The B-Side

Brazil 101. Five basic culture tidbits brought to you by GiGi’s eye.

environmental culture.

In comparison to America, Brazil is pretty damn green. The country uses ethanol fuel, an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuel. It’s a lot cheaper too. 

I took this picture of gas prices in Iguazu Brazil. The price on the right hand side is how much one would pay per gallon to fill up their tanks. 1 american dollar is equivalent to 1.97 brazilian reales. After being back in SF for a week, I was tripped out to find that gas prices had risen about 50 cents since I left!  Do the math.  Cheap fuel that’s good for the environment.

It’s looking like Brazilian motorists have a better deal all around. Yes, ethanol is probably more suitable to Brazil’s climate than America’s, but if this country can survive off of fuel options other than diesel, Why is the US afraid to look into alternatives?

77% of all electricity produced in Brazil is Hydro-Electric. People who care enough to use renewable energy are good people. A prime example of this is the sharing and caring that goes down between countries. Iguazu falls sits on the borders of both Argentina and Brazil. In addition to demonstrating how nature does beautiful, Iguazu falls also generates electricity. How is the energy distributed? Neighboring Paraguay pays for their share, but Brazil exports free electricity to Argentina during the winter. In exchange, Argentina exports free electricity to Brazil during the summer. Take a look at the view I got of the falls from my very first helicopter ride. Cool, no?

sub-culture

Rio de Janeiro, one of Brazil’s infamous cities knows how to get down with the get down. Also known as Cariocas, folks who live in the city are fun-loving, good-spirited and can have a good time. On my first night there, I was out on the beach with my group past 10, enjoying some drinks. Looking around, I saw entire families also out on the beach enjoying dinner at with us.

When they fiesta, certain blocks in the city are shut down and comissioned for nothing other than the partay. On slot machines, t-shirts and this graph art piece, I saw plenty-a Halloween references in rio. When I asked my tour guide why this mural was put up in Copacabana, the beach neighborhood where I stayed, he gave a pretty cool explanation. Halloween is a really big deal in terms of celebrations in Rio. Not just for Halloween, each time any big celebration is thrown, the city creates street art to honor its significance. This piece above was created at the end of a Halloween block party thrown years ago.

I found a spirit of enjoyment not only in the city of Rio but all around Brazil. On our second night we were in Paraty, a small colonial Beach town. That night, similar to towns and cities all across Brazil, they celebrated the feast of the divine spirit. We saw a “Mr. and Miss Paraty pageant celebration” and walked to the city’s center where handfuls of booths were set up to hand out food and alcohol. Once again, I saw families and people of all ages out celebrating on a Sunday night. I think we could learn something from them.

cultura liquor

Cachaça, a rum-like liquor made in only Brazil is the main ingredient in the Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Yes. They have a national cocktail. Although Caipirinhas are served in your average-sized bar glass, don’t be fooled about its potency. It’s not your average rum based drink- they pack quite a punch.

A picture of my very first Caipirinha. I should have stuck with a basic, but got tempted by the different variations on our menu so ended up ordering one of the passionfruit kind. It was loaded with seeds- I liked chewing on them after I finished the drink.

Everyone who I was with agreed that they probably contain at least 90% alchohol. How Caipirinhas taste so sweet (really, not figuratively- if I could draw a paralell I would liken it to a fruity mojito) yet are deathly strong is unbelievable. It’s too bad I got sick mid-trip. Afterwards I stayed away from them for fear my stomach would never forgive me!

Pop-Culture

Okay, so I wasn’t there long enough to learn about Brazil’s pop culture. Celebrity gossip is for the bored and I didn’t have enough time to get bored to the point where I learned theirs. I did brush up on ours however. I guess our gossip is also theirs. My tourguide loves his divas, Brittany included. On one of our flights he had me watch this video with him on his itouch. Everyone around us on the plane wondered what we were being so loud about. “I feel like I’m missing out… On life. and things. and things!” The video was taken by her ex-husband, who sold it to the tabloids for millions. Poor girl, but it’s freaking hillarious, so I couldn’t help laughing at it.

cultura comida

I couldn’t end a blog about Brazil with Brittany so I’m bringing things to a richer note by talking about their food. Meat, meat, meat! On our first night we ate at a chuscarria, which was probably when I had the best piece of picanha steak. Medium, and juicy. Everywhere else I had it (we ate a lot of steak) it was overcooked.

In Paraty Brazil, we ate at a place called casa do fogo, a restaurant specializing in flambé. It was here where I ate a mean fish, flambé style. It was cooked so tender that it literally melted in my mouth.

The flames also did a good job at locking in a distinct flavors: a mixture light vinegar, olive oil and pepper. The only thing missing was brown rice. I also ordered this cool Star fruit dessert. They weren’t lying about it’s description.

Too bad I was already full by the time it arrived. I could only squeeze in a couple of bites.

I was only in Brazil for 5 days and I have so much to say about what I saw and experienced. Hope you enjoyed reading about all of it as much as I loved taking it in while I was there. The country has a unique energy, the people are extremely friendly and there’s so much to discover. Given the fact that I jam packed three Brazilian cities during a small frame of time, five days was too short. Now that three weeks have passed by it almost seems as if my description of what I experienced is just a bunch of words taken from a dream. So much for my teaser. I can only imagine how much I’ll have to say the next time I go because I will go back one day. I’ll be back to hear the sounds of the beautiful Portuguese language being spoken, listen to bossa novan melodies and feel the warmth of tropic breezes. That and more.