Surprises in the Subway

I have been using a lot of public transportation now, since I run out of conversations with taxi drivers and decided to control a little bit my expenses. Buses are quite an interesting experience, but the subway was by far the most surprising one for a number of reasons.

First, when you arrive in a station in São Paulo, you will see bullet proof booths (it reads Bilheteria Blindada, in Portuguese).


I guess I do not need to explain why they decided to get these booths and put a sign up there saying they are bullet proof, right?

Then, I was surprised by the amount of people trying to use the subway during rush hours. The problem is so severe that the company is considering hiring people to push passengers inside the trains. This is already used in Japan, and apparently is being tested in some stations in São Paulo.

Last, but not least, I was positively surprise to find in Rio wagons that are exclusive for women during rush hours.



I guess this requires an explanation: in overcrowded trains, some men take the liberty to harass women (physically). As you can image, there is not much a woman can do against this in an overcrowded train -- except to scream and hope for the guy to stop under social pressure.

To avoid the problem, the local government in Rio created cars that are exclusive for women. There are signs in the stations, indicating where these cars stop




And the one I took was not even overcrowded



This is the advertisement, which says "Women's Wagon: Respect is a good thing, and they [women] deserve it."



I wonder why the government of São Paulo is not doing the same thing.

Family Conversations

My father told me he needed to have a serious conversation with me.


He is very concerned with my blog, because a "hacker" could get in and steal the pictures. To his surprise, I told him that you do not need to be a hacker to do that. Anyone can access my blog and get the pictures. He is now even more worried...


I told him that to give him some peace of mind I would post a picture in the blog showing all my concern with this serious problem. So, here it is:



This is my mom and my sister, not paying any attention whatsoever to the conversation between me and my dad



This is when they started paying attention and my mom was telling my sister that this is only a concern for famous people (which of course we are not). My sister just found the entire interaction incredibly dull


Then, they stop paying attention again



This is my mom having a not so serious conversation with me


My sister liked this conversation much better


Then, my dad decided that we should have time for a girls talk and took care of the pictures, from a safe distance.



I can´t recall what we were talking about. In first one, probably my mom was talking about the bees nest in our roof



And the second one looks like one of my mom´s funny stories. She really has a talent for story telling or stand up comedy (or both combined).

My dad, on the other hand, is a very serious man, but today I captured him pretending not to be concerned with my blog...




Hackers and non hackers, please help yourselves!

Birthday in Brasília!

I am currently in Brasília, reunited with my family to celebrate my father´s birthday. He just turned 60! We had a delicious meal and desert prepared by Gil, who used to be our nanny and is simply the best cook in the face of earth. The girl sitting next to Gil (in the right) is her daughter, Nayara.

After the meal, we had a proper happy birthday:




Yes, people calp here when they are singing happy birthday. You should try: it is much more fun...

Before the meal, my mom and I got some pitangas (a fruit that is rich in vitamin C) from a loaded tree in our backyward.





It is good to be back home! ;)

Time for some legal stuff

In a previous post, I told you that the police was on strike in São Paulo (see "Police War"). The strike came to an end recently, thanks to a Supreme Court decision stating that the policemen do not have a right to go on strike.

In my previous post, I said that the streets of São Paulo look pretty much the same as they did without the strike, and the same is true now: everything looks pretty much the same as it did during the previous 60 days before the end of the strike. But now I know the reason: the Supreme Court had issued an injunction, which was reversed this week, where it did authorize only 20% of the police force to go on strike (80% of the policemen were still working).

The newspaper that I read and often quote here (Folha de S. Paulo) devoted an entire page of today´s issue to the debate about the judicial decision, and I thought you might be interested in hearing the arguments on both sides.

The debate is whether police officers should have the right to go on strike (i.e. whether the case was rightly or wrongly decided).

Legal arguments against the right:

The Supreme Court´s decision seems to be based on a constitutional provision according to which the military forces cannot go on strike. Police forces are equivalent to military forces. Thus, they should be also subjected to the same restriction.

There seems to be at least two arguments to support the idea that police forces are equivalent to military forces. One is that they are both armed. Another argument is that society has a right to be protected and to ask the state to guarantee public order in the streets. Those who make a vow to protect these citizens cannot violate this right and cannot hinder the State´s ability to protect its own citizens. This would apply both to the military and the police.

