Other cultures... my observations on Brazilian peculiarities

All in all I have to say, Brazilians are great people and in many respects they are more cultured and better-mannered than most Europeans. They are open, polite and eager to help. I have not seen one Brazilian losing his temper or being stressed out or unfriendly in my time over there. They love to talk and are genuinely interested in the people they meet (and they love meeting people). I always felt safe and welcome wherever I went (and if I accidentally was about to step into a favela district people would stop me immediately and tell me not to go any further). And they have a great sense of humor. I guess, if you are as poor as most of them are, social relations and laughter make life easier. In a way, I think, they have a richer life than many of us.

There were a few peculiarities that I found rather amusing and I’ll try to describe them in the following post. When I said, their life seems to be richer, I would especially refer to their extraordinary ability to “fall in love” within what seems to be minutes. As a foreigner you face the constant dilemma: should I be polite and reply to this strange guy’s question (which is in 99% of the cases: “Vocé é de onde?” - Where are you from? without being bothered by any previous introduction) or will this give him the impression I’m interested in him and I won’t be able to get rid of him for the next 20 mins or so.

Nothing to worry about if you’re looking to improve your Portuguese by having a nice conversation or you are looking for a date, a guide or some other kind of information but a bit tedious when you really need to go somewhere or just want to do your sightseeing alone. I have not figured out how Brazilian girls deal with it.

One might guess that Brazilians are only that over-enthusiastic when it comes to tourists and therefore declare their deep affection (usually followed by a certain kind of invitation or in some cases accompanied by a marriage proposal) after only half an hour of friendly conversation.

But I have questioned my friend Miau on this and he said that indeed Brazilians don’t need too much time to pair up. Usually it can be accomplished in one evening. The recipe is as simple as effective (North-European men, listen and learn! At least to parts of it :)

Men: see a girl they like (girls: if you are foreigners, the chance that a Brazilian guy will like you lies around 99%), approach her, ask her to dance, or in absence of music either where she’s from or what’s her name. Make some compliments. If reaction not entirely negative attempt to kiss. If girl still says “no” after more than 10 attempts consider – but don’t understand why - she might not be interested.
If girl sticks around, make sure other equally interested Brazilians don’t have a chance to get near her. Every male that she might strike up a conversation with is considered a serious rival and has to be treated with utmost jealousy. Take her home.

Girls: see a guy you like, look at him for more than 2 seconds, wait.



A real different habit and offensive to European ears is the constant hissing and whistling in order to attract attention. Advice: get used to it, it is as polite as saying “excuse me” or “hello” in our country.

What is harder to get used to is the fact that the use of handkerchiefs seems to be entirely unknown in this country. The Brazilians have 2 methods to rid themselves of snot (and they all seem to suffer from constant colds): either blow their nose the “Styrian way” (with 2 fingers and straight to the ground) or, more frequent, pull everything up with as much noise as possible. Also, noisy spitting (men only) is totally acceptable.

Another thing that can be slightly annoying is their idea of service in clothes stores. Basically, the moment you come near the shop’s entrance a shop assistant will assault you, show you items you don’t want to see, question you (not only what you’re looking for but also “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”) and basically does not let you do what you came in for – look around in peace.

Sometimes Brazilians seem to like communicating so much that they don’t notice the “little signs” we Europeans have to show that we would like to be left alone or are not interested. Also, they seem to like talking so much that they often forget to listen (at least that happened to me quite a lot - I would be telling a story and instead of some kind of comment or reaction the other person would just start talking about something completely different – in most cases ask “Vocé é de onde?”)

It surprises me that they don’t learn foreign languages better since they like talking to people so much. English is really hard for them, they say, but I suspect they were also a bit lazy at school. Like the Spanish they like to mutilate English words and often it took me forever to understand what, for example, a “heive” is (to spare you the time: it is a “rave” party). They have the tendency to attach an [e] at the end of foreign words, like “internetsche” or (my favorite one) “hippi hoppie”. Try to figure out the dish of the day on the right side:



This guy did not know about the blunder on his T-shirt until we told him:



But not only English ortography is a problem, also their own language has some difficulties (ice cream is “sorvete”):




With music styles they have a different categorization system. I have to say, I met quite a few Brazilians with an excellent taste in music. Some beach barracas in the South had the most up-to-date electronic compilations and even in remote Jeri they played some house and techno in the “clube”. What I cannot comprehend, however, is their unrivalled love for a local music style called “Forro”. Whenever a Brazilian overenthusiastically tells about a Forro-Party that night that everybody will go to the foreigners shrink back in horror. I would describe this kind of music as unpleasant noise with a dance rhythm beyond definition. I have a suspicion why Brazilians love Forro so much: it is danced similarly to Lambada. And since they are so “romantic” it takes more than this tuneless soundpollution to ruin their enthusiasm.

