Books: O Conde d'Abranhos e A Catástrofe, Eça de Queirós

I've got terribly behind on my book posts, so this is the first of a few catch-ups. Since I wrote last time about Eça's A Cidade e as Serras, I've read three more Eça volumes, and part of another.

The first was O Mandarim, a tiny novella. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it before leaving for Brazil, so the post will have to wait (you can either believe it's because I like doing things properly, or because it's a convenient excuse for delaying writing the post...).

The second was this, O Conde d'Abranhos e A Catástrofe. It is in fact two works, which seem to be conventionally published together in one volume. The first is quite substantial, and the second only a few pages long. Both are examples of Eça's work at its most political. O Conde d'Abranhos tells the story of - you guessed it - the Count of Abranhos. For most of the story he isn't a Count at all, rather Alípio, a young man climbing the greasy pole of Portuguese politics. As so often in Eça, we have a hilariously slanted account from the narrator, who criticises or praises certain characters and their actions entirely depending on their relationship with the Count. Sometimes the satire drips from the page; at other times it's more subtle. There's never any doubt, though; Eça does not approve of this section of society. Although most of the story revolves around politics - involving intrigues such as Alípio changing party and denouncing former colleagues - there are some compelling episodes of a more personal nature, such as his courting of his wife, in which he demonstrates the same astuteness (or cold-hearted calculation) that dominates his career. The novel gives a very interesting insight into the political climate at the time, being written in 1878 - although not published until 1925. And, inevitably, reading it gives one a sense of politics, and politicians, not having changed much deep down, during many decades and across countries.

A Catástrofe (yes, that's The Catastrophe for any anglophones) gives a brief picture of life in an imagined 19th century Portugal after an invasion by an unnamed foreign power. Eça bemoans the lack of preparation which allowed the Portuguese forces to be overcome quickly, with the associated loss of national pride, although he also portrays the people's resolve to reclaim their independence. The clear implication is that the (real) government needs to act to prepare Portugal better for future threats.

This wasn't my favourite Eça book so far, but I enjoyed getting a feel for the more political side of his work. The beautiful written style and cleverly portrayed characters mean it's always a pleasure to read Eça. I recommend this volume if you really want to go deeper than the most famous novels, or if you're into political satire.

O Brasil não tem igual

Or, Brazil has no equals

Hello dear readers! Thank you for staying with me. I rather fear that this will turn out to be another less interesting post, but who knows? Maybe you'll find something entertaining...

Looking towards the Pelourinho

Since I last wrote a diary post, I have mainly been concentrating on getting my research done. Progress has been good, and I'm now three quarters of the way through the first stage (interviewing people). Transcribing and analysing all the material will take a very long time, probably stretching into the summer, but the main thing while I'm here is to gather it in the first place. And it has been great fun. I've met a lot of very friendly people - a special mention must go to the wonderful Lucas who frequently knocks on my door, bringing me participants - and I have been pleasantly surprised by how willing people are to give up their time to help me.

So, that's what I've been doing during most of the weekdays. Apart from that, last week I covered a couple of Malika's English conversation classes, while she was travelling with her father, and blagged my way into a Masters' level class on inter-cultural linguistic perspectives at the university, where I was promptly asked to come back next week and present a paper, joint with a genuine student... the things that happen to me...

The Mercado Modelo is the large yellowish building just behind the Elevator (foreground)

Last weekend, after writing my last diary post, I went out to the Mercado Modelo, which reminded me of Oxford's covered market, except only selling various types of touristy souvenirs... It was worth seeing it, but not worth spending long there. It's easy to reach from the Cidade Alta (high part of the city) using the Lacerda elevator, which I think is quite fun, even though it's a normal lift - possibly because it feels like you're going on a mini-adventure... paying 15 cents (about 4p), going through the turnstile, queueing up... maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I had a very quiet Sunday. I was feeling very tired, probably because of my brush with a tropical disease (I'm now thankfully fully recovered). Around lunchtime I walked through to the Praça da Sé area and looked at some of the statues, drank a coconut, watched the world go by, and in sum, relaxed. I also got a bit of transcription done in the evening.

Inside the Mercado Modelo

A statue of Brazilian hero Zumbi dos Palmares

Moving swiftly on to this weekend, since you already know about the intervening days, I had a much busier Saturday. It started off with an event organised by Malika's language school which was about foreign exchanges. First the school's director talked at some length about Paraguay, then a company advertised their organised exchanges, then Malika (with some extra input from me) gave a short presentation about education in England, which she'd been asked to do by the director. It was slightly unclear how the event as a whole was meant to fit together... but it was an interesting way to pass a couple of hours.

