Lost, Found and my 4 Portuguese Mothers

The friendliness of the Brazilian people is amazing. I've been a number of places and you can always find someone who'll assist you regardless. But the Brazilians take passion in assisting and making you feel like you have an instant friend. This week was a good example.

Last fall (Brazilian spring) I'd met Paulo the guy that became my translator and tour guide. I was hoping to meet up with him again on this trip, but now that he's working full time and going to school full time we have not had the chance to meet up. Finally, Wednesday this week he had a few hours between work and school so we decided I'd go meet him for dinner during his break. --It's amazing how the simplest of things become adventures :-)--

He gave me instructions on what bus to catch and where to get off. But we forgot to discuss one minor detail, which was "where" I was going to catch the bus.

To divert from the story, I'll take a moment and describe how I've used the bus system here. As mentioned buses are everywhere and a very efficient means to get around as long as you know the system. At a macro level the system relies on a hub and spoke method where you go from one major location to another. If you know the direction of a major hub and your stop is in between, then you get on and hop off at the location on the way to the hub. I've been very careful to keep my bus rides on the major avenues that have direct runs to the major bus hubs. I have two fall back plans in case I get on a bus and get lost: 1. is to get off the bus and hail a taxi. It may cost a lot, but I can give the taxi driver the address of the apartment and let them carry me back. 2. The second plan is to simply stay on the bus until it returns. All the buses run circular routes and as long as the bus does not go out of service, it will eventually come back to the place you started. With these plans I felt comfortable I had options to deal with most situations.

Back to the story, Paulo said to catch a bus to Piedade and get off at the big shopping center called Shopping Guararapes. He assumed I would catch the bus on the major avenue Boa Viagem which would be a direct route to the shopping center. Well, as it was, I boarded the bus at the shopping center near the apartment. I got on the bus that said "Piedade Shopping". --Thank goodness I was carrying the cell phone with me!-- As soon as the bus departed I knew I wasn't on the right bus. The sign was right, but the direction was all wrong. So I called Paulo and told him what bus I was on (Again he thought I had boarded on the Avenue not at the Shopping center) and he said OK, it will take a little longer, but you will get here, just stay on the bus, so I said OK. About 20 minutes passed and we're heading in the general direction of Piedade but my instinct kept telling me this was wrong. I waited another 15 minutes and just as I was calling Paulo, he called me and said "where are you?". I said "I have no clue". He confirmed what bus (again) and said "OK, you will be here in a couple minutes", I said "I don't like this, I think I am on the wrong bus". --it was obvious to me because this bus was not on any major streets. It was winding its way in and out of all these little streets going many different directions and my gut kept telling me it was not right.-- Finally another 10-15 minutes passes and Paulo calls again and said "you should be here by now!", "I know" I said. The he asked me "where did you catch the bus?" I told him at "Shopping Recife" and his response was all so reassuring when he said "oh you're on THAT bus!", "Oh My God you're a long way from here!" Great I'm thinking. He asked me again, "where are you??", "I have NO Clue" I said.

Meanwhile we had stopped and picked up a load of screaming school kids and with them was a middle aged lady who had worked her way back to where I was standing. Paulo asked if there was an adult near me and I said yes. He said "let me talk to her". Great, here I am a complete stranger, I tap on this lady's shoulder and said "eu nao fala portuguese, pode voce fala meu amigo por favor". (I don't speak Portuguese, can you talk to my friend please). She looked at me kind of strange, I handed her the phone. She took it and listened for a minute, then she started nodding her head and she and Paulo talked for a couple minutes. She handed me back the phone and Paulo said to follow her, she would take me to a bus stop where I could get a bus back to the Shopping Guararapes center. So I said ok.

The lady was short -about 5'2", friendly and full of energy. She immediately started chatting at me a 100 miles an hour in Portuguese. I told her I spoke very little Portuguese and she nodded and kept chatting away like we were old friends having a coffee house conversation. Finally we reached a stop, she grabbed my arm and hustled me off the bus. We were in some far out suburban neighborhood that was all dirt streets and definitely not the city!! Here this little 5'2" pleasant lady with these platform shoes, a purse as big as her body is walking me down these rough undeveloped crowded streets chatting away, pointing for me to step over these big holes, around rocks while never breaking conversation. I know she told me something about her daughter, where she lived, where she worked, but that's all I know. I think I had her whole life story at the rate she was talking. At one point we passed a vendor stand she knew. She stops, they hug, they chat, she points to me and I can tell she told the girl I didn't speak Portuguese and she was saying something about where I was going and she was taking me to the bus. They said "tchau" and off we went again.

Finally we get to a bus stop. --Another side note. There are two kinds of bus systems; the government owned and run buses, and private companies. The private companies run these small shuttle buses with a guy hanging out the door calling to people and hustling for business. They compete for the city business and their differentiators is they're friendly, helpful and add a person touch to the bus ride where the city bus operators are lifeless.-- My lady friend hails down this little bus and she asks the guy if they're going to Shopping Guararapes. He said "yes". She confirms, then in a very stern motherly voice she makes sure he acknowledges where I am going and to make sure I get off at the right stop and he's nodding his head "yes, yes" (quite bothered by all this, but committed). My lady friend gives me a hug, says bye etc...and as I get on the bus there are these 3 other ladies. I really don't know if she knew them or not, but she yells at them that I don't speak Portuguese and make sure I get off at the shopping mall. It was like tag team mothers. They immediately pointed to a seat next to them, and just like the first lady, they starting chatting away. They asked me my name, where I was from, what was I doing in Brazil. For each answer they would nod their head, jabber away for a couple mins with each other, then ask me the next question just like I understood every word they said. All this with smiles, little touches to my arm, just I like they knew me all their life.

Finally we get to the shopping center and the three gather around me, hustle me off the bus and we start walking toward the mall. Paulo had spotted me getting off the bus and came over to meet me. I knew I was in safe hands as he was immediately met with the "inquisition wall" of the 3 ladies!! Finally it was acknowledged we knew one another and they let us go after all sorts of "muito prazer, obrigado, de nada, boa viagem" -Nice to meet you, thank you, your welcome and have a good journey".

By the time I met up with Paulo we only had about 20 minutes, so we grabbed some Acai --a brazilian fruit drink-- and we chatted for a bit. Then he took me to the bus stop, made sure I got on the right bus back, and off I went. I got back to the apartment with no problems, but completely exhausted.

The more I spend time walking around I'm amazed at how social people are here. And it doesn't matter if I speak much Portuguese; they are perfectly happy to have conversations with me just nodding my head and smiling. Today I was looking at a new building under construction; which, if not going to be the tallest building in the area, definitely one of them. I am standing there looking up at it and this old guy walks up, he's looking at it to, and starts to speak. I say I speak little Portuguese, he smiles and chats. He made some mention of 9/11 and airplanes hitting the skyscrapers etc..but perfectly happy to chat away and me with little comprehension. His bus arrived, shook my hand, gave me a big smile and hopped on his bus and waved as he was leaving. Amazing. Life in Brazil :-)