Brazil with Michael Palin (2012–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Deep South - full transcript
MICHAEL PALIN: I've been travelling
the world for the past 25 years.
I've met so many people
in so many countries
that everyone thinks of me
as the man who's been everywhere.
But in all these years, there's been
one big gap in my passport.
Nothing less than
the fifth largest country on Earth.
A country blessed with a melting pot of
peoples and an abundance of resources.
A country that's risen
almost out of nowhere
to become a 21st-century superpower.
It's the host to the next World Cup
and the next Olympic Games.
It's a country whose time has come.
How can I say I've seen the world
when I haven't seen Brazil?
Okay, waterfall. We defy you.
We defy you.
In this episode,
I'll be meeting a lot of people
I feel I've met before
in an epic landscape,
both natural and man-made.
For this is Southern Brazil,
where European and Asian immigrants
have created a very different culture
from the rest of the country.
And it can still spring
plenty of surprises.
I don't know what I'm doing
to the ecological balance here,
but there you go.
Oh. (LAUGHS)
Well, I'm on the last leg
of my Brazilian journey.
We're sailing down the coast from Rio.
Behind me is Brazil's other rainforest,
the Mata Atlântica,
the Atlantic Rainforest.
We're approaching a town which was once
one of the most prosperous
in the whole of Brazil.
It's called Paraty,
where the gold came out
and the slaves went in.
Three hundred years ago, Paraty lay
at the end of the Caminho do Ouro,
the Gold Trail,
which led through the mountains
to the gold mines of the interior.
It was a road built by slaves
for other slaves to carry the gold
which far a hundred years made
this little town fabulously wealthy.
But pirates made
a habit of robbing the galleons
that set sail from Paraty.
The gold trade moved north,
and the town fell into a steady decline,
which left it largely untouched
by the modern world.
A living embodiment
of the colonial period
can be found here, in the shape
of Prince Jean de Orléans e Bragança,
a staunch Republican
who's heir to the Brazilian throne.
I think people would
be quite interested,
really, to know that there's…
Well, there was…
There is still a royal line
(LAUGHS) in Brazil which you represent.
PRINCE JEAN:
It's a very interesting story. Yes.
PALIN: Yeah.
Peter I,
my great-great-grandfather,
and he was married with Leopoldina,
Habsburg from Austria.
Napoleon was married with her sister.
Mary Louise.
Okay. Napoleon was the brother-in-law.
-Yes.
-Yeah, yeah.
PALIN: Brother-in-law or not,
the Portuguese court fled
Napoleon's invading troops
for the safety of Brazil.
Their arrival, in Dom jean's opinion,
laid the foundations
of today's nation state.
PRINCE JEAN: A very interesting thing,
Brazil, before their arrival,
it was a colony.
After the arrival in 1808,
Brazil turned into a nation.
In one moment to the other,
the founding
of many institutions, cultural,
scientific and politic institutions.
-Is she one of the princesses?
-Yes.
-Yes, Princess Isabel.
-Yeah, beautiful.
She signed the law giving total freedom
to the slaves in 1888.
-And she's your great-grandmother?
-Great-grandmother.
Grandmother of my father.
PALIN: The gold that lay on the other
side of the mountains may have run out,
but it's been replaced by something else
the rest of the world buys from Brazil.
A half-hour flight from Paraty
brings me to one of
Brazil's great success stories.
Well, it was until I took the controls.
I'm in the simulator at Embraer,
a Brazilian aircraft builder
which turns out 200 planes a year.
INSTRUCTOR: Down, down, down…
Yeah!
PALIN: From being almost bankrupt
15 years ago,
it's now the third largest manufacturer
of commercial planes in the world.
Some people still think of Brazil
as being too laid back and relaxed
for the competitive world
of modern industry.
Embraer, with its smart management,
technical expertise and
skilled 77, 000-strong workforce
is the perfect riposte.
This is a company snapping
at the heels of Boeing and Airbus.
