Archive for August, 2010

My size 15 (grandee) Roman sandals are slowly falling to bits. You will remember what a crucial  role these sandals have played in my life for the past 4 months of intense use, in places described in a previous blog from Paris ” Sitting In The Place Of Presidents In My Roman Sandals” to walking the steep streets of La Paz , Bolivia. And it is in all probability these steep streets in the rarefied air of Bolivia’s capital that have almost put paid to my best and only means of footwear . Already my Nike  running shoes Size  American 50 , have been given the heave…. so we are in much prayer that these cheap but very practical articles of footwear will hold up for the remaining 2 months of travel.
I can understand Colombians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians and Bolivians  not having footwear my size ….but Brazil??? The Brazilian  Men’s Basketball Team have some huge guys in it ( they came within 2 points of beating the USA world champion team, in the World championships yesterday)….but every where we go it is  a polite shake of the head and a softly spoken Nao when it comes to replacing my Roman Sandals.

Tomorrow we visit our last Children’s  Compassion project this time in Olinda , which is approx 7 kms from where we are now in Recife, North East Brazil .We will be visiting Yasmin our very special little girl ( they all are) who we visited in 2007 , and I am sure she is excited at seeing us again. We had such an incredible meeting the last time and meeting her grandmother ( who cares for her) as well as her mother was pretty emotional to say the least.

The home ( where Yasmin and  her grandmother lives) is in the poorest of the poor area …..and flooding is prevalent, especially this time of the year. It is on a flood plane and was a council dump that poor people simply went and squattered on.  Gradually dwellings went up ( houses is too grand a word for what they are) and before long the area became  packed with civilization. Last time we travelled to her home,raw sewage was flowing down the sides of the footpaths, so this time it is important that my Roman sandals preform well along with  several plastic bags and antiseptic tape on the soles of my feet to prevent risk of severe  infection that could be life threatening.

But more about the visit in a future blog.

Brazil this time has disappointed us. A number of incidents where we were ripped off ( it takes a lot because we are pretty astute and travel wise) . But  the cost of goods and services have increased by at least 30% from our last visit 3 years ago.   It is no longer a cheap place to live, or visit especially when compared to its Andean neighbours. It  made us appreciate how fortunate we are in countries like our home in New Zealand to have The Warehouse, Clothing Warehouse, Stationary Warehouse and the like. Prices there compared to Brazil are a third of the price and the selection is huge.And I think I have found out why this is so.

Brazil exports a huge amount of product…oil, minerals, steel and much more. In vast amounts. A lot goes to China. But in return I believe Brazil  insists on hard currency or at the least on items that will enhance their economy.This is why to us commodities  appear expensive (exercise books for the project costing USD 6 each which frankly are not worth any more than USD1.50 ).There was nothing in this huge super mall ( which we were told was the cheapest in Recife) that was cheap. We spent R$35 (USD 20) but it took us a hour to source things that were reasonably priced.

It is obvious to me that the reason things in Brazil are more expensive is because they are not ” made in China” . We found nothing with that label on . And we have spent a lot of time looking.

And that is a whole lot different to what happens in countries like the United States Of America, Australia and New Zealand. We are countries driven by consumerism. We lap up things made in China because they are cheap.

I will post a link showing a huge container ship berthing  in a port in the United States with as many as 15,000 full containers on board.  Several days later the same ship returned to the Chinese port it had come from with the same 15,000 containers but the giveaway was the Plimsoll line ( how high the ship rode in the water)….it was clearly evident for the wise and enquiring to see ….there was nothing in the containers going back to China from  American manufacturers …..and I daresay going back in those empty containers were the jobs of US workers.

When we were here in 2007 ( and for a lesser time in 2005) we were horrified at what Brazilians were eating. They  eat huge amounts of  cake and bread served in buffet form at breakfast. At lunch it is followed by Pizza , or Spaghetti, Pasta ….washed down by 100% Coke Cola. Like in 3 litre plastic bottles.

The supermarket was awash with Coke Products …..a woman in her late 40′s had 25 lites of the stuff in her trolley ( the same 3 litre aforementioned) all containing copious amounts  of Sodium ….a product what induces added thirst in the person who drinks it.

And guess what ???…. the belly/ weight  size of Brazilians has increased…..in many cases alarmingly so. Some matching the Obesity crisis effecting the Southern States of the USA in particular.  We will never be able to get it through to Brazilians…..the language barrier is too huge  but I know we would get it through to the Colombians and Peruvians as they understand the overloading of Carbohydrates and Starch. And that Coke is bad for you. Both in terms of what it contains and the amounts that people drink.

We are very aware of food that is and is not good for you as a result of Dalaine being allergic to Gluten that is found in wheat. This Gluten if eaten causes Dermatitis and I have seen her react with a rash within 30 seconds. Too  much and it would make her extremely ill… it could even be life threatening. So being Gluten Free for he  is not a ” lifestyle ” choice but one of necessity.

Being Gluten free ( or Gluten intolerant) is a pain in the butt!…. particularly for her. And nowhere is it more of a pain then being in Brazil where eating bread , cakes and wheat plays such a huge part in their lives. And finding Gluten Free product is virtually impossible.

If you want to add weight eat bread……if you want to see what drinking Coke does to you put some Coke and a Rusty nail in a dish overnight and watch the results.

If you want Diabetes consume the sugar in the amounts the Western world consume and you will understand why it has become an Epidemic with our young people.

I am not on a crusade here……I am just telling you my valued readers what I see , by ” telling it as it is “.
It is funny how this Blog has gone from my Sandals to my dear Wife’s Eating Habits.

So from a very warm 30degrees ” Winters” day in Recife Brazil, I will bid you good afternoon…..

Lindsay Walker

31st August 2010.

PS …. Another thing we  have noticed there are  no frozen vegetables  here …except in one supermarket the odd bag of ice encrusted peas….rather we saw freezers jammed packed with Pizza’s.

Another PS….this time in response to a  blog sent to me by our special little  9 year old  reader        ” Brownie “  from Mass USA ….. who tells me that Apples are more effective that Coffee at waking you up in the mornings…….