Brazilian Suicide Shower

Brazilian Suicide Shower

Most buildings in Latin America are not equipped with pipes that carry water to a boiler to heat up, thus no hot water. But really, who wants to take a cold shower every morning? Even in the tropics a warm shower is a lovely thing. As a solution, the basic rule of "don't mix electricity and water" was thrown out, to give you the Suicide Shower. Basically you fit this contraption over the shower head then wire it into the electric mains. It takes up so much power that you know it is working when the house lights flicker or dim when it's turned on.

Suicide Showers are iconic to Latin America, and I'm sure nearly every person who has traveled in Central or South America remembers their first time turning on the water - please don't die, please don't die - or the time they got their first little shock - mine was in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Some are scarier than others, with their wires hanging down a little bit too close for comfort.  My first encounter with a Suicide Shower was living in Costa Rica. I've also seen them in Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, and obviously here in Brazil. I've learned a few things about the art of using a Suicide Shower, which is safe as long as you don't do something stupid.

1. Make sure you actually turn the thing on. To activate it, you usually have to reach a certain level of water flow.
2. Once the water begins to warm you have to find the ideal temperature. If the flow rate is too low the water can be scalding. If it is too high the water will only be lukewarm or not warm at all. It is not like the US where you can turn the "cold" knob up a little. Here there is only one knob - so use the flow rate to control the water temperature.
3. Wear sandals. Or make sure there is something rubber in the shower to stand on. This is what I was told when I arrived in Brazil.  I never heard this in Costa Rica or elsewhere, but in Brazil I was specifically told to always stay on the rubber mat or wear your sandals. Not sure if this actually helps or if it is myth, but intuitively I guess it makes sense - kind of like being in a car during a lightning storm?
4. Don't touch any wires or the unit itself, especially avoid doing this while you are IN the shower.

Overall, I've never had any major problems with using the Suicide Shower and I am happy to say that Brazil is known for producing the highest quality Suicide Showers.

Rain in Rio

Last night was heavy rain. It has actually rained more in the last 24 hours than it has for all of October. It does not rain all day, but rather the dark clouds move in a night and the downpour commences. Last night there were two landslides - both in favelas - one person died.

I love the rain. It smells so good and I love the sound it makes hitting the trees and rooftops. Last night, though, I couldn't help but think about this boy, Mattheus, who Russell and I met slacklining. He, along with his parents, I'm pretty sure are homeless. I wondered where they went to hide from the rain all night.

What a difference, huh? I enjoy the rain from a 9th story beachfront window. Others probably dread it, fearing that their houses will fall down mountains, and some not even having a home to retreat to.

But still, I look at the sky and am thankful that my life is so beautiful.

Social Class Strucutre in Rio de Janeiro - My Interpretation

I wanted to give my interpretation of the social class structure in Rio. Remember, this is an opinion coming from a blond haired, blue eyed, American girl. I just want to record my current interpretation so I can see how it changes over time. With that in mind, here is my general breakdown:

Homeless:
There are a few homeless families here. The street families beg for food all day - sometimes it is one person, usually it is a whole family. And the smell... oh the smell. It is terrible. One family lives in front of, what I call, the blue wall (a giant blue wall that separates a school from the street and sidewalk). I'm actually not sure if it is one large family or two smaller ones, but this group of maybe 15 - younger adults all the way down to infants - is almost always in front of this blue wall, and this is a highly trafficked area so there are always people walking by. They beg for food and whatever else they can get all day, then at night they go across the street, lay out a foam pad, pile on top of one another, and go to sleep. I'm not sure what the older ones do about the bathroom, and I'm not sure I want to know, but I do know that they have no problem leaving behind dirty diapers and other trash, which is later cleaned by the local municipality. So I'm sure you can imagine that if the local sidewalk sweepers don't come by for even one day, the whole area begins to smell, bad! This is the life of a street person.

Favela Society:
I have never walked through a favela. I have been on bus rides through them, but have never spent time in them, but I still wanted to share the way I am interpreting the societal breakdown here, based purely on my observation. Favelas are their own society, yet I think favelas are a mirror of the larger society - lower, middle, and upper class still exists. There are those people who are unemployed, or underemployed, and whose kids don't go to school, or go only periodically - but at least they are not living on the streets. This is the low class favelado (favela dweller).

Then there is the large and varied middle class. These people have jobs, and they likely make one to five times the minimum wage (adjusted annually, it is just over R$505 (US$270) per month for 2010). They might be street sweepers, waitresses, maids, construction workers, doormen, beach cleaners, parking assistants, (did I mention Rio's propensity for job creation!), etc. These people are also consumers. More and more have cars, cameras, and cell phones, and 97% of favela homes have a TV. But they still live in a favela, which means less access to infrastructure, such as sewage, trash disposal, and running water, and slimmer opportunities for a good education.

Upper class favelados. I know very little about this group, but I speculate that the people comprising the upper echelons of drug gangs reside here. I imagine that these people don't necessarily have to live in favelas, but choose to. Certainly these guys have cars and iphones. They control the favela - just like the very small percentage of wealthy Americans who run their tentacles through everything in US society.

Also, it is safe to bet that if someone lives in a favela, that person has dark to black skin. Although favelas sound like very dreary and poverty stricken communities, they are also self sustaining mini-economies that have their own shops, banks, and even fast food (hello McDonalds).

Middle Class Society:
Again the middle class here, like in the US has the lower, middle, and upper class. Middle class society is very similar to the US middle class, it is huge and varied. There are people trying to make ends meet, there are people living comfortably, there are those whole live a life of excess, some can afford it, others can't. People have jobs, kids, apartments, homes, cars, and TVs. Some have summer beach homes and BMWs. Others have a bicycle and a cell phone. I would say the lifestyle I am living right now would fall into the category of upper middle class (even though I think I always live like a queen, I mean, really, look at my life.. how good it is!). I go out to eat at least once a day, I live beach front, I have internet access, a maid occasionally comes to clean and cook.

High Class Society:
This group, as in the US, is a minority. Even contemplating the amounts of money people have here is pointless. I mean really, the wealth gap is HUGE now and these people who already have millions just want more while people sleep on the street. It is sick.

So far this is my interpretation of the social class structure in Rio. I'm sure it will be changing as time goes by, and it will be interesting, and maybe even helpful, to go back and read this later to see how my opinions change.

Bananal Hike, Itacoatiara, Brazil

Bananal Hike

Finally the weather is getting warmer (I know I will be begging for the cold when it gets sweltering here later), so Russel and I headed to Itacoatiara for a little dip in the Atlantic (the Atlantic Ocean is huge! I swam in it in NYC and now again in Brazil!). After our swim we decided to leave the jam-packed beach and go on a hike to Bananal (photos).

Bananal is basically a big rock over the water. People sometimes set up a slackline here and walk across a high gap from one giant rock to another. I have also seen videos of people rappelling down the rock.

Russ and I hiked through the forest to get there (very beautiful and green, btw) then spent some time just sitting and listening to the birds. While in NYC I bought some pastels - my girl Anne uses them and seems to like them, plus they are small enough and portable enough for traveling, so I made the investment in a new hobby. I have not been into drawing since I was in like 3rd grade, but I'm not trying to make some amazing work of art, just relaxing my mind and being present. Since we were at such a beautiful place I took some time to draw the scenery.

I liked Bananal a lot - surrounded by forest behind you, huge rocks on either side, and the ocean out in front. Peace. Those are the times when I like to feel gravity pulling me to Earth - feeling centered, grounded.

After a few hours of hiking and finding peace on the rock, the sun fell behind the mountain and we headed back.

Below you'll find a short video of the hike, and a plug for our other site, soletravelbrazil.com - which will hopefully receive a face-lift while I am in Brazil.

Uganda Newspaper Tells Readers to Hang Gays, Provides Photos and Addresses

A Uganda Newspaper has published a list of its "top 100 most notable gays and lesbians" providing readers not only with with names, but also photos and addresses of listed individuals. Next to the headline it asks readers to "hang them".

The article was published on October 9, 2010, and since then at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding, according to rights activist Julian Onziema. One person named in the story had stones thrown at his house by neighbors.

A year ago lawmakers in Uganda attempted to pass a bill that would make homosexual activities punishable by the death penalty. This was sidelined after huge international pressure.

The US has been making baby steps towards equality and although we still have a ways to go, at least we are much farther along that Uganda (as long as Tea Party America stays at a safe distance from the White House). 

Video Projected on Rio's Christ the Redeemer

When I first arrived in Rio, O Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) was lit up bright pink to bring awareness to breast cancer (one out of eight Brazilian women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and 10,000 die of it each year). This is my third time in Rio, and I had never see the Christ lit with anything other than the bright white lights that bathe it every night, making it visible for miles around, so seeing the Christ pink was pretty exciting.

