Butecos

the bar capital of Brazil. In fact, Belo Horizonte has more bars per capita than any other city in Brazil. As noted by a recent New York Times article (the paper’s first feature on Belo Horizonte), Belo Horizonte has over 12,000 butecos or informal sit-down bars where people drink, socialize and share meals. Butecos are so prevalent in Belo Horizonte that the city’s informal motto has become: “Não tem mares, tem bares,” loosely translated as “There are no seas, but there are bars.”
A typical buteco will have dozens of colorful plastic tables and chairs (usually imprinted with the advertisement of a beer company such as Skol, Brahma or Antartica), a few menus (if any at all) and serve food (usually meat) in communal dishes that are eaten with toothpicks. Butecos are the places where social encounters begin, take place or end. It is where people go to watch soccer games, celebrate birthdays, enjoy an after-work cachaça, or catch up with friends. They bring together friends, family, neighbors, and strangers, and once in a blue moon, tourists. The only things butecos cannot bring together are Cruzeiro and Atlético fans (the two major soccer teams in the city).
The buteco is a quintessential multi-purpose Brazilian space—flexible, improvisational and vivacious. Tables and chairs can be bunched together, separated to accommodate growing or shrinking groups, or placed outside, on the street or sidewalk, when space runs out. Butecos can be found anywhere, from impoverished favelas where they are known as pé-sujos (dirty feet) to upscale neighborhoods where they are known as butecos chiques. Butecos are so prevalent in Belo Horizonte that if the city had a soundtrack it would be the murmur of packed butecos.

Game of Their Lives

“The Game of Their Lives,” A 2005 movie about the 1950 United States-England soccer match, Played at Estádio da Independência in Belo Horizonte, it is widely regarded as the greatest upset in World Cup history. After the United States defeated England 1-0, The English team never again wore the blue jersey worn for that game.

Backyard Trees

With temperatures falling below 100 degrees for the first time in months, I was finally able to plant fig, pomegranate and lemon drop trees in my backyard. Apparently fall has arrived in Texas. With this seemingly non-ending heat and drought, Texas is becoming more like northeastern Brazil, where temps in the 90s feel ‘refreshing.’ If winter arrives and it’s still in the 90s, I’m just going to have to start planting caju, carambola, and mango trees–and set up a Brazilian fruit stand.

The Jeitinho in Space

The jeitinho can also be observed spatially. In the butecos (bars) of Belo Horizonte–the Bar Capital of Brazil–colorful plastic tables will be laid out in an orderly fashion every night. However, as parties make a jeitinho for one more friend, these tables will be scattered around like a spinning game of dominoes.

When butecos reach full capacity, tables and chairs will be brought out onto the sidewalk. But the jeitinho doesn’t end there. Once the sidewalk can no longer hold more people, tables and chairs will be placed on the street! The jeitinho is such a part of the Brazilian psyche that owners of butecos will always have extra tables and chairs to make this spatial expansion possible.

The Jeitinho in Everyday Life

The art of the jeitinho can be observed in people’s homes and the streets, in favelas and middle-class residential buildings, in government offices and slum-upgrading project sites. It forms part of the cultural fabric of Brazil.

If a policeman stops someone, that person might ask him if there is a way of making a jeitinho or an exception. If a performance is sold out, someone might ask the host if there’s a jeitinho for him or her to go in. If someone wants to get off the bus when there’s no bus stop, that person will ask the bus driver if there’s a jeitinho for him or her to get off.

But you have to know how and when to ask for a jeitinho. As Fernanda Carlos Borges explains in The Philosophy of the Jeito (2006), you have to ask humbly and kindly, as if you were just presented with an unexpected dilemma. This is key if you want to master the art of the jeitinho.

The Elusive Jeitinho

In Brazil, there is a unique way of doing things. It is known as the jeitinho. The jeitinho refers to the Brazilian art of cutting corners, bending rules, finding loopholes, making exceptions, improvising solutions and negotiating what is ‘non-negotiable.’

The jeitinho is a way of getting what you want or getting out of a tricky situation through wit, charm, improvisation or as the Brazilian anthropologist Roberta da Matta has famously proposed “knowing the right person.” Brazilians use the jeitinho when making room for one more person at the dinner table, getting off the bus when there is no bus stop or obtaining passports through despachantes, magical middlemen who cut through bureaucratic red tape with lightning speed.

The jeitinho, however, is not to be exclusively associated with illegality (i.e. bribing). Rather, it is an everyday technique that facilitates life and renders formal situations informal. It is simply a faster, more efficient and often more personable way of getting what you want. Understanding the practice of jeitinho is crucial for understanding how business, government and everyday life operates in Brazil.