I also found it interesting that almost anything that is not Forro, Techno or “Hippi Hoppie” is called “Reggae”. So an evening of Reggae music can just as well be an indie rock band or a singer songwriter presenting his work. Also, be prepared: Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is experiencing a great revival(?) there at the moment. You might not want to pack it on your ipod.

Brazilians love electronics and technology. Most of them are quite good with computers even if they cannot affort one, but internet cafes are rather cheap and omnipresent and they spend a lot of time in them (as we all know, the perfect match for their passions is Orkut, the online community). Most of them cannot even affort a watch but every house has to have an enormous satellite dish. In the most remote areas you will see this weird combination of poverty and modern technology...



But with all this craving for modernity there is still a strong connection to religion. “Deus é fiel” (God is faithful) is the most common “graffiti” to be found on houses, hot dog stalls and front windows of omnibuses.

There could be much more to tell, all these amusing situations and anecdotes but I will leave that to personal conversation (come and visit me in Berlin and I’ll tell you all about it :) I hope I did not offend any Brazilians with this post – it was not my intention. If I got anything wrong, I’m open for criticism and corrections, just let me know!

With this I close my Brazilian travel diary, I hope you liked it (quite a few people already told me they only looked at the pictures. Next time I won’t put up any, so you’re forced to read! ;)
Let me know your comments, thoughts and of course, if you’re going to Brazil!

A quick stopover in São Luis and back to Salvador

São Luis is famous for its historic center, which has been declared Unesco World Heritage site. The colonial buildings are painted in pastel colors or have facades made of colourful tiles. Unfortunately a lot of the colonial buildings are empty and in a state of decay. Apart from the evenings, where there was live music in the street and lots of people partying the historic center is rather quiet, there are hardly any restaurants or shops, on Sunday night it was difficult to find anything open for dinner.

But close by is the mercado central and a big shopping street with loads of clothes and shoe stores. I spent Saturday shopping for presents and found great stuff. Sunday I spent on the beach. It is not a really nice beach, the water is rather dirty plus loads of girls bleach their body hair right on the beach (there are even vendors walking around selling the mix for bleaching) and wash off the bleach in the sea. I first couldn’t figure out what the girls were doing, I thought they were all using sunblock.

I was happy to be back in Salvador and tia Rejane. I only stayed one day and did my last shopping. I tried to see the Bomfim church, where people supposedly have been healed of diseases and loads of crutches and other things they left behind decorate the church interior. It took me almost 2 hours to get there (the public bus system in Salvador is comparable to the one in Dublin) and when I finally got there I found the church closed (advice: don’t go there on a Monday!).

The next morning I went to Praia do Forte to say good-bye to my friend Miau. We had a nice farewell BBQ with fish that his whole family (and most of the people in his street) joined.


Unfortunately I ate a part of a fish that you’re not supposed to eat (it was very bitter, Miau said it was the fish’s testicles) and I got a bad stomach pain that lasted all the next day and night. So my flight back wasn’t exactly enjoyable but now I’m back a few days already and well again!

Away from the world – to Lençoís Maranhenses

The most remote part of my trip also lead me to the most beautiful places. To leave Jeri and NOT go back to Fortaleza is an adventure in itself. My plan was to continue north to see the dunes of the national park Lençoís Maranhenses. If you don’t rent a private jeep (very expensive) a trip of 7 hours takes you approx. 2 days, if you manage to get there at all. For me it would not have been possible if coincidence hadn’t brought together our group of 7, each of us from a different country. So, this is how it’s done:

Take a Toyota from Jeri to Camocim, then a van from Camocim to Parnaíba, then a bus from Parnaíba to Tutoía (you leave at 6.30 am and arrive around 6 pm, with some hours of stopovers). So in the evening there were 5 of us “stranded” in Tutoía. An Israeli girl and me and a group of a Spanish girl, a French and a Belgium guy.

You need to stay over night in Tutoía and now the tricky part starts. To get anywhere you need to find a jeep going you way and negotiate a price. Luckily the Belgium guy had already negotiated a brilliant deal before the rest of us had even gotten up for breakfast. He found a driver who was ready to take us as far as Caburé, a small fishing town across the river from the national park for a reasonable price.

On the way out of town we also picked up a couple that I knew from Jeri, an Irish guy and his Turkish girlfriend. We convinced them to join our group and do the same route.

As far as Paulino Neves we were still a public transport jeep but after that all the locals got off and we had our personal driver/guide. We drove through a beautiful, deserted landscape, visited “pequeno Lençoís", went for a swim, it was a great drive.



We arrived in Caburé by mid-afternoon, just in time for a great seafood lunch. Caburé is a fishing village built on sand – a few huts, a couple of pousadas, electricity comes from generators, it really feels like the end of the world and it is beautiful.



