Wow, it’s another scorcher in Rio today. Easily 40°C (>104F) in the shade. My advice? Find a friend with a pool or find yourself a spot on the beach. If you can’t manage either of those options, find a comfortable spot and stay still. My friend here is showing you how…
“Please don’t bother me – it’s too hot to move…”
If you spend any amount of time in Brazil, you will soon become familiar with the word jeitinho (sounds like zhay-CHEEN-yo).
Here’s what former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC to his friends) has to say on the matter:
Jeitinho has a double meaning. One meaning is good – that you try to solve problems rather than to put up obstacles… It’s an attitude, “Let’s try to solve this, let’s try to help you.” That’s positive. But there is another meaning, which is to disregard the law, the rules.
From an interview with Catherine Pees Scott
The word “jeito” means “way”, as in “I think there’s a way we can do this”. When we use the diminutive (jeitinho) we move into the realms of improvisation and rule bending.
Ran out of gas? A little jeitinho should fix this up!
It’s a divisive word because people seem to give it the meaning they want. For some it is about being resourceful and solving problems under difficult conditions; for others it is about not doing things properly, rule breaking and corruption.
Last weekend, Mrs Eat Rio and I were walking down our street when we got to a patch of pavement/sidewalk when had been repaired. The normal sections looked like this:
Well people – 2013 is finally drawing to a close and things at Eat Rio have been slowing down a bit too. Running food tours, cooking for Christmas, catching up with friends and family and holding down a full time job – these things take time!
Still, I found a moment in my lunch hour to write a little something. Earlier today I posted a photo of what I think is a lovely little building in Lapa.
This building is on Rua Riacheulo, just a short walk from the Arcos da Lapa.
Looking at this photo got me thinking about how much I like Lapa. As a neighbourhood it is strongly associated with nightlife and although it certainly does get very lively on the weekends, there are also some great things to see and do during the day. Last weekend we went wandering through the market on Rua do Lavradio, doing some last minute Christmas shopping.
If you think about sport and Brazil, probably the first thing that will come to mind is football. For many people, this country is synonymous with the beautiful game and that’s hardly surprising.
But when I first arrived in Brazil, it was another sport that surprised me. Or perhaps I should call it a ‘sport’. There are quite a few competitive activities that spark arguments over what constitutes sport. Golf is one. Darts, snooker and pool are others. I think it’s fair to say that if you can play your chosen ‘sport’ whilst enjoying a few beers with friends in a bar then it’s more of a game.
Regardless of whether you view it as a sport or not, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and especially the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) are a seriously big deal here in Brazil.
UFC in Brazil – kind of a big deal. In fact the Brazilian Gracie family were involved from the outset, with Rorian being a co-founder and his son Royce being the first ever tournament winner.
A few months after I had settled in Rio, Mrs Eat Rio and I were invited to a meal at a friend’s house. There were 3 couples in total and about half way through the meal, one of the guys checked his watch and announced that it was ‘time’. He turned on the TV and I found myself watching UFC.
Everyone continued their conversations as before, though now the other two guys at the table were glancing up at the TV occasionally and making the odd comment about the fight. Everyone else continued as normal.
Apart from me…
You may have heard that Rio (and several other states in Brazil) was hit hard by rain last week. There was massive flooding which left at least 2 dead and more than 4,000 displaced.
Well I’m happy to report that we had a completely dry (and in fact sunny!) weekend. And this morning I woke early to find that the sun was still shining. In fact the sun looked like it was doing its best to squeeze its way out from under a layer of dark cloud that had shown up over night.
There wasn’t much space, but the sun managed to find a sliver of clear sky.
I’ve lost count of the number of sunrises I’ve watched from my bedroom window. The components are always the same – sun, Sugarloaf, Guanabara Bay, some clouds – after a while you wonder if you’ve seen them all. Then something totally different shows up!
