In a way, this article may be seen as a continuation of previous articles that I wrote last week. The difference is that in this one, I will try to describe the city and the region where I live here in Brazil.
Of course I know that I can not make a complete description of this region. That would be too extensive and complicated. Not to mention that it would be terribly presumptuous on my part. I just want to try to convey to the reader some of the characteristics of my city.
And why am I doing this? Well, during the six weeks that I was unable to access the Internet away from home, I was completely bored. So I was obliged to return my attention to other things. First were the books, then television, and finally people.
To be honest, for a long time that I “disconnect” from reality. I have some anti-social tendencies and I’m very individualistic. That does not mean that I should be more selfish or more egocentric than other people. This only means that the best way I found to live my life was simply reducing the contact with the many sources of stress of everyday life.
And of course it is impossible to remain completely disconnected from other people, especially friends and close relatives. However, in the fifth and sixth weeks without internet, I had to kill the boredom in some way. It was then that I decided to focus on things around me.
A different Brazil than many imagine
I live in a small town with about 46 thousand inhabitants. It is not a “rich”city, but the quality of life of residents here is higher than the national average.
With a per capita income of about $ 8,000, Capivari is considered a city with an “average” income in the region of Campinas (region in which it is inserted). Some cities in that region have per capita incomes superior than $ 40,000.
Capivari has installed about 300 industries. The most important industrial sectors here are the textile industry, the chemical industry, production of ethanol and sugar. Trade is also well developed.
Moreover, in social areas, Capivari has some highlights. Over the past 10 years investments were made in the area of Public Health. The town has 2 hospitals (one private and one public). The public hospital increased its capacity for public service and the city hall have built basic health units in more distant neighborhoods.
In the Central Basic unit, anyone who is served by a doctor can get medicines for free (from aspirin to AZT). The city also offers free transportation for patients who need some type of treatment that can not be done in here.
Another focus is public safety. Those responsible for the safety of the city is a police state (Military Police and Civil Police) and municipal police (Guarda Municipal). In the last 10 years, the rate of violence declined by about 80% due to the action of the police. Of course there are still problems of public safety. One of the biggest problems in this area at this moment is the theft of cars.
Talk about cars, people here love cars! For every two residents of the city, one has one. And that has brought new problems.
Besides the intense trafficking by major streets and avenues, another problem occurs: drunk drivers that cause accidents. In Capivari there is about 200 bars and the people here really like to drink!
Probably that’s the reason why the mixture of races and peoples here live well here. The city is formed by descendants of Italian, Portuguese, Syrians, Lebanese, African, and recently (to my surprise), I discovered that there is a small Jewish community. Of course I can not say that there isn’t tension between all these groups, it is obvious that there is, but the coexistence between them is reasonably pacific.
Of course, not everything here is perfect. Despite being a small town, there is the presence of small slums where migrants live (2% of the population lives in slums). Drug use is very high, especially the consumption of cocaine by the middle class.
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And finally the city is beginning to feel the effects of economic crisis. Although it is not anything alarming, some companies, particularly exporters, are starting to dismiss staff.
But even with all these problems, Capivari is a nice town to live. However, I must be very sincere. Much as the city is nice, I think I would not be able to not access the internet for too long again.
The reality (the real world with real people) is important, but I cannot get stuck to the reality all the time. I know I can’t, can you?
