Brazil Trip I
Haydee and I just got back from one of our visits to Vitoria, Espirito Santo, and wanted to give you an update on some very interesting developments. It had been four years since our last visit. Except for Brazil losing early in the World Cup, and the fact we both were struck by a very nasty Brazilian flu bug for much of the trip, life was fine. But that is not what I want to report on.
ES is becoming, by Brazilian standards, quite a wealthy state. Petrobras is investing heavily in the state with its off-shore drilling, especially in Sao Mateus and Conceicao da Barra. While I didn't get north of Colatina, we were told that the north of the state, espeically areas like Ecoporanga, Nova Venecia and Barra de Sao Francisco, places that didn't have anything but rocks, poor coffee and a few cows, discovered that many of the rocks contained valuable granite. The granite is now mined, trucked to Cachoeiro to be polished and then trucked back to a very busy Port of Victoria for export.
Every day the newspaper announce some new "concurso" for public or private jobs. A couple of my own nephews and nieces had just landed nice ones. The young people have many more educational opportunities. There is now a University of Villa Velha and many many private universities. UFES just sign a contract with about 20 municipios for distance learning programs. I was impressed by the number of young people who studied "Informatica". It seemed many times more popular than I detect among students in the US and I expect it will have a remarkable effect in re-shaping the future of Brazil.
Along with opportunities, it is also attracting a lot of problems. Immigrants from Bahia and Minas Gerais, seeking a better life, find the problems arrive faster than the opportunities. Robberies and homocides seem out of control. The prisons are overcrowded and run by the gangs that they are designed to keep. The State, trying to break up the prison gang leadership, found it had prison riot on its hands. The "Policia Militar", who had come to put down the riot, were still in evidence.
The big story, for my former Peace Corps buddies, is what I found out about a couple of my old ACARES roommates, Gugu and Chateaubriand, and their conterpart from Nova Venecia, Ludovico. They have all retired but came back to work together on a special project. Gugu is, note this, the Executive Secretary to CEDRS, the "Conshelo Estadual de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustenivel". Currrently each county has a Council on Sustainable Rural Development. Half of the members are made up by the government and half are private citizens, including the priest, the pastor, the doctor, etc. Does any of this sound familiar? Does anyone still have the letter from the Governor inviting our Volunteer group to come to Brazil?
A big twist is that now federal funding bypasses the state and goes directly to these Councils.
I also had dinner with Ricardo Karol and talked with Brenda Powers on the phone. Brenda is still living in Brazil, for the time being, still running a small export business, while Artur is relocating to Raleigh, NC. Ricardo's travel agency, now Navigant, is in the process of being bought out for the second time in five years. Depending how that goes he may relocate to the states too, but he has meanwhile gone back to Brazilian Law School to plan for a second career, possibly in public service law.
By the way, our flight from Rio to Vitoria was supposed to be on Varig, until they ceased operations just as we were leaving from Pittsburgh. Thank goodness we had a friend in the travel business in Rio. Ricardo's crew took very good care of us.
Final notes: Traffic was horrific, but motorists were much more respectful of pedestrians. I saw more than one statue of Dr. Ruschi. Many people, who I never expected to, have quit smoking. The younger generation seems a head or more taller than their parents. Gerson Camarata is still in the Governor's Cabinet. People expect the Governor, Paulo Hartung, and the President, Lula, to be re-elected fairly easily. Nearly everyone told me that the value, in Reais, of their homes doubled in the last four years. The Real, at 3 to a dollar four years ago, also improved to almost 2 per dollar now. We all should've bought then.
Oh, about the World Cup. Everyone knows it must have been fixed.