Legal arguments in favor of the right:

The very first argument is that if there was any legislative intention to include the police force in the constitutional provision, they would have done so. Thus, the lack of any reference to the police in the constitution indicates that they should be entitled to the right to go on strike.

Another argument is that the military and the police are not comparable, because they perform different functions. The police protects citizens and their property, while the military should protect the nation. I am not even sure what follows from here (maybe it follows that we don´t care about the safety of our citizens anyway when they are threatened by other citizens, so you better buy a gun...). Anyway, you got the main idea: this argument shows they are not comparable, and therefore the constitutional restriction would not be applicable to police forces.

The third argument is that the services delivered by the police are considered as essential as services such as education and health care. And the professionals in these other areas have the right to go on strike. It is discrimination not to consider that policemen have the same right.

Notwithstanding the heated debate, everyone agrees in one point: we need a police force that is better paid, better trained, and better equipped.

What surprises me is the fact that nobody is discussing whether the right to go on strike could help us achieve these ends (i.e improve our police force in any way). It is as if we had to extract the meaning of the Constitution, its most pure essence, without looking at our reality. As if we could afford such a luxury...

The unknown side of Brazilian music

Brazil is famous worldwide for its music (especially what is known as the Brazilian jazz and the carnival), but very few people know how musical the country really is. Live music can be found pretty much everywhere around here.

Live music can be found in the streets:





These two guys with musical instruments were in a bus stop in Santa Teresa (one of the most charming neighborhoods of Rio) where I happened to be with Marcio and Sarah, waiting for a bus. Then, a guy who cleans the streets (the one in orange) asked the musicians if he could play with them. Please note that they did not know each other. The musicians simply unpacked the instruments, and started playing samba right there.

And it gets better. The owner of a newspapers stand, sitting on the other side of the street, decides to join the group and gives a dancing show for the amusement of (almost) everyone at the bus stop:



For the first time since I arrived here, I was very glad that Brazilian buses take so long to show up.

When the impromptu show was over, I talked to the guy who cleans the streets (they are called "garis", in Portuguese). He told me he wants to be famous like a colleague of his (Renato Sorriso), who appears on TV every year when is cleaning after the carnival parade in Rio.

Live music is also played in nightclubs:



These are famous and not so famous musicians playing together in the lively neighborhood of Lapa. As you can hardly see (apologies for the bad quality of the video...), they are really enjoying themselves. And the portion of the video where everything is black should have shown that people are dancing. So, it is a lot of fun for everyone!

The friend who took me there used to be a singer (before becoming a law professor) and told me who is who in the band. The most interesting character is actually a mathematician who plays in his spare time. I would ask you to guess who he is, but I am sure you cannot see anything in this video...

Of course, there is live music in weddings!



This is a picture that I took of the wedding place (a gorgeous beach in the state of São Paulo, called Juquehy) a few minutes before the ceremony, where a friend from São Paulo tied the not with a Russian.

This is the band that took over the place once dinner and speeches were over. And they played until 4am!



And before you start thinking that music here is all about samba, let me tell you that Marcio and I had a pleasant encounter with a very good friend at this wedding. His name is Fernando Anitelli and he is a musician (you can watch one of his shows here)



Fernando's history shows that there is music outside the circuit of big record labels.

He decided not to sign contracts with record companies, and sells his stuff independently. CDs are available after the show and his music is available for free downloading in the Internet. And he is a national phenomenon with CD sales comparable to leading singers.

A recent survey by Folha de S. Paulo asked the readers to name their favorite singers. Fernando came up among the top five, despite the fact that he never received any attention of the midia. The title of the article was “Far away from the midia, but close to public”.

There is a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, Ronaldo Lemos, who analyzes the success of artists like Fernando. What happened to Fernando seems to be quite common in Brazil. If you are interested, in this lecture, Ronaldo provides some interesting data and discusses the implications of this phenomenon for intellectual property law and policy.

There is also music at hostels!

In a recent trip to Salvador, the first capital of Brazil, I found out that the guy at the reception desk was the former guitar player of a famous rock band of the 80s, called Camisa de Venus. This is me and a friend with one of the nicest people I have ever met, Karl Hummel:



Last but not least, there is music at law schools...

Two friends (the one that took me to samba club and the one that went to Salvador with me) were captured in a duet singing Madonna in at the law school in Rio. The movie is lovely and shows that they both sing very well, but I did not get their permission to share it with you…. Yes, Brazilians can also be shy, believe it or not!

