I have become such a snob. But I think that, as a beachtown local (albeit a temporary local), I'm allowed to scorn the tourists. Take yesterday (Sunday), for example. I had to pop into the shop (as my grandma would say) to pick up a couple more things for lunch. The grocery store was bedlam!! Aside from the stupidly long lines, here were just a few things I saw:
*The retired women walking around the store in their bikinis, just lettin' it all hang out.
*Old men in speedos. No, no, no!
*Men without shoes buying huge bottles of cachaça (perhaps they should reconsider their priorities)
*A woman walking around the store in a dirty dress drinking 5-real Dom Bosco wine that she'd presumably opened before paying for (I love the stuff, but at least I have the sense of shame to drink it in private)
*Little kids continuing their soccer game, sand and all, in the store's aisles while Mom and Dad stock up on more beer.
That's what I didn't get, either. It was Sunday at 1:00pm, and yet everyone was buying alcohol! Isn't that the time when the drinking needs to start to die down?
*Little kids continuing their soccer game, sand and all, in the store's aisles while Mom and Dad stock up on more beer.
That's what I didn't get, either. It was Sunday at 1:00pm, and yet everyone was buying alcohol! Isn't that the time when the drinking needs to start to die down?
These weekend tourists are annoying. They j-walk suddenly and dangerously and unnecessarily. They park their cars ON the beach avenue (like, they just stop where they are and give up searching) when they can't find a parking spot. They cover the beach in trash, which then calls the attention of hundreds of vultures. Alexandre and I went for a run yesterday around sunset, and the beach looked like a freakin' landfill! Gross.
Oh well. I guess I actually like the arrival of the farofeiros. It means that summer's finally here! No more ice cold nights that linger all day! No more using lights in the apartment at 2pm! Weekday mornings at the beach -- today was Day 1!
EDIT: How dare I say bad things about Brazilians, especially ones who don't respect laws or sense of community!!! No no, American. You are not allowed to complain about the city you live in, or the people in it!
Oh well. I guess I actually like the arrival of the farofeiros. It means that summer's finally here! No more ice cold nights that linger all day! No more using lights in the apartment at 2pm! Weekday mornings at the beach -- today was Day 1!
EDIT: How dare I say bad things about Brazilians, especially ones who don't respect laws or sense of community!!! No no, American. You are not allowed to complain about the city you live in, or the people in it!
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Focus on the positive! Summer is coming.
ReplyDeleteResist the tide that drifts you toward being a Patricinha.
Stay among the people.
And hey, - what's wrong with drinking at 1:00 on a Sunday? That's usually when things get started!
=;-)
Oh, lord, please let me have enough friends some where in the world that at least ONE of them would tell me "Hey, sweetie, why don't you wrap up that bikini inside a sarong before you go into the grocery store looking for that R$5 wine?"
ReplyDeleteHaha, you make a good point, Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for Jim, I don't think "staying among the people" has to be defined as "supporting annoying and illegal shenanigans that make it hard to shop and drive in my neighborhood"
yep, tourists are a pain. When Lee and I were sailing around he hated being mistaken for tourists, since that's not quite what we were. We tried to stay away form their frequented areas and tried to be respectful of the locals, like you!
ReplyDeleteOh, as Jim says, u going to be a Patricinha! U are getting the same elitism preconceito of middle class to say all the dirty is from the poor ones. I know lots of people not from periferia that consume a lot at the kiosks and let ALL the bin there at the beach.
ReplyDeleteHere in Austria everybody is farofeiro as one has to bring a lunch box to parks and cia as there is no such thing as kiosks and random vendors. Here i feel at home:)
Margarida,
ReplyDeleteI am not making a 1-1 correlation. Not all poor people do these annoying things, but every annoying thing I've seen done has been done by poor people who are from out of town (even though this is a poor town). I think because they don't live here, they don't feel any responsibility for the place.
But I've edited the entry, mostly to paraphrase your and Jim's comments!
Sweetie pea - you can be critical - I just bristle at catagorical...
ReplyDeletelove you -
Jim, I can only agree to agree if you call me Cutie-P!
ReplyDeleteDanielle, you can only complain properly about Brazilians when you become one. Have you looked into naturalization? I'm going for it for the sole reason that I will be able to complain as a local and give the finger when they call me gringo.
ReplyDelete"Dazinho," I can also take your route and use English that is unintelligible to non-native speakers. Tempting, tempting...