But I was in for another surprise - last night the Christ was turned into a giant screen. The video is supposed to give the impression of the Christ rotating 360º and looking down to admire the city of Rio below.

The project is intended to bring attention to the huge problem of the sexual exploitation of children.

It is great seeing Rio use its newly found global stage to bring attention to causes that are not only local issues, but global ones as well.

Watch the video projection below, pretty incredible what they did, eh?

Friedman & Investing in Science

I just read a great little OpEd by Thomas Friedman in the NY Times. Basically it is boils down to the fact that the US has a grand opportunity to invest in innovative science and new technology, but we are half-assing it. We are spending trillions of dollars on endless and unnecessary wars yet we are unwilling (not unable - unwilling) to spend $1 billion to fund five years of totally necessary, and ground-breaking, research at eight hubs around the US, attracting the best and the brightest from around the world. Where are our priorities?

As Friedman states, "Welcome to Tea Party America. Think small and carry a big ego." What a perfectly accurate and succinct description of Tea party America.

Friedman also pointed out that although this issue may seem small - just like climate change seems small, and ocean pollution seems small, and the depleting and polluting of our groundwater seems small, and giant oil spills seem small - it is the small things that matter:

Nations thrive or languish usually not because of one big bad decision, but because of thousands of small bad ones — decisions where priorities get lost and resources misallocated so that the nation’s full potential can’t be nurtured and it ends up being less than the sum of its parts. That is my worry for America.

Full Article

Trash on Piratininga Beach

Trash on Piratininga Beach, RJ, Brazil

I've been writing about how much trash is on the beaches here, so I thought I'd upload a photo - the one below allows you to zoom in and out. Take a look at how many small plastic particles there are. This is what birds and fish are eating. Actually, right after it took this photo I watched a seagull eat a small piece of plastic - it looked like it may have been part of some sort of plastic wrapping.

Plastic has no end. It always persists. It is just broken down into smaller components, even when it is microscopic it is still plastic. Plastic also leaches toxins out of the water like a sponge. And this is what fish eat, this is what birds eat, this is even what we eat. And did you know that there are vast areas of ocean where plastic particles far outnumber plankton particles. This is a huge problem.

Brazil vs. US Elections, an Outsider's Perspective

I am always amused when I read news about the US from a non-US news source. This article is from Jamaica and compares the election scenes of the US and Brazil. It also summarizes the US economic and social situation from and outside perspective.

About the elections:

Elections this year in Brazil and the USA provide a study in sharp contrasts. Brazil approaches elections with enormous zeal, boosted this year by the outstanding international economic situation of their country... By contrast, the economic situation of the USA is probably the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. With the unemployment rate hovering at 9.6 per cent and approximately 15 million individuals out of work, the national mood is most dour. Normally when there is so much unhappiness about in the land the electorate tends to punish the party in power.

About punishing the party in power (Democrats):

Democrats who hold majorities in both houses of the Congress fear the worst, although the present economic problems arose largely under the previous Republican administration of George Bush who, between 2000 and 2008, managed to eliminate the substantial budget surplus built up by Bill Clinton. Not only that: Bush reduced taxes, mostly benefiting the rich, and started two extremely expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without introducing any measures for underwriting them. At present both wars cost American taxpayers more than US$100 billion each year.

About the candidates:

The interesting ethnic background and solid intellectual achievements of the three leading Brazilian presidential candidates would probably be severe handicaps in the United States.

About the US electorate:

The US electorate, especially adherents to the Tea Party, demonstrate a marked lack of political sophistication. There is a general hankering for the good old days of Ronald Reagan, despite his disastrous economic policies. Many are attacking government at all levels while expecting government to solve their basic problems.

On the new world order:

It will take many years for the economy of the USA to recover. Of that every thinking person is certain. The imagined good old days will never return. The world has changed and the new economic powerhouses are Brazil, Russia, India and China. Brazil represents the future; the USA, the past.

Interesting stuff, eh? And basically true.

Full Article

Lixo Extraordinário: Waste Land Documentary

I have been noticing all of the trash in Rio. There is just so much trash on the beaches that it can't all possibly be cleaned up. I will surely be writing more about this topic on my blog at some point, but right now I want to give my attention to a film called Waste Land.

Unsurprisingly, all of the Cariocas (residents of Rio) I've talked to have no idea that the worlds largest garbage dump is just outside their marvelous city. While doing some research on this dumping site, called Jardim Gramacho, I came across this film. Check out the trailer below: