I’m beginning to realize that the food in
this country can be consistently amazing and surprising. Our
client hosts have taken us to a lunch place for the second time which has a self-serve
buffet, which is even better the second day in a row. What was my impression of "Brazilian" food before coming here? Simplistic, certainly. I think it was essentially a void. I’m enjoying the transition from China to a
multicultural environment made up of cultures I can’t properly place. Is that a Portuguese face? Surely that person must have some Japanese in them?
This morning, in
the bathroom I got lost in my Lonely Planet, reading about places I won’t be
able to visit on this trip. The Iguazu Falls, look spellbinding. Salvador was the colonial capital with
attendant architecture, food and music. Someday, someday. Strong sense that this, like China or India is a
continental country that simply demands many additional visits. There is a fathomless amount that remains to be seen.
We meet a
remarkable young man at dinner. He is an entrepreneur, who has built a wildly successful device company and then parlayed
that into a role in the education ministry in the state of Parana. He suggests we head to a Spanish restaurant,
and once again the food is wonderful but up on the television I keep seeing pictures
of countries I recognize as, Portugal. Iberian then, this place. Now it makes sense that the women on the
platform is singing Fado.
With English
speakers like our host it is easy to pick up on local political
sentiments. Many, many people are fed up
with the legacy of Lula and his designated successor Dilma. And as most of my discussions are with
business people I’m finding a profound dislike for anything that even hints of
socialism or that which is left. I'm reminded of being in Guatemala in 1989 and staying with a family in Antigua who I thought I understood, until the name Jimmy Carter came up and the mother of the house spat on the ground. She was a Reaganite.
Thursday, 3/21/19
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