In the following posts, I will explore the subtle power of the jeitinho.

No “No” in Brazil

In Brazil, “no” is a very rude word. From an early age, Brazilians are taught to avoid saying “no.” This is why they have devised a “no” that is cleverly disguised as a “yes.” When you invite Brazilians to dinner, they will usually accept–even if they have already made other plans. Some will even agree on a time knowing very well in advance that they will not be able to attend.

Maybe Brazilians simply have another outlook on life, one that views life as inherently unpredictable, so unpredictable in fact that they might just make it to dinner after all–3 hours after your scheduled meeting! Unpredictability is at the heart of everyday life in Brazil. That’s why you should always say “yes,” even if it’s a “no” disguised as a “yes.” Because you never “No.”

Dicas Para Ficar Apaixonado de Chicago Parte IV

Para mim, uma visita para o Maxwell Street Market é necessária para toda pessoa que queira entender bem quem é Chicago. Cada domingo entre as 7 da manha e as 3 da tarde, imigrantes de toda a América Latina, Polônia e Afro-Americanos se reúnem no que é o maior mercado ao ar livre nos Estados Unidos. A fusão destas culturas é única e espetacular! As vezes tem shows improvisarios de tap-dancers negros dançando musica mexicana!

Se você gostar de comida mexicana, o Maxwell Street Market é imperdível. Cada semana o Rick Bayless–o antropólogo/chef dos dois restaurantes mexicanos mais reputados da cidade, Frontera Grill e Topolobampo–visita as barraquinhas do Maxwell Street Market para se inspirar nos pratos tradicionais. Dica importantíssima: ali tem os melhores tacos de birria no mundo, talvez até melhor que no México mesmo. Procure um barraquinho branco que diga Tacos de Birria Jalisco e peça: “dos y dos con todo e un consume.”

Dicas Para Ficar Apaixonado de Chicago Parte III

Se você for viajar com um urbanista, não deixe de visitar a estação Jackson e as muralhas em Pilsen, o bairro tradicional de Chicago.

A estação Jackson no “L” (come é chamado o metro) apresenta uma imagem em movimento da segregação espacial-racial de Chicago. Esta estação se encontra na linha vermelha que atravessa a cidade do norte ao sul. Entorno das 5 da tarde—na hora em que as pessoas voltam para casa—os afro-americanos pegam o metro na direção sul enquanto os brancos embarcam nos vagões que vão para o norte da cidade. Embora as relações raciais em Chicago tem melhorado bastante nas útlimas décadas, imagens como aquela da estação Jackson mostram que podem ainda ser melhor.

Recentemente, as muralhas de Pilsen tem sido usadas para lutar contra gentrifcation—a revitalização do bairro que tem provocado a saída de muito residentes mexicanos. Para lutar contra esta transformação, os artistas locais tem marcado o espaço construído com imagens visuais que celebram a cultura e história dos mexicanos em Chicago. Este movimento artístico também pode ser observado em Humboldt Park, a comunidade Porto Riquenha ao norte da cidade. Se você quiser visitar as muralhas de Pilsen com um artista local, entre em contato com Jose Guerrero de Pilsen Mural Tours (773-342-4191).

Dicas Para Fixar Apaixonado de Chicago Parte II

O novo coração de Chicago é sem dúvida o Millenium Park, um parque público que foi inaugurado em 2004. Dentro do Millenium Park está um anfiteatro futurístico do arquiteto canadense Frank Gehry que lembra as escalas de um peixe e um jardim espetacular da paisagista americana Kathryn Gustafson que fica florescido o ano todo–mesmo durante o inverno sub-zero.

Cada noite artistas ou grupos mundialmente reconhecidos como Seu Jorge e Mariza realizam shows no anfiteatro que conta com o melhor sistema de som ao ar livre no mundo. Vindo do norte, oeste ou sul, todos os Chicagoans se reúnem com amigos, vizinhos e família–fazendo picniques elaborados. Para fazer parte desta tradição, eu aconselharia trazer um picqnique do Fox and Obel, um deli de luxo onde você encontrará personagens locais como a Oprah.

Para mim, Millenium Park é o espaço mais democrático da cidade, onde todos os residentes podem fazer parte de um evento cultural gratuitamente. Duas vezes por semana pegava a minha bicicleta de Hyde Park, o bairro onde se encontra a Universidade de Chicago (também o bairro onde vivia Obama), e pedalava na pista que tem ao lado da lagoa até chegar no parque. Por incrível que seja, o Millenium Park tem serviço de manobrista para todos os ciclistas!