Just wondering

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I wonder as we drove through the landscape along the coastline: where do Brazilians grow their vegetables? I know nothing about the quality of the soil but with around 206 million inhabitants and a country the size of North America, there must be a market?

Actually Brazil is one of the world's major breadbaskets, and Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years.

When I shop food in the local supermarkets here in Vidigal, I can only find what I regard as a small selection of vegetables. Maniok, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green pepper, chuchu ( in the family of cucumber), carrots and onions. I know I live in a favela and that the selection might be limited, but I found the same limited selection of veggies, when we stayed in Itacare, a relatively wealthy town.

Is it simply supply and demand or is there another explanation?

Also: I have watched many street kitchens, cafes and restaurants. All kitchen staff even in the street kitchens are wearing hairnets and clean aprons.

Same thing in supermarkets, the staff are all wearing hairnets. At the same time you can find unwrapped pieces of meat in the freezer, pieces that everybody can touch. Dried salty fish with only a cloth thrown over with easy access for flies.

The contrast between clean and dirty is very clear. Here in the favela where I imagine it might be hard to get to clean your clothes, people seems to be wearing very white and clean clothing. Maybe the shops selling different coloured chlorine product is part of the reason?

From my seat at the terrace I can see fishing boats circling their nets to catch fish just a few kilometers from the coast. A few kilometers from the outlets of sewage.

But maybe I can't where the water gets filtered and cleaned.

I wonder: how did they plan the favelas, if planned at all?

The favela we live in, Vidigal, has only one way in. It has drainage, sewage and electricity. How and who made that happen?

The other day all Internet connections disappeared, and you saw men I assume was employed by the electricity board repairing and cutting down hundred of meters of wire. And the first thought was: do they even know what they are doing?

We met some of the repair teams quite late in the evening, still repairing the lines. But soon after, there it was the connection we have all been waiting for.

Who decides where to built and what are the prices?

We have a contact that might be able to answer some of the questions, we will be back with facts


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