It's Christmastime at Flor de Luiz

Luiz and I visited his favorite “permanent botanicals” shops in Rio’s Centro district.  It’s a challenge to whack your way through all the bizarrely shaped and colored plastic crap to find the finer silk florals and unique accents, hidden diamonds in the rough, but they are there.  At this point Luiz not only knows where to shop, but the shop owners know his name and come to kiss him hello.

Back in the workshop Luiz has organized his new finds and is starting to create new arrangements which sell for Christmas, but will also last throughout the year.  (Remove the ribbon or xmas balls and – poof!)

It's odd, but – I don’t know if you have noticed this here in Rio – the trendy color scheme for the holidays this year is pink and purple (with glitter).  It would not be my first choice, but as pink and green are the colors of the wildly popular Mangueira school of samba, I guess it's just a small leap to pink and purple.  The colors do compliment each other, but for Christmas?  What do I know?

Whistling a happy tune and lost in his own private Idaho, Luiz has been in the workshop creating one arrangement after the other.  Next come the specifically Christmas items: wreaths, centerpieces, door hangers, etc.  Stay tuned.

To see more of Luiz's work in natural flowers, check out his website.  If you need an internationally trained florist to make your event pop with beauty - contact Luiz.  Trust me.

Rio Gay Pride 2010 pics and more

 The sunshine fairies danced samba with gusto to keep the rain at bay.  They allowed just enough misty sprinkles to wet the perfect bodies of the men and others showing off their goods.  Skin glistened in the grey light of the cool afternoon.

OK, so it was not Copacabana’s best day weather wise – but believe me, no one noticed, we were all too busy being swept up into the excitement of the 15^th annual Gay Pride Parade in Rio de Janeiro.

Seven trio electricos spread out across Copacabana Beach.

The official theme was to promote the criminalization of homophobia (hate crimes legislation).  There is a law that has been introduced (repeatedly) in Brazilia to do just that, but it has been defeated in large part because of the powerful Catholic Church lobby and other conservative so-called Christian organizations (who are thus in favor of anti-gay violence, I presume, why else?).

What a great day.  We met up with Zezinho and three of his friends and tried multiple times to hook up with Rachel and her friend, but no no avail.  The crowd was intense.

We bailed after about 6 hours, but the party was far from over.  

Gay Pride Parade today in Copacabana

Today is the 15^th annual Gay Pride Parade in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.  Beginning at 1:00 p.m. crowds will begin to gather at the western end of the beach, Posto 6.  At some point thereafter (several hours) the collection of trio electricos and colorful, happy people will begin to creep up Avenida Atlântica until the whole Avenue is covered, the trio electricos evenly spaced.

Then the party goes until after dark.  (So you really do not need to get there at 1:00).

Here is the notice in today’s paper.

And if you live here you can see out your window that the always gleeful, dancing, sunshine fairies have been fast at work and have chased the rain clouds away.  Don’t be scared.  The fairies never let it rain on a gay pride event.  (At least, that is their mission.)

See you there.

Buses and bundãos

One big improvement of late among the various urban bus fleets here is the law requiring all buses to be accessible to the disabled by 2012.  You can see the transformation in process.  One by one new buses are coming online with wheelchair lifts and special seating.

Yesterday, when returning from Luiz’s doctor appointment I enjoyed a little more space without my butt straddling two bucket seats. (yes, I am wider than a typical bus seat.  Two of me could not sit next to my selves.)  Now the special seating has been extended to gordinhos.  Really.  My very own double-wide single-cushion seat on the bus.

There is even a new decal on the window above the seat that legitimizes one person occupying the whole seat.

Sad but true.  Brazilians (along with some expats) are getting fatter, such that now public accommodation law includes consideration for the morbidly obese.

Moving to Brazil? Let's talk

Planning on moving to Brazil? Cool.

Now let’s get real. Or more specifically, let’s consider your job prospects.

Yeah, yeah, you can teach English. Sure. That works if you like poverty wages. But let’s look at what might be good entrepreneurial ideas.

Open a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop. OMG! What a great idea! Ice cream here is so whack. A rich and creamy ice cream like Ben and Jerry’s would be an instant hit! Plus it’s a fun job. People come to your shop happy – they leave happy – everyone is happy.

Be a hospitality industry consultant. Trust me, waiters, bell personnel, front counter staff, room service staff, etc., very few of them know what the hell they are doing. This is not a knock against them – it is a management problem. Management is not providing adequate TRAINING for these eager workers. That’s where you come in. Bring your consulting team to provide training. We would all be grateful! This goes DOUBLE for restaurants.

Open a children’s items store with discount pricing. Clothes, toys, safety items, medical stuff, etc. Provide the usual stock, but don’t price it to burn your clients on every purchase. Knock it down a bit and encourage your clients to come back for their future needs (duh!).

Operate a cooking school. Residents like to mix it up a bit, feel chic, and impress their mother in law. Provide a place to gossip, nibble on light foods and learn a trick or two in the kitchen. Teach about Italian, Greek, Spanish, French and traditional Portuguese foods.

Be the first on your block to open a Good Vibrations franchise. Providing all things yes in the area of sex toys and erotic enhancements in a space much like the public library is a sure hit. Add a full line of lingerie in a comfortable environment – bam!

I’m no expert, but these seem to be gaps in the local business environment.

Other residents - what do you think might be a success?

Get your burrito plate for R$21

OK – so I am trying to not blow a gasket. Maybe I don’t understand. Perhaps I have it all wrong. Please – I hope I have it all wrong.

Many locals are subscribing to Peixe Urbano (no link, thank you very much!). It is an online super discount coupon service.

The “deal” of the day today in Rio is to offer a Mexican food dinner at a restaurant called MeXdilicía which includes one taco, one burrito and one enchilada. A combination plate. That’s the deal so put forth. The regular price is (sit down) R$42.50. [WTF!!] The super savings price (!?) is R$21.00 (remember: one taco, one burrito and one enchilada)

We’re talking about beans and rice. (If you are from the southwest of the US – the burrito on its own will insult your intelligence.) Trust me, if there is any meat (or other real substance) in any of this it will be an infinitesimal amount. Who makes up this stuff?  Oh – and just try a so-called margarita at a place like this. Enjoy your sour juice mix for R$12.

What a weird reality. The world of Mexican food here is elevated to chic cuisine, instead of the every-day food of regular folks. And what comes on your plate is still regular beans and rice… but much less than you remember. Who comes up with this pricing?

Please tell me I have it all wrong.

[I don’t usually do a rant but this got my goat.]

Big and Tall in Brazil

Next weekend is the big Brazil Game Show gamers’ convention at the SulAmerica convention center in Rio. I’ve been their English translation guy and US business etiquette consultant these past few months.

Next weekend I will be at the convention speaking English with foreign trade executives in the VIP lounge. My secret job is to sell contracts for next year’s show. We’ll see how well I can pull off speaking “gamer” speak with guys who are a bit rusty with actual human-to-human in-person interactions. (OK, so the execs are not those guys...)

I have to rent a suit. Over the past nearly three years we’ve been in Brazil I think I have worn long pants less than 10 times (not even for Tonico’s 7-Day mass). My feet are most always in flip flops or sandals. Dress shoes? Maybe six times. Wearing a suit is a distant memory. Let’s face it, I did not move to Brazil to wear suits.

So today Luiz and I went to a few clothing rental outlets (shout out to Danielle) to see what the deal was. As you can imagine, the women’s wear floor at one place had seemingly hundreds of colorful dresses of every description. The men’s floor? Not so much. Suits: black, blue, darker blue, grey, darker grey and camel (referred to as beige, how exciting). Girls have all the fun.

So I pushed the limits of what sizes they carry and picked out a plain black suit (not a tuxedo, these will be T-shirt or Polo shirt wearing tourist executives playing in Rio – I already think a suit is too much, but the boss insists). Black is supposed to be slimming, but I don’t think that applies once you exceed a certain size.

It pays to shop around. One place (big company with stores in about 10 cities in Brazil) was prepared to rent me the suit for two days for R$250, plus R$40 for the shoes, R$30 for the shirt, R$20 for the tie. A cool R$340 for the lot.

Another place – same stuff: R$100. Same stuff.

It seems pretty clear to me that the Brazilian market has not yet adapted to the “Big & Tall” crowd. The tailoring was off, for sure. But it is what it is.

I’ll take my camera and report back later from the convention.