Vacation
We will be on vacation from June 24 to July 1. We do not expect to be connected to the internet during this time, but we will be taking pictures and filling you on what we did when we return.
The down and out
Every day, hundreds of people move to Sao Paulo in search of a better life. They often come with little or nothing to their names and therefore have to find or create whatever shelter they can. These favelas are usually found located near the heart of the city where the people look to find work. Even though the government does little to stop these people from stealing electricity, (if they can get it) the homes are often so pathetic that life in them is about as bad as it gets anywhere. There is no social welfare system here in Brazil, so these people have to work at whatever they can get for a job, or else turn to begging or crime. As you can see, they often are found in the shadows of some of the nice apartment buildings (where the rich live--apartments are more secure than individual houses and offer more amenities so they are the homes of choice in Sao Paulo). But occasionally, when city plans call for it, a whole favela will be bulldozed to make way for a new construction project or highway. Life for these people is extremely difficult and very dangerous.
A typical home
This is a standard home in Brazil. It is better than most in some ways, but not as nice as most people would like to live in. The fact that it has a garage with a gate indicates that the people who live here might have a car. They also have electricity and water (notice the blue "water box" on the roof). A house this size would likely be the home to eight to twelve people. If things are going well for them there is a gas stove and a refidgerator inside. They would almost certainly have a TV and a radio, but anything else is iffy. A home like this one likely has one toilet.The greatest thing about this is that the people who live here are like quite content, unlike their conterparts in North America...
Meet the neighbours
We've shown you pictures of the people on our street. Our street is very nice. However, just beyond our cul-de-sac is a huge favela. We could throw a rock from our house to where we took this picture. As far as favelas go, these people are not too poor. In fact, you'll find a colour TV in most of them (even if you won't find a toilet.) When people talk about the disparity between the rich and the poor in Brazil, hopefully this picture will come to mind. We say this because you're looking at the "middle class" of Brazil. Half of the population of Brazil wishes they could live this well. Although these people are not the worst-off, there is a lot of crime in this favela. Life is cheap here. Here in Sao Paulo, we don't see many of those lower-half people, but in the days ahead we will show you why the world isn't rushing to move to Brazil.
Spiders in the jungle
It seems one can't escape spiders. Actually, the spiders here aren't as much of an issue as they were in Texas (where it seems the nasty ones like to hide in places near where you might put your hands) but, nonetheless, they creep Shannon out! We're told that many of the spiders are poisonous, but nobody we know seems to know which ones are and which ones aren't. Like many other creatures here, they grow pretty big, which actually is something I like. I like to be able to see my enemy before I squish him :) Shannon doesn't like the big ones because she doesn't like to hear them squish any more than she doesn't like to see them hanging around the house in their enormous webs. Hey, like Red-Green says, "If the ladies don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
Hopi Hari
As the school year is coming quickly to a close, we're now into the end of the year events. The big event for students in grade six and seven is a trip to the country's best amusement park - Hopi Hari. It compares with an older park in North America, but the star attraction is a wooden rollercoaster, and there are only three rollercoasters in the park. While nobody would dispute that most American parks are superior, Hopi Hari has something that no American park I've seen has--a circus! At three and five in the afternoon, you can watch a very good circus while you rest from waiting in lines. I've seen Barnum and Bailey's circus, and I must admit that while this was a much smaller production, it was very entertaining.The highlight of the day for me was the haunted house called the "Katakumb" (Catacombs) Twelve girls from grade six decided that they were going to face their fears by entering this attraction. They each had to pay an additional five Raeis ($2.50) to get inside, so you'd think they were committed. However, they couldn't convince each other to go unless they had one of the adults to go with them. I volunteered and twelve of the thiirteen of us entered the huge building. The character in the first room was enough to scare off an additional four girls. The rest of us survived the ten minutes of "terror" which mainly included real people dressed up as mummies and such chasing us around a labrynth of walls. Maybe I wasn't scared because I couldn't understand a word these scary people were saying. But the girls were terrified, and it was quite a treat to see them having such a "good time" screaming their lungs out. This is a picture of the survivors.
Like many things in Brazil, the quality might be lower, but so is the cost. Imagine going to an amusement park all day (which includes all but the elite rides) for $13. Even the food, which everyone compalined was a rip-off was about $6 for a big burger, fries and a Coke. All-in-all it was a great day. Perfectly sunny with a high of about 26 celcius (80-ish F). Summer got to go this year, and Sydney gets her turn next year. I'm looking forward to it already.