drinks with Arivaldo

11 Nov. 2009

They were closing up the Botanical Garden and apparently Arivaldo, Debbie, and Arivaldo's partner were going to a concert back at Campo Grande, so Arivaldo offered me a ride and I'm like thanks! But we were going to pick up his partner still. So we went over to her apartment and there was like a little, casual bar thing (they're all over the place by the way) outside of her apartment so Arivaldo Debbie and I just chilled there waiting.

[Like this, but I took this photo in Arembepe]

I guess Arivaldo already anticipated the long wait... we were there like 45 minutes or something while she finished getting ready.
But it was chill, we just sat there talking about stuff.
Arivaldo is one of the favorite people that I have met here. He's really relaxed and easy to talk with. He also has so much interesting knowledge. And I love plants, as fellow inhabitants of this earth. So I love talking to people who know a lot about them.
Anyway, I then I asked him if he had a lot of plants in his house and he's like: "not one" and I thought it was pretty funny and this is when he introduced me to the common saying:

"casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau",

which means something like the blacksmith's house, a wooden fireplace, which is about the irony about how some times what people do professionally is not reflected in what they personally do outside of that realm. Like the English "The shoemaker's child goes around barefoot"

He is pretty knowledgeable in Spanish and Mexican customs too. Apparently he has some Mexican colleagues and friends. He was saying some of the words that his Mexican friends have trouble with like "Bairro" and "Feira"; they tend to forget and say "Barrio" and "Feria" which is more Spanish. So that's a good pattern to take note of: most words that end with "-rio/a" or "rria/o", are likely to be -eira. or -airo, -airro. And a few others words that are the most commonly mispronounced by Spanish-speakers.

But Arivaldo and Tania both knew about a lot of the animals and life in Mexico. For example how we love to eat cactus and we never mix oranges or pineapples with milk in Mexico like they do here in Brasil (It's associated with stomach aches like not mixing lime and milk either because it curdles! --and it's just weird to many Mexicans, anyone hear any other reason why we don't do that?).

Oranges and Milk:

[photo by: JohnAugustinestate's]

I had realized this Bahian/Brasilian custom before Arivaldo told me though, because I was really surprised when my mãe asked if I wanted my orange juice with milk, I'm like what?!
It's so taboo to me I guess.
It's like in the U.S. you don't mix fish and milk very much, or put "American" cheese in smoothies... Okay I'm having trouble finding a U.S. equivalent, but Japanese people, would it not be absurd to mix green tea and milk? That's what I hear anyway--from being scolded for doing it myself, jaja.
But I tried it! (the orange juice and milk). I did it because I feel like the milk they have here is not the same as the milk I have had in the U.S. or Mexico. In Mexico it's often more fresh and less processed; in the states it's a little more processed--but in both cases I know they have a lot of lactose. Meanwhile

the cow milk they have here is bought in little cartons that can be outside the fridge for months...

so I don't know. And sure enough I didn't have any lactose intolerant reaction luckily :) . but I do restrict my consumption--don't go trying a lot if you're lactose intolerant too though, because I don't know for sure it won't hurt.

Avocados! or Abacate [Port.], Aguacate [Span.]:
There is also this difference that here in Brasil, Avocados are conceptualized as being in a sweet/dessert family. Arivaldo was also aware that it is not the case for a lot of places. In Mexico and in most parts of the States it's associated with more savory foods; it's in guacamole. Lime and salt come to mind to me for avocados.
Like you don't add guacamole to your cake. (Or do you?) But here my mãe likes to put some sugar on it and eat it in spoonfuls. Which I am not against either, I tried that too. And I got my sisters to try the lime with salt version and we both liked the new versions.
It is very common in Brasil to make avocado milkshakes (again with the milk jaja) with sugar and lime--woah! watch out Mexicans, triple taboo. Jk. But those are also good, I recommend you try an avocado milkshake.

Then we were talking about Bahian slang and we found out where "Ó Paí, Ó" comes from. Yes it's the title of a pretty popular movie (which I recommend because it's a really good Brazilian film), but it also is a kind of stereotypical Bahian expression that is also used all over Brasil, although not as frequently. We decided that it most likely comes from "Olha para isso, olha" It's common to repeat either the verb or "não" for emphasis. Like: "não brinque com isso, não" emphatic "don't NOT joke about that".
And "Ó" is commonly used to substitute for "olha" which means "look" either figuratively or literally. To call your attention to something usually. and para isso, means "look at that", or "watch out/it". Actually someone said that to me one day that I was in a little local store and I backed up and accidently bumped into a lady behind me, and she said that to me "Ó Paí, Ó"

Arivaldo is really awesome. He's also been a single daddy for a while; I'm not sure why, I didn't want to pry, but he has a little 2 year old baby. I sat next to his car-seat. Arivaldo had some pretty funny stories to tell about him. And explained why the car-seat was all torn up...apparently he likes to bite things.

The reason I tagged this blog with so many different things--well besides feeling like they're relevant and appropriate--I thought it is important to tag it under "gender relations" and "men" because I don't want negative things to be the only things to show up for them-- that wouldn't be representative.
I feel like Arivaldo was completely respectful and casual-professional the whole time, and I am very aware/sensitive about this kind of stuff and sexual harassment etc., and I at no time felt like he was crossing any line.
It was casual because we were joking and laughing and chilling, but he was not implying any inappropriateness, he was not dominating, he was like a good teacher friend who treated Debbie and me like colleagues who were deserving of respect. There was no focus on how we were women and he was a man or that he was older and we were younger; he still respected us and treated us like equals.
Finally his partner came and we were off back to our side of town. He was so kind in taking me literally to the gate of my apartment.
Obrigada Arivaldo!
I came back way later than expected and super hungry but I had a really great time.

