Whilst watching a biographical film about the US poet Elisabeth Bishop I heard this famous quote by the musician Tom Joabim, 'Brasil is not for beginners'. In five words it summed up my experience. Brasil is an amazing country full of the most incredible, sometimes unfathomable, extremes. It can be quite uncomfortable sitting in opulence looking out on scenes of abject poverty. And yet this is a common occurrence. Not necessarily to be accepted, but to be somehow internalised and lived with. I for one have my struggles and discomforts with the inequality, with the corruption, with the lack of infrastructure and the list could go on.
To stay too long in this place of confusion would be to miss the beauty and the joy that is also a central quality to the country and the people. Reconciling the differences is what makes Brasil a complex country and one that as Tom Joabim says quite accurately is not for beginners. To not only survive Brasil, to appreciate and enjoy the people, climate, landscape, culture and natural abundance one needs to be open to the present, to the possibility for change and to the endless riches.
As Elisabeth Bishop observed in her time - the country and it's people cried tears of sadness when JFK was assassinated and yet when the military took control of power in Brasil - nothing - daily life continued, people played football on the beach just like any other day. These differing responses to major political events is hard to reconcile. When discussing this with a Portuguese friend he described the different ways countries stereotypically respond to significant events. For example, if there was an announcement that the world was to end tomorrow - Germans would turn to their spreedsheets to analyses the implications, Portuguese would run to the banks to withdraw their money and the Brasilian's would simply order another beer, smile and carry on like nothing happened. Not because they are blase, it's more akin to a sense of why get stressed out when there is nothing you can do, enjoy life while you can. From that standpoint the Brasilian response has much to offer.
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Tuesday 12 August 2014
Family and Fruit
Day one in Brasil and it's been all about family and fruit. In someways these two words are interchangeable. families fruit and fruits come in families.
Families are constantly changing, flowing like a dynamic river and my family in Brasil keeps on growing too. A new edition since my last trip is little Lucinhas. We went to visit him at home during the afternoon. He was understandably cautious when we first arrived in the apartment. After a few minutes he was more comfortable around us and began to play. At just one year old he is already walking about and exploring the world unfolding before him. Being the youngest he gets lots of attention from all those around him including his older sister Juju. Yesterday evening when we met up with everyone for pizza he was perfecting his raspberry blowing technique with the help of his Grandma.
I have tried many fruits whilst in Brasil. One of my favourite drinks is fresh water melon juice - melancia. Yesterday whilst out shopping in a local super market we saw many new unrecognisable fruits. Among them was this one called Fruta do Conde or Fruta Pinha here in Brasil.
In English it is known as a sugar-apple or the custard apple. It grows on the Annona Squamosa plant - that is one cool name for a plant.
A google search told me this fruit is high in energy, an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, a good source of thiamine and vitamin B6, and provides vitamin B2, B3 B5, B9, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium in fair quantities.
Inside it has a creamy white flesh that tastes a little like custard. Held with in the flesh are black seeds the size of kidney beans. From the picture you can see it's not the prettiest fruit. If we weren't encouraged to try it the look might have been enough to put me off.
In the supermarket I was being a classical tourist !!! taking pictures of the aisles of unusual looking items before me. I got to the fruta do conde and pointed at this strange 'to me' looking green bobble shape. The guy stacking the shelves picked one up and with a quick twist of the hand he'd broken the fruit in half. Kindly he passed it to us for a taste and boy what a sweet soft and delicious fruit this is. Quite sticky and slimy with a soft very sweet flesh that almost dissolves in the mouth.
I don't know what I was expecting it to look like on the inside or what it might taste like, but what I experienced was nothing like I'd imagined. Maybe I thought it would be less sweet more like an avocado or artichoke.
I am now on the look out for more exotic fruits to sample. Watch this space.
I can always recommend a trip to the local market to see what you can find to tantalise and educate the taste buds. In a UK supermarket we tend to find one type of bananas or orange. It's good to know there is more to fruit than I this small range. One of my favourite snacks is the tiny finger sized bananas. They get even smaller than the ones I'm holding in the picture below.
Families are constantly changing, flowing like a dynamic river and my family in Brasil keeps on growing too. A new edition since my last trip is little Lucinhas. We went to visit him at home during the afternoon. He was understandably cautious when we first arrived in the apartment. After a few minutes he was more comfortable around us and began to play. At just one year old he is already walking about and exploring the world unfolding before him. Being the youngest he gets lots of attention from all those around him including his older sister Juju. Yesterday evening when we met up with everyone for pizza he was perfecting his raspberry blowing technique with the help of his Grandma.
I have tried many fruits whilst in Brasil. One of my favourite drinks is fresh water melon juice - melancia. Yesterday whilst out shopping in a local super market we saw many new unrecognisable fruits. Among them was this one called Fruta do Conde or Fruta Pinha here in Brasil.
In English it is known as a sugar-apple or the custard apple. It grows on the Annona Squamosa plant - that is one cool name for a plant.
A google search told me this fruit is high in energy, an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, a good source of thiamine and vitamin B6, and provides vitamin B2, B3 B5, B9, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium in fair quantities.
Inside it has a creamy white flesh that tastes a little like custard. Held with in the flesh are black seeds the size of kidney beans. From the picture you can see it's not the prettiest fruit. If we weren't encouraged to try it the look might have been enough to put me off.
In the supermarket I was being a classical tourist !!! taking pictures of the aisles of unusual looking items before me. I got to the fruta do conde and pointed at this strange 'to me' looking green bobble shape. The guy stacking the shelves picked one up and with a quick twist of the hand he'd broken the fruit in half. Kindly he passed it to us for a taste and boy what a sweet soft and delicious fruit this is. Quite sticky and slimy with a soft very sweet flesh that almost dissolves in the mouth.
I don't know what I was expecting it to look like on the inside or what it might taste like, but what I experienced was nothing like I'd imagined. Maybe I thought it would be less sweet more like an avocado or artichoke.
I am now on the look out for more exotic fruits to sample. Watch this space.
I can always recommend a trip to the local market to see what you can find to tantalise and educate the taste buds. In a UK supermarket we tend to find one type of bananas or orange. It's good to know there is more to fruit than I this small range. One of my favourite snacks is the tiny finger sized bananas. They get even smaller than the ones I'm holding in the picture below.
Monday 4 August 2014
The path to the beginning
The path to the beginning is
Greatness
Crow feathers soften your cheeks
As
Black beetle lifts its eyes upon you.
You ride the back of the blue
Whale
Plunging deep below the known
Depths you go
There are no caves to hide in now
Your heart shines like an uncut
Diamond
Out from the green valley you
Emerge
Resplendent like a story yet to be told
Greatness
Crow feathers soften your cheeks
As
Black beetle lifts its eyes upon you.
You ride the back of the blue
Whale
Plunging deep below the known
Depths you go
There are no caves to hide in now
Your heart shines like an uncut
Diamond
Out from the green valley you
Emerge
Resplendent like a story yet to be told
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