what they do. If you can make what you make all month in one night in Help, I see the temptation.

(Message edited by aldaron on December 08, 2003)