We spent the night there, it was the most romantic place and so totally peaceful and quiet. The next morning a little boat we hired took us over to the national park where we did a hike to various lagoons. It was all amazing, white sand, huge dunes, beautiful lagoons – just check out the pictures!

Dune country - Natal, Jeri, Maranhao

Jericoacora – a place to stay

I’ve already heard of the effect that Jericoacora (“Jeri”) has on people, most come for a couple of days and end up staying weeks. It’s hard to say what it is about this place, maybe because it’s quite a trip getting there (you first travel 6 hours by bus from Fortaleza and then change to an open truck-type vehicle that takes you the last 1 ½ hours to Jeri along tiny dirt roads, beaches and across dunes).

The town or rather village is about the same size as Stainz, my hometown, with a population of 2000, lies beside a huge white sand dune and is built on sand. There are no concrete roads, everything is sand, and the only means of transport are buggies, “Toyotas” (apparently Toyota has the monopoly on 4WD vehicles in the region), trucks, motorbikes or horses. But anything you need (except maybe a cash machine) is in walking distance anyway.

The beach itself isn’t the most beautiful but it has definitely something. There is a point break with small waves for beginners and longboarders but the main water sports are windsurfing and kite surfing. But you actually don’t see many people on the beach during the day and you sometimes wonder if there are any tourists at all in the place. In the early evening they all come creeping out of their hammocks or wherever else they chilled during the day, and the first real activity is climbing the dune to watch the sunset.



This ritual is repeated every day, followed by watching capoeira on the beach until it gets dark and time for dinner and some more chilling out.



Nightlife starts late in Jeri, don’t even try to show up before midnight, you’ll be bored. It centers around 2-3 bars/clubs at the beach end of the main street and a number of drink carts that sell freshly made coctails. Everybody ends up there, tourists, locals, hippies and street vendors and after 2 days you virtually know everybody (and you know why there is hardly anyone to be seen on the beach or in town during the day).

I did resist the temptation to laze around and was actually quite active during the day, due to the fact that I discovered a little surf beach nearby and I was able to rent a board from a local surfer for 4 days cheaply. On this beach I made my transition to shortboard (6 ft and pointy), I loved it. How easy it suddenly was to get across the oncoming waves and to drop into waves! For the first time I felt that what I’m doing there can actually be considered surfing. Besides, there were only locals on that beach and I was proud that I didn’t stick out as the tourist who’s in everybody’s way, we actually caught waves together and had great fun!

I did slack however with taking pictures of all the new friends I found there, which I regret a little now. I also managed to embarrass myself in front of everybody on my last evening. I rented out a horse to do a sunset ride across the dunes and along the beach. It was absolutely beautiful, I think I never rode a horse in such a spectacular setting.



The guys in my group were a bunch of Israeli’s, however, who apparently believed the only way to go is full speed. So we were galloping for a full hour. The horses seemed to be used to it, my bum however wasn’t. At the end we passed by the dune where everybody just descended from watching the sunset. I wanted to make a little show of myself and elegantly gallop by the crowd. The horse sensed that the stable was near and decided it’s time to go home as fast as possible. It started to run like crazy and me already being tired out and I lost my stirrups and balance and got thrown off into the sand. Behind me a crowd of at least 80 people.

I hit the sand hard with my lower back and for a moment thought I can’t get up anymore. When I got back to my pousada an area as large as a dinner plate was completely swollen up. Now I’m still sporting a massive blue bruise but I was very lucky in a way – I could have hit my head or broken something. Anyway, when I limped to the cocktail stalls later in the evening to have one against the pain, all the vendors along the street burst out laughing, I didn’t stop to ask why.

Dune country - Natal, Jeri, Maranhao

Natal - Com Emoção

In Natal I went on my first great dune adventure. That is, I booked a buggy tour "com emoção", which means you basically are looking for a near-death experience.

First we went along the beach to Genipabu, where got ourselves in the mood climbing donkeys, camels and an early-morning beer for courage. From that onwards everything was "com emoção". Our driver tried as well as he could to almost make the buggy topple over, racing up steep dune walls turning almost on 2 wheels just to go full speed back down and other tricks, us 3 girls hanging on the back rail screaming our heads off - it was great!

The other adventures offered on the way, like the "Tiroleza" that drops you down a dune into a lake attached to some kind of climbing gear and the "sand sledge" that sends you full speed into a pool of water, were mild in comparison (even though we ordered them all "com emoção" of course).

It was a great day, except at the end we got caught in the rain (again). I returned to my hostel, er castle (the HI Hostel in Natal, something else...):



The same night I caught a bus to Fortaleza arriving in the morning and continued on to Jericoacora after only a few hours stopover (which I spent wisely in an internet-cafe near Fortaleza bus station, as I was told by a fellow traveler that internet in Jeri is exorbitantly expensive).

See some more pics of our buggy ride here:

Dune country - Natal, Jeri, Maranhao