Bye, Bye Brazil

08.07.2012 18:56

Tonight I watched my last sunset in Salvador, a good time to reflect on the last month and a half. I’ve met some incredible people here—my housemom, the director of my language program, my Portuguese instructor and fellow classmates, as well as local students, musicians, and social workers spending their lives to improve their communities. Friday I had a chance to visit the community of Liberdade and meet the director and founder of Ilê Aiyê, the esteemed bloco afro that started the Bahia's black consciousness movement decades ago with the intention of transforming lives through music, fostering pride in one's self and solidarity in the community, which plays an integral role in development in Brazil. Friday night we gave presentations on our learning experiences and had a huge reception and party with the school's faculty and students from Steve Biko. Though I’m very ready to be home in Austin, a piece of my heart is now in Salvador and I know I’ll be back again some day. Until the next time!

Bagunçaço

04.07.2012 17:49

My trip is wrapping up, and I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. I’m sitting on a terrace café at an French language school on the bay, a pleasant reprieve from busy streets and a perfect spot for focused study. Yet another world within the world of Salvador. I spent today with a community music project called Bagunçaço (“a big mess”). It started in 1991 in a favela of stick houses built over the sea, with a group of kids that beat to their own drums of cans and recycling materials. One of the older kids, Joselito Crispim, decided to formalize the group into a band and hence was born Bagunçaço. Today the group has a brick-and-mortar site for student-led music classes, a Web-based TV project (see http://www.tvlata.org/), schoolwork reinforcement, English learning, and a positive environment for kids to learn from each other. Above all, the idea is to use music to transform kids’ lives from within, keeping them off the streets where drugs and crime rule. I was so impressed today by the leadership we saw in 12, 13, 14-year olds. They showed us their Web TV project and artwork, we had a drum lesson (all the instruments are made from recycled materials), and even participated in caipoeira. Though rarely recognized, in a formal way, it is these types of community projects that are so essential to development and education in Brazil. I feel honored to have spent the day with Bagunçaço! 

 Percussion instruments made of recycled materials. 

 One of many paintings - this is a typical beach scene of a vendor selling queijo quente - fresh cheese grilled over coals, served with oregano and molasses. Yum!

N'Kosi Sikeleli

27.06.2012 19:51

This week we spent two days learning from students at Steve Biko, the school for Afro-Brazilian high school students. This time, instead of helping with English we got to learn from them in Portuguese. First, we learned about African foods brought over during the slave trade, including okra and the black-eyed-pea used to make acarajé. Since we’ve been learning a lot about African religions and syncretism found in candomblé, the lecture was also tied to the spiritual connections of the foods as offerings to orixás. Then the next session was a hands-on music lesson. As a group, we sang Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” complete with a soloist (Omaris), chorus (the rest of us!), and keyboardist. Then, we learned a song of particular significance to the Steve Biko group: N'Kosi Sikeleli, the national anthem of South Africa. It’s a very moving song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFW7845XO3g&feature=related

São João

26.06.2012 21:29

I think every traveler hits a moment when they miss home. Like right now I’m craving Mexican food (not a tortilla to be found here!), longing for a hot shower in today’s cooler weather, I miss my trail runs with friends (Laura, Mel, Katie, Sky – talking to you!), and above all I wish I could hang out with my heart, my home, Zak. But, I only have two weeks left in Salvador and I am making the most of it. It never really stopped raining Saturday night, but we went out to celebrate São João despite the drizzle. Totally worth it! We kicked it off with street food (it’s good stuff here!)—chicken kebabs, queijo quente (fresh cheese sprinkled with oregano, browned over hot coals, and served with molasses), and acarajé all accompanied by cravinhos, clove-infused cachaça and capirinhas. Of course, after these indulgences we had to dance it off, not hard to do in Brazil! The Pelourinho area had numerous stages with live bands, and we found some great forro music and danced into the night. These are times I’m going to miss when I’m back in Austin! Pictured below: Helena, Ellie, and myself (my friend Asal is taking the picture!).

Rainy Season

23.06.2012 12:47

Today is Saturday, and the plan was to enjoy outdoor festivities of São João, a popular holiday being celebrated this weekend. However, rainy season ventures in the city on a day like today aren’t super fun as you’re likely to get drenched by a passing bus or find yourself up to your shins in questionable looking puddles. In any case, I am making the most of it by spending time with my house mom Helena. We watched a Brazilian movie, ZuzuAngel, about the 1970’s military dictatorship here and a mother who courageously sought the truth about her son that disappeared. Also, we made a bolo de carimã, another yucca-like root used in indigenous foods here. The cake is made with coconut milk, eggs, and sugar and some people add cinnamon and cloves. It’s chewy and has an interesting, earthy flavor that goes well with tea of coffee. It’s pictured below with beiju seco with coconut and maracujá (passion fruit). 

Paradise

22.06.2012 20:09

So much of Salvador is like a slice of paradise: Beach every day, amazingly fresh fruit at every meal, and fresh coconut water for cents. Definitely things I’ll miss when I go home. But it’s all at a cost, too. Yesterday in class we were talking about the price of material goods in the States compared to here. Like jeans, phones and computers, Honda Civics, chocolate. It all super expensive in Brazil – not just more in actual US dollars, but also as a ratio of income. Why? Because of super high taxes. And what are the taxes used for? That’s where paradise piece becomes nuanced. Instead of using taxes for social needs such as education, health care, and infrastructure, politicians notoriously pocket money, live in penthouses, and drive around in bullet-proof Mercedes. And it’s not just the poor that suffer, it’s the middle class too. What’s more, is that there’s a theory: In Brazil, and much of Latin America, education is de-emphasized as a governmental project. Why? Because an illiterate population is easy to manipulate. Which is why the working class mobilizes so often in protest and looks up to historic leaders like Che Gueverra. Just this year in Salvador, teachers have been on strike for over a month (it’s the school year now, but no one’s in school, even the university). Early this spring, the transportation system was on strike (no buses for several days!), and even the police have been on strike. Though perhaps with some flaws in design, the intention is clear:  agitating the waters to make it a paradise for all.

Rambutão

20.06.2012 20:04

Since I missed a couple of days of blog entries (bad Internet connection!!) I thought I’d post some fun pictures to make up for it. The first one is a crazy looking fruit called rambutão. The inside has a sweet, slightly acidic fruit that pops out and you eat around the seed. Yum! The next picture is açai bowls—blended açai with your choice of other fruits (I like mine with chlorofila, a mix of greens) and topped with bananas. So good! In the photo below I’m with colleagues Omaris, Priscilla, and Ellie. I will definitely miss our frequent tigelas de açai!

Favelas

20.06.2012 19:22

I’m learning a lot about favelas here in Brazil, and there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. From a distance they look like a clutter of shacks; up close the housing looks piecemealed together, battered by the environment, and begging for care. But despite their seemingly static, run down appearance, favelas represent a process.  A drought, for example, can drive families from the interior into cities looking for work. Since favelas are often loosely restricted in terms of land use, one might find an abandoned structure and make his home. Once settled working, more family members might join and add on to original home. One of the first material items a favela family might buy is a big, nice television. Surprising? It’s become an extremely important point of connection for otherwise marginalized individuals. Daily news, telenovelas, (not to be confused with American soap operas), and educational programs are tantamount. Despite their reputation of being infested with crime and ridden of drugs—which granted, many are—favelas are communities where people live and die, make friends and have families, and live life fully despite the circumstances. The photo below is one of Salvador’s favelas in an area that was just forest land until fairly recently when a drought drove more people into the city seeking food, work, and opportunity.

