The Colossus of the South

Imagine a continent-sized country with a tremendously diverse population united by a single language, with a super-sized economy and with a capital city built from scratch in a central location. A country where credit cards are accepted just about everywhere, where there is a sophisticated travel infrastructure especially regarding domestic flights, and where the citizenry can be characterized by its can-do attitude. The United States of America? The Federative Republic of Brazil.

Brazil is so singularly self-sustained that it has long since surpassed rival Argentina to become the economic motor of South America and one of the largest economies in the world. With the aggressive mandate of two-term president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula), who has defeated US agricultural subsidies in court and was generally successful in thwarting the Bush administration’s hopes for an Americas-wide free trade zone, Brazil has become an icon among developing nations. And it continues to develop its successful tourism industry, with the new designation and promotion of the “Rota Imperial” (colonial cities and towns in three states), growth in the number and acceptance of naturist beaches, also concert-themed tours, and its already well-developed ecotourism venues.

If Brazil were completely populated, with substantial cities in its interior of the same size as those along its endless Atlantic coast, then it would resemble the US even more. (The only thing missing is the development of the Amazon. The world hopes that will never happen, but in fact it happens a little every day.) As it is, the population and power are very strongly concentrated in the southeast, along the corridor that runs from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. Northern coastal cities (Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador) and southern (Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis) are also quite important, but in all of Brazil’s vast interior the three substantially large cities are Brasília (the capital), Belo Horizonte, and the inland Amazon port of Manaus.

A Brazilian friend made a comment about the high desirability of her country's passports, because anyone of any ethnicity could be Brazilian. Some years ago I spent time in megalopolis São Paulo and found I could walk around unnoticed among people of many phenotypes, just like in many United States cities. The experience was similar in the port cities of Rio and Salvador. Regarding Rio, I can only confirm what everyone already knows about it as the world’s most beautiful city, but I can also proclaim what fewer people, perhaps, know, about Salvador: the center of the nation’s Afro-Brazilian culture, it is a stunningly enchanting city too, as I learned on two three-day tours of the city with a friend who lives there. I visited breathtaking beaches in both cities, and it wasn’t just the scenery that caught my breath: especially in Rio there exists a pervasive body-consciousness regarding fitness and beauty. (An abundance of overweight, pale, poorly dressed Americans, spilling out of the seats in a gate waiting area at the Dallas airport, framed my re-entry.)

And even though the danger of violence in Rio is real, Brazilians also tend to be inordinately approachable and personable. I heard some shots one night near where I was staying in Rio, and it turned out that one of the owners of the bed-and-breakfast had been attacked by someone on a motorcycle as he was approaching home in his car. He was not hurt but his car was damaged. The police showed up promptly and filed a report. I find impressive the ability of many cariocas (Rio residents), and Brazilians in general, to navigate knowingly between their casual, multicultural bonhomie and the tensions produced by an inordinately wide income disparity.

I met a Venezuelan woman in Rio who claims that her favorite places to travel are Brazil and Mexico. I completely agree, but her opinion is more noteworthy than mine because she has traveled around the world! And a colleague of mine says that the future of South America is Brazil. His opinion bears special importance because he is Argentine! Even beyond its immense economy and its status as an agricultural powerhouse, Brazil’s is a leading presence in music, the travel industry, film and television production, fashion, information technology, Internet use, even online voting technology. I am proud that the University of Tulsa implemented instruction in Portuguese (eighth most spoken language in the world) after I began teaching it here in 2005.