Nordestinos

Something I still can't figure out in Rio is this prejudice against people from the northeast of Brazil, known in Portuguese as "nordestinos". I have heard people refer to them as "paraíbas" (which is a state in northeast Brazil), even when the person is not from Paraíba. I have heard jokes about them being stupid, about them having giant heads, and worse things that I'd rather not mention here because they're just mean (as if the first two weren't mean enough).

Now this is a story for another post, but I have had a lot of problems in my apartment so far. Call it macumba. But anyway, everyone who has been here to do some kind of work for me has been a nordestino. Seu João the fix-everything man, Seu José the other fix-everything man, Carlos the electrician, have all been from the northeast of Brazil.  These are the sweetest people I have met in the country.

Carlos the electrician was my favorite. He came over after I had lost electricity a week before, had it kind of fixed by the building's handyman, and had been without hot water for seven days. When Carlos came over I was desperate. I asked him eleven different ways if he could at least just fix the water that same day, even if he couldn't do the other necessary rewiring. He looked at me, saw the desperation in my face at the thought of taking one more freezing cold shower, and said, "Vou dar um jeito para você."  I'll find a way for you. And he did. During the work, he told me all about his wife, his three daughters, and his grandchildren. He loved telling me how his wife was from the same city he was, but that he met her in Rio. And when he was leaving I walked out with him because I had to go to work, and in the street, he told me to take care of myself, and said goodbye with a hug and two cheek kisses. He gave me his cell phone number in case anything else went wrong and I needed an emergency contact, and said he doesn't usually give it out but that he was worried about a nice young girl like me being alone in Rio. My electrician, whom I had met an hour before, cared that much.

On my bus ride home, twice now, the same nordestino guy had gotten on along Rio Branco. I finally learned their accent to be able to pick them out (usually).  He carries two huge suitcases, he wears a dirty pair of shorts, havaianas, and nothing else. He has no more than four teeth. He is sweaty and he smells bad.  But he is sweaty and he smells bad because he is working in the street selling candy as his work, and then has to carry everything he is selling with him on the bus in these two huge heavy suitcases. When he gets on the bus, he tells everyone around how hot he is, and fans himself with his hands.  The looks on the faces of everyone else on the bus are inexcusable. He is a nice person! He is friendly, he moves his suitcases for people to get off, he smiles and makes small talk. And people roll their eyes and look away when he talks to them, sharing those knowing "He's crazy!" looks with their eyes.

Oh the looks I received the second time I saw him, and he said "Good evening" to me. I smiled and said good evening back.  He said I looked familiar. I said, we rode the bus together yesterday. He smiled, chatted a bit more, and then my stop came and I got off the bus with him calling a sincere "Boa noite, minha filha!" after me.

Tonight I saw him running to get on as the back doors of the 010 were closing. He yelled for the bus to wait, and it did for a moment. Then the driver saw who had wanted to get on, closed the door, and kept going. The man punched the side of the bus several times, and more as it drove away.  Wouldn't you feel the same if your ride home after such a long day had so deliberately left you behind?

I just don't get what the nordestinos did to get this kind of treatment, this prejudice.  Until someone can give me a good reason, I'll continue to spend my nights at the Feira de Paraíbas, singing karaoke and drinking caipirinhas, eating carne de sol com aipim, and dancing forró with them.  They have a lovely culture, and that place feels more like home than anywhere else in Rio.