Alô do Brasil! Fortaleza, the Gini, and Thank Yous...

Well, a little more than 48 hours after leaving home in Middleton, I finally arrived at the Marina Park Hotel in Fortaleza, Brazil! Thanks to another 2-hour-delayed flight out of ORD on Wednesday night, I missed my connection Thursday morning from São Paulo to Fortaleza, and spent a few hours at the airport. Anyhow, I made it here in one piece (of course, United left my luggage in Madison, but that's SUPPOSED to arrive tonight).

Today, I got the chance to check out the hotel grounds and was driven around Fortaleza by Flavio. For those of you who don't know, Flavio is the son of the managers of INACE (the shipbuilding company I will be working with this summer) and the Marina Park Hotel. He is also a recent graduate from the University of Michigan's Naval Engineering department, and the reason I was fortunate enough to get this internship. Anyways, we drove around and I got to see where to go and not to go (it reminded me of the scene from the Lion King where Mufasa informs Simba not to go to the shadowy area). The beaches look amazing, and I can't wait to learn how to surf (Fortaleza is renowned for its surfing). For those of you that have never been to Central our South America, there are no words to describe the hot and humid climate -- for me, the feeling walking off of the plane in Fortaleza was very reminiscent of Panama. I look forward to the arrival of my luggage, complete with bathing suit and shorts (I am still wearing jeans from the plane-ride over).

Moving onto a deeper topic, I quickly realized that the wealth disparity in Brazil is even worse than that in the US. Maybe "Occupy Wall Street" should start a movement here in Brazil. Or in any of the 42 countries with a higher "Gini Index" than the United States' for that matter. After some quick research, I learned about the Gini Index, which "measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country" according to the CIA - World Factbook website. The Gini Rankings can be found here. Basically, the higher a country's Gini Index is, the more unequal the distribution of wealth is. The US comes in 43rd with a Gini Index of 45. Brazil comes in 17th with a Gini Index of 52 (ironically, it is tied with Panama -- this is a contrast that I also noticed during my summer in Panama in 2008, between Panama City, and my home village of San Cristobal). The contrast in Fortaleza between the extremely wealthy, such as Francisco Ivens de Sa Dias Branco, worth $3.8 billion, and those roaming the streets or living in favelas (Brazilian ghettos) is much more stark than anywhere I've noticed. In the US, that includes Chicago, NYC, and -- where I have seen it the worst -- Las Vegas, and even than what I noticed in Panama (where the wealth of the city and poverty of the countryside were separated by hundreds of miles, not just a few miles as in Fortaleza).


Lastly, there are some people that I wanted to thank:
Thank you to Gabby and Ana Araujo, for your help and patience with my attempt to learn Portuguese, and for teaching me about Brazil in general. If you ever need to learn Portuguese, I highly recommend talking to either of them -- even though they will likely scare you shitless and make you fear your travel to Brazil ;)


Thank you to Eric Stulberg and Tyler Fisher (and Google Translate) for spending precious MCAT studying time and CIA mission time to practice my Portuguese (among other languages) with me. Bippity bippity bippity bippity boppity... Boo.


Thank you to Alexa Fedrigon for the well-stocked variety of Butterfingers and sudoku book, which I surely would not have made it through my hellish days of travel without. Have an awesome summer in Europe :)


Thank you to the University of Michigan College of Engineering for paying for my visa expenses, flights, and more! To U of M students, there is TONS of funding out there from our University, you just have to find the right people to talk to!


Thank you to all of my friends and family for making my week home from school before leaving an awesome week. I will miss you all this summer! Thank you for your support.


Thank you to ESPN3 for allowing me to watch the Celtics game tonight...


Anyhow, that is enough for tonight. Next time, I promise I will post some photos of the hotel, Fortaleza, and the shipyard. Tchau!