Motels in Brazil

What do you think when I say 'Motel'? (Don't answer this if you're Brazilian).  The first thing that comes to mind is probably something like this:

If you watch 'My Name Is Earl' you'll know that the character Earl and his brother Randy live in a motel suite together.  The word 'Motel' is short for "motorway hotel".  The concept was begun in America in the 1920's, hitting it's peak in the 1950's & 60's, and then went into decline with the increase in popularity of chain hotels.


The original idea was simply to supply cheap accommodation to motorists travelling along highways on long journeys.  Motels appear frequently in American movies as cheap, sleazy, dirty, trashy places to stay.  They don't have a good rep.

Motels in Brazil, on the other hand, are a very VERY different kettle of fish.  Their primary purpose is not for sleep.


I shall explain in context.  In Brazil (and most of Latin America), it is very common for children to live with their parents until they are married.  In the past, this meant leaving home in your late teens to early 20's at the latest.  These days, a lot of people stay with their parents until their mid to late 20's.  I've even heard of a couple of people still with their parents into their 30's.  I find the latter weird.


This all means that if you get yourself a boyfriend/girlfriend before you're married (which is everyone), it is quite common that neither party will have somewhere private to 'consummate' the relationship.  Most Brazilians will not have sex in their parents home.  And before you say "well neither would Europeans/North Americans": YES they WOULD.  I've done it.


So, Brazilians are quite accustomed to using Motels.  I suppose in English we would normally refer to these as 'adult motels' or 'love hotels'.  I don't exactly know the history of the Motel in Brazil, but I'm assuming it started with demand for somewhere nice to carry out an extra-marital affair.  


These days, it is a perfectly socially acceptable and totally un-embarassing way to add spice to a normal marriage or a relationship (you don't have to be cheating on someone). Some motels have suites that are so large and fully-featured with things like pool tables, flat screen televisions, games consoles, DJ decks, disco floors, jacuzzis, swimming pools, saunas, etc that people just rent them out to have a party.


The experience of going to a motel is so incredibly relaxing (no noise, no interruptions) that people often go just to escape everyday life for a few hours.  You can rent a motel room/suite for a period of a few hours or as long as overnight.


The suite I went to (don't worry, I won't go into graphic detail) had it's own garage, two floors, round four-poster bed, huge bathroom, two flatscreen televisions (one on each floor), home cinema sound system, CD player, radio, fridge, dining area, deck with lounge chairs, massive jacuzzi and sauna.  We actually spent most of our time in the jacuzzi chatting.  The decor was a bit corny in places but the jacuzzi made me completely forget about it.  There aren't words to describe how incredibly relaxed I felt after 4 hours.  The only thing that would have a similar effect would be Valium.


Motels are common throughout Latin America: it's not a particularly Brazilian phenomenon.


Personally, I absolutely loved the experience.  Next time I'm taking a suite for 12 hours... 4 hours wasn't enough!

How to leave a Brazilians' home

Brazilians as a whole can be quite superstitious.  They have all kinds of traditions/superstitions related to Catholicism, native Brazilian culture/religions and African culture/religions imported via the slave trade.  (N.B. most things we now refer to as 'Brazilian culture' originated in African culture, FYI).


I have seen a few interesting traditions/superstitions being carried out here.  One of the most dramatic happened when I was in Rio.  We went to the beach one morning and there were white flowers strewn all around, which appeared to have been washed in by the tide.  Short of a tanker ship full of fresh flowers capsizing out at sea, we couldn't work out what the hell was going on.  We then observed a few random middle-aged women walking up and down the beach selling white flowers to passers-by, who then walked up to the sea and threw them in.  The amount of people throwing white flowers into the sea increased as the day wore on: there were streams of people walking towards Copacabana beach with a bunch of flowers in hand in the evening.


After some googling, we found out it all had to do with the Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomblé and Umbanda, created by the slaves.  It has something to do with the goddess Yemanja, Queen of the Ocean.  On February 2nd they give her offerings for good luck, healthy pregnancy, etc.  Basically most people do it out of tradition/superstition.  It was a very beautiful thing to watch happening.  People of all ages and generations were taking part.  I should have taken pictures.


Something not quite as religious is the superstition around guests leaving the home.  When you leave a Brazilians home, you wait for them to open the front door for you.  You DO NOT open it yourself.  This is because of a superstition that states that if a guest lets themselves out of your front door, they won't return again.  I sometimes wonder if they allow people they don't like to let themselves out on purpose so they don't have to see them anymore.  I would, if I believed it were true.


I am constantly almost letting myself of people's homes.  I usually get my hand on the door handle, freeze and withdraw sheepishly apologising "sorry, it's all yours".  I'm not kidding, they NOTICE it if you open the door yourself.  They give you a LOOK - it's a mix between horror and surprise.  


Yet still after 5 months I haven't got the hang of it.  Oh well.

Nice things about Brazilians

I'm making this list to balance out my bitching....and because everything here is true.

1. They smile a lot.  When someone catches your eye on the bus by mistake they don't scowl, they smile at you.  When you buy something from a lanchonete/shop/supermarket and say "obrigada" ("thank you") they respond "de nada" ("you're welcome") and smile at you.  When you're squashed into a metro train like a sardine at rush hour, people catch each other's eyes and smile as if to say "funny, isn't it?"  Here if someone you don't know smiles at you, they're simply being friendly - which is what Brazilians do best.  Additionally, they have very broad & genuine smiles that takes over their whole face.  I've never seen a fake smile here, which I'm used to seeing frequently in London.

2. They live for the moment.  The French have a term for it ("joie de vivre") but the Brazilians are the ones who really have it.  One Brazilian I know summed this up rather well: "We all have problems: I have problems, you have problems, everyone has problems.  But, today is Sunday; let's worry about our problems tomorrow, eh?"

3. They don't sweat the small stuff.  Situation: someone slams into you quite hard by accident walking the opposite way in an underground station - what do you do? A) scream "FOR F*** SAKE, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE F***ING GOING YOU F***ING C***", or B) ignore it and keep walking.  Brazilians choose option B.  Little things that would drive any european into an indignant rage just don't bother Brazilians. Examples: someone else's dog barking and lunging at you as you walk past, someone opening the window on the bus when you're sitting right under it and it's pissing down with rain outside, queuing for ages at the supermarket, queuing for ages at the bank, people being a rude and condescending, people speaking loudly on their mobiles on public transport, people playing music too loudly on their headphones (also on public transport).  Brazilians don't get wound up about this stuff.  I think this is part of the reason why Italians and Brazilians don't mix well (although they are both equally emotional): Italians get wound up about everything and Brazilians just don't.