Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 23oC, cool, overcast and rainy.
Friday, the end of the week and the eve of another long weekend. Monday is the 1st of May-Labor Day, an extra day to relax.
I like a long weekend where I can have one more day off to relax, but it does, however, prejudice the week. I do not know about the States or Europe, but a bank holiday breaks the working week’s rhythm when there is a week with a bank holiday.
Classes are not the same, work and productivity go down a lot, and people usually shut down before the bank holiday. This bank holiday is on a Monday; even worse would be a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, where the days before and after, respectively, are usually lost, breaking the productivity of the whole week.
I had classes until four in the afternoon, and now I am free. Yasmin is only coming to my place tomorrow, so today, if I want, I can go out and do anything I want, but I am not feeling like it. I was thinking about going to Rocha in the North zone of Rio to see some friends that I have not visited for about a year.
When I first separated from Nalva, I lived in the school for about six months. Then, I was offered a flat to rent from an ex-pupil in Benfica, the north zone of Rio. I lived there for almost three years, and then had to move. I moved to a tiny bedsit in Rocha, a neighbourhood just next to Benfica, on the other side of the railway tracks.
During my year and a half in Rocha before moving back to the south zone of Rio, specifically Copacabana, I formed many friendships from living there. Rocha is probably one of the ugliest neighbourhoods to live in Rio.
It is surrounded by some of the largest favelas in Rio, too, so it is not necessarily one of the safest places in Rio to live, completely different from the south zone of Rio and neighbourhoods such as Copacabana, Flamengo, Ipanema, Leblon etc.
Rocha has a vibrant community consisting of people from the northeastern states of Brazil who are searching for employment opportunities and a fresh start. These people are known for their straightforwardness and strong work ethic, and they often maintain their unique culture among themselves regardless of where they live. In some ways, they are similar to gipsies, but they are also renowned for their kindness and generosity towards strangers.
I am an Englishman, who wears a Panama hat, speaks with a strong gringo accent, an alien in their presence, and yet I have always been well treated and accepted by them. Never was I disrespected, mocked, or threatened in some way; they were always extremely hospitable and obliging with me.
They even taught me how to play Porrinha, an extraordinarily animated and fun game with only three coins. Each player starts with three coins that they hold hidden in one hand. You decide how many coins you want to keep hidden in your hand in front of you, between 0 and 3. All the players stretch out their hands, not showing how many coins they have in their hand, and then they must guess the total number of coins there are among all the players.
Each one chooses a number, and when everyone has chosen, they open their hands to see the total number. Usually, when playing porrinha, the players become self-absorbed in the electricity produced from a lot of shouting, drama, bluffing, provocation and, of course, laughter and sometimes even a little hostility from playing such a simple game that is so complex and competitive in its execution.
Porrinha is a popular game in Brazil and is an excellent source of fun and excitement that can last for hours on end. In Rocha, we played the game for a bottle of beer.
The game’s objective is to correctly guess the total number of coins that all players have in front of them. The last person to lose the game is responsible for buying the beer. Sometimes, at the end of a session, a whole crate of beer would have been played for and drunk; completely crazy but terrific fun!
I have been wanting to visit my friends for months. However, it is difficult for me to go there due to my work schedule and a little bit of laziness. I have to cross the city to get there, which makes it even harder. Additionally, Rio has become more violent in recent years. I cannot afford to lose my cellular phone now, so I am a bit worried about the safety of going there.
So, I stayed in, read my book and was in bed by 9 pm.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