ReplyDeleteTee hee. Love the edit.
ReplyDeleteDanielle,
ReplyDeleteGood luck for you guys during the Summer. I don't know if things have improved, but until some years ago, it was common during the summer water shortage, long lines at groceries stores, bakeries, crazy traffic, and everything is wayyy more expensive. Maybe wouldn't be a bad idea to buy some non-perishable food ahead and a spare butane gas tank**. Another tip(from a microbiologist), better avoid sea bathing during summer, outbreaks are not that uncommon.
I used to hate tourists when I lived in Floripa, so I understand all your complains :). If it helps, at least there you'll not see the crazy Argentinian women wearing makeup and heels (!!!) while walking on the beach.
** I'm not saying these things happen all over the Brazilian coast, but they are common at the Baixada Santista.
I can't even tell you the number of times I've packed a million snacks and beverages into a portable cooler and took it to the beach before my husband bothered to tell me about the farofeiros. HA. Not that I really care (but as a Brazilian sitting on the beach next to me, you'd think he would...)
ReplyDeleteI'm not against bringing food/drinks to the beach at all. I'm just against leaving the trash at the beach afterwards.
ReplyDeleteHa, my neighbours are the people you love to hate....any long weekend, there will be ALWAYS be someone driving a beaten-up car with too many people in it and no seatbelts just over the mountains to the Baixada Santista.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of the paulistanos, trapped in the mega-city of concrete with hardly any public pools in the summer heat, what else would you do? And the few times I've been to the litoral norte beaches, I have found the traffic jams of middle- and upper-class Brazilians just as annoying....pretty much anywhere you go in the state of São Paulo, it's just too many people in not enough space.
But I agree, you have every right to complain about people not taking care of the place you live, independent of where you´re from. The longer I live in Brazil, the less diplomatic I become! ;)
Dear Danielle,
ReplyDeleteComplain away, I am totally with you and you've earned all the rights to complain about the country you have choose to live in and have been working and paying taxes for years now.
We have the delightful folks from New Jersey and New York that also invade our quaint New England town in the summer and are beyond annoying and rude.
Gil has a baseball bat near his desk to chase away these tourists when they drive into our driveway. The last one he chased drove into our driveway, unwrapped a "Sneakers bar" and threw the wrapper on our driveway!
We watched it from our window in horror as Gil grabbed the baseball bat and chased him down the driveway.
Don't feel bad at all, these farofeiros are "HATED" by most of the population. They usually get a falling a part "Kombi" in their neighborhood and drive 20 desperate people down to the beach with the "farofa" and the ever so present "rotisserie" chicken.
You are correct, it's not the fact that they are poor, it's the fact that they drink too much, drive drunk, litter all over the beach and leave their trash behind. Good to remember that millions of poor Brazilians enjoy the beach in a civilized and respectful manner and they are not "farofeiros", even when they bring homemade meals in coolers, they make sure to place the trash in the designated trash bins and don't litter and hopefully don't drink and drive either.
Some towns don't even allow "Farofeiros".
They used to be a real problem in the late 80's when most towns in Sao Paulo state passed laws banning them. They used to rent buses and drive down the beach and cause a lot of trouble.
The tour buses with daily beach tours are illegal in most beaches in Sao Paulo nowadays. There are a very few designated places that even allows buses to park on the beaches.
Ray
Living in Copacabana I once (ok more than once) pretended not to speak english as I was so mortified by the behavior and poor beach etiquette of American tourists. I have more than once apologized to Brazilians on behalf of my country and promised that we are not all such vulgar/drunk/rude/smelly/loud/groping/people who purchase our companions/towel using/backpack carrying fools with big cameras. I feel like a teenager that does not want to be seen with her parents around the cool kids. I have blond hair and blues eyes and I can always get a laugh when I complain about them. Complaining about the brazilians...I figure it will take a few decades before I'm permitted to do that in a firm voice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visual, Danielle ;-)
ReplyDeleteI live just minutes away from Coney Island and they are no different here - and they really bring EVERYTHING with them - I saw one family (there must have been twenty of them!) and they set up a camping tent and huge speakers and a portable barbecue. I think it is terrible the mess people leave behind with no regard for others. When I was younger my friend's parents would bring one cooler full of beer and an even bigger cooler full of weed. That was embarrassing.
Now you know why RICH people live in gated communities with private beaches, and do everything possible to keep others out.
ReplyDeleteawesome
ReplyDelete