Waterfalls and Cachaca shots

Oi gente! Hello everyone!

After nearly 3 weeks here and after posting many envious photos, I thought that it was time to fill you in on my time here and how different everything is living in the southern hemisphere.

So I'll get rid of the bit you will all hate first. It is SO HOT. Whilst you in the UK are dealing with annoying snow showers and subzero temperatures, Belo Horizonte has been graced with sun, sun and more sun. Since I've been here its got to be averaging about 35C. As I am writing this at 23.37pm its 29C. Although most of you will be envious, I have an admission to make. I wish it was colder. I left Germany with -6C and the UK with frosty 2C so adapting to this heat is difficult to say the least. I may have made a name for myself in Heidelberg as "The Naked Tuxedo Man" but here its more like "The Sweaty Foreigner". You know its bad when people know you're a foreigner, purely because you are turning in to a puddle right in front of them. Not a great first impression.

Anyway enough of that.

Time to fill you in on some observations I have made whilst here about Belo Horizonte and Brazil on the whole.

1) As I mentioned in my last blog, the buses are terrifying. Motorists here are kind of like abstract artists: they hate staying in the lines. Literally cars bombing it down the road at 70mph, zebra crossings are more like striped targets for pedestrians and the bus doors open whilst still driving at like 40mph. I've never longed more for the good old 403 and its gentle ways. Getting a cab is actually worse than the bus. Imagine a mixture of Grand Theft Auto, Formula 1 and Wacky Races. Dick Dastardly and Mutley would be seen as learner drivers here. And at least the fares are relatively cheap when travelling at lightspeed down the highway.

2) People are very helpful here. One woman got on the wrong bus and walked with us for about 10 minutes to make sure we got in a cab straight in to town. Another kind gesture which completely threw me was when I was on a bus rollercoaster ride back from town. I was standing ( well trying to anyway. Its like trying to stand on a bucking broncho) on the bus when a woman offered to take my bag on her lap. This bag contained my passport, visa, wallet, iphone and all my paperwork but I just handed it over. Its sounds crazy I know but I'd been told by many people that this is just the thing to do for people if you are sitting down on a busy bus. The girls were shocked by how nonchalent I was about handing over my worldly possessions but honestly if she had tried to steal my bag, she would  have to have been the Hulk to run through me and about 4000 brazilians all packed in to this bus like sardines. So if this happens to you in Brazil, don't freak out.

3) I started uni this week and the classes are just incomprehensible to me. It's not the portuguese, I'm actually understanding a suprising amount, its the fact that everything is so relaxed. Students walk in and out whenever they want to do whatever they desire : get a drink, get an early lunch, go for a cigarette, talk to their friends outside, the list continues. One girl walked outside, listened to her ipod for about 10 mins outside the door and then came back in. And the teachers just don't even care. Very very strange.

4) They are big on security here. We live in Jaraguá, a very nice neighbourhood, but all of the houses have gates, padlocks, electric fences, the works. Luckily my house doesnt feel or look like Fort Knox compared to some houses around here. Also when we went to the bank, there were metal detectors and 4 armed guards in the equivalent of the local Natwest. Major overkill to me but definitely made me think twice about robbing the bank.

5) You may remember me saying that in Germany, people seemed very prudish and public displays of affection were near non-existent. Well its the complete opposite here in Brazil.Though a very conservative country, Brazil seems to be quite sexually liberated. Public displays of affection are huge here and seems sometimes like these couples haven't eaten dinner for a while since they are eating each others faces. Clubbing here makes Tiger Tiger Croydon look like Sunday Mass.

6) You know when you have drinks and you say "Cheers", it is considered bad luck not to look people in the eyes right? Well we found out last night from a Brazilian friend that it has a very different meaning here. It turns out having friendly eye contact gives the impression of wanting to be "very friendly". So all I know is that I've apparently been coming across as a sexual predator to all the new people I've met. Nice.

7) SUPERMARKETS. They have become the bane of my existence in Belo Horizonte. It doesn't matter what time of day you go to the supermarket, whether for a weekly shop or a quick bag of crisps, you WILL wait in line for 30 minutes, regardless how busy it is. I have never been in a place where the queues take so long. The cashiers just stop when they don't feel like it, they get up and go on breaks without warning and occasionally have a good 10 minute chat with their friend, while both queues build up. Mental.

8) There are a lot of English words in Portuguese as there are in many languages. But instead of pronouncing them the way they should be, Brazilians have developed a way of making these words sound more Portuguese but a little bit ridiculous. Some examples that I found hilarious are "faceybooky" "youtubey" "hip-y hop-y"  "funk-y" and my personal favourite "rap-y" which in Portuguese is pronounced as "happy". So saying you like listening to "happy" whilst browsing "faceybooky" and "youtubey" is completely normal here.

9) Brazil truly is a beautiful country. Last Sunday, instead of getting drunk on St. Patricks Day, we decided to go to the countryside and see a waterfall. We were expecting a slight hike and then hours spent lounging by natural beauty. Instead we hiked up mountains and down rock faces for like 2 hours in 35C heat. Finally we found the waterfall and after much complaining, swearing and many "I'm sure we're going to die here" comments (from the girls! :) ), it definitely was worth it. Incredibly beautiful and not many people have the chance to casually spend their sunday afternoon relaxing by a waterfall. (Also from the pictures, we were half way down the mountain when we took these so imagine how high we climbed!)

10) Lastly, one thing I have realised about going on a year abroad is that when you move to a new country, you have have have to decide what your name is going to be. This may sound strange but for example coming to Brazil, I realised that I would have to be called "André". This may sound a bit pretentious but its the only option I have. Brazilians can't seem to pronounce the w in Andrew and if I used Andy like I did in Germany, it actually gets pronounced as "Angie". Since I don't want to become accustomed to the name of 40 year old woman, I think "André" will have to do.


Right well thats about all for now. I am going to Rio de Janeiro on Thursday for the weekend so I'm sure to take lots of pictures and there will be another post soon!





Andy C

Bem-Vindos ao Brasil!

Ola! Bem-vindos ao Brasil! It’s the one you’ve all been anxiously waiting for: my first Brazil post. Well maybe not anxiously….or even waiting for but anyway it’s here! Right where to begin…….

So I left Heathrow on Saturday evening and flew overnight to São Paulo which was not the most comfortable 12 hour flight. Being 6’3” I can’t exactly sleep comfortably on a plane. I felt like a giant in a kid’s seat. It just doesn’t work comfortably. Anyway when I arrived at São Paulo airport, I got speaking to a really nice old man while I was waiting for my bags. He asked me what I was doing, why was I in Brazil etc. and just being a genuinely nice old man. I explained that my Portuguese wasn’t very good so he would have to speak slowly.  He then began to rattle off in rapid Portuguese for about 5 minutes. I did not understand one bit of it. Just to remind you that this was 6am at this point. And I'm not really a morning person so my comprehension of Portuguese was near non-existent.  It really filled me with confidence about the next 5 months.  It wasn’t until he was holding out his hand and then clicking his fingers, that I realised that this rambling was a ploy to get some money out of me, which of course having just landed, I had none. I explained this to him and he then stormed off looking really hurt. He genuinely gave me a look as if I had really betrayed him. Standard Brit, always making friends abroad. So having been in Brazil for about 5 minutes, I’ve already pissed off a local. This is looking good. 

