And The Soap Opera Played On
13 June 2005 (Monday) – Porto Alegre, Brazil
I thought we would arrive at 7+am and had informed Michele (my host in Porto Alegre) so. Instead, we pulled up at the Porto Alegre‘s Bus Terminal at 5am. That was too early to go to Michele’s apartment. So, I just sat in the Bus Terminal and waited. Actually, I sat and observed all the people around me, and listened to the strange language which I could not understand a word. Yes, I am in Brazil! Hmmm… I had forgotten my Portuguese phrase book. I would manage, I supposed, but at this point, I could not recall any Portuguese words that I had known before.
I reached Michele’s apartment at 7am and as she was hurrying to work, she just managed to briefly explain certain things in her house before she gave me the key and said she would be back by 9pm. So, it was now my turn to be at home on time for her.
After she left, my system started to shut down. Although I had slept very well on the bus, I think I slept too much and wanted to continue sleeping! So, I dragged out the mattress and fell asleep immediately for a few hours.
When I woke up, it was raining. Guilt-stricken at wasting my day today, I headed out for a walk, without any particular destination in mind and just meandered around the city centre.
Soon, I found a buffet in town for about R6.20. Ah, buffet in Brazil… it’s great!!! There are those buffet por quilo/kilo (buffet by weight) where you pay based on how much food you place on the plate. And also, there are those regular buffets such as this — eat-all-you-want buffet for Rxx. I took a look at the spread and started to salivate. There were a lot more variety of food here in Brazil in terms of vegetables and meat and fruits. Gorgeous gorgeous food.
It was still pattering away with rain when I left the restaurant. I criss-crossed around the city and happened upon the red-light street by mistake… the women in hot pants looked horrible, with thick chunky thighs and awful hair and make-up. Er… are they women in the first place? Argh, but they seemed to start early as it was only, what, 2pm or so. God certainly did not create these women. Thank goodness, I had my umbrella with me to shield myself from them, in case I found myself staring. Heh heh.
Porto Alegre is a rather average-looking city, full of undulating streets, some of which were pretty steep. There are not too many touristy sights in town. To visit the nice places, you had to get out of the city. Anyway, I just needed a place to break the journey from Buenos Aires to somewhere up north in Brazil. I enjoyed myself (rather mildly) wandering around in the rain and getting to know the city a little.
But I felt really stupid because here, I really could not communicate with anyone and indeed, some people did try to talk to me. I had to use trial-and-error for these few days until I figure out the Portuguese words.
Brazil is fruit juice paradise. And yet, I even forgot the word for ‘juice’. I asked for ‘jugo’ (juice in Spanish) and the waiter stared at me, all confused. I flustered and fumbled and finally managed ‘suco’. Well, I was also trying to figure out all the various fruit names by studying the menu. I think the words are coming back to me. I love fruit juices and I think I will just hydrate myself with fruit juices here in Brazil. I should look radiant and stunning by the time I crawl out of the Amazon Jungle in a few weeks’ time.
Ah, Brazilian tele-novellas or soap operas on prime-time TV. During my previous visit here, I had managed to catch a few episodes, sometimes even following the storyline a little, by watching TV at restaurants or at the rodoviarias (bus stations). Besides football matches, Brazilians are very fond of and proud of their soap operas. Michele is one of them. She explained to me part of the saga here on TV – this lady is in love with this man, who 20 years ago, had an affair with her mother, and her mother later met this man by chance and they became lovers again, but all 3 have no idea about one another, and then, the lady went to declare her love for the man, and her mother found out about it, but she did not know the culprit was her daughter, and jealously confronted the man, and the man, who loves the mother, not the daughter, got fed up with the mother with her quarrels, so he left her, and started to go out with the daughter.
Stay tuned…
Tags: 02) And God Created Brazilian Women, Porto Alegre
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