"Braziliance" starts here!!

Cosmopolitan Passport!

But wouldn't we have to experience "culture shock" to be able to adapt to it? It seems that you need "culture shocks" to become "cosmopolitan ", whereby you no longer feel the "shock", but a big question remains here, how much is enough?

Colorful carnaval.

Back to travel, I noticed that the tourism promotion was on the one hand "essentializing" Brazil for its carnavals, and more importantly for its love of football and on the other hand, it was trying to draw us to it and make us crave it! I guess that's the way it has to be in the industry but do we think about the host nation?

Football fever in Brazil.

Commodification of the host nation, is indeed promoting consumerism which, in reality, is the core of our everyday life. We have turned into subjects of manipulation of these advertisements, including tourism ones, and it's these "fantasized and polished" representations which build up our expectations of the place and in turn lead into "culture shock" or "confusion" later.

Host nation commodification.

Conclusion:

When in Brazil, you might find many things odd and unfamiliar, but something you might find more disturbing is the commonality of plastic surgeries in Brazil. As I alluded to in my previous blog post, Brazil has the second highest rate of plastic surgery after USA. This reflects the fact that Brazilians are very "body conscious".

Planning something?!

Hard job, plastic surgery huh?!

 Something that you might find confronting in Brazil, is that you can clearly see people who have done it in the street!  What is more interesting is that they tend to talk about it as opposed to Westerners who try to make it as private as possible. 

Common Brazilian gathering!

Keeping my privacy!

The most confronting experience would probably be a situation where a Brazilian truthfully and overtly forward gives you their opinion on your body and suggests you what "things" you need to get done!

Don't be offended please, I'm honest!

I guess it seems reasonable to be a bit receptive of their comments and now that we are aware of this, we should react more sensibly. Don't be offended by it because it's part of their culture and always remember, it is us who are the foreigners not them. Probably all we could do is to smile and ignore the comment politely!

Don't worry, I don't mind!

Conclusion:

Technically, the term culture shock doesn't apply to our short-term travels abroad however we can "assume" it does! It is due to confrontation with a different way of life and culture foreign to us. The best way to cope with it is to adapt, right!! Maybe if you're cosmopolitan you can adapt better! As we travel, we need to keep differences in cultures in mind and sometimes we might not even experience this confusion because after all, we travel to see and experience new things for a relatively short time.

You might be surprised to know that Brazil is continuously ranked amongst the first few countries with highest number of plastic surgeries, after USA of course! It also has 13.6% (5473) of total plastic surgeons in the world.

No description! 

Plastic surgery has turned into a way of life in Brazil. People believe that it's a sign of well-being and health and thus feel free to talk about each other's appearance.

You might think that plastic surgery is just for higher class people, but you're wrong!

The upper and middle class perceive surgery for means of showing wealth and consumption. However, working class tent to deem it necessary to find a job and to "repair" their bodies form the damage done by their physical labor!

Plastic surgery.

So how is it that Brazilians undergo almost 1.5 mil surgical procedures each year? Well they believe that body is "infinitely malleable" and that they have to change in order to match their appearance to their social status as they "climb" the social ladder!

People have to change as they progress!

Another reason for this widespread of cosmetic surgeries in Brazil could be due to its price. It seems that the prices are reasonably cheaper which take care of "pockets and the looks"!  

Cheap prices also promote "cosmetic vacations" and is included as one of the "attractions" in Rio de Janeiro tourism websites! 

Vacation and cosmetics in Rio de Janeiro!

Conclusion:

All in one!

Besides  football, there's the annual four day "carnavals" which take place throughout different  states. One of the most famous carnivals is the "Rio" carnival which will take place from 13-17 of February, next year.

Colorful Rio carnaval and crowds! 

So Brazil is mostly represented as a vibrant and a happy country with untouched wilderness and rain forests.

Rain forests and colorful wilderness. 

Background deforestation which we, as tourists, are never told about!

Probably one of the most well known "tourist" attractions in Brazil is the statue of Christ the Redeemer. It is hard to miss it when you look at pictures of Rio de Janeiro and one of the top ten Brazilian attractions is this statue.

The well-known statue of Christ the Redeemer.

