I finally understood why plastic sandals, including the iconic Havaianas, are so popular here: it’s not for the beach but for the rain because when there is chuva, there is muita chuva: the streets are completely flooded in inches of water. Every day, in Rio, it rained around 7:30 p.m. It always followed the same pattern: big back clouds coming from the mountains, strong wind, torrential downpour. Bonus: rats running around! The streets of Rio then become a very dirty beach.

I also realized that if there are TV broadcasting news and piece of trivia in the Pão de Açúcar supermercado downstairs, it’s because it rarely takes less than twenty minutes to complete a purchase. Lineups are long and the checkout process is infuriatingly slow—cashiers are unenthusiastically scanning articles slowly, one by one, debit or credit cards don’t work, there is no change in the cash register so a supervisor must be called… Even French employees are faster!

There are many things I don’t understand about Brazil, a common local logic Brazilians have that escapes me. Brazilians seem to follow rules without questioning them too much, problem is, I don’t have a copy of these rules. Locals don’t seem to care that I’m not fluent in Portuguese. People weren’t unfriendly, they just assumed that we knew all the quirks. But of course, we didn’t.

We are sometimes so out of sync that at one point, we “lost” an hour and only realized it at night. Background: we knew that Rio (and presumably Brazil, although I’m confused with the country’s time zones) was switching to winter time (winter? What winter??) the weekend of February 20. We made a mental note of it since we were flying back on the 22, but we assumed that we would adjust the clock late Saturday night/early Sunday morning like it is done in France or in Canada.

“You know what…” Feng said Saturday night before we went to bed. “I checked the time in Brazil online, and I think we already switched to winter time.”

“What? Like, today?”

“Yep.”

“So all day, we were an hour early?”

“Yep. We….”

“Picked up the laundry an hour early?”

“I know! That’s why it was just out of the dryer!”

“Oh and the museum had just opened at 12 p.m., that’s why the lineup was so long!”

Suddenly, everything made sense. It was funny though that for a day, we were an hour early and we didn’t even know it.

My final verdict on Brazil? As a backpacker, I love the country. But I don’t think I would live here.

I have this slightly annoying (“annoying” according to Feng) and unrealistic habit to picture myself in all of the countries we visit. “Yes, I could fit here on the short or medium term,” I think when I’m in Argentina, Chile, China or Mexico. But there are a few countries that I only enjoy as a backpacker, mostly because culturally speaking, they aren’t the best fit for me. Australia is one of them. Great land to explore but I wouldn’t stay there too long—too far, too British, not a big fan of the island mindset. Thailand (or most of South-East Asia) is another place that I enjoyed but I don’t speak the language and I don’t “click” with people. Ah… and Quebec. I enjoy Quebec (well, mostly shopping for imported French products in Gatineau). But I wouldn’t want to live there.

I enjoyed Brazil as a backpacker but I fit best in the rest of the Latin America and Brazil is not a Latino country. In a way, Brazil reminds me of China. I understand the mindset (at least as much as I can), I understand the people, I can communicate, but spontaneously, I can’t think like a Brazilian or a Chinese. My thought process is different. It just is. With China, I had years of training. I can “act” Chinese if I need to but it takes efforts and there are many customs and Chinese quirks I don’t agree with as a French or as a Canadian. However, in Argentina or Guatemala, things make sense to me, everyday stuff is more instinctive.

I’m fine with that. I can’t picture myself everywhere. For Brazil, I keep the postcard scenery. I just don’t want to be in it.

While we are on our way back to Canada (can’t you hear me crying?), enjoy the “People of Rio”!

Two worlds
Two worlds
In Centro
In Centro
In Centro
In Centro
Preacher in Centro
Preacher in Centro
Oi, tudo bem?
Oi, tudo bem?
In Centro
In Centro
In Centro
In Centro
Doing business
Doing business
Two worlds... again...
Two worlds… again…
Going to work, going to the beach
Going to work, going to the beach
In the subway
In the subway
Shopper in Ipanema
Shopper in Ipanema
Gated residential building in Ipanema
Gated residential building in Ipanema
Dog walker in Ipanema
Dog walker in Ipanema
Done for the day
Done for the day
Building for the Olympics
Building for the Olympics
Argentinian tourist at the Corcovado (I'm guessing the country because of the mate de coca...)
Argentinian tourist at the Corcovado (I’m guessing the country because of the mate de coca…)
Old lady in front of a Corcovado mural in Ipanema
Old lady in front of a Corcovado mural in Ipanema
Mark checking out Havaianas
Mark checking out Havaianas
Police on the beach in Ipanema
Police on the beach in Ipanema
Careful couple in Ipanema
Careful couple in Ipanema
During a downpour
During a downpour
During a downpour
During a downpour
Sunday crowd in Ipanema
Sunday crowd in Ipanema
Waiters in a restaurant
Waiters in a restaurant

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18 Comments

  1. Isa February 25, 2016 at 4:08 am

    I have the same habit. And my partner says “yeah yeah ok yeah” and I never seem to understand his lack of passion about my life plans! 😀 I’ll probably stay in Lyon anyway.
    Good flights back, and good luck for the cold! I didn’t realize it was already 2 months on the road. I am going to miss reading you as much!

    Reply
    1. Zhu February 25, 2016 at 11:18 pm

      I don’t know how normal it is to want to change life. Unrealistic? Maybe. It doesn’t mean I’m unhappy though, it means that… I always want something better? But not in a “I hate my life” kind of way. Just something that keeps me going.

      Reply
      1. Isa February 26, 2016 at 1:59 am

        For me, I’d say I’m always thinking of how my life would be different and how I would try out something new. Not even better!
        Last time, I pictured myself living in Séville and how I would live, how much I’d improved my spanish, etc…
        Unfortunately, expat life isn’t for my partner!

        Reply
        1. Zhu February 29, 2016 at 12:44 am

          Feng wouldn’t move anywhere else either, traveling is all he needs. Your partner doesn’t mind traveling, does he? If so, traveling is probably the best of both world because any place can turn boring… I think…

          Reply
          1. Isa February 29, 2016 at 11:00 am

            He does love it! Not as much as I do (he likes to go home after a month of travelling, as I’d rather stay another month, but that’s ok, I’ll travel on my own!)

          2. Zhu March 1, 2016 at 7:02 pm

            Solo traveling is awesome too… I hear you!

  2. ana February 25, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    I enjoyed this post a lot. As I a brazilian living in Europe with an european partner I understood your point about your impressions from Brazil. I can’t and couldn’t live there anymore. this summer we will be in Canada and I’m wondering how everything wil be.

    Reply
    1. Zhu February 25, 2016 at 11:20 pm

      Oh, welcome to Canada for the summer! Ah, summer… good pick 😉 Right now, it’s miserable with winter conditions.

      Do you find it hard to connect again with Brazilians back home? Did your mindset change?

      To me, an outsider, it seems that Brazil is truly a country apart from the rest of Latin America. Not just because of the language, the mindset is totally different.

      Reply
      1. ana February 26, 2016 at 5:40 pm

        Well, I’ve always felt that I was born on the wrong place. This is difficult to explain, but I wasn’t confortable with many things around me.

        I’m still somehow proud of being brazilian. There are certain aspects of our culture that I’ll take for the rest of my life and I’m so grateful for it.

        Sometimes it’s difficult to understand my own family that still lives there. Everything seems so logical from my point of view. And then I remember that I don’t live in Brazil anymore and that my mindset has indeed changed a lot.

        And about the other comments on this post. I find it amasing that you travel so much with your family. That certainly wouldn’t be for me, but we will give Canada a go. I think we are also searching for something new, and for me it’s like, I’ve already immigrated once, so why not a second time?

        Reply
        1. Zhu February 29, 2016 at 12:48 am

          I hear you on the “been born in the wrong place”, I kind of felt like that with France. I mean, I am French and I have no problem with that… but I always wanted to be someone else too, I’ve always wanted to investigate other cultures and maybe adopt some customs. I wanted to make my life difficult I guess 😆 Like you, I can slip into the French mindset when I go back but most of the time, my other cultures, the one I adopted when traveling or when living in Canada, interfere with the “true” French mindset. I have a split personality I guess.

          Canada is a good place to start again from scratch. It is welcoming to immigrants, although after a while I do find there are pitfalls as well… no place is perfect!

          Reply
    1. Zhu February 25, 2016 at 11:21 pm

      OMG. I just don’t want to get pregnant again!!! OMG. So like… OMG.

      😆

      Reply
      1. Martin Penwald February 27, 2016 at 9:48 am

        This American religious zealots are amazingly stupid.
        Speaking of Canada’s weather, Alberta is incredibly warm for the season, so warm that road bans (load limits for trucks) are already in place. And there is always the option to leave in the Vancouver area with its mild oceanic climate. But here the problem of job.

        Reply
        1. Zhu February 29, 2016 at 12:49 am

          Vancouver is also crazily expensive, I’ve heard. And winter over there isn’t that awesome (i.e. warmer but not warm enough for me) that it is worth paying a premium.

          Reply
  3. Holly February 28, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    I love that ‘during a downpour’ photo. I have this same habit, I can tell you that I could 100% imagine living in the south of Spain, where I was lately. Not sure I could do the same in Brazil myself to be honest, but then I have never been.

    Reply
    1. Zhu February 29, 2016 at 12:54 am

      Yeah, couldn’t picture myself living in Brazil. Spain? Mmm… I should visit…

      Reply
  4. Ernestine April 23, 2019 at 9:39 pm

    Beautiful pictures ! People are the most interesting thing to me when I travel, I want to know everything about how they live their daily life in this area of the planet. And I totally relate to the question “Could I live here?”, but I am not sure I am good at answering it.
    I have read some of your articles, I love how you write ! It impresses me that you decided to write in English. Is there an article where you explain the reason ? Or just no reason.. I am just being curious.

    Reply
    1. Zhu April 24, 2019 at 1:40 am

      Thank you! I can’t help wondering how I’d fit in XYZ country, which is a pretty hard hypothetical question to answer but it makes me focus on people and their fascinating daily life in turn 🙂

      I didn’t speak English when I came to Canada, I kind of… pick it up here, after struggling for the first three years. When I started the blog in 2005, it was a writing exercise. Just… don’t go back that far into the archives, my English was awful 😆 It makes sense for me to write in English because that’s the environment I live in here.

      Reply

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