From Caranguejo to Porto de Galinhas and back...
Door: Hilda Alberda
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Hilda
06 Februari 2006 | Brazilië, Recife
Boa tarde,
I just got back from another visit to Caranguejo (the favela where I am doing my research). Let´s start where I ended last time, on Wednesday evening. After checking our mail and writing a new story for my blog we (Marielle and I) went to an all you can eat pizza place with Paulo. That´s something different and nice! They walk around offering you all different kinds pizzas, so you can try all of them! And we did! We even had sweet pizza, with cheese and guave and one with hagelslag... wauw!
The next morning I woke up early to take the bus to Rafael´s house. Amanda and I walked into the favela and while there was nobody to help us at the healthpost, we walked around to find a women we know through Rafael. Although there were more people with the same name, we were able to find her house. Luckely she was willing to give an interview (she just had an operation so she had to stay at home anyway), so we did not lose the morning doing nothing (while we are kinda dependend on the health agents to accompany us while getting around the favela). The interview went well and it ended at lunch time, this is from 12 to 14h and it is just no use for us to be in the favela while everyone is taking a break/ having lunch. Amanda and I had lunch together, I tried another new kind of food: cozinha and I had another bowl of Açai (which is so good! it´s a kind of frozen food, blendered, with musli, banana and guarana topping... hmmmmm!!!! Am I repeating myself?!). After lunch we went back into the favela and had an interview with one of the healthagents. This was a useful interview as well and it was already past 16h when we got back at Rafael´s place. From there I took the bus back home where I had dinner with Marielle. Although I was very tired, (it is still exhausting to go into the favela and especially when doing 2 interviews on a day), after dinner we went to the restaurant nearby for a drink.
The next morning Marielle and I packed our bags to get on the bus to the airport (I am really getting around pretty well by bus now, which is so good!). At the airport we had to wait a little while (you get used to it, but there was actually a sign which showed which buses would pass there, it did not say when, but it´s a start!) for the bus to Porto de Galinhas. While waiting we got approached by a fellow traveler... a homeless guy who was really proud to show us his bags (that he was a traveller to) and kept hanging around us. I never tend to give money to people on the streets (I don´t want all by money/ stuff to be stolen) so we ended up giving him a bottle of water, which he put into his plastic bag with cooked spagetti! I do actually give some money to people/ children in the bus (I just make sure I have some change nearby, so I don´t have to look for my wallet). It happens regularly that the driver let´s people/ children on the bus that tell a story, have something to sell or another way to gain some money.
Ok, back to our trip... After entering the bus we found out that this is where all the tourists where going. There were many backpackers in the bus and this trip strongly reminded me of the backpacking I did in Australia. The trip to Porto de Galinhas took about 75 minutes and was really nice, I discovered the more green side of Pernambuco, which is beautiful. In Porto de Galinhas, which is a small village located near the beach that attrackts many (Finish) tourits, we managed to find our hotel which Catarina booked for us pretty soon. The hotel was nice; we had a balkony, tv/ sitting room, bedroom and bathroom and especially the men at the reception was really friendly and always smiling when we entered (he was a bit disappointed that we did not had breakfast on Saturday morning, but he was very happy to see us on Sunday morning!). After having lunch near the beach we went back to put our swimming suites on and went swimming in the beautiful blue sea! Hmmmm, it´s always a pleasure to enter the warm and bright water! We were laying on our towels, looking at boys that were playing on the beach when the tide came up and suddenly the sea approached us and we and our towels got all wet! We ended up washing our towels in the sea...
Laying on the beach and going for a swim is how we spend most of our weekend (actually sitting/ lying under an umbrella), how good is that?! There are also many people selling food, drinks (we had some coconut water!), icecreams and everything you need or don´t need (as paintings) on the beach. Furthermore we enjoyed lunch, dinner and breakfast at different places in Porto and ofcourse tried (well more than trying...) the local caipirinhas, caipirhosas and caipirfrutas... On Saturday I actually made my first caiprinha at a local restaurant where we had dinner! That evening we ended up in ´The chicken club´(galinha means chicken, so everything in Porto de Galinhas is about chickens) with the owner of the restaurant and some other people (including an Argentinian girl with her father who wouldn´t let her go out on her own). On Sunday afternoon, after a great and relaxing weekend, we took the bus back to Recife where we had filled pancakes as dinner (hmmmmm!).
This morning (Monday) I woke up early and took the bus to Amanda´s house. I transfered my interviews to Amanda´s computer and we took off to Caranguejo. We first went to Rafael´s house where we found out that a man who lives in the favela came by to worn us to be careful in the favela. We heard a story about a lady that did her research in this favela and who was being kidnapped (this happens more often here, most times you survive but they will steal all your money and valueble things, including all the money on your bank account). When we got to the health post at the favela we got another warning from one of the health agents. So, we have to be careful when going around in Caranguejo and we will. We managed to do one interview with the husband of one of the woman I interviewed before. It appeares to be really interesting to get both sides of the story. This man was the man who passed by Rafaels house to give the warning. When we were there he also warned us about things like a girl at the entrance who watches everyone who is passing by and gives information about what people are carrying around to the gangs of boys, so they can steel it. Another man entered the house (he is an retired policemen) and told us that whenever we were going around in the favela we should ask him to accompany us. For tomorrow we are planning to go very early so that one of the healthagents can bring us to a family that we can interview. The healthagents are actually following a course in the afternoon now, so we need to go in the mornings for our interviews. Although I have to depend on others when planning my interviews, I already got some interesting ones with different views on my topic, so that´s going pretty good! I really like how the people are so willing to talk to me and tell me much about their opinions, relationship, and lives. Most of them are really happy to talk to me and call it a kind of therapy and keep thanking me for listening. So, I am learning a lot and it is of course a wonderful experience/ chance to be able to visit this favela as a researcher and have all this conversations/ interviews that give me a good insight in the daily life of the people that live there. It´s already 17h so I´ll go home and see what Marielle is up to, she is here till this Sunday and was planning to have a relaxing day at my place (I am jealous, I was standing in a packed bus at 7.45h this morning and tomorrow morning I will be leaving even earlier...). Hope I managed to give you another/ more insight in my life in Brasil and thanks for your reactions/ mails, it´s so nice to hear from people in Holland!
Tchau tchau,
Hilda.
I just got back from another visit to Caranguejo (the favela where I am doing my research). Let´s start where I ended last time, on Wednesday evening. After checking our mail and writing a new story for my blog we (Marielle and I) went to an all you can eat pizza place with Paulo. That´s something different and nice! They walk around offering you all different kinds pizzas, so you can try all of them! And we did! We even had sweet pizza, with cheese and guave and one with hagelslag... wauw!
The next morning I woke up early to take the bus to Rafael´s house. Amanda and I walked into the favela and while there was nobody to help us at the healthpost, we walked around to find a women we know through Rafael. Although there were more people with the same name, we were able to find her house. Luckely she was willing to give an interview (she just had an operation so she had to stay at home anyway), so we did not lose the morning doing nothing (while we are kinda dependend on the health agents to accompany us while getting around the favela). The interview went well and it ended at lunch time, this is from 12 to 14h and it is just no use for us to be in the favela while everyone is taking a break/ having lunch. Amanda and I had lunch together, I tried another new kind of food: cozinha and I had another bowl of Açai (which is so good! it´s a kind of frozen food, blendered, with musli, banana and guarana topping... hmmmmm!!!! Am I repeating myself?!). After lunch we went back into the favela and had an interview with one of the healthagents. This was a useful interview as well and it was already past 16h when we got back at Rafael´s place. From there I took the bus back home where I had dinner with Marielle. Although I was very tired, (it is still exhausting to go into the favela and especially when doing 2 interviews on a day), after dinner we went to the restaurant nearby for a drink.
The next morning Marielle and I packed our bags to get on the bus to the airport (I am really getting around pretty well by bus now, which is so good!). At the airport we had to wait a little while (you get used to it, but there was actually a sign which showed which buses would pass there, it did not say when, but it´s a start!) for the bus to Porto de Galinhas. While waiting we got approached by a fellow traveler... a homeless guy who was really proud to show us his bags (that he was a traveller to) and kept hanging around us. I never tend to give money to people on the streets (I don´t want all by money/ stuff to be stolen) so we ended up giving him a bottle of water, which he put into his plastic bag with cooked spagetti! I do actually give some money to people/ children in the bus (I just make sure I have some change nearby, so I don´t have to look for my wallet). It happens regularly that the driver let´s people/ children on the bus that tell a story, have something to sell or another way to gain some money.
Ok, back to our trip... After entering the bus we found out that this is where all the tourists where going. There were many backpackers in the bus and this trip strongly reminded me of the backpacking I did in Australia. The trip to Porto de Galinhas took about 75 minutes and was really nice, I discovered the more green side of Pernambuco, which is beautiful. In Porto de Galinhas, which is a small village located near the beach that attrackts many (Finish) tourits, we managed to find our hotel which Catarina booked for us pretty soon. The hotel was nice; we had a balkony, tv/ sitting room, bedroom and bathroom and especially the men at the reception was really friendly and always smiling when we entered (he was a bit disappointed that we did not had breakfast on Saturday morning, but he was very happy to see us on Sunday morning!). After having lunch near the beach we went back to put our swimming suites on and went swimming in the beautiful blue sea! Hmmmm, it´s always a pleasure to enter the warm and bright water! We were laying on our towels, looking at boys that were playing on the beach when the tide came up and suddenly the sea approached us and we and our towels got all wet! We ended up washing our towels in the sea...
Laying on the beach and going for a swim is how we spend most of our weekend (actually sitting/ lying under an umbrella), how good is that?! There are also many people selling food, drinks (we had some coconut water!), icecreams and everything you need or don´t need (as paintings) on the beach. Furthermore we enjoyed lunch, dinner and breakfast at different places in Porto and ofcourse tried (well more than trying...) the local caipirinhas, caipirhosas and caipirfrutas... On Saturday I actually made my first caiprinha at a local restaurant where we had dinner! That evening we ended up in ´The chicken club´(galinha means chicken, so everything in Porto de Galinhas is about chickens) with the owner of the restaurant and some other people (including an Argentinian girl with her father who wouldn´t let her go out on her own). On Sunday afternoon, after a great and relaxing weekend, we took the bus back to Recife where we had filled pancakes as dinner (hmmmmm!).
This morning (Monday) I woke up early and took the bus to Amanda´s house. I transfered my interviews to Amanda´s computer and we took off to Caranguejo. We first went to Rafael´s house where we found out that a man who lives in the favela came by to worn us to be careful in the favela. We heard a story about a lady that did her research in this favela and who was being kidnapped (this happens more often here, most times you survive but they will steal all your money and valueble things, including all the money on your bank account). When we got to the health post at the favela we got another warning from one of the health agents. So, we have to be careful when going around in Caranguejo and we will. We managed to do one interview with the husband of one of the woman I interviewed before. It appeares to be really interesting to get both sides of the story. This man was the man who passed by Rafaels house to give the warning. When we were there he also warned us about things like a girl at the entrance who watches everyone who is passing by and gives information about what people are carrying around to the gangs of boys, so they can steel it. Another man entered the house (he is an retired policemen) and told us that whenever we were going around in the favela we should ask him to accompany us. For tomorrow we are planning to go very early so that one of the healthagents can bring us to a family that we can interview. The healthagents are actually following a course in the afternoon now, so we need to go in the mornings for our interviews. Although I have to depend on others when planning my interviews, I already got some interesting ones with different views on my topic, so that´s going pretty good! I really like how the people are so willing to talk to me and tell me much about their opinions, relationship, and lives. Most of them are really happy to talk to me and call it a kind of therapy and keep thanking me for listening. So, I am learning a lot and it is of course a wonderful experience/ chance to be able to visit this favela as a researcher and have all this conversations/ interviews that give me a good insight in the daily life of the people that live there. It´s already 17h so I´ll go home and see what Marielle is up to, she is here till this Sunday and was planning to have a relaxing day at my place (I am jealous, I was standing in a packed bus at 7.45h this morning and tomorrow morning I will be leaving even earlier...). Hope I managed to give you another/ more insight in my life in Brasil and thanks for your reactions/ mails, it´s so nice to hear from people in Holland!
Tchau tchau,
Hilda.