The idea of building this statue predates to mid-1850s, before Empire of Brazil became a republic in 1899. So the statue was again proposed in 1920. Construction took nine years from 1922-1931 and cost approximately US $3 mil.  

Construction.

Interestingly, a Romanian sculptor, Gheorghe Leonida has sculpted the face of statue, not a Brazilian! Yet we see a clear connection between Christ the Redeemer and "Brazilianness".

Gheorghe Leonida.

Major restoration projects have maintained the statue since 1990, and a massive restoration was undertaken in 2010.

Regrettably, tourists tend to just "do" the statue instead of getting to know its history and place in Brazil. For instance, did you know since October 2006, it's allowed to hold baptism and weddings under the statue? Guess not!

Tourists "doing" Christ the Redeemer 

Conclusion:

Place essentialism is a marketing strategy used to promote tourism. I, too, fell into this trap in my first post, boiling down Brazil into its football passion! You can find place essentialism in everything, even in animations! Rio (animation) is a perfect example of essentializing Brazil. You could see a typical Brazil, from the statue and the carnaval, to the tram ride in Santa Teresa and hang gliding across Rio. It feels like watching this video. Too much hidden in animation, ha!?

Note this comment under the video: "The movie Rio and Rio 2 made me want to go here !..." which proves my point!

So let's break free of tourism brochures and start exploring real Brazil.  

The center of a Brazilwood log has a characteristic color, which was used to extract a highly profitable red dye. This dye was then used in manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, which was in high demand during the Renaissance.

Red dye extracted from Brazilwood, also used in hematoxylin for histology.

Brazilwood is a historic timber tree which was a major source of profit for early  Portuguese colonies settled in Brazil. They used to call it pau-Brasil (Latin for wood red like an ember), which is how Brazil got its name!

French cutting brazilwood.

Nevertheless, some believe that Brazil is a shortened version of “terra do brasil” or “land of brazilwood”.

1519 map of the coast of Brazil, showing the harvesting of brazilwood.

Brazilwood was a major source of commerce in Brazil and attracted many Europeans, especially Dutch and French. French were successful in establishing a colony which was known as "France Antarctique". It existed between 1555 and 1567 and was later destroyed by Portuguese.

Map of France Antarctique in the Guanabara Bay, 1555.

In order to make profit out of brazilwood, settlers tried to enslave the natives, However, this couldn't work as the natives either escaped or died from foreign diseases in captivity. Later slaves were imported from Africa to do the labor who then became a substantial section of Brazilian population.

African slaves being watched by Portuguese.

 Conclusion: 

On the one hand, brazilwood is associated with wealth among most Europeans and privateers who came to Brazil for wealth. On the other hand, brazilwood wouldn't mean the same for those African slaves who were exploited.

More importantly for the Brazilians, commercial boom created by brazilwood, was their first encounter with Europeans who exploited their ancestors and natural resources of this country. As travelers, we should be sensitive of host country's history and seek different sides of the story and respect different connotations of places.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pelé is supposedly the best football player ever born to date and guess what, he is Brazilian!

Pele in his late 60s.

He has appeared in 1366 games and has scored 1282 goals in total. He has had unparalleled performance to date and his name would remain in history pages for centuries to come.

Pele and Maradona receiving 'Football player of century' award in 1999.

His exceptional performance put aside, Pelé's  individual honors are remarkable. From 'Knight of the Legion d’Honneur of France' awarded in 1963 to the 'Greatest XI of all time' in 2013, have truly made him a Brazilian icon.   

In contrast, Pele's reputation has been questioned and some believe his achievements are overstated.

Pele depicted as Jesus!

Jonathon Liew, from The Telegraph puts it this way:

"Even as you list Pele’s achievements, it is possible to pick holes in them. Ali Daei of Iran is international football’s leading goalscorer, with 109 goals in 149 caps. This does not make him the greatest player of all time. Hundreds of Pele’s goals came in friendlies, against up-country teams or down-at-heel invitational sides."

Here's current Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's remark about Pele's achievements:

"Pele knows nothing about football, he's an idol in all of Brazil but his analysis is worth nothing."

Ali Daei, International leading goal scorer.

CONCLUSION: