On Strike

The teachers voted in favour of a strike on Tuesday, but for whatever bureaucratical/political reasons, the strike won’t be official until it’s voted on again during a referendum early this next week, a referendum some are calling illegal, because the strike has already been decided. It’s a strange situation – some teachers are on strike at the university, but not all of them, I went to class today as normal, and my teacher explained to us his reasons for being against the strike, which sounded pretty legitimate (even though I could only understand half of what he said – he’s from the South of Brazil and has a very different accent). He explained how the teachers on strike aren’t even sure of what they want, and that it doesn’t make sense for us students to support us because in the end it will only end up hurting us as students. But later this afternoon I went to the teacher’s of the Geosciences department’s meeting about the strike (students were allowed to attend) and heard a completely different side. One of the teacher’s was absolutely vicious – he went on and on about how the teachers against the strike are our internal enemies in the school, how they are dishonest (and he called them a bunch of other things I didn’t understand) and how they are telling the students in the class that there is no strike even though there is one. He was so extreme, talking about how these people knew who they were and if there was one here now he would point his finger in their face. I think the most awful thing is that his speech was completely focused on being against the other teachers, which is besides the whole point, and when he finished half the students were clapping and cheering, while the other half just looked a bit shocked. My teacher showed up about thirty minutes later when someone else was speaking, and their was this awful tension that filled the room because he was the only teacher there against the strike. Several of the teachers did make good points however, about their legitimate reasons for being on strike. One of them was that the government promised them a 4% increase in March and still hasn’t paid, and another was something to do with their retirement benefits that the government was cutting. Also they wanted a higher salary (in their main slogan it says 22.2%, which is huge – I’m not so sure why they chose that number). Currently they make around 3500$ to 7000$ (Canadian) per month, depending on their background and experience. It’s not that bad of a salary, but they say that compared to other teachers at private schools, or in industry, it’s not very much and that’s why they have such a hard time finding teachers for certain classes. There are other reasons too: better infrastructure, (such as air conditioning), etc. The meeting lasted about three hours but I think only about 30 minutes of it was actually informative. So for now I will be going to my classes as usual, but I think all of the students are in a really uncertain place right now as most likely next week classes will no longer be in session – and the strike will very likely last at least a month, according to many. 

Strikes and Rainy Days

It’s another rainy day in Salvador, and the bus drivers are always on strike (but will hopefully come to an agreement this afternoon). I’m drinking coffee while trying to motivate myself to get all of my homework done – you would think that it wouldn’t be too hard with this weather – but instead I’ve been skimming through my roommates’ Lonely Planet Brazil book and daydreaming about all the places I have to see!

There is this one place, in the Amazon, which is well known because once a month, during the full moon, the force of the tides create an enormous wave where the river meets the ocean that rages through the amazon – it’s called the Pororoca for “terrifying sound”. It has a height of up to four metres high, and surfers can ride the same wave for over thirteen minutes! 

Source: http://www.academus.com.br/group/amazonia-do-brasil/forum/topics/pororoca

I still haven’t been surfing since my trip a few weeks ago (at least I have the excuse that it’s been raining) but that hasn’t stopped other surfers from getting out and riding the huge waves we have been having because of the weather. There are even big waves where I am living, in the Porto da Barra, which under normal conditions is known for it’s calm waters. I’ve been running down the seawalk more often lately, watching the surfers, and marvelling at how they manage to swerve the jagged rocks that seem to pop up right in their paths! Of course, there are places you can go that don’t have as many igneous intrusions (geology term for type of rock), but for the serious surfers out there, they need to find the biggest waves, never mind the risk.

My attempt at surfing while in Pipa

It’s really depressing to think that I have almost a full week of vacation because of the strike, but because all the buses in the state are on strike, I can’t even take a bus to another city and go travel! The strike is actually happening all across the country, even in São Paulo (although there it’s the trains on strike) but the strike in Salvador is the most widespread – it affects over a million people who use the public transport system. 