Festas

17.06.2012 20:09

Brazilians definitely like their holidays, and Bahia is no exception. First, we had the day off for the Corpus Christy holiday. Then last week was the Dia dos Amorados, like our Valentine’s day, which comes the day before Dia de Santo Antonio. Upcoming is the festival of São João, which is every year on the 23^rd and 24^th of June. Though mostly celebrated in the country side, urbanites of Salvador are decorating and cooking up a storm in excited anticipation. All around the Pelourinho are banners like the ones below from our day in Cachoiera. Street vendors are selling traditional festival food including pamonha de milho, pamonha de tapioca,  and amendoin (tamale-like sweets made of corn or tapioca and boiled peanuts). Group dancing called quadrillos (kind like square dancing) dress in vibrant colors and move to forro music (Brazil’s version of country). And of course drinks are supposed to be plentiful. I’m told to prepare for a three day street festival like no other. I’ll find out next weekend!

Cachaça

16.06.2012 21:21

It doesn’t take long to appreciate Brazilian liquors, especially when they’re paired with fruits. The most basic is cachaça, a sugar cane rum. The good stuff is good; the bad stuff…think bad tequila. With cachaça you make capirinhas by adding muddled lime and sugar, or have it vodka instead and call it a roska. Even better add fruit, like a mangaroska. The best, though, are the herb and fruit infused cachaças, like the ones below in an artisan shop in Cachoiera. We tried all kinds: jenipapo (a musky, berry like flavor), cacau branco (the white part of the cacao fruit), caju (an sweet, citrusy fruit), and even crave (clove). They come in every variety imaginable!

Cachoiera

16.06.2012 14:06

Brazil has two seas: One a pastel blue with layers of sapphire and turquoise. The other a kaleidoscope of green. We bussed about two hours into the interior today to the recôncave, a verdant region surrounding Bahia de Todos os Santos, Brazil’s biggest bay. We first stopped in Cachoiera, an 18^th century colonial town known for tobacco and dendê (palm oil) production as well as a city that fought for Brazilian independence. Then, we went above the town to Fazenda Santa Cruz, a self-sustaining farm, restaurant, and place for reprieve.  What a view! Mangos dripping from trees, bananas solid and green, and a vista stretching to the horizon. My favorite excursion so far!

Avocados

14.06.2012 16:09

A quick afternoon entry before I’m off to the Pelourinho for an evening theater performance. I’m loving the little day-to-day pieces of life here. Like morning runs on the beach – despite a bit of smog or a whiff of trash, the view and sea breeze make it all worth it. I usually go with my colleague Priscilla, and we encounter a host of runners and early morning swimmers. For breakfast, my house mom prepares an abundance of fruit to go with cuscuz de tapioca (like tapioca pudding, made with coconut milk), bananas da terra (plantains) with cinnamon, or cuscuz de milho (a hot corn cereal) . She also makes fresh coconut milk. Just blend the meat with a little water, strain it, and there it is! Perfect in coffee. After I get home from classes, Helena always seems to have something new for me to try from the market. Today, it was an avocado even bigger than the first! And would you believe my housemom had never had guacamole?! Don’t worry, we made it together!

Candomblé

13.06.2012 20:83

I mentioned candomblé in one of my first entries after we visited the house of Yemenjá, the orixá of the sea. Today, we had a more in-depth lecture on Afro-Brazilian religion and the evolution of candomblé in Bahia. Historically, open practice of candomblé was prohibited and many Catholic saints served as symbols of orixás. This is typically referred to as syncretism. There are some fundamental elements of African religions that lead to the specific mixing of Catholicism and Yoruba empire spirituality that we see in candomblé today. For one, Yoruban religions have multiple deities, not one god like in Western religions. As such, tribes in Africa during the slave trade era were already borrowing religious elements from neighboring tribes. This was possible because African religions tend not to be exclusionary; you don’t have to denounce one religion to accept another. So, the theory we learned about today is that candomblé was a result of three syncretisms: 1) Yoruba + Catholic 2) Inter-ethnic in Brazil – Bantu, Yoruba, Jeje (tribes brought over during the slave trade) and 3) Inter-ethnic syncretism in West Africa, such as Yoruba and Islam. Two hour lecture condensed, what I really learned is that candomblé can’t be seen as a simple masking of one religion with another. Instead, it’s a more complex version of syncretism and a new, perhaps hybrid religion that formed with a specific significance to Bahia. Next week I get to go to an actual ceremony. I’m really looking forward to the experience!