I then had to wait 4 hours for my connecting flight to Belo Horizonte but after absolutely no hassle at immigration (I was expecting a mini interrogation) and barely a glance at my visa, I boarded the plane and arrived an hour late to Aeroporto Confins in Belo Horizonte. Finally having navigated my way around all these airports at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, I arrived at the airport shuttle from Aeroporto Confins to Aeroporto Pampulha. I just made the bus with 3 minutes to spare and I was looking forward to being able to soak in the Brazilian countryside and take some nice pictures. That would have happened if I had not just boarded the scariest rollercoaster of my life. For those of you that have been to Thorpe Park, imagine Colossus, Stealth and Nemesis all bundled together. We were going about 100mph down the motorway, practically doing hand brake turns off the motorway. It was not the tranquil ride I was expecting.  Buses in Brazil are crazy.  After driving past farmland and a few favelas, I was wondering whether Nottingham had actually sold me down the river and the film “City of God” was actually going to become my reality, we come up a hill (well more like flew at this point) and this giant city appears out of nowhere.  Luckily the bus dropped me off at Pampulha airport in one piece!

When I arrived at Aeroporto Pampulha, a relatively small airport, similar to something like Biggin Hill, I was instructed by my host “father” or “meu pai hospedeiro” to get in a taxi, the house is about 2km away from the airport, not far at all. I approached the taxi rink where 4 large Brazilian men, wearing gold medallions and only 2 buttons done up on their shirts between them and looking like something straight out of the Sopranos proceeded to tell me that my road, Rua Francisco Proença, didn’t exist. I feel ashamed to admit but all I could think was “Why don’t any of you have a satnav?” (#firstworldproblems I know).  However after about 10 minutes of debate, one of the men got out a map and finally found it and another white knuckle ride ensued.  I arrived at my house and after ringing the doorbell repeatedly and calling the house phone, I realised no one was in. It turns out that my host parents are currently on a cruise and all of my housemates had gone to the market. After about 10 minutes of blind panic, imagining me waiting outside this house until the night, the girls finally returned from the market and welcomed me with open arms. As the only male lodger of 8 and to much envy from the girls, I was awarded the best room in the house with the most spectacular view of the city and the mountains in the background. Picturesque doesn’t even do it justice. 

After settling in, I was immersed in Brazilian culture which is mostly revolved around food. The two American girls, Rachel and Neri, whose Portuguese is so incredible they can pass as Brazilians and Simone, the actual Brazilian, also known as our “mães brasileiras” or Brazilian mothers made us a traditional Brazilian meal of estrogonofe (chicken, rice and veggies) and then for dessert, we had brigadeiros. Brigadeiros are like a chocolate mousse which you leave in the fridge, then you cover your hands in butter, grab a ball of the mousse, roll it in your hands then dip it in chocolate sprinkles. It is the messiest and tastiest food I think I’ve ever eaten. The girls then made us the traditional drink “Caipirinha”. With lime, sugar, ice and a whole lot of cachaça, you would expect the usual Andrew Chalmers to be raring to go out and drink some bar dry. Unfortunately the lack of sleep during the previous 36 hours hit me hard and I went straight to bed.  It’s a hard life being a student!

When I woke up the next morning, the house cleaner was in. I found out that it is very common, even amongst lower class families, to have a house cleaner that comes a few times in the week.  I went downstairs and was offered Café de mañha which was coffee, bread, homemade “Pan do queijo” (literally cheese bread) and some fruit. I replied with “Obrigado” or thank you then went outside to speak to the girls quickly. When I returned for my breakfast, it had disappeared.  It turns out that when you are offered food or drink and reply with “Obrigado”, it actually means something like “thanks but no thanks”. Having probably offended another Brazilian in the space of 24 hours especially since she had made the cheese bread herself, Rachel explained to her what happened, I had my breakfast and went to thank her. She seemed very pleased and then showed me how she had completely tidied my room despite me apparently disregarding her cooking!


Well thats about it. I'll try and get some more jealousy provoking pictures for you all when I have a decent internet connection.

So in conclusion: I’m loving it here, it’s hot, the people are incredible and so is the food, and slowly but surely:  I’m pissing off one local at a time.

Andy C