Final Reflections from Brazil

Location: Brazil

Time: Tuesday, November 2, 2011

In Portuguese, the word “saudade” is unique in that there is no direct equivalent of this word in English. However, the renowned, extremely accurate Wikipedia attempts to explain saudade in the following way:

“Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one loves and which is apart. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return.”

As I spend my last afternoon in São Paulo packing for my bittersweet return trip home to the United States (and trying to figure out how I can smuggle back four bottles of cachaça) – I am starting to understand what this saudade feeling is all about.

I am going to miss Brazil.

But, before I leave, here are some final, brief reflections from my some travels around this ridiculous country:

Culture Club

Now imagine trying to drive through this mess

Let's be honest, most of the world is pretty much Americanized. You can thank (or blame) American movies, rock & roll and the internet - but it seems that American culture has managed to sneak its way into just about every country on this planet.

Brazil is no exception.

Excluding the obvious language differences, Brazil (and São Paulo, especially) has been very heavily influenced by the United States. Lord knows how many times I've crawled into a São Paulo taxi only to have some terrible Katy Perry song blasting back at me. With such a strong influence, it's easy to forget that I'm in a different country all the way on the other side of the planet. So when uniquely Brazilian cultural differences manage to bubble their way to the surface - I tend to take notice.

Here are some of the more recent observations:

Hygiene

Brazilians are extremely hygienic. I'm not saying Americans are smelly and Brazilians aren't (because I've met some smelly Brazilians as well), but I've noticed that Brazilians definitely place a larger emphasis on their personal hygiene than Americans do.

(I should mention that this is aside from the Brazilian proclivity for removing "unsightly" hairs.)

São Paulo: The Ugliest / Nicest City You’ll Ever Meet

(This) x (1,000)

São Paulo.  How do I describe thee?

Well – why don’t we leave it to the experts:

“São Paulo is enormous, intimidating and, at first glance at least, no great beauty – a difficult city for the traveler to master and one that, initially, may not seem worth the sweat.” – Lonely Planet, Brazil

Uhhh...okay then. Let’s try another… 

“[São Paulo] is not a pretty city by any means. In fact, to be honest with you, it’s pretty damned ugly. Big. Crowded. Terrible traffic. A climate, although nice, isn’t exactly the Brazil of dreams… It’s been said, uncharitably, that São Paulo feels like LA threw up on New York.” – Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations

One more try… 

“São Paulo’s reputation tends toward extremes. Enormous wealth coexists with appalling poverty; gleaming skyscrapers loom over crumbling edifices; newspaper headlines are devoted to an uneasy mix of glitzy celebrity parties and violent crime… São Paulo’s jumble of self-contained worlds reflects the ongoing tussle between youthful progress and decaying chaos.” – Time Out, São Paulo

Yes - it’s kind of true, unfortunately. São Paulo, or “Sampa” as the local Paulistanos call it, is a huge, sprawling ugly city. To get an idea of what the city is like, imagine a bunch non-descript whitish-gray apartment complexes and office buildings. Now multiply that image by 1,000 and throw in some shopping malls here and there. That is São Paulo.

Now, while it sounds like I’m shitting on the city, there are many things I’ve got to see and experience in this past week that I actually really loved. So what the city may lack in aesthetics, it makes up with a great personality (much like many ugly girls I know).

So although I’ve only been here a week, here’s a quick list of all the things I’ve loved so far: