Esportuglish

Today Erlyn and I went on a long stroll through some of the central parts of Rio de Janeiro. We started in Cinelândia (known for once having a cluster of cinemas) and made our way to one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, Arcos (Arches) da Lapa. These once served as an aqueduct, and now carry the one remaining tramline that shuttles between downtown and the old hilly district of Santa Teresa. Based on photos of the Arches, they were once grander. Now they shelter scores of homeless people, in-keeping with other areas of the city I’ve seen so far. Rio has a homelessness crisis that it is nowhere close to tackling successfully. Under their current fascist leader I don’t imagine this situation to improve in the coming years; in fact the opposite is highly likely.

We strolled (very slowly as it is very steep) into Santa Teresa. It was an original bairro (neighbourhood) of Rio and now is a part-gentrified hub for artists and based on the political graffiti about the ex-president, Lula, a centre of left-wing activism. Views across the hillsides and favelas towards both Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer were jaw-dropping. As we ambled its cobbled jumble of streets, marmosets scuttled along walls.

We’re on a limited budget as Erlyn receives an Argentinian government salary. Neither of us are wild foodies so we’ve been seeking out cafés with local fare for a few quid each meal. These usually turn out to be delicious and are accompanied by fresh fruit juices that may be unrivalled in the world. Today’s lunch spot was in a café (oddly called Faceburguer) next to a very ancient and grand Cruz Vermelha (Red Cross) building.

The average Brazilian is harder to understand than the average Mozambican and adapting to the accent will take a while. Added to this, Erlyn barely speaks English and up to this trip we’ve communicated in Spanish. Now when I try and speak Spanish, Portuguese comes out, even when I try to correct it. So we’re having to operate like this, with Erlyn getting a crash course in Portuguese. Somehow it seems to be succeeding.