Savagery

Because O Atrevido has been neglecting his bloggins duties, I feel compelled to instigate his return through new means (other than just telling him to write an entry when I see him.) Therefore, from this day forward, I will systematically expose all of his exploits, no matter how rank or uncharacteristic of his pre-Brazil reputation...and believe me, O Atrevido is a changed man. He is now a ruthless savage. Yesterday, at a beachfront luau, I witnessed O Atrevido at his finest. For the typical party going young man, seducing several Bahian ladies (which he did with ease) would be enough. But no, the highlight of his night can no longer be defined, or made complete, by the now routine act of picking up girls. O Atrevido holds himself to a higher standard.

At the end of the night, I saw him literally smack one of the contestants of Big Brother Brazil 6 in the face. I know this sounds extremely random. And yes, it is extremely random. That's the beauty of it. O Atrevido, on a whim, (lightly) pimp smacked - and by defitiion, physically, and emotionally degraded - a man who had two months earlier been on one of the most popular television shows in Brazil. Why was this pseudo celebrity at our luau? I don't know...and honestly, that doesn't matter. And why did O Atrevido smack him? Because he felt like it. The mark of a true savage. No respect for, or need to abide by, societal norms and constraints. If you saw a contestant of American Idol in the street, would you smack him/her? No, you wouldn't. Not because you didn't want to...but simply because you know that you can't...due to fear, shame, or a reverence for the law and its repercussions....my colleague here in Brazil has no need for these petty emotions and thoughts. Somewhere between Carnaval and São João, he lost them. That's the difference between you and O Atrevido. He does whatever he wants. He even does things he may not particular want to do...just because he can. You can't. You have limits. When O Atrevido is involved...the potential of the situation, be it good or bad, honorable or evil, is infinite.

May God help us all.

The Resurrection

The blog has been barren for the past few weeks. But do not fret, we have not been taken captive by savage Amazonians or smitten with Dengue fever. We have just been lazy bastards…neglecting our dedicated fans.

As you probably could have guessed, Brazil is still paradise. But don´t get it twisted, everything is not fun and games…or sun and sand. Summer here is slowly ending (remember, it´s the southern hemisphere) and a few clouds have had the audacity to rain on our parade. And believe me, when rain arrives in a tropical environment, it does not play around. Tropical Storm Salvador 2k6 came and went with a fury, but we survived – it may have dampened our social life a bit – but the sun has recently come back…and we´re all making up for lost time.

We´ve been busy living the life of itinerant jogadores de futebol (soccer players), hitting up pickup games wherever and whenever we can, and we´ve all adapted to the local beach culture and have each joined gyms (referred to as “academias” and as abundant as barbershops in black neighborhoods.)

This past weekend we took a 12 hour bus ride to the historic town of Porto Seguro, learned some history, met some new people, and relaxed. Between bumming it on the towns beautiful beaches and avoiding the various vendors of crappy souvenirs, we made our way to the Pataxós indigenous reservation. We chilled with the natives for a bit, hunted buffalo and sampled some of their finest peyote…But seriously, it was a very interesting experience. The community consists of 30 families that are trying to reclaim their culture, and organize their village independently of greater Brazil and maintain local autonomy and control of their resources. They actively maintain their own cultural traditions by preserving their traditional wardrobe, language, and communal organization and pride themselves on a non-assimilationist attitude. However, in this day and age, they obviously can´t live in a vacuum. Interestingly enough, 95% of the village is economically dependant on artensanry (all of which I assume is sold to outsiders) and they are given a very huge economic boost by gringos like myself who pay for guided tours. Given this background, a lot of the traditions they present are supposedly not particularly authentic, and probably didn´t exist back in the day before the Portuguese showed up…but hey, who am I to judge? I got the feeling that whatever this community is, or is trying to create, is something positive. Using a strong cultural identity to build sustainable, united communities…what could be bad about that?

Well that´s all for now. Just know that the Bahia Boys are back in busy. Look out for upcoming urban anthropology and philosophical insight with a Latin American twist that you won´t find anywhere else…we´re always trying to move on to Bigger and Better things. O Atrevido and Tudo Bem are drafting their next entries right now! Don´t miss it, tell your friends, and leave comments.