South Brazil – Que Maravilhosa!

I’m currently in Guarda Do Embau, which is just a hop away from Florianopolis in the south of Brazil. I’m staying in a pousada (a minimal beach hotel of sorts) and after two days of rain (Droga!) the skies cleared yesterday to reveal an absolutely marvelous scene. At night, despite the rain, the bars in this small surf town are packed with Brazilians listening to live music… mostly reggae covers and brazilian music that everyone seems to know the words to (except me!). We befriended the guy (Boca) next door in the Pousada and since his girlfriend had to leave early, he’s joined our group, and it’s like we’ve been friends for years. While I’ve seen this elsewhere, it’s the way Brazilians act towards people they’ve just met (waiters, taxi drivers, grocery clerks, new friends) that I can’t get over. There is almost no difference in the way they talk to them versus the way they talk to long-time friends. I love it and if I could bring back one thing to the States, this would be it. Its almost the exact opposite of what I find in Seattle. This place is crawling with Argentinians too… The men are easily identified with their mullet-like haircuts. I can’t understand how this style is popular. I met a few Argentinian girls who were very friendly (and gorgeous), but we soon realized that conversation was nearly impossible at any sort of bearable speed. Whoever said that Spanish and Portuguese are so similar hasn’t been to Argentina. Holy cow. I managed with our Argentinian waitress later, but with these girls… it was just awkward. Anything more than slowly getting main points across seems to be beyond me. Even my Brazilian friends say they can’t follow Argentinians at their normal speed of Spanish. This makes me sad because I had thought I would have an easy time with Spanish. I’m headed to Buenos Aires in less than two weeks and I am going to be screwed. My Portuguese is getting pretty decent too. I watched my first movie in Portuguese (without subtitles) and could follow along pretty well. Rodrigo just read this and made me translate it verbally in Portuguese. Not bad. It’s largely because of his patience that I’ve learned as much as I have. Truly a unique friend.