Pneus

A Mercedes van filled with 10 Americans and 20 suitcases of our material possessions made its way from the airport in Salvador to the Marazul hotel, a ride lasting about an hour. Class readings and discussions in our Portuguese classes at Georgetown touched upon the reality that we would experience while traveling, but seeing the situation in person left me speechless; at least for most of the ride.

On the left of our van were brand new white apartment complexes that towered over the surrounding area. On the right of our van were numerous favelas, which can somewhat be described as shantytowns often close in proximity to many upper-class neighborhoods and often interspersed throughout Brazilian cities. Favelas have a grim reputation of being extremely dangerous, and while this is not true of all favelas the reputation exists for good reason. The road acted as a dividing line between the two; but on both sides of this superficial barrier, similar activities were occurring. People were smiling; children were playing futebol in the streets and in parks; rythmic brazilian music was blasting from small food stands and cars along the street; and people otherwise seemed content enjoying the beautiful weather and calm atmosphere.

While quietly absorbing the sights and sounds of this unfathomable contrast, that while existent is much less blatant in the States, I saw something that stood out amongst the local scenery and burst into laughter: a giant Pneus. Pneus, simply meaning tire, is a common sign seen from the side of road. Every time I see a Pneus store and try to pronounce the word in my head, I can’t help but laugh. While this shows that I obviously still have some growing up to do, it has also enabled me to create an analogy to help describe how I fit into this beautiful land of contrasts.

To the locals, I stand out like a Pneus store. While this is due to various reasons, the first and most obvious reason is that I am blonde and have blue eyes. This city has a long history of profound involvement in the slave trade in the colonial period. As a result, most of the people of Salvador are of African descent, and thus have dark skin, in contrast to the people of the South that are known for their fair skin and a Gaucho culture more akin to that of Argentina. The second is dress. People here are very comfortable not wearing a lot of clothing because of the balmy weather. At the beach I wear an American bathing suit that prevents my thighs from ever seeing the light of day, while Brazilians wear, for a lack of a better term, skimpier bathing suits.
The culture of the Brazilian north is one of openness, people here wear speedos and Brazilian bikinis, which are cut to be more revealing than American bikinis, no matter how in shape they are. While I greatly admire their confidence, I have yet to buy a speedo. Futhermore, while they wear less clothes at the beach, they more often than not wear more clothes at night. The temperature is about the same everyday, falling somewhere between 80 and 85 degrees. People here sometimes complain that it’s cold if a breeze blows by at night. Many days when I wear shorts, locals wear jeans since they are not accustomed to temperatures lower than 70 degrees.

Since I am obviously a gringo in every sense of the word, I receive a lot of bemused looks from the locals and unfortunately my fair share of unwanted attention. Venders and taxi drivers sometimes raise their prices if they hear a customer speaking English, and people become somewhat aggressive in trying to get a gringo to buy their goods or come into their shop. Homeless people, many of which are unfortunately victims of the crack epidemic here, are also more aggressive with gringos and try to take advantage of them. Most gringos like me haven’t seen such blatant poverty and might be more easily coerced into giving money to people who live on the street.

Although it can be somewhat uncomfortable, it has been getting easier to deal with people looking at me the way I look at the Pneus signs. Brazilians, particularly my host family, are extremely friendly and accommodating people, and seem to take everything in stride. Everyone, in all levels of society, knows how to relax and live life to the fullest. For now, I need to grab a caipirinha, head to the beach and learn how to be a little more brasileiro.