Hi Mum, Still Not Robbed At Gunpoint

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Bom dia,

I have been in Brazil for the last few days since taking the Expreso Oriente train from Santa Cruz in Bolivia across the Pantanal to Quijarro and crossing to Corumba, a tiny border town in Brazil´s south west. Crossing from Bolivia we stayed overnight in Corumba, which seems like a pretty laid back, nice little town right on the Pantanal, then took a bus seven hours east to Campo Grande where we took part in traditional Brazilian festivities including staying in bed to watch under 17s footie (brazil thrashed north korea 6-1), visiting a large, shiny, air conditioned shopping mall and eating a mcDonalds, the first one I have seen in South America. Alexis is a bad man and has been making me eat a lot of hamburguesas, hot dogs, and drink more coke. He is my feeder.

It is striking how different brazil and bolivia are. Firstly, obviously their economies are quite different and that shows. But how can two countries sharing the same bit of land, and borders, be so unlike one another - how can one side be rich and the other poor, in their starkest terms? Even as we walked from the train station in Quijarro on the Bolivian side, after our 15 hour train journey, to the Bolivian immigration office to be stamped out, I noticed a series of brand new Polo cars with blacked out windows pass through. We couldnt find a way to get into Corumba so we took a cab, which cost us an astounding US$15 ! I know we got royally fucked over but even so! Then our hotel room cost 35 reais, and our bus tickets to Campo Grande cost 80 odd reais. Im still absorbing the shock of such extravagance, coming from three months in Bolivia where I must have travelled the country for less than UK Pounds 100.

The other thing I noticed was the difference in basic services and infrastructure. As soon as we were on the road in Brazil, I noticed that all the buildings and houses were finished. FINISHED! In Bolivia only the richest people seem to live in buildings that have been fully built: its normal to see houses with the top floor finished and lived in, and the middle floor a concrete shell held up by bamboo or wood sticks. But all the buildings here are finished and painted. Motorcyclists are all sporting helmets - and there are only one or two people on a bike at any time, rather than the standard three or family saloon style four on one bike as per Bolivia. The variety of cars here reflects a strong import industry from Europe and the rows of shiny clean Audis outside the shopping mall was bizarre after coming from Bolivia, which has beither American style shopping malls or Audis (not that I saw). As for the buses: here you dont just turn up, buy the cheapest ticket for the dodgiest bus and go like in Bolivia. You buy in advance, and you expect air conditioning as standard. The buses are all shiny big coaches, not little local tin cans with windows providing actual air as air~con. And theres no standing in the aisles or carrying on livestock. The roads here are tarmac as well. And there are no toddlers peddling empanadas on the bus before you go and every time the bus stops. In fact, everything seems to run smoothly and cleanly. Im not sure I like it! Im used to the craziness of Bolivian transport and it has its merits. And its infinitely cheaper.

Consumerism oddly makes a stop at the Brazilian border and hasnt really infected Bolivia, save for maybe Santa Cruz which has its share of large Hummers and posh cocktail establishments and snooty staff. If a Bolivian person visited Brazil, I think they´d be stunned and possibly a bit pissed off: bolivians are mostly aware of the stuff and the opportunities people in the first world, as bolivians insist on referring to, have - but seeing the sort of lifestyle their brazilian neighbours enjoy would probably be very frustrating. Prosperity and accessibility thereof of an order unknown to the majority of Bolivians, is obvious in Brazil and after spending a lot of time in Bolivia, even to the European it feels bizarre, a bit uncomfortable, a lot american and not entirely preferable. But nonetheless its interesting and I enjoyed my mcChicken sandwich immensely. But I could connect to Bolivia in a way I dont feel I will connect to Brazil and a part of that is that life just feels too easy here - aside from my constant paranoia about being robbed at gunpoint.

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