this modern life

I woke up today covered in bugbites from some unknown critter that lives in the room and feeds on me everynight. No one else in the house has this problem - it must be my rich foreign blood. But immediately it calls to mind the expression of sleeping tight and not letting the bedbugs bite, to which I´ve been puzzling over how one sleeps tight, and how exactly you can not "let" them bite you. I guess eventually the bastard will get full. I´m trying to eat lots of fat to clog his little bloodsucking head.

As everyone is probably aware, the US is now officially out of the World Cup as they were defeated by Ghana. I recieved little consolation here, as it was also the day of the third game of Brasil. For the occassion, friends had a churrasco (read: brasilian bbq) for which we purchased some 30 pounds of assorted meat (and god knows how many beers). Everyone tried to cram into a room to watch the game, but when space was exhausted the remaining sat outside with the back door open. At churrasco´s, you eat the meat as it comes off the grill - the food is passed around on a plate so you don´t actually realize how many pounds you´ve eaten. After the game had ended, a stereo was brought with forró and samba, with everyone dancing - but only for a short time, as three men arrived with two drums and a banjo (four string, alto, more similar to the brasilian cavaquinho) and begun playing pagode and samba. The music must have been traditional in some respect as everyone knew the words and sang along, and the players never let up and would begin the next song immediately after the last. Placed in a different context, witnessing this unified cultural identity is akin to something you might have seen in the United States in the 1930´s. The intergenerational bonds and strong culture has withstood the onslaught of consumerism, at least for the moment. Perhaps the unquenching desire for something new, something different, is a result of the creation of a society that requires it´s subjects to always want to throw out and replace, and maybe the people here with less to spend don´t have that possibility - I´ve yet to see a spontaneous display of pagode in middle class Brasil.

The other day we were commuting "home" from a project site. The sky was already darkenening, and we had to dispatch from one bus and walk along a highway to the second point. The air was cool and dry - normal for this time of year - and I crowded along with everyone at the bus stop, which was actually just an area on the side of the freeway filled with people. The highway has been paved over the natural terra of this state, which is a hard packed red earth, and the side of the road ended with a 3 foot sharp embankment to a large area of this alien dirt, scattered with trash. Behind me sat a large building with a neon sign of "Motel Caribe." People stood waiting along the edge of the road, careful to step out of the bus when it arrived, or the occassional unmarked unofficial taxi that would stop and shout out the name of the destination as people crowded around and into the seats. Occassionally a donkey and cart would pass, the drivers standing up with the utmost attention as cars passed around them at breakneck speeds. Many of the people standing around wore clothing in english - Chicago Bulls, Mickey Mouse, Nirvana - but I don´t think they spoke the language. After about 30 minutes the bus arrived, and we overfilled it standing packed together, holding on as every turn and jerk could send the unsecured passenger flying, for the 30 minute bus ride back to Liberdade.

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