My hair and clothes smell like smoke. Last night I jiggled the key into the lock a tad before midnight, but it’s almost 3 AM and I’m just getting started. We watched Corinthians and Curitiba play a 0-0 draw, then I headed out with Patrick, the son of Debby and Jose’s close friends who live down the street. Patrick heads to Buenos Aires tomorrow, but he was gracious enough to show Paulista nightlife tonight.
Kia Ora bills itself as a “Down Under Experience,” and who am I to judge it. Patrick, who Couch Surfed in New Zealand said that it wasn’t like any bar he had been to, but it’s safe to say that very few people there could point out why Kia Ora was or was not authentically New Zealand. As we paced through the joint, I heard English spoken nearly as often as Portuguese, but I only noticed when I head English. So far, I’ve been getting by on my Spanish, but I would much prefer to speak and be understood in the native tongue.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised by my abilities to comprehend Portuguese at a rally to protect teacher’s salaries this afternoon. I had little trouble understanding the plight faced by Sao Paulo’ public school teachers and professors at universtity who were having their salaries and benefits slashed. As they hurled their complaints at the bureaucrats inside the provincial government building, it was clear to me they were upset about wages that were laughingstock of Latin America in spite of Brazil’s relative wealth. Unlike during a casaul conversation, I felt as though understood 4 out of 5 words being shouted by the speakers. While those teachers and thie union may have to wait for result, I knew that I had instantly made progress.
After a busy day like yesterday, I was happy that today was relatively chilled out. I went to to the Museu Afro Brasil, a collection of contemporary modern and historical artifacts of Brazilian culture. I was especially moved by the display of a slave ship that sat comfortably inside a single room. Only the ribs of the vessel remained, but on every wall hung wood blocks of conditions aboard the ship as well as maps detailing what types of Africasn could be expected from each country. I’ve never been so close to a remnant of the New World’s slaving past. What struck me most was the tight, unforgving experience a sailor would have topside and out to sea. To be crammed below deck for a trans-Atlantic passage would be a horrible fate I can’t begin to imagine.
Beyond the shocking nature subject matter, the Brazilian slavery exhibition struck me because of how close the experience was for slaves in the U.S. As I grapple with how similar my slice of Sao Paulo is to New York and other world cities, it’s instructive to recognize the legacy of slavery in creating Brazil, the U.S. and the nations of the Americas.
Beyond this macabre comparison, I have been underwhelmed by Sao Paulo as the industrial heart of a such a mighty nation. Anyone urban explorer would instantly peg Sao Paulo as a major metropolis, but there is little that makes it unique. Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Bogota vary in their food, language and climate, but they greatly resemble Sao Paulo in the ways that matter. My litmus is whether hot water pours from the tap once the knob is turned. Any product can be obtained a short distance from the front door and the lights work 24 per day. I’ve been told that Sao Paulo is not the real Brazil and I’m inclined to believe it. I do, however, think that Sao Paulo is the model capital of the 21st century. It’s no surprise that TechTrotting shuold drop me here.
And while the entrepreneurs are out there somewhere, I have thus far found the experience to be more challenging than I would have thought. Just carving out the time to research and write has been difficult and I haven’t connectd with key sources as quickly as I would have liked. People in this city are as busy as New York, with worse traffic and armed robbers afoot. To simply pack up and talk to willing entrepreneurs would be a challenge in the states, but coupled with a language issue and the knowledge I’m leaving so soon maks my time limited, and infringes upon my time to meet the entrepreneus I wish to see.