Thanks to my superqualified audience...

...I've learned that:

someone else is taking much better pictures of Rio than I am. This competitor came in quite handy because I lost the cable to download pictures from my camera. So, by all means, check out this blog...;

the "guy" in the supermarket altar is not Christ (as I described in a previous post), but a saint who is the patron of Rio, São Sebastião (for the Rio reference, read the portion on patronage);

peeing on the streets is not a carioca phenomenon. It goes on in many other cities, including São Paulo (see the comment on the post on peeing, in Portuguese), and other countries, including U.S.A. and European countries;

women are peeing on the streets of Lapa, in Rio (alas, I have only a hard copy of the article). So apparently Rio is still beating everyone else with their unique audacity of peeing!

Thanks for the comments and for being such a super qualified audience!

Big hugs to all of you!

More Impressions of Rio

Probably you heard of the beautiful girls of Rio and their tiny bikinis. A non-Brazilian friend of mine, while visiting one of the beaches here, told me that the Brazilian bikini was the best invention in the history of humankind. I should add that the boys of Rio also deserve their minute of fame: they certainly are way up there with the girls even without tiny bikinis.

No picture here – you should come and see for yourselves.

Of course, if you live in one of the most gorgeous cities of the world, enjoy life, and have sun shining pretty much 365 days a year you are likely to be lighthearted and in a good mood most of the time. This certainly helps making these people beautiful. But a great deal of it is simply physical beauty, and by that I mean bodies in pretty good shape.

Walking in the streets of Rio, you quickly find out why there are all these beautiful bodies in the beaches: there are gyms everywhere. Every single corner in the block in front of my apartment building has a gym. Thus, the secret of the carioca beauty is not hidden anywhere, on the contrary (“carioca” is how people from Rio are called).

The entire gym scheme is very welcoming: there are gyms for everyone. There are expensive ones, for those who want (and are able to) invest lots of money in their workouts.


There are also cheap ones for those who cannot afford the fancy ones, or simply don’t care that much about fancy machines.



There is also spiritual ones, for those who believe that a healthy body only comes with a healthy mind.

(see picture in the next post because I reached the limit for this one...)

The gyms are always full, especially in the mornings and evenings. I tried one for a couple of days and in the “rush hours” (i.e. after office hours) you need to wait in line for a vacancy in the treadmill. And this makes them even more welcoming: those who are waiting chat with each other, making new friends and/or flirting with other beautiful people. Thus, no time is wasted.

When I first arrived in Rio, the fact that there were so many gyms and that they were so busy was a puzzle to me. These people can exercise outdoors anytime they want. And they can do that for free. Take a look at the running track by the seashore in my neighborhood.


You certainly miss the socializing part, but if you go to the seashore you get one of the most astonishing views on the face of earth, which is this one.


I could not understand why people would choose to be locked inside a gym, on the top of treadmill, starting at a boring TV set, instead of having the privilege of going outside.

I could not understand that…until I decided to go jogging by the seashore. It was 5 pm. It was not dark and there were some people using the running track with me, but nobody had their music players ostensibly exposed as I did (I had it in my armband). It did not take long for two guys in their late teens to block my passage with their bodies and ask for my I-Pod. Somehow, I sensed they were not well intentioned long before that. This gave me enough response time: before they could react, I got out of the track and run with all my forces.

Shortly after that, while I was recovering my breath, I saw from a distance two other guys coming from the seashore towards the running track, staring at me (more specifically they took a good look at my shoes and my I-Pod). I rushed to the side of a well-built guy who was jogging in front of me and safely passed by them pretending that I was “accompanied” by someone who would get into a fight with them, if they did not behave.

My carioca friends, after hearing the history, simply told me “Mariana, you are not in Toronto. You are in Rio.” You can certainly run outside, they said, but do so at your own risk. “Welcome to the jungle”, was the closing sentence.

Now I know why people go to gyms. It is the peace of mind they are looking for. Those who want the bodies in shape and the view need to face the risk of being robbed. Sadly, nobody is thinking how we can have a country where anyone who wants an I-Pod should be able to afford one. If cariocas were thinking about that, I think they would be even more beautiful.

I am not alone

This weekend, I was happy to find someone complaining about men peeing on the streets of Rio in one of the most important newspapers of the country. The article is called "Dirty City, Dear City".

