It’s All About Romance
Brazil is a land of romance. When you visit a romantic location in Curitiba, like the waterfalls at Parque Tanguá, you should be prepared to initiate a passionate kiss with your wife or girlfriend. If you don’t, you may find yourself cooking your own dinner for several weeks.
Brazil is not the only place famous for romance. France, for example, is considered a romantic country. The film director Woody Allen, who has been making movies in New York since the 1960s, fell in love with France and filmed his latest movie there, Midnight in Paris.
An American journalist who lived in Paris for many years, Elaine Sciolino, recently published a book on France called La Seduction. In it she talks about how passionate French men are towards their female targets. The seductive power of the French male is seen in this way: “The real seduction, in the end, is in words,” a quote from a French advertising executive.
For me, the descriptions in the book sound very much like Brazil. Certainly, few men can match the eloquence and humor, wit and charm, of a Brazilian man in the joys of seduction. The marvelous dance of his words, with which he envelopes and mesmerizes his intended, is a remarkable feat of linguistic gymnastics. If Brazil is famous for its beaches and all-night parties, the real romance is in the words. What better language for a man advertising himself, like a peacock spreading his plumage, than the seductive textures and indirect constructions of Portuguese.
Another example from this book that reminded me of Brazil was when the journalist describes how French women participate in their own seduction. It is not only the men who do the seducing, but the women who are active participants as well. For example, she comments on the fashionable appearance of the women: “In Paris, women . . . [must] never go out in public without looking impeccably put together.”
As in cities like Paris and New York, which are full of models and actresses, women in Rio and São Paulo dress impeccably. Brazilian women are known for their overt fashion sensuality. Even in Curitiba it’s common to see well-dressed women. They’ll wear carefully conceived outfits in the latest fashions, including elements no one sees – what’s beneath their clothes. As with their counterparts in Paris, the women of Brazil wear lingerie, as opposed to underwear. And this invisible fashion seduction occurs not only when they’re out for a romantic evening to participate in their own seduction, but also in the office or the supermarket as well. A Brazilian woman who went shopping in the US said, “I asked the girl in the store if they sold underwear, and she showed me what my grandmother wears. I didn’t know I needed to ask for lingerie.”
The essence of romance is in revelation, exposing what was hidden. There are new feelings to uncover, new places to discover, and most of all, the new person sharing your life. Before you is a potential soul mate who has remained hidden and invisible until now. Then in one brilliant moment, your new lover is a part of your life, and your tender world changes forever with this passionate discovery.
A hidden revelation not seen in France which exists in Brazil is the discovery of unknown tribes. It is remarkable to learn there are people who have never been in contact with the modern world. For over a century, scholars and adventurers have risked their lives to explore the Amazon region and catch a glimpse of small groups of natural dwellers who have never ventured outside the jungle and often have no written language. Explorers as famous as the early 20th century US president, Theodore Roosevelt, traveled through the Amazon and wrote about it. (His book is called Through the Brazilian Wilderness.) Others came to the Amazon to study its ancient tribes and natural medicines and did not survive the excursion.
A Brazilian organization called FUNAI (National Indian Foundation) recently discovered a tribe of Indians living in the Amazon jungle near the border of Peru. First glimpsed by satellite, FUNAI verified four rudimentary housing constructions, known as malocas, in which over 200 Indians could be living. After first locating them by satellite, FUNAI, which has a policy of not making contact with secluded tribes, funded aerial photos, which revealed corn crops and nut and banana trees, indicating agricultural activity. FUNAI issued an official statement saying they believe this is another Indian tribe that has never had contact with the outside world.
These tribal societies are the last bridge linking the modern world to its earliest ancestors. They offer a romantic picture of our past so far distant there are no written records. They are the last remaining examples of human prehistory, in the same sense that dinosaurs were prehistoric. Amazon tribes continue to live today in the exact same way all people lived 10,000 years ago. Their way of thinking is completely foreign to most of us. For example, every piece of food and every tool is shared among the members of the tribe. There is no concept of ownership, not even of the land.
Thanks to the Amazon region being the largest oxygen-producing area in the world, it is essential to the future survival of our planet. When we fight to preserve the Amazon jungle, we are not only securing our future, but protecting the tribes who live there. For them, the earth is their religion, the ultimate provider, to be treated with sacred care and respect. Their limited view of the world represents the most profound type of romance – one based on passion, preservation, and devotion.
Michael Rubin is an American living in Curitiba. He can be contacted at rubin.brazil@gmail.com.
[Photo by the author]