Filme: My favorite Brazilian films

O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (1997) [English title: Four Days in September]:
Directed by Bruno Barreto, based on a book written by Fernando Gabeira, a Brazilian political activist. It dealt with the political movements of the 1960s in Brazil during the Military dictatorship. It is a great film!! It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of the year in the United States.

A Hora da Estrela (1985) [Hour of the Star]

Directed by Suzana Amaral and also based on the novel of the same title written by Clarice Lispector (Born in Ukrain but moved to Brasil at 2 months so pretty much Brazilian). The main character, a very naive Macabea has just moved from a rural town in Northern Brasil into the city of Rio de Janeiro because her aunt passed away and she was looking for a job. And everyone is treating her with a lot of misundertanding and she finds it really hard to fit into that society. The novel and film deal with issues of marginalization of people from rural areas that move to the city.

These are some MUST SEE


Others I have seen:

Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco (Pixote, the Law of the Weakest) by Hector Babenco (1980) *****
Also really great, it was very sad and dark though. It's about street children.

Central do Brasil (Central Station) by Walter Salles Jr. (1998) ****
A scribe that helped people write letters for the illiterate at a train station. She somehow ended up trying to help a boy whose mom just died in a tragic accident try to find his dad.

Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Bruno Barreto (1976)
This was from Jorge Amado's novel. I personally find lots of issues with his literature and so I didn't like it for the consistent depiction of women as exotic sex objects/machines. I have lots of issues with his literature but he's famous for creating Baianidade. He was born and lived in Bahia very near where I was staying.

Cidade de Deus (2002)
Quilombo (1984)
Orfeu Negro (1959)



This is a good reference too (Thanks wikipedia):

Lençóis I

Lençóis, BA
02/oct/10
so as you can see in the map below Lençóis is more in the interior da Bahia, we went as a big group on the Rainbow 99 bus, the most discrete ever! It took us around 7 hours to get there I think so our mothers packed us a lunch and we also stopped before we reached our destination to climb up the Morro de Pai Inacio in the Chapada Diamantina .

On the way there I sat by my friend and talked on and on, and Clara also put on some movies for us. The first one O pai O, which is really good. I really recommend it . It takes place in Pelourinho, a very important part of Salvador and Bahia, and Brazil in general I think. And Michael Jackson. :)
But anyway I highly recommend that one. We also saw "Estómago" which is a less renown film. Which I found very interesting, like several other Brazilian films it has a theme of people from the interior going to the city and finding out that the values and way of life are very different. Many people from those rural areas in the interior end up being very marginalized and misunderstood, and this is kind of what happens in this film. There is a guy who learns through observation and the way he is treated by others, the way one must be to survive in this "dog eat dog" world; the motto in this story is that in this capitalist/industrialized/city society either you eat or you're eaten, but this guy cooks. So it has a lot about really delicious food very traditional brazilian food, which made us all hungry, but it has a really surprising twist in the end.
So anyway, I was really worried about my toe, since I had just had surgery the day before, but I was not going to miss this for my toe, I just took some Aleve and tried to take the prescribed antibiotics correctly but I kept forgetting it was supposed to be every 12 hours for 3 days, but anyway the climb up was not that bad. It just took a lot of energy trying to get the toe with the huge gauze and bandages to fit into the shoe. and it consequently caused a lot of pressure to be put on the pinky but it's okay.

This is on the way up to the top of the plateau of Pai Inacio
ALmost there.. the smooth stones reminded me of Monserrat in Spain which are smooth mountain-type things because before they were underwater. I'm not sure if this is the case for Lencois but ...

This is me up at the top! This was pretty much level with all the rest in the background. As seen below there were many indentations that created all these little puddles at the top.
There were also a lot of interesting bushes and plants up there. But just...it was the kind of view that makes you appreciate everything and makes you think about your future...although I should mention that once in a while people come here to committ suicide. I know what a downer, but--no it definitely has the opposite effects on me.
We had a guide, Aurecio with us for our whole stay in Lencois, he was quite a joker.

The climb down was way harder for me, only because it put so much pressure on my baby toe :(. I needed help but, I have not doubt that it was worth that pain.
So this is the place I learned how to pee outdoors too. Which I know is a skill people need to learn if they plan on traveling where there are no public restrooms, but I had always done it wrong and avoided it because of that. So girls, just in case you haven't had the opportunity to learn such a skill, the trick is to squat as low as possible.

This is maracuja flower!! passion flower. it's good in teas for helping you sleep and soo soo amazing. It's my favorite flower now.

Then we went to this place with these little water falls and a stone slide.
Then we got to the hotel de Lencois and put our stuff down and ventured off in the little town to get some dinner. My non-vegetarian friends and I were really wanting some good meat so we decided to go to A Picanha na Praça, a steakhouse really near the hotel.

The dinner was brought to us on fire. and apart from this beef and chicken we were served a salad beans and rice. mmm.. it was really good. I had soo much that I even surprised this worker since she was the one who came around frequently asking if we wanted more. No, really I ate a lot. It was a pretty good price because one meal was really more than enough for TWO people. We were stuffed. it was really good.

It's kinda' dark but the platform plaza type thing used to be the place were slaves were sold to the plantation owners. It was really intense just to know about this deep significance, while people just hang out there now or sell/buy art crafts.

Well that was pretty much the end of the first day. I was so tired and just hung out at the hammocks with some friends having a nice conversations despite the awkward position of being in a hammock together. Then to sleep because the next day was also going to be exhausting. But in a good way, of course.