Image credit: http://bit.ly/LV3TgM

Carybé, “Candomblé”

Gluten Free Part 1: São João

12.06.2012 22:23

I never expected to come to Brazil and find “Sem Gluten” on such innocuous items as  bottled water and fruit candy. Yet, to my surprise Salvador is, in its own way, very gluten free friendly. A caveat: It’s not to say all of Brazil is the same way. Like in the US, the country is very regional and Bahia is a state with very strong cultural roots with Africa, which manifest in everything from music to food. There’s a festival coming up called São João, and vendors are overflowing with street stand favorites that are naturally gluten free:

• bolinhos estuadantes – a ball of tapioca fried and covered in cinnamon sugar
• beiju – imagine a tortilla made of tapioca, then fill it with your choice of sweet or savory (like guava and cheese—yum!)
• pamonha de milho, aimpim, or mandioca – pictured below, these pamonhas are made of corn, aimpim (a root in the cassava family), or mandioca (another root, like yucca, but made into a flour). The corn ones are very much like polenta, mixed with a bit of sugar and wrapped in a corn husk. The other pamonhas are wrapped in banana leaves.
• Bolo de aimpim, tapioca or carimã – These cakes are eaten with breakfast, and are light and chewy – great with coffee!

More gluten-free-in-Salvador reporting to come!

Dança

10.06.2012 20:35

Yesterday was a full day trip to a turtle reserve (Tamar Project) in Praia do Forte, about 1½ hours from Salvador. We saw baby turtles from the size of your hand to adults bigger than me! The trip was immediately followed up by a night on the town to practice the dancing we learned in class on Friday (not one bit of sitting, my favorite kind of class!). In addition to salsa, there are all kinds of dances typical here such as forro and samba as well as group style dances like the one that goes with Michel Telo’s “Ai Se Eu Te Pego.” Watch video 1 for the song, then videos 2 and 3 for the dance!

Video 1 (the original song, live version)

Video 2 (what we wished we looked like)

Video 3 (more like what we looked like with our instructor…but still not even that good)

In the photo: Priscilla, Asal, Chelsea and myself in Rio Vermelho celebrating Priscilla's birthday with caipirinhas and dancing!

Cacao

08.06.2012 20:48

A new discovery today: cacao grows on trees. Not just on trees, but on tree trunks. I don’t know how I never knew this, particularly considering my affinity for chocolate. I guess I figured it grew on bushes like coffee. The picture below is a  cacao pod on a tree growing in the middle of the café garden where my host mom Helena and I had lunch the other day. It's hard to see, but there are little flowers all over the trunk that will eventually become cacao pods. Ironically, good chocolate is hard to come by here and when you do find it, it’s spendy. Thus goes an export economy. I've been sating my sweet tooth here with açai and coconut instead!

More images of cacao here. 

Pierre Verger

07.06.2012 21:59

A quick entry after a pretty chill day. We were supposed to spend the holiday, Corpus Christi, boating around the bay but got rained out so instead I checked out a few museums and spent lots of time chatting with my house mom, Helena (pictured below). In an earlier post I mentioned Carybé, a renown Brazilian artist who captured Bahia in the mid-twentieth century. In the same era, a photographer named Pierre Verger did very much the same thing. French by birth, he came to Salvador to discover a “little Africa,” and in a way that no other photographer could do he preserved moments of candomblé, work by the sea, dances, music, faces, and expressions. See his work here.

