Musings Archives - Page 16 of 45

The flag of Brazil

30/07/2013/15 Comments/in Musings

Not long after I arrived in Rio, the flag of Brazil got me into trouble with Mrs Eat Rio. To be more specific, it was the motto written across the flag that got me into trouble. And to be more accurate, it was I who got myself into trouble – the flag and its motto just happened to be there at the time.

We had been waiting for hours in a hot and crowded Cartório (notary office) while our marriage documents were being processed. As I waited (impatiently), I was surprised to see that almost everything was being done on paper – form after form was stamped, signed, copied and filed away in enormous filing cabinets.

Then I noticed the Brazilian flag on the wall and flippantly suggested there was some irony in the motto: Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress). Let’s just say that Mrs Eat Rio wasn’t impressed! Since those early days I have learnt to show a little more respect towards the flag (and motto) of my adopted country.

As a national motto it is aspirational but also rather open to satire. This is from São Paulo’s Os Gemeos.

As flags go, it has to rank right up there as one of the best, don’t you think? Not everyone agrees with me but I like the colours, I like the shapes and I like the star map.

Now a farmer from the wonderfully named town of Parapanema in São Paulo has paid a massive tribute to this much-loved flag. Jacobus Derks planted it!

World Youth Day: Campus Fidei

25/07/2013/2 Comments/in Musings

Hi everyone! Today and tomorrow are public holidays in Rio because of the Pope’s visit, but some of us are still working (though working from home helps soften the blow). So far it’s looking like a great day to stay indoors.

Cold, dark and damp. A cold front is currently affecting much of southern Brazil.

Not much fun if you’re planning to visit the Pope’s Vigil and Final Mass in Campus Fidei (Latin for “Field of faith”) in Guaratiba (an area on the far western outskirts of Rio) this weekend. The sheer scale of this event is impressive. From the World Youth Day website:

The total area of Campus Fidei is 1.36 million m².
4,673 toilets will be provided for pilgrims, of which 270 are adapted for people with physical disabilities.
There will be 615 washbasins, 4,920 water fountains, and 2,016 urinals.
Campus Fidei will also have 33 LED video screens for the audience.
12 million gallons of water will be provided for the event, which will be spread over 177 locations. There will also be a station for wastewater treatment within the grounds of Campus Fidei, to treat water before it enters the sewer.

The Pope, Pilgrims, Protesters and Police.

23/07/2013/18 Comments/in Musings

Rio is a very strange place right now. For the last few days the city has been filling up with tens of thousands of Catholic pilgrims wearing bright yellow “World Youth Day” t-shirts and smiles. By yesterday morning the hordes were everywhere (including my bus to work…) and the feeling of growing excitement was palpable (not that I was sharing in the excitement you understand, but I could still sense it in these groups of frenzied visitors).

Hordes of happy pilgrims have been swarming across the city.

TV Globo broadcast live footage of the Pope’s arrival: nervous last minute preparations at the airport, his plane touching down and finally, after an interminable wait, the man himself. As he made his way down the red carpet he greeted people and everything seemed (to me at least) utterly unremarkable.

Then his car arrived.

The protest at Palácio Guanabara

12/07/2013/42 Comments/in Musings

If any of you follow the Eat Rio Facebook page you may have seen that Mrs Eat Rio and I went along to a protest at Palácio Guanabara last night and things turned pretty nasty. I guess I was going to tell you guys about what happened anyway, but after reading the coverage in O Globo, I feel even more determined to describe events as I saw them.

First of all, why did we go? I wrote a few posts about the wave of protests that spread across the country last month – at the time I broadly supported the issues that were being protested, but I was a little frustrated that most of the protests seemed to start at around 4pm, so by the time I had finished work they had mostly petered out. When I arrived into town from work last night, I heard that there was a protest against Rio State Governor, Sérgio Cabral. Cabral’s dishonesty and corruption are well known in Rio (and beyond) and I thought it a worthy issue to protest.

The protest itself centred around Palácio Guanabara, the headquarters of the Rio State government – it’s a beautiful building that was recently refurbished at a cost of R$19 million. As we arrived the scene was startling – this splendid cream building with row after row of heavily armed riot police lined up in front.

Row upon row of heavily armed police guarding the resplendent Guanabara Palace.

There was a fairly modest crowd milling around and a slight whiff of tear gas (something I had never experienced before – this would change dramatically before the end of the night).

Photo Post: Cristo across the water

11/07/2013/2 Comments/in Musings

I don’t care how long you’ve lived in Rio, I can’t believe you ever get used to the spectacular views. You can forget about them for a while, I’m sure, but when you turn a corner and see something like this, how can you fail to be impressed?

[I put this image in a lightbox, so if you click it you can see it nice and big – check it out!]

Cristo Redentor – a great work of art.

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