Funny enough, the author reports a similar experience that I had (reported in a recent post below): he looked at a man peeing in the street where he lives and the man looked back as if he was doing the most natural thing in the world.

It is good to find someone who is not only concerned with this, but is writing about it and asking the government to do something. However, I had a couple of questions.

First, he suggests that the government should install public restrooms around the city. I am not sure if this will be an effective solution. My impression is that peeing is more of an habit, rather than something that happens due to the lack of public restrooms in the city. If the problem was lack of restrooms, I think the women would be doing the same thing, no? It is puzzling that the beginning of the article talks about littering in Rio (which is another major problem) and the author recognizes that it is not caused by lack of trash cans. It is lack of something else, but I don't know exactly what. The author suggests that we should go after these people and fine them for littering. I agree with him: this might change the habit, if properly enforced (see our DIU policy). I don't understand, however, why he believes that peeing shouldn't be dealt with in the same way. At the very least, we should combine restrooms with fines.

Second, he describes the problem as if it were a matter of social classes. He largely suggests that peeing is mostly done by homeless and unemployed people. He also says that "the smell" is quite strong in more popular neighborhoods like Flamengo and Copacabana. He ends by manifesting a huge surprise when he sees a "well dressed" guy (i.e. a supposedly wealthy person) peeing on his upscale neighborhood (probably Leblon or Ipanema). I cannot help but wonder if this is true. We do have a huge problem with classes - I am not denying that. In fact, according to a UN report published last week Brazilian cities "have the greatest disparities in income distribution in the world." And I am not denying that this is the cause of numerous problems in the city. I am just questioning whether the disparity in income distribution has anything to do with the peeing. From what I have seen, I don't think it is fair to blame the poor -- and specially the poorest of poor -- for the peeing.

A detailed account of the report in Portuguese can be found at BBC Brasil.

I am pasting below an excerpt of the original newspaper article in Portuguese. To read the entire piece you need to subscribe to Folha de S. Paulo.

FERREIRA GULLAR

Cidade suja, querida cidade

---

Por onde se anda, seja Leblon, Méier ou Barra, é lixo por todo canto; é de dar vergonha

---

Tenho uma amiga que viveu durante muitos anos na Alemanha, e ela me conta que, lá, se uma pessoa joga alguma coisa no chão, é multada, e se alguém a ver jogar, a adverte e a manda ajuntar o que atirara no chão. Ouvi isso, incrédulo, imaginando o que sucederia a alguém que, no Rio, se atrevesse a fazer semelhante advertência: seria, no mínimo, insultado ou até mesmo espancado pelo autor da sujeira. É que o nosso modo de entender a coisa pública é diferente: público, aqui, significa que é de todo mundo e, portanto, todos têm o direito de fazer, no espaço urbano, tudo o que desejam, como, por exemplo, urinar na rua.

Há certas ruas, no Rio, de bairros residenciais como Copacabana ou Flamengo, especialmente as transversais às vias principais, que fedem a mijo. Nelas costumam acampar grupos de mendigos ou vagabundos, que por ali mesmo fazem suas necessidades. Um nojo. Mas outro dia, aqui perto de casa, numa manhã de domingo, dei com um rapaz bem apessoado, de calças blujins, blusão e casquete na cabeça, urinando junto a uma banca de jornais, que estava fechada. Ele me viu, mas pouco se tocou, como se praticasse o ato mais natural do mundo.

Está errado, sem dúvida. Mas me perguntei: se o cara mora longe e sente necessidade premente de urinar, que pode fazer? Procurar um restaurante ou um boteco, dirá você.
E se não houver nenhum por perto, vai urinar nas calças? Não, claro, então o jeito é urinar na rua. E se for uma moça, que fará ela? Ao novo prefeito que chega, faço um apelo: mande instalar banheiros públicos por todo o Rio, como há muito se fez em toda grande cidade civilizada.
Trata-se de medida higiênica e ecológica.

Police War in São Paulo

For those of you who thought that men peeing on the streets was shocking, this certainly beats it. As I write, the two police forces of the state of São Paulo are fighting each other with gas bombs and rubber bullets in front of the governmental palace. Some reports say that real guns were also used.

The civil police is on strike for a month now, and had planned a demonstration today. The demonstration was violently repressed by the military police (which is another police force), and the civil police fought back. The result is 18 people hurt.

This is the only picture I found:



TV channels are playing live images and they are literally war like scenes. My mom is sitting by my side asking who is going to put order now, if the two police forces are involved? Not sure.

I believe you should be able to read reports in English about this tomorrow.

Note: I have been in São Paulo for almost a week now, and I was here for some time before going to Rio and I did not even notice the civil police was on strike...

First Impressions of Rio

You probably heard that Rio is beautiful and violent. In my first days in Rio, however, a couple of other things called my attention.

First, men urinate on the streets. Every single day I saw at least one man peeing. This happens in broad day light. It is incredible how comfortable they are in doing that: they just stop, unbutton their pants, and look at you as if it is the most normal thing on the face of earth.

I thought I was the only person bothered by this, until I found this billboard, posted by the local government, asking people not to do that (it literally says the trees are healthier without your pee).



Nice try, but this has no effect as far as I am concerned. We might need something like the DIU law (see my previous post entitled Universal Wisdom of Taxi Drivers) to stop this practice....

The second thing is that people walk VERY slowly. It is really hard to use the sidewalks. It look like as if everyone is a tourist while I am in a rush to get to work. A friend of mine says I walk too fast. I think they walk too slowly. Probably the truth lies somewhere in between, but get ready to slow down if you come here.

More impressions of Rio coming soon...

Jesus Christ!

This is definitely a Catholic country! This is probably a very belated conclusion for me to reach, since I was born and raised here. However, for some strange reason, three weeks ago I was inundated with a series of encounters that made me realize that again (or perhaps for the first time in my life).

As you might recall, I visited my grandma in Santos. As I was leaving the city, the conversation with the taxi driver on my way to the bus station took a wild turn. I was asking about his family and his kids (just because I was curious about social mobility in Brazil). The driver started talking about his grandson and this created an opportunity for him to tell me that women are blessed to have the ability to bear a child. At some points, I had the impression that he thought it was unfair to men not to have the same privilege. Of course, he did not put it that way because it was God's will, according to him. This, of course, led to a whole conversation about God, and Christ, and how he died for us, and etc. I silently listened to a 15 minutes monologue about the topic and was mesmerized by his excitement. Luckily, we reached our destination before he was done talking and I had a chance to scape without being asked what is my opinion about the topic.

I then went to Rio, to teach there. The second encounter was in a store at the airport. As I was inquiring about beach shorts (because I have none and I have no idea how to buy them), I was prompted by the following question:

- Are you Catholic?

The salesperson, out of the blue, asked that. She was anxiously waiting for an answer while I was holding two pairs of beach shorts and staring at her. The conversation went more or less as follows:

M - Why do you ask?

SP - Just because you are so calm.

M - Do you mean Catholic people are calmer than other religious people?

SP - Oh, no. We are all sons of God. We all believe in Christ!

- Moment of silence -

I was at this point thinking that I know a number of people who would easily be offended by the sentence. However, if you check the numbers in Brazil, you will see that non Christian religions are not well represented here, what makes some people assume that everyone believes in Christ. Moreover, only 7% of the population consider themselves agnostics or atheists. I guess she never came across one of them...

My moment of silence gave the girl an opportunity to go off on a monologue about God, Christ and everything else. Do you see a pattern here? I really don't know what's up with these monologues. I might look like a really good listener or someone who is really religious...

While she was talking, I could not help but wonder what would be her reaction to hear that there are people who do not believe in Christ, and there are even those who do not believe in God (or at least not in the same God she believes), but I decided to do this little experiment in another opportunity.

The third encounter was shortly thereafter. As soon as I arrived in the apartment in Rio, I decided to do some grocery shopping. There is a small supermarket right around the corner, which is very convenient. On my way out, however, I noticed a little altar on the top of the wall by the cashiers with Jesus and a saint, as you can see:



I did not ask anyone because I was done with the monologues at this point.

My fourth and most interesting encounter with religion happened, ironically, in the university. I am participating in a reading group at the Catholic University in Rio and when I arrived there for the first meeting, I was surprised to find coffee (which is a topic that deserves more posts...) and a crucifix in the class room.



The good thing was that there was no monologue this time. Instead, I had an interesting conversation about that with my friend who is organizing the group. During this conversation, I found out that there is also a crucifix in the main room of the Brazilian Supreme Court despite the fact that our Constitution declares the separation between State and Church. (picture coming as soon as I have a chance to go to Brasília, my hometown)

The most predictable encounter was the famous Christ the Redeemer in Rio. I went there with my sister, who came to Rio for a quick visit. The views of the city are incredible from the top of the Corcovado (the mountain where the statue is), what makes it really worth a visit even for non Christians.