Steve Biko

06.06.2012 20:29

Sometimes life is serendipitous, as it was for me today. I was supposed to work at Didá, but it was cancelled so I joined my colleagues at Steve Biko. I mentioned before that it’s a high school institute for black Brazilians. Today, our task was to mingle with the kids in their English class and help with grammar and vocabulary as needed. There was also a small group of college students with more English experience who wanted to practice conversation. My colleague Chelsea and I were paired with Elisman, a University student that helped us understand why an institute such as Steve Biko is so important in Brazilian society, beyond just fostering pride in black identity. Basically, it goes like this: Public schools in Brazil are free; however, the quality isn’t always that great. Those who have enough money pay for their kids to go to private school do so. Then, for college the system takes a twist. Private colleges cost money and are not as good; public university is 100% subsidized by the state and is of very high caliber. It’s extremely difficult to get in to the federal university as it is fiercely competitive and you have to pass an exceptionally difficult entrance exam (think GRE or LSAT straight out of high school  and make it even harder). So, who gets into public university? Those who have gone through paid private school, most of whom are white (meaning of European descent, which could be Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian—essentially anyone without African blood). The cycle of poverty and crime that exists within the black community already puts them at a disadvantage, and college is beyond feasibility for most, contributing to the unbalanced representation of Brazilians within the public university system and eventually in positions of power (business, political, academia, etc.) Kids at Steve Biko, however, are gaining skills for that chance and it was an honor for me today to get to be a small part of that!

Pelourinho

05.06.2012

It’s easy to think that slavery is of the past and that it doesn’t have particular relevance in day-to-day life. In Salvador, that’s far from the truth as ancestors of the oppressed still struggle with poverty, discrimination, and acceptance of their heritage. Today after class we spent time in the Pelourinho, the main square of the historic district. It actually means “whipping post,” and that’s what happened to slaves here. Today, the Pelourinho area is beautiful, with colonial architecture from the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dominicans (all built by slaves, of course), tapestries for sale on the street depicting life in Bahia, and samba-reggae from every corner. The Pelourinho is, albeit, a bit touristy and for a time was on the brink of gentrification but from my first glimpse it is incredibly vibrant despite its past.  Didá, the group I start working with tomorrow, is located in the Pelourinho. Drumming is central to the project with the credo that music transforms from within. Women and children of color, negros, (which is not derogatory here) have the opportunity to be a part of something positive that starts with their ancestral roots and grows out into the community to build self-esteem, skills, and solidarity. I’m excited to start working with Didá tomorrow! 

Escola Aberta

04.06.2012 20:18

Extra long entry today, as I missed yesterday (what can I say, it was Sunday). A day of beach, reading, and chatting with my Senhora for hours, literally. From here on out, it’s a schedule, and a packed one at that! Today was the introduction to the Service Learning of my studies, as well as the starting point of my Masters research on music for social change. After morning classes, our group of about 20 visited the three organizations: Escola Aberta, a community elementary school in Calabar; Steve Biko, an institute for Afro-Brazilian highschoolers; and Didá, an Afro-Brazilian women’s drumming group that I’ll be with. As a preface, this component is not the typical one-way street that so often dominates volunteer work.  Yes, we are there to help but they will help us as much as we help them. All of these groups follow the teacher-as-learner, learner-as-teacher pedagogy of the Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire who sought social justice in education. This is a major issue in Brazil, where schooling is not accessible to everyone, particularly if you are black and poor. Today we first visited Escola Aberta, a community school in Calabar. A favela, yes, but really a comunidade. What Calabar lacks in money and aesthetic it exceeds in courage and resiliance. Residents were historically pushed into this area (slavery wasn’t abolished in Brazil until 1888) and left with little to no resources including schools or hospitals. Many kids were discriminated against in public schools, and as a response the community started Escola Aberta in 1982, first with a wooden hut of sorts and now in a concrete building. In addition to traditional schooling, the elementary-school aged kids are encouraged to be creative with art and music, fostering pride in black identity, an understanding of their history, and how to use their skills to improve their own community. Our visit today was nothing less than precious. There are about 130 students and 5 teachers, all of whom volunteer. We visited the classrooms, watched and participated in caipoiera, and checked out the project that my colleagues will do over the next five weeks. Basically, there is a room in the school with bookshelves, not-so-pretty walls, and several hundred donated books. The group is going to arrange it into a fun, creative library space so the kids can read, study, and check out books.  UT is paying for paint supplies, and the rest of the designing elements are up to the group. My colleagues will be also be teaching the kids English words and songs, and the kids will help with Portuguese, dance, and music. There is nothing better than learning language and culture from a 5-year old! Though I will be working with Didá in another part of town, I am so glad to have had the chance today to see Escola Aberta, exchange names and smiles with eager learners, and I can’t wait to hear stories from the group. More on Steve Bikó and my project with Didá to come…

As Frutas

02.06.2012 21:08

You can’t be in Latin America for long without marveling at its unbelievable array of fruit. I’ve been having sucos every morning made with the familiar—abacaxi (pineapple), mamão (papaya), manga (mango), and some couve (kale) for good measure—as well as the more exotic maracujá (passion fruit), goiaba (guava), açai (yes, fresh!), and graviola (guanabana in Spanish). Not to mention my daily ration of freshly poured coconut water on the street for a mere real, or 50 cents USD. My Senhora showed me about a dozen fruits I’ve never seen or heard of including the crazy jabuticaba, a berry-cherry looking fruit that grows on the tree trunk, jambo, and siriguela (click the links for pictures!). Today I went to the Feira de São Jaoquim, a huge market with all kinds of fruit, vegetables, herbs, and plants that I didn’t recognize, not to mention carcasses of who-knows-what and all their parts. The photo below includes a melão amarelo (yellow melon), maracujá, a HUGE abacate (who said everything’s bigger in Texas!?), a white batata dulce (sweet potato), a banana, a green laranga (orange), and the opened goiaba. Deliciosa!

Contrast

01.06.2012 19:41

Sometimes contrast in life blows me away. Take the first photo below, for example, a typical scene I am finding here in Salvador with hilly streets, scattered housing, and generally what appears to be a mess of urban clutter. The second picture looks like an abandoned building, but as it turns out, it is tile shop with an incredible selection of hand painted tiles from around the world, many very old. Yet you never know what is behind a door.  Today was rainy, so I spent it with a colleague exploring museums. First was the Museu Arte de Arte Sacra, the Sacred Art Museum of Bahia. It is part of an old monastery that contains relics from the 16^th-19^th century, and figures of Catholic saints gilded in gold and shimmering silver. I can’t even imagine what they are worth. The second stop was Museu Carlos Costa Pinto, a mansion still privately owned by an old sugar plantation family. On display were artifacts of the elite of colonial times, from Chinese porcelain to crystal chandeliers, to furniture and knickknacks fabricated of silver and gold, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and rare woods. And all just a step off the street, through an armed gate, and into another world. 

Tidbits of Life

31.05.2012 22:43

It’s one of those nights that I wish that I didn’t have to sleep because there’s just so much to do. Fun things, that is! After an early morning run I had a full day of class, with a break for lunch with my Senhora. We chatted, had fish cooked in coconut sauce and a salad with mango. In the afternoon, I had a crash course lecture of Brazilian history and current social issues like race, democracy, politics, and education (complex topics!). I returned home, had dinner with Helena and my house brother (a long affair as it involves more talking than eating) and after plotting out plans for tomorrow (a free day!) I’m beat. So, a photo-less entry tonight but I thought I’d throw in a few miniscule points of interest in day to day here. Such as, no one has dryers (no surprise) and you don’t throw toilet paper in the toilet, you put it in a trash can next to the loo (Costa Rica was like that as well). Or, to be blue in Portuguese means to be happy, not sad. And samba? Yes, that dance originated here in Bahia and everyone knows the moves, from the kid on the street to my teacher in class, today. And what else I learned? Not all favelas are poor. Tidbits of life; I can’t wait to learn more.