View of bus stop in Salvador during strike
Source: meutransporte.blogspost.com.br

I’ve also heard rumors that the bus fare might go up another 50 centavos (25 cents) from 2.50 to 3.00 reais, making Salvador the most expensive for bus fare compared to all the other cities I’ve been to in Brazil. My Chilean roommate told me that the increase in bus fare in Chile was the original motive for a huge student protest that happened a few years ago. There was actually an interesting post on facebook comparing Chile to Brazil, stating that in Chile students protest for better quality education, whereas Brazil students protest to legalize marijuana (and just last week there was the 3^rd annual “March for Marijuana” walk here in Salvador). However, it is true that the Law Faculty at UFBA went on Strike for roughly a week at the beginning of my exchange for reasons such as poor infrastructure and poor quality of education, and achieved some positive results out of it. And the more I hear about and see strikes in action, both in Quebec and here in Brazil, the more I feel that strikes are a very effective way to put pressure on the government in order to effect change. It makes sense to think that the Law students went on strike here because they are more aware of their rights than any other student at UFBA, but the rest of the students at UFBA have as much of a reason to be on strike right now as they did! It’s frustrating going to class and finding that the professor decided to cancel it because most of the students went on a field trip, but neglected to tell the rest of us that there wouldn’t be class this week. And the teacher who teach for only an hour and a half when the class is supposed to be three hours long. There is a countless number of situations here I could talk about that should not be acceptable in any respectable university.

Not only this, but there is lots of talk that the teachers here are going to go on strike as well, for higher wages. I’m not very sure of the wages of a professor who teaches at a public university, but from personal observations I can say that most of them drive nice cars and have IPhones and Mac computers. Even still, all over the country, professors are on strike, and UFBA (Universidade Federal da Bahia) is one  of the few places left not on strike. It’s a subject ofdiscussion among students. The teachers say that it isn’t going to happen, but at the same time it’s an uncertain situation. One thing is for sure: if UFBA goes on strike, I’ll be making an early trip to Macchu Pichu. 

Since midnight, the bus drivers and "cobradors" (people who collect the bus fare) have been on strike for higher wages, and it's supposed to continue until Monday night. It's not only Salvador, but it's the whole state, so people depending on the bus to get to another city aren't even able to travel. 

It takes me an hour and fifteen minutes to walk to school, which I decided against this morning when I heard that certain faculties were closed, or with only two-three students in classrooms. 

Algumas reflexões ...

I was having a lovely time musing about Bahia while coming home on the bus this evening. It had been a relatively stimulating day, seeing people I hadn’t seen for a long time and having interesting conversations with friends. It’s nice to hear the opinions of others on why here is so terrible: first of all it’s always corruption, but also there’s the lack of education among government workers who slow the system down. It’s true that things here can be pretty slow. With only two people ahead of me in line at the library I can wait for half an  hour while the librarian tries to resolve some problem or other with the student. While this is not always the case, it isn’t unusual. My host mother also once complained to me about having to show an employee how to do his own job while she was waiting to get some paperwork done, because he honestly didn’t know how. But these are simple problems that can be fixed with the right amount of training. No, I can understand why Brazilians here want to leave. It’s always harder (at least in my case it was) to see the good things in the place you grew up in.

And why is it exactly, that I find Brazil so incredible? I admit that most likely it is because it was the first place I went to after leaving home, and everything that I found to be different, the language, the food, the warmth, the people, I fell in love with, simply because it wasn’t what I was used to, and I craved change. Also  I believe that it’s because how you find your environment (your opinion and perspective on it) is a direct reflection of how you yourself feel in that same environment. True paradise, whether it be in the tropics or up North, depends entirely on the people you share it with (and maybe the food counts for a bit as well).

So I would like to think that this second time around I can see Brazil from a more moderate perspective, rather than through the eyes of someone who was just anxious to get away from home. Even so, there is still something about Bahia that I find hard to define, but that leaves me feeling at home even though I’m miles away from Canada.

What does Brazil have that Canada is missing? First of all, in Canada there is the concept of “to-go”, that is (almost) entirely non-existent in Salvador. My life in Canada is that of multi-tasking. Munching down food while studying for a test, drinking your coffee while running to class. But here, I have realized that being late isn’t that big of a deal (my opinion on this might change once I’m back in Canada), and it’s just not worth the stress of speed walking simply to arrive a few minutes earlier, especially if half the class arrives late anyways.  Life is meant to be enjoyed, and it seems to me that the people of Brazil have realized that fact much more than us North Americans.

Second of all, and most importantly, is the warmth that people have for one another. People here have a tendency to touch, much, much more than Canadians. I think that just the act of touching, which is so fundamental not only to being human, but to being alive, helps us to feel closer and more connected to one another. There are many examples of this that I could give, but I’ll mention just a few. The woman I asked directions for on the street put her hand on  my shoulder before wishing me luck in finding my way. My teacher at the university rested his hand on my head while walking down the rows of desks and talking to his students. They are both very simple acts, but to touch a stranger in Canada, and even for some to touch your friends, is seen as strange and unordinary. This may or may not be true, but I think that if Canadians became more “touchy”, and tried to incorporate more “touchiness” into their every day routines, we would have a lot less depression in our country. People need to feel as if they belong, and it’s sad to see in Montreal how many people look so alone walking on the streets or in the metro. While there is still depression in Brazil, people in general here seem a lot happier than people in Canada.

And that sums up what I thought about during my bus ride. I arrived in Porto da Barra to a beautiful sunset over the ocean, descending the buses stairs, the doors closed on me, and I became stuck! It was worse than being stuck in the doors in the Montreal metro. For two seconds, a news headline flashed through my head:  “Canadian girl crushed to death by bus doors due to ignorant bus driver”, but then he managed to find the right lever, and to my relief, I was released. That’s one point for Canada.

Back from Vacation

These last two weeks were spent travelling in North-Eastern Brazil. First stop was in Olinda, a tiny touristy town just outside of Recife. To be honest, Olinda was a bit of a disappointment in comparation to Salvador. Maybe it was just because it was the down season and there was almost no one there, or because there were no beaches on the coast to go swimming in, but it didn’t seem like there was too much to do. On the other hand, it did have cute little historical buildings, the streets were clean, and it felt a lot safer to go walking around in comparison to Pelourinho (the historical centre of Salvador). The highlight of our stay there was finding a scrawny little black kitten in the street and giving him a shrimp to eat! 

We only stayed in Olinda for one night and headed off to Ilha de Itamaraca the next day, which, according to our guide, was definitely worth the visit with it’s natural pools and ‘peixe-boi’ conservation aquarium. It was about a 45 minute taxi ride to get there – and during the 45 minutes our taxi driver significantly lowered our expectations for where we were headed, probably a good thing. Because there weren’t too many pousadas (hostel/hotel) there, we ended up paying a bit more than expected. The beach was relatively pretty – but nothing too special, and the current was too strong to go out swimming very far.

Peixe-Boi conservation centre

At night we went out downtown to eat – we started out walking, as someone had told us it only takes 45 minutes to get there, and on the way a dog came out and tried to play with us, wagging it’s tail and jumping up beside us. We shooed it away, but it continued on a few steps in front of us for the whole 45 minutes, as if it was looking out for us. After 45 minutes, we realised that we weren’t anywhere near the downtown and decided to hail a cab. As the cab stopped beside us, the dog looked at us and started barking when he saw we were going to leave him. We drove away, and looking behind us, the dog was barking and running at full speed to try and catch up with us – it reminded me of Old Yeller.

Arriving in downtown (it would probably have taken us an hour and a half to two hours to walk) we ate well and cheaply. I had fried aimpim with sausage and chicken. It was delicious! Aimpim is the root of the mandioc plant, which is used to make tapioca. After you boil the root, you mash it with butter and salt to get a consistency similar to mashed potatoes, but even more tasty. There’s always a bit of a risk eating street food, but fortunately that night I was fine afterwards.

We decided to only stay one night in Itamaraca as well because of the expensive hostel, and took the bus the next day to Pipa – a touristy beachtown outside of Natal, further up North. It took us only three and a half hours in a comfortable air conditioned bus to arrive in Goianhias, a city near Pipa, where we had to get off and take a van for three reais for the rest of the way. Goinhias seemed like a really relaxed city with cheap fruit – we got fresh pineapple for one Real (50 cents) and ice cream for the same price. And the van ride was beautiful, along the coast with occasional views of the sea, and lots of peixarias on the way (fish market).

Pipa has over 200 pousadas, making it no problem for us to find a good one and bargain it down to a good price. We decided to stay for three nights, because compared to the other places, Pipa had everything! The town was lively – similar to Morro de Sao Paulo outside of Salvador, with lots of tourists, lots of restaurants and lots of beautiful beaches. The first night there was a BBQ at our pousada, and we went out dancing with others from the pousada. I guess that is one of the things you have to expect when travelling to very touristy places – everything is very Americanized. The music at our pousada was all English, almost everyone in the pousada spoke English, etc, etc. You could stay in Pipa for months and have a very tiny idea of what the Brazilian culture is about. We even met an American who was doing pretty much just that. Living with other gringos, going surfing during the day and partying during the night, getting by on a minimum of Portuguese. At the same time, the idea of having nothing to do but to go surf all day every day did make me a tiny bit jealous. The days at Pipa passed by very quickly, but at the same time I was happy to be back in Salvador after our 4 in the morning plane ride. And now it’s back to studying, with exactly two months left until the end of the first semester.

Pipa Beach

I'm currently travelling and so haven't had the time to update my blog as I'd like to, but I've attached a link to Flickr with pictures of my university and campus for those who are interested. Soon to follow will be the details of my two week trip in  Northeastern Brazil!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78919971@N02/sets/72157629632912646/