The most interesting part of all this is to know that despite public displays of Christian faith (and lots of monologues on the topic) a large portion of the Brazilian population does not practice the religion. Around 80% of the population declare themselves Catholic (which means they are baptized and married in the church) but only 10% attend masses regularly and participate in church activities. Who needs church with these images everywhere, and with people's ability to talk endlessly about the topic?

Long time no see...

Life has been busy here, as you can imagine. So, here is a series of posts that have been in my mind for a while, but I simply did not have the time to log in and provide you with an update.

Great Day with My Grandma and My Godmother

On Thursday morning I left São Paulo to visit my grandma, who lives in Santos. The trip is incredible: it is a winding road with alternating views of mountains and the city in the island, at the seashore (photo at the top).

This is the view from the road when you reach the sea level.

My grandma took me to lunch in a restaurant that was inaugurated in 1960s, and it is called Independence. And guess what: the restaurant is located at the Independence Square.

Ironically we went to eat a traditional Portuguese dish, called dobradinha. The dish is made of cow's intestines. I do not remember eating it before. My grandma is Portuguese and she often prepares the dish because it is my mom's favorite, but I think I never had the guts to try it. This is how it looks like (it is the stuff at the top of the plate).

In the afternoon, my godmother (who happens to be my aunt as well) took me out for a delicious coffee. Santos has a lot of charming coffee houses, where you can sit down and have a delicious expresso served at the table while you enjoy the air-conditioning in the usually unbearable heat.




But now in winter the temperature is mild: around 20 celsius.

Note: please be patient with me as I do not know how to turn the pictures yet...

I am staying here during the weekend, for my cousin's baby shower. More pictures coming soon...

The Universal Wisdom of Taxi Drivers

I cannot remember how many times I read people recounting interesting and illuminating conversations with taxi drivers. Normally, I find these reports in books. Famous experts on theirs topics often find something that is worth recounting in these conversations. Inspired by that, I decided to ask all the taxi drivers that I met in the past week or so what they thought of the new law imposing stricter sanctions for drinking and driving in Brazil.

A little bit of background information, for my non-brazilians readers. This law (nicknamed Lei Seca) was enacted in July, imposing severe sanctions (fines and imprisonment) to DUI. It also reduced the level of alcohol permitted in your blood, if your are driving. The law was strictly enforced thus far.

I got three set of interesting comments in my rides in São Paulo.

I asked one driver if he was in favor or against the new law. His response was:

- Just look at the numbers. In two months the government saved R$ 48 million (roughly US$ 24 million).

He was referring to recently released data on the costs of accidents for the Federal government.

And he concluded:

- I prefer to see my taxes going to something more useful than paying medical expenses of irresponsible people.

The second guy was less concerned with proper allocation of fiscal resources. Instead, he had a distributive concern with the new law. He thought that poor people were more severely constrained from drinking than richer people. Basically, his argument relied on the fact that many commercial establishments started offering mini-vans or drivers to take their customers home.** They decided to offer these services after a significant drop in alcohol consumption (and consequently in their profits) as soon as the new law was enacted. The problem, he argued, is that only wealthy establishments could afford such services. People who cannot go to these places depend on public transportation, which is neither safe nor reliable. And the biggest problem, according to him, is that public transportation most of the time is not available in the evenings (the subway stops at midnight and the bus lines are drastically reduced). Thus, his conclusion was that less wealthy people were much more affected by the new law than rich people. I do not have numbers to confirm his claims.

The third guy was concerned with enforcement. He said that the law was working because the police got out and arrested people DUI. However, he believed that soon the police will "be more relaxed" about the new law and all drunks will be driving again. If you see the general statement of law enforcement in Brazil, this is a rather persuasive claim. He is basically saying that once the initial excitement with the new law is over, we are back to were we have always been: beautiful laws and an awful reality. Unless there is something different in this case that changes the dynamics of policy making and law enforcement in Brazil. If there is indeed something different, there could be a more optimistic prediction about the future of the new law. And to see if there is something different, just ask what are the incentives for each of the interest groups affected to keep the enforcement of these strict measures against DUI. I will report back in January and you can check the blog to see if your predictions were right or wrong...

If you are really interested in the topic, this seems to be a serious analysis of it.

** The drivers scheme works as follows: a guy employed by the restaurant drives the customer home in the customer's car. The car is followed by a motorcycle, with another employee of the restaurant (probably a guy who uses his motorcycle to deliver documents during the day -- see my previous blog on motoboys in SP). When they reach the destination, the motoboy takes the driver back to the restaurant for the next drive.

Coffee, cake and cool people

Some nice things about Brazil that impressed me as soon as I arrived.

First, coffee is delicious and it is freshly brewed. And people prepare coffee for you every time they have an opportunity. And nobody takes the coffee and runs away. Instead, they sit down and chat a little bit. The day goes by in a much nicer way because of these freshly brewed coffee breaks, or coffee rituals, if you prefer.

Freshly brewed coffee is so important that they sell all the apparel that you need to freshly brew one single cup. All you need is paper filter and a plastic support for it. The ones for a single cup are called "medida certa". They are available at the supermarket for less than two dollars. And I guess I do not need to tell you that I got one set for me...




Second, there are delicious home made cakes to accompany coffeek. On the day of my arrival, a friend stop by the house to see me and brought a delicious and super healthy apple cake, that was quickly eaten (as you can see from what was left of it on Monday). On the second day, the cleaning lady prepared a wonderful chocolate cake, which also went very nicely with coffee or without it.



I should confess that in addition to the yummy experience, there is a positive psychological impact in having coffee and cake prepared for you many times along the day. You feel pampered every couple of hours. My conclusion is that the Gross National Happiness Index should definitely include coffee and cake in their variables.

Last, but not least, I had two cool hosts in São Paulo, my sister and her boyfriend (first picture). Cool people is the icing of the cake (pun intended). It certainly makes the entire Brazilian experience really nice. And to give you an idea of how cool they are, I have only one thing to say: they are the kind of people who wear All Stars.


This is as high as someone can get in my scales of coolness (you only get higher if you have more than one pair...).

Going downtown: the old and the new

In my second day in Brazil, I went downtown (or to the city center, as we say in Portuguese) to renew my driver's license. Of course, there is a long list of documents and complicated procedures to get the license renewed. So, I walked out of the governmental building empty handed but with time to take some pictures of what we call "O Centro".

This is the Metropolitan Cathedral, located at the Sé Square (according to the Britannica Encyclopedia) or the Sé Cathedral (according to Wikipedia). It is a beautiful building where important masses are celebrated. If you are interested in its history, check out this wikipedia entry.



The Sé square is famous for pickpocketing, so I was lucky to take the picture and walk away with my camera... And my excitement allowed me to also take a picture of this, 200 meters away from the Cathedral:


I truly hope you can see how far this goes. It is an incredible amount of motorcycles. And what is more interesting: they are not here because people are cool and like bikes in São Paulo. Instead, they are used by courier services.There is this incredible amount of what we call "motoboys" available to deliver or pick documents anytime, anywhere. I found a 2001 estimate counting 150,000 motoboys in the city. More recent estimates indicate that there are now 500,000 of them.

The beggining of this video gives you a sense of how they drive: they skip slow moving trafic by driving between the cars. It is estimated that two motoboys die every day in São Paulo. I do not have estimates of how many get hurt in accidents. They are literally risking their lives to make a living. The video is an interview with the director of a documentary called Motoboys - Vida Louca. I watched the documentary a while ago, and I remember thinking it is quite a complex policy issue with very sad histories in the middle.

After being reminded of this sad reality, I walked more 200 meters and had a chance to visit my law school, which has an impressive building



But instead of boring you with details of my (first) alma mater (which can probably be easily found in the internet), let me tell you something more interesting. At the entrance of the school there is a sculpture called "The Eternal Kiss", which had a turbulent history. The sculpture was produced in 1920 and installed in two different neighborhoods just to be removed shortly thereafter under complaints of the local communities. Many thought the sculpture was immoral. It was then abandoned in a storage room until 1965, when the mayor's office decided to install it in another neighborhood. Same complaints. Yet another neighborhood. Again, same complaints. Then, the rebellious (or poetic, depending on your point of view) law students of USP asked the mayor to install it in front of the law school, where it remains until today.

This is the poem that inspired the sculpture:

Não me basta saber que sou amado,
Nem só desejo o teu amor: desejo
Ter nos braços teu corpo delicado,
Ter na boca a doçura de teu beijo”.

Olavo Bilac