Roda gigante/Ferris wheel at Barra

Barra beach

Afterwards, Malika and I had lunch from a favoured kilo restaurant, then got the bus to Barra, where she was teaching a class. I took the tough option of spending the afternoon on the beach - after a trip on a ferris wheel! It was warm, sunny (but not too sunny) and very pleasant to spend a while swimming and chatting to friendly Brazilians, one of whom gave me this week's title quotation, and another of whom tried unsuccessfully to convince me that I needed a boyfriend in Brazil, and that it should be him... Ahem. After meeting Malika again, we had a quick snack - I tried açai, a sorbet made of the famous superfood berries - then went to meet Malika's father at Jam no MAM. Again, the concert did not disappoint! It's great to be able to go to such amazing musical events so easily.

At Jam no MAM

Sunday was been another quiet day. Nothing much seems to happen on Sundays here - the shops don't open and there is generally less going on in the streets. However, in the morning there was a special religious procession, which I saw very near to the pousada - good stuff! I made pancakes for lunch (yay) then had another relaxing afternoon, got some admin done, and made enough vegetable soup for several days. In the evening I chatted to Malika and to a couple from Rio who are staying here at the moment. They are capoeiristas - meaning they perform as part of a Brazilian tradition which is probably best explained by saying it's a cross between a martial art and a dance. With luck I'll be able to go and watch on Friday.

Part of the procession

And another part of the procession

In case any of you are getting bored of the multicoloured streets of Salvador appearing in my photos, I can reveal that soon there will be a change of scene - I will be visiting Rio de Janeiro in early June. How very exciting! But in the meantime, I have another week of research, and a syntax conference to attend - there's never a dull moment.

Bonus appearance by the lighthouse at Barra

As ever, thank you for reading.

Salvador, two weeks in: five things I love, and five things I don't

Since I have a lot of opinions about Salvador, I thought I'd put them here in a classic listicle format for your reading pleasure...

"Temos coco gelado" - nothing better than cool coconut water

This is meant to be light-hearted, not deep criticism of a city/country I barely know, and definitely not sociological commentary. Please don't take me too seriously!

Five things I love:

1. Tropical fruit. It's delicious, cheap, and also comes in juice form... So far I've had, among others, umbu, acerola, cajá, pinha, goiava (guava), maracujá (passion fruit), ananás (pineapple), and lots of manga (mango), as well as the obligatory coconut water fresh from a green coconut. And there are still plenty more I can look forward to!

2. The people here. Nearly everyone I've met has been friendly and chatty. People are willing to talk to strangers and freely share their knowledge and experience. All of this makes going about your daily business really pleasant.

3. The architecture in the historical centre. This is such a cliché - if people have one mental image of Salvador, it's probably of beautiful, brightly-coloured, colonial-style houses lining steep cobbled streets. And some parts of town (the Pelourinho area and Santo António Além do Carmo, where I live) really are like this.

Photogenic streets

4. The beach at Porto de Barra. When I was preparing for this trip, my 'back-up plan' was that if my research didn't go well, I would spend all the time on the beach. In retrospect, the weather means that was a ridiculously naive idea. But on the two occasions I have been to the beach so far, Porto de Barra has been lovely. I'd happily spend more time there!

5. The chance to challenge myself and discover new things. So far things haven't all been as I expected - and not always for the better. But I'm trying to get the most out of this experience that I can, by finding solutions to my problems and not getting bogged down in the smaller worries.

Stormy skies

Having said that, though, I would like to give a balanced view of life, rather than just choosing the good bits. So here are five things I don't love:

1. The climate - it's the winter, so it's raining a lot, it gets dark early (around 5pm), everything is constantly damp, it's humid, there are mosquitos everywhere, and I still managed to get sunburnt while wearing factor 50 suncream.

2. The crazy traffic - including traffic jams, and some of the worst driving I've ever seen. Most drivers are seemingly unaware that their cars include a special feature known as "indicators". And pedestrian crossings are an optional decoration, whether the traffic lights are red or green.

3. Security paranoia. Everyone is scared of robberies and violence, particularly at night, with the inevitable result that it's easy to feel threatened after dark, regardless of how (un)likely it is that anything will happen at 5.30pm in a busy street. It's hard to know whether Salvador deserves its reputation as a violent city, but I'm not taking any chances.

4. Cat-calling. Maybe this is the flip-side of the friendliness. It annoys me in the UK too, but it doesn't happen anything like as frequently there as here. Yes, the words "hello beautiful, smile!" are theoretically friendly, but if you're a complete stranger, I don't want to hear it as I walk past you, and if you persist in making that horrid kissy noise, I'll just ignore you.

5. Lack of information about buses. Oh, you want to get on a bus home? If you're lucky, you'll find a helpful "ônibus" sign at the side of the road, with an accompanying queue of people. Then simply wait between 30 seconds and 30 minutes and hope that a bus turns up. Then try to guess where it's going from the arbitrary selection of stops written on the side of it. There's no way of telling whether buses going to other places will come along to your stop, or not... so good luck!

My new friend

In all seriousness though, things are going well, and I'm learning a lot about this forever surprising place. And look, I even made a friend!

A chuva não tem graça não

Or, this rain's no fun

I feel like I don't have very much to write about from the last week and a bit. Much of the time it has been very rainy and I've stayed inside a lot. Having said that, though, I have done a few fun things to tell you about!

Salvador from near the lighthouse at Barra

Picking up where I left off last week... I found the swimming pool on Thursday, which was great, then had a relaxed afternoon and evening, sorting things out and avoiding the rain. On Friday morning I went into UFBA early, and met up with Malika. We had a juice at the French institute with a beautiful view over the bay, did some errands, and later went for lunch at a 'kilo restaurant' - an excellent system where you choose whatever quantity you want from a series of hot dishes, and pay for the weight. Later I visited a cultural event at UFBA's architecture faculty, where there were various craft stalls and fun workshops. I spent the evening packing up my things and chatting to the family.

Looking out to sea

On Saturday I moved into Salvador itself - I'm now staying in a sweet local guest-house where Malika is living. The landlady is really friendly and has made me very welcome. I spent most of the afternoon settling in and relaxing. Then in the evening we went out to the Museum of Modern Art where there was a jazz concert, called Jam no MAM. It was really good fun. Then we had a lazy Sunday - we baked a (delicious) cake, drank lots of juice in the Pelourinho, sat on the roof... In the evening one of Malika's friends also took us out for a bit of sightseeing round Ribeira and Barra, which was fun too. 

This week I've been concentrating a bit more on getting my research going. I've had some success - getting the first two interviews done and beginning analysis. Hopefully this will continue! After all, the research was the main reason I chose to visit Salvador. So I'll just summarise the 'interesting' things I've done.

A display about fabrics at MAFRO

On Monday I visited the main Afro-Brazilian museum, MAFRO, which was great - all kinds of artefacts and displays of information about the amazing blend of cultures here in Salvador. Then on Tuesday evening I attended Afro-Brazilian mass at the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos (what a mouthful!) with Marcia, who has been staying here for a few days. It was a great experience and interesting to note the differences and similarities with going to chapel in Oxford. Then Malika and I went to part of a samba concert, run by a famous local musician called Gerônimo (I think!) which was really good too. There are so many musical events here and it's great to be able to take advantage of them.

The Farol (lighthouse) at Barra

I visited the lighthouse and the associated Nautical Museum at Barra on Wednesday. The former has lovely views and the latter is full of information about navigation, trade, ships, and all sorts. Thursday was mainly taken up with research. And on Friday I slept a lot, having come down with a not-serious-but-makes-you-sleepy illness that's currently doing the rounds courtesy of some over-friendly mosquitos. I'm feeling much better today - just resenting the fact that it has been pouring with rain most of the last few days and is showing few signs of stopping.

A view from the lighthouse

Apologies for this post not being particularly interesting. Another one will go up soon which might be better for gauging my opinions on this place!

Thank you for reading.

Oi, Brasil!

Or, hi Brazil!

Yes, the time for my first Brazilian blog post has come. What excitement! This post could easily have been huge, so I have skimmed over some things which I'm sure I'll come back to in future.

View from the Elevador Lacerda, joining the lower part of Salvador to the upper part

First things first. What am I doing in Brazil? I'm here as a tourist, but also to do a small-scale linguistics research project, which is relevant to my course at Oxford. I have six weeks (closer to five now!) to record interviews with twenty people, "corpus-gathering" - to use the linguistics term. But I will have plenty of time to discover interesting places and things and people too.

Where am I? Well, I'm staying in Salvador, which is on the coast of the state of Bahia, part of the north east. (To be pedantic, these first few days I've been staying in Lauro de Freitas, which is about 30km outside the city, but I'll soon be moving closer in.)

So, onto the normal bloggy stuff!

In the Pelourinho, a square in Salvador's historic centre

I arrived very late last Friday, after an entire day of travelling. I flew with TAP, whose planes are all named after prominent Portuguese people - so I went from London to Lisbon with Amália Rodrigues (legendary 20th century fado singer) and from Lisbon to Salvador with Damião de Góis (a Renaissance philosopher and author). It's a fun idea! My flights were fine - despite discovering TAP pilots were on strike when I arrived at Heathrow, everything went as planned. 

At the airport I was met by a really friendly family, who were hosting me for the first couple of days. Since it's not particularly relevant, I won't go into how and why I went to stay with them, but suffice to say they were absolutely lovely, and I really enjoyed living with them at the weekend. I took some time to relax, and got a bit used to Brazilian Portuguese, and made friends with their two cats and their dog - as well as with the people! 

On Saturday night Marina, the daughter, took me to the cinema to see the Avengers with some of her schoolfriends, which was great fun. We also had a fab lunch on Sunday, complete with a big chunk of meat served at the table off a skewer, and interesting food like farofa and fried banana. I'm sure I'll write loads more about food in future and will try to include pictures!

Menacing skies over the weekend

On Monday I went in to Salvador itself for the first time. The weather had got much better - after being pretty wet and uncomfortably humid at the weekend, it was now just very hot and sunny (and has stayed that way, apart from a couple of quick and heavy showers). I got a lift in with Emília, whose family I have been staying with the rest of this week, and met up with two friends from Oxford. Malika is working here in Salvador and will probably make frequent appearances in the blog! Eleanor was here for a few days on holiday from her job in Rio de Janeiro. It was fantastic to see them again. 

Malika and Eleanor

We wandered around the historic part of town for a while, had a fruit juice, and went to the Ribeira district, where we saw the Igreja de Nosso Senhor de Bonfim. It has a tradition of multi-coloured fitas (ribbons) which are supposed to bring particular blessings to pilgrims who wear them - or, I'm guessing, tie them onto nearby railings... We then had a good lunch of moqueca, an amazing local seafood/fish stew, nearby.

Lots of fitas

Malika and more fitas

Later on I got a bus to UFBA (Universidade Federal de Bahia), the Bahia State University, where I was meeting Artur, Emília's son, and one of his friends, to get a lift back to Lauro de Freitas. It was my second experience of Bahian traffic jams, which are not pretty. I very quickly learnt the word "engarrafamento" as it took us nearly 2 hours to get back. Still, all the time in the car is a good opportunity for chatting in Portuguese, so there's always a positive.

That evening I settled in at Emília's house a bit, and enjoyed getting to know her and her daughter, Marta. I had an early night, because on Tuesday it was an early start to get to university. Artur and I got a lift with another of his friends, Renata, leaving at about 6.30 and arriving at UFBA at 8.50 - apparently the traffic was particularly bad that day! By a combination of walking and getting a bus, I met up with Malika and Eleanor near the beach at Porto de Barra, and we had a very nice morning swimming and chatting and resting in the shade. The downside was that, despite staying in the shade 90% of the time, and wearing lots of factor 50 suncream, I came away 'slightly' sunburnt, as I discovered later... but it was worth it! While on the beach we ate freshly made acarajé, a kind of traditional street food involving bean paste fritters and fried prawns, which was very nice.

UFBA isn't quite as pretty as Oxford...

I then went to meet a linguistics professor at UFBA, who one of the Oxford tutors had put me in touch with. He was very kind and is helping me out with finding participants, finding somewhere to make recordings, etc. Then I got a lift back to Emília's with Renata again.

Yesterday I went in early again, and met Malika in the historical centre. We went to where she's living and had a good chat and made some lunch, which was all super fun. She then went to work and I went touristing. I went round a couple of churches, and learnt some history, saw a collection of African art, a collection of Brazilian religious statues, and visited the Jorge Amado museum. It had synopses of all his novels and various things related to him - quite interesting and especially good for a student budget as it's free on Wednesdays. 

The Igreja de São Francisco - decorated with nearly a tonne of gold

The Jorge Amado museum

Malika and I then met up again and had a juice - I tried seringuela, helpfully and accurately translated as "tropical fruit from Brazil". It was delicious! We said goodbye and I got the bus back to UFBA, and met Renata to come back here for another relaxing evening. This morning I had intended to go into Salvador again, but in the end decided against it because I didn't fancy getting up at 4.30 for a lift at 5. So I've been catching up on admin, and blogging. Rumour has it there is a swimming pool that I can use nearby - I think the next couple of hours are sorted out! I just have to remember my sun cream...

Thank you for reading; until next time!