-(TOILET FLUSHING)
-Ah.
And they found a job for me
in the paint shop
with Felipe Galvao.
So, for me, this colour,
blue, is cheaper to paint.
-Is it? Why?
-Because the blue's very dark.
-Like a mirror, you know? Like a mirror.
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
When I paint, it's difficult,
the pass, the speed…
-I need very, very specific…
-Okay.
Got to be very, very careful,
otherwise… Yeah.
Oh, no! These are my
fashionable shoes, yeah?
-These are Paul Smith of London.
-(LAUGHS)
Paul, if you're watching,
look what they're doing.
They're redesigning your shoes.
-Shoes, Nike.
-Nike, yeah.
-(LAUGHS) Nike.
-Made in Brazil. Made in Brazil.
-No, no, no.
-FELIPE: Now we're ready to paint.
-What colour?
-This colour, dark blue.
-Oh, no. The difficult one, you told me.
-It's difficult to paint. Yes.
PALIN: That's a lovely colour.
It's sort of azure blue.
FELIPE: Very, very, very beautiful.
-See? Ready to paint.
-Wow, yeah.
-Paint your shoes, no?
-(SPRAY HISSING)
-Get off my… (LAUGHS)
-No? No? No?
-All right, so this goes on.
-Put on your mask.
Wow. Spaceman time, isn't it?
FELIPE: Your hair. It's blue!
Felipe, having finally got over
his obsession with my shoes,
turns his attentions to a bigger game.
The tail fin of a Kazakhstan airliner.
-Two fingers here, right? All right.
-Yeah.
Press. Press. Press. Press!
Let's go.
Yeah, let's go again.
Now, we need to wait 10 minutes
to set our coat.
PALIN: You must be hungry.
What time did you have breakfast?
-FELIPE: 4:00 a.m.
-4:00 a.m.?
4:30 a.m.
Lunch now and then
another breakfast at 2:00 p.m.
Oh, so you have three meals
a day by 2:00 p.m.
What food do you like?
What's your favourite?
Meat. Barbeque.
-Barbeque? Oh, yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, Brazilians.
-Brazilians love barbecue. Yeah.
-Yeah.
-Now pasta. Always pasta.
-(LAUGHS)
They have a surprise.
Uh, surprise, pea.
-What?
-Surprise pea.
-Surprise pea.
-Yeah, there.
-It's good.
-Okay. (LAUGHS)
Felipe was so keen
to get a job at Embraer
that he left his own engagement party
to make the interview.
He's never looked back.
The first time I entered the building,
the paint shop,
and I saw many guys
painting their aircraft.
And I stood just looking.
It was amazing, painting…
(IMITATING PAINT SPRAYING)
And I told myself
I want to be one of them.
And I have friends,
another friend there.
-Really? Yeah.
-And they helped me to get the job here.
-Does it pay well?
-Yeah, it pays very well.
What sort of…
Today I earn more or less
3,500 reais per month.
6,500 reais a month.
-Yeah.
That's about £1500.
I'm just trying to think per month.
-Okay.
-Not bad.
-Not bad.
-So how did it change your life?
-Everything.
-Like what?
Because this job,
I bought my apartment, my house,
everything that I have today.
And I have a good car,
uh, a good life.
I have a good life.
-Yeah.
-I buy everything. I have Xbox.
-I bought an Xbox. Everything.
-Yeah.
What would you like to do?
Would you like to go up
from painting to some other thing,
to administration?
Oh, no. I don't think about this.
I'd like to be a painter.
That's enough for me.
-You're happy doing what you're doing?
-Yeah.
I stop at what I have now.
PALIN: He '5 an enviable combination
of hard work and happiness.
Embraer's speciality
is short-haul commercial jets.
One of their regular customers
is Dutch carrier KLM.
They've taken 21 Cityhoppers
and they're today
taking delivery of their 22nd.
It's an important moment
marked by a very silly ceremony,
involving the Brazilian seller,
the Dutch buyer and me.
-You just wear the clogs. (LAUGHS)
-Okay, okay. Yes.
Yeah, is this good for flying?
Okay, there we go.
(LAUGHS)
I hope they fit. They look
a little big for me, but there you go.
-Oh, they're very snug!
-(LAUGHS)
Shall I try just one?
(TAPPING)
Yes, there we go.
Well, thank you very much.
That's very kind of you.
Now what we have
is we have Dutch fish.
What you call "eel".
We smoke the eel,
and if it's smoked we call it paling.
-Paling, huh? I never knew…
-Very similar to your name.
That's why…
People ask where
my name comes from
and I've never heard it
coming from smoked eel, so that's…
But that's something useful.
I like eel.
-Well, you should try it.
-Okay.
-Just try it.
-Thank you very much.
Be the first to try it, a bit of paling.
It's really good, actually.
WOMEN: Yummy. Yummy.
It might seem a bit wacky, but actually
this is a very, very important part
of the whole delivery process,
because they're here,
the KLM people, to do final checks.
And then in a week's time
they'll have to write the big cheque
to pay for the plane,
so that's why everyone's very,
very happy and jolly,
but underneath it all
there's a lot of money
hanging on this cloggy, paling-y moment.
-Can I have one more?
-MAN: Of course.
-I like this paling. For some reason.
-(LAUGHS)
Don't like all paling. Mmm.
Thais is the woman from Embraer
who's been cashing in those
big KLM cheques for the past few years.
PALIN: You've obviously got
a good relationship with KLM.
I mean, does anybody else provide
smoked eel or clogs?
No, no, no, not really.
But I must confess
that in the beginning
we were expecting
something more serious, more cool.
Then, when they come,
they already come with smiling faces
and very open minds, and talking to us,
doing this kind of culture.
Exchange culture things,
so it surprised us a lot.
(COUNTING IN PORTUGUESE)
(CHEERING)
How do you feel
when it all goes through?
Do you feel very proud
of what's being done here?
-Totally. Totally.
-Yeah?
To see their plane going
back home with the customer,
very satisfied.
It's part of us. We are proud of it.
We are proud of our product
and we represent Brazil.
For us, it's crazy.
Crazy it may be,
but as another $40 million
worth of airliner takes to the sky,
one Brazilian company
is getting it exactly right.
A few minutes flying time from Embraer,
the vast megalopolis of Sao Paulo,
largest city in the southern hemisphere,
rises like a man-made forest.
Forty million people. One in
five Brazilians live in Sao Paulo
and it's surrounding state.
This is the economic
and financial heart of Brazil.
And it's already full to overflowing.
(RADIO CHATTERING)
The very rich Paulistas
have grown so impatient
with the crush and the congestion
that they no longer live on the ground,
but in the skies above.
Sao Paulo is the helicopter capital
of the world,
which is not surprising,
'cause it's also the traffic jam capital
of the world.
One of them recently reckoned to
be nearly 200 miles long.
So here in the city, there are 400
helicopters making 300 journeys a day.
The rich and successful
go from building to building
to make meetings
without ever having to touch the ground.
And I'm going with one
of those people today
in the helicopter with Wilson Quintella,
king of Brazilian garbage.
Wilson Quintella can look down
on Sao Paulo with some satisfaction.
Last year, his waste management company,
Estre Ambiental,
made a £400 million turnover
from everything
that Sao Paulo throws away.
Wilson, like many multimillionaires,
travels his empire by air.
Today, he's flying me
to one of his biggest landfill sites
just outside Sao Paulo.
"Waste is just the beginning",
is the company slogan.
As far as Wilson is concerned,
every rubbish tip has a silver lining.
So you're in the right business.
Garbage.
-Garbage is good business.
-Yes, yes.
-It's growing a lot.
-Yeah.
Brazil brought about 40 million people
who was in poverty.
PALIN: Forty million people
who were poor,
and now are consumers, got money…
WILSON: Maybe 40,000 tons per day.
That's the waste of a city
like Sao Paulo.
Wilson, this is not just about
collecting people's garbage,
-this is business, isn't it?
-Oh, yeah.
-This is big money.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Big money… I don't mean big money.
Well, I heard your profits last year
were good.
It's doing good. Doing good, yeah.
-And it's growing all over the world.
-Yeah.
But I believe that
the most interesting thing
that we can do,
environment business,
joined with economical business.
We can get money from the recycling.
I believe that it's going to change
completely this market from now onward.
Maybe one day,
we're going to pay to the garbage.
For instance, like a can,
like a paper…
All these have a market.
Nowadays, China imports more plastic
coming from the recycling business
than the total consumption of Brazil,
in terms of plastic.
PALIN: Recycling used to be confined
to poor people scavenging rubbish tips.
Wilson acknowledges their contribution
by offering them a safe
and secure role in his business.
WILSON: In Brazil, this market's booming
because we are having economic growth,
and besides that, we have a new law
that obliges to finish with them dumping
and obliges at least
to recycle 20% of the total waste.
It's going to be a revolution in Brazil.
And to have a huge opportunity
for companies like ours.
Not to make money, but to do
something good for the society.
-And make a bit of money.
-And make some money.
The scavengers who eke
a living from rubbish dumps
have recently received
the ultimate accolade.
To become characters in one of
Brazil's hugely popular soap operas,
Avenida Brasil.
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
One of the stars of Avenida Brasil
is Carolina Ferraz,
a much-admired actress
with over 20 soaps under her belt.
She's the perfect person to show me
around the make-believe world
where the stories are filmed.
And to explain just how they do it.
…go there to visit.
And here is, if you look,
you have all the outside cities.
They build the scenario outside.
-This is the outside lot, yeah.
-Each soap opera has its own.
So we go there and we shoot.
PALIN: Should we get out
and have a look?
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
So what's actually happening now
in this part of the story?
They're shooting the soap opera.
This telenovela called Avenida Brasil,
which is the one
I'm shooting now as well.
And this is the neighbourhood.
The outside set that
they have the poor neighbourhood.
-Everything that happens, happens here.
-This is the poor neighbourhood.
We are in the middle of a shooting,
actually. They are shooting.
You see, everything is happening…
Everyone's acting.
We're acting, they're acting.
Yes, that's it.
It's very realistic. Yes.
You have a lot of extras.
A lot of different cameras shooting…
If you think about it, you shoot
something like 30 scenes per day.
Thirty scenes a day?
So it's like shooting
a whole movie a week.
Yeah. What sort of
character do you play?
I'm part of the comic part
of the soap opera.
I play a very rich woman
who is going to lose everything.
I'm going to become poor
and I'm going to come and live here.
-It doesn't sound very comic.
-But it's in the comic way.
-It's tragic, yeah.
-Yeah, it is.
But I'm going to come here
and I'm going to make lots of confusion
with all the characters
and it's going to be fun.
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
PALIN: There's something
about the soap operas.
I see them on in, you know…
There are television sets
all over Brazil, people watching.
Tell me about how popular they are.
It's like our Hollywood, you know.
People love it.
Truly, they don't go
out of their houses,
because they want to stay
and they want to watch the soap opera.
And because we don't have a soap opera
that goes on for 10 years,
our soap operas,
they go on live something like
for six to eight months,
maximum eight months,
so everybody knows
that it's going to end.
So everybody wants
to follow this soap opera
to know what is going to happen,
how it's going to finish,
who is going to marry who in the end.
PALIN: You say "everybody".
What size audience does that mean?
CAROLINA: Oh, it's huge.
It's something like 72 million people
watching you every night.
It's amazing, it's crazy, isn't it?
Is it like people sort of
working out their own
sort of dreams through you,
or do they use it more in real life?
CAROLINA: They sort of have
a social obligation.
They always bring different issues,
topic issues that people
as a society should discuss,
because it's so popular.
And we are in such a poor country,
so we use this,
because it's very popular
to debate different issues.
(SPEAKS PORTUGUESE)
PALIN: Shooting a part of Avenida Brasil
in a rubbish dump
has given a voice to a previously
marginalised underclass.
CAROLINA: This is…
This is what is new in Brazil.
They're starting to have
these kinds of characters coming out
and speaking in the society.
This is what is fresh now…
These people,
previously no one would have really
bothered about or listened to them.
They wouldn't have space to come out.
That's not about people
paying attention to them.
They didn't just have
the chance to come out…
And you think this is because Brazil
itself is more confident and prosperous,
so they don't feel
threatened by people…
Not only threatened.
-People have more real chances.
-Hmm.
PALIN: Increasingly, the voices
that are being heard in Brazil,
are the voices from the shanty town,
who's none louder than that of Criolo.
(PORTUGUESE SONG PLAYING)
Criolo is a rapper,
poet and composer.
His poems are eloquent but enigmatic,
delivering a message
that has struck a chord
with the generation who've
grown up at the bottom of the pile.
Carolina is an admirer
and has taken me to meet him.
When you were growing up
and what you saw around,
did it make you angry in any way,
the way people were treated,
the way people lived,
did it make you angry with the system?
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
TRANSLATOR: We can't feel
how hot the pot of soup is,
if we are the vegetables
inside the soup.
Our system here has
been broken for 80 years
and we are the ones paying for the
superglue to keep the thing together.
PALIN: The economy is going well.
At the moment,
it seems to be going well for Brazil.
Do they notice any change
as a result of that?
(TRANSLATES IN PORTUGUESE)
Uh…
TRANSLATOR: The details seems
to be in the words he used before
"seems to be going well".
Yeah.
TRANSLATOR: Anyway, we have to think
that this situation has to last
for at least 50 years,
otherwise I don't know.
To think that five or 70 years would
change a single leaf under this tree.
PALIN: His bleak views might be
uncomfortable for many Brazilians,
but the man himself doesn't behave
like a prophet of doom.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
Criolo remains engagingly loyal
to the streets where he grew up.
Streets where poverty is endemic,
but where the compensations,
like the music that nurtured him,
still raise the spirits.
On the other side of Sao Paulo,
the affluent streets which cater
for the burgeoning new middle class.
Someone who did more than most
to set this tide in motion
is the man who's credited with turning
the Brazilian economy around
in the 1990s.
He is former president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
known to all as FHC.
I talked to him about his home city.
Especially being in Sao Paulo,
I'm aware of the importance
-of immigration to this city.
-Yes.
Well, I suppose
people then saw Brazil like America,
as a dream.
-Brazil is a kind of America.
-Hmm.
You know?
And our minds are European.
We consider about ourselves
as, kind of, a part of Europe.
This is senseless,
because we are not.
But, anyhow, the feeling
was much more European.
And I used to say, "Well, we are in,
you know, in our culture,
"we are much more Americans
than Europeans."
-Yeah.
-This is a new nation, migration.
Blacks in Brazil, like in America.
The true melting pot is not US,
it's Brazil.
-Yes, yes.
-Because in US,
they live together,
-but they don't integrate each other.
-No.
It's much easier to be part of
-the similar confusion of things.
-Yes.
How you live with the other.
This is more relaxing here, no doubt.
PALIN: Sao Paulo may indeed be
the greatest melting pot on the planet,
but there are distinct advantages
to not looking particularly Brazilian.
Supermodels like Gisele Büindchen
could hardly be less of
a Brazilian stereotype.
She's made a fortune
from her Teutonic (oaks.
And, unsurprisingly, she's become
a model for all potential models.
Her brand of tall, long-legged elegance
is drawn largely from
an area some way from Sao Paulo.
Five hundred miles south
in the city of Blumenau,
white European immigrants predominate.
Here, where the buildings
are half-timbered
and beer drunk in steins,
is a fertile recruiting ground
for some of the most
sought-after models in the world.
One of them,
a second-generation German,
local girl Priscila Falaster,
is already well established
on the fashion runways of the world.
Is it a big ambition
of girls in Brazil to be a model?
Like Gisele Bündchen
or someone like that,
-is it something that girls want to be?
-Yes.
Everybody wants so much
to be a model here.
Maybe because we have
Gisele Bündchen and the girls see,
"My God, I want this life."
Do you feel quite proud
of what you've done?
You know, you're here in Blumenau.
-Yes.
-Do you feel quite good?
-You've done…
-I'm so proud.
I'm so proud, because I love here.
When I am in Germany,
I'm so happy because
my grandfather's from there.
And here I'm so proud,
because it's one beautiful city,
and it has a culture, you understand?
And it has German buildings.
I love… I love here.
PALIN: I think! know what she means,
as I see everywhere around me
a world I'd never expected to find
in the land of sun, sea and samba.
We have now reached
the deep south of Brazil,
over 3,000 miles from where I started
just out by the Venezuelan border.
And the immigrants that have settled
this part of Brazil are very different.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
My preconceptions of Brazil
need some readjusting,
as I find myself drawn
ever more deeply into a different place
in a different time.
In the small town of Pomerode,
90% of the inhabitants
not only speak German
but speak it with a 19th-century
Pomeranian dialect.
And funny hats are obligatory.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
Like so many immigrants, the Germans
of Pomerode stick to their old ways
with a fervour that the homeland
rarely equals,
complete with whoops, yells, accordions
and dances that health and safety
would have banned years ago.
Drinking a lot of beer helps
if you're wielding an axe
night next to your foot.
I've been enlisted to help Ingo Penths,
who serves ice-cold pilsner
from a motorcycle sidecar.
Ingo sees my potential
as a travelling barman.
PALIN: Ooh, what a creamy top that is.
Okay.
Tip it up a little, dear, that's it,
there we go.
-Not very much.
-MAN: Hi.
Hi. Yes, now you want a lot.
You're hot. You're hot.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Oops. Oh.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Yes, to the team! To the team!
Yeah! Yeah!
Then, just when I thought
I could get quietly pissed…
-Please?
-Oh! (LAUGHS) Thank you.
Oh! Well, here we go. (LAUGHS)
- Okay, yeah.
_Yes?
Yes. All right.
I've got that bit. Yeah.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(MAN WHOOPING)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
After some initial embarrassment,
I get into the swing of it.
And soon we're
a fully-fledged dancing unit.
Thank you.
They call this the European Valley,
largely settled by Germans who
don't seem in any hurry to assimilate.
My evening with Ingo
is hardly going to break the mould.
He's taking me to a bierkeller.
The band is led by a man
called Michael Lochner,
who, for once, is not Brazilian-German.
He's actually German-German.
(SINGING IN GERMAN)
He came here for a beer festival,
met a local girl, and stayed.
His band is quintessentially Brazilian.
And they don't take it
all too seriously.
One of their biggest hits is called
White Sausage Samba.
So you're all really dealing with
a kind of quite difficult fusion
(LAUGHS)
Of Brazilian and German,
and Portuguese and German.
-It's quite challenging.
-It's very complicated.
With the music, as well,
you've got brass band,
and you've got guitar,
you're playing samba
and you're playing… (SCATTING)
We recorded about 15 CDs.
-Okay.
-Until today,
our record company
don't know where to put them.
In German, Brazilian, rocking,
what place in the record store.
Put this record… It's complicated.
-Folk? I don't know.
-Yeah.
He's not the only one who's confused.
After a few beers,
Michael looks distinctly like a woman.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
So the German and Brazilian
senses of humour
can appreciate the same thing?
Or not?
I think it's different. (LAUGHS)
What's the German… All right,
we know the German sense of humour.
Nice and good.
They love Monty Python, so it must be…
(LAUGHS)
What about the Brazilian sense
of humour, how different is that?
What do they laugh at?
For me,
it's a little bit superficial.
-Is it?
-I think, Brazil is a country
for many immigrating countries,
Italians, German, Portuguese,
Spanish, Holland.
It's complicated.
This mixture,
to understand the same kind of humour.
(CONTINUES SINGING)
(ALL CHEERING)
PALIN: The surprises of Southern Brazil
keep on coming,
like this wonderful railway train.
Brazil's railway heyday
was 100 years ago.
It's rare to find a train
that still carries passengers.
We're running on a freight line
cut through the Mata Aflântica.
The scenery is spectacular.
We few lucky passengers
are thoroughly spoiled.
I'm sharing my champagne
with a serious young Brazilian
called Marcelo.
It's a good way to see the forest,
isn't it?
-Yes.
-Because there are no roads here,
-only the railway…
-Yes.
…gives us this chance to see it.
It's beautiful.
MARCELO: Yeah. This is
so beautiful and it's amazing,
because 12% of the biodiversity
of the world is right here.
PALIN: Twelve percent
of the biodiversity of the world.
Yeah.
You see all this in the forest
and I'm walking,
it makes you quite, sort of,
spiritual in a way, you know…
-Yes.
-…about how this came to be,
why is it so beautiful, all that.
-Do you have a religious belief?
-Yeah.
Are you a Catholic or…
No, I'm spiritualist.
I believe in spiritualism. Right?
-Yeah.
-I believe that.
I believe, too, then,
that the forest is a big soul.
It provides us our energy,
our lights,
everything that we need
comes from the forest. You know?
Do many people,
young Brazilians like you,
feel the same thing?
Yeah. It's amazing, because
many people feel like me.
Many people now is feeling
this important thing that nature,
the human people, the animals,
everything is connected.
We can change…
We need to change this world.
We are a part of everything.
What is your…
I got this from Maori culture.
Maori culture.
I passed one week
dreaming with Maori people.
-Dreaming?
-Dreaming.
Oh, yeah. The dream culture.
And this Maori people,
one man, you know, with tattoo,
-he's teaching me to carve.
-Yes.
-Oh, right.
-I never did that before.
Yeah, of course, I've seen that…
This is the first job that I made,
and when I give the person
like this,
okay, and have them pray.
Have them pray, and you know,
desire everything.
This is for you, man.
This is for you. You're going
to use this to protect,
to protect your family,
to protect your body,
your mind, your spirits.
This is a gift for you right now.
Okay, receive my love,
the universe's love, okay?
You know you can feel.
This is for you.
-Thank you.
-This is yours.
-This is mine?
-For you.
-Aww.
-This is for you.
I'm very touched. Very touched.
-Thank you.
-This is a gift for you, my friend.
My old new friend.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
PALIN: My encounter with Marcelo
is typical of many I've had
on my way through Brazil.
There's a sense of openness and
un-self-consciousness about people here.
If they like you,
they'll tell you.
There's nothing better than
a breath of Brazilian fresh air
to blow the dust
off British reserve.
I can't leave Brazil without
reminding myself once again
of the size, scale, and beauty
of its rarely visited interior.
I'm flying 500 miles to the west,
where the central plateau
drops away.
Below lies a very different vista
of lagoon and forest.
It's the largest wetland
in the world.
They call it the Pantanal.
And the transport is traditional.
Get the camera off for a bit.
The undignified bit.
-…like that.
-Hold it there.
-Yeah?
-Hold it there.
Over. Very good.
-Okay?
-Good. This is about the speed I like.
(CHUCKLES)
-Thank you, Alex. Thanks.
-You're welcome.
PALIN: Alex and my fellow horsemen
are the Brazilian counterpart
of the gauchos in Argentina.
And here, as there,
their life is inextricably linked
to the movement of cattle.
The young cattle are particularly
vulnerable to predators,
as I'm to find out.
Ho!
(WHISTLES)
That's gonna be looked at.
This calf has been attacked
and needs to be treated.
One of the team keeps
the mother at bay,
whilst Alex applies
some modem medicine.
(CALF BLEATS)
Oh… He's been attacked by a jaguar.
PALIN: Oh, really?
What damage has been done?
-Been attacked?
-Yeah, he's been attacked.
-You see, a bite in his neck.
-Okay.
He's lucky,
'cause the mom is really courageous.
PALIN: The mother would
have attacked the jaguar.
ALEX: Yeah, yeah. Defended him.
(SPRAY HISSING)
I'm gonna leave him.
So you were just able
to put some antiseptic on.
Yeah, antiseptic.
If it's too big,
we get some dry shit.
-Huh? Dry shit, really?
-Put it in. Yeah.
-And that helps heal the wound?
-Yeah.
You don't often see that.
A calf attacked by jaguar.
Anyway, better go.
Calves to save,
work to be done.
Come on, camera.
(WHISTLES) Whoa!
They respect the old ways here.
Even down to the mighty curved horn
that's carried to summon the cattle.
There's a peace and serenity
here in the Pantanal
that's like nectar after
the crowded cities of the coast.
The cattle ranch,
or fazenda, where I'm staying,
had been run by the Rondon family
for nearly 100 years.
Pollyanna Rondon,
the naturalist among the family,
tells me about the reality
of living in a wetland.
The water will reach
about 1.5 metres high.
Really?
So where we are here,
it would be up to about there.
Yes, we would never
be walking here.
We wouldn't be.
just the top of my hat sticking out.
-POLLYANNA: There are ducks. Yeah.
-Yeah.
Over there, those big…
Are they the, um…
-Jabiru. Jabiru stork.
-Jabiru.
-PALIN: Yes.
-There is a couple of jabiru stork.
They are dating already.
-Are they?
-They are. Yes.
They are normally on couples.
They live together.
And over there we also have some egrets.
-Yes. Yeah.
-We also have some ibis over there.
They're called quidicaca in Portuguese.
The names in Portuguese are related
to the sounds they produce.
This bird makes something like…
(IMITATES BIRD CALL)
-(LAUGHS) Yes.
-All right. I know the bem-ti-vi.
-That's a bird, isn't it?
-Yes.
-Kiskadee.
-Kiskadee, yeah.
-"Bem-ti-vi."
-"Bem-ti-vi, bem-ti-vi." Yeah.
PALIN: "Bem-ti-vi, bem-ti-vi."
(CHIRPING)
Lunch with Pollyanna
and her father-in-law
is a simple affair
of two pigs and half a calf.
Just to get an idea of the scale,
the Pantanal is big, isn't it?
It's an enormous area?
They say we are the size
of Holland and Belgium together.
Holland and Belgium?
(LAUGHS)
Belgium's always dragged
as a country to measure size by.
Holland and Belgium?
Whoa, that's a tricky one.
Guilherme Rondon is a descendant
of the great Brazilian explorer,
Colonel Cândido Rondon,
the first man to map
and settle the Pantanal.
This idea of Brazilian…
What is Brazilian, and all that…
Being a Pantanero, is that
something which is more important
than being a Brazilian? Or is it…
-You answer this.
-(LAUGHS)
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
-Yes.
-PALIN: Yes.
Yes, because it's…
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
It comes from the soul.
It comes from the soul. Yeah?
It's something you feel. Yes.
The Pantanero is…
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
-Unique.
-Yeah. Yeah.
POLLYANNA: I see this, like Espasiolo,
he was serving the meat for us…
-Yes?
-…he's proud of being Pantano man.
Much more,
he would say that than, "I'm Brazilian."
Of course,
he's happy to be a Brazilian.
But he would say,
"I am a Pantano man."
-And be proud of it.
-Yeah.
PALIN: To see more
of this unique wetland,
I take to the river, in the company
of another proud Pantanal man,
my guide, John.
Pollyanna joked that
they don't have big game here.
Only small game.
But there's some impressively
ferocious life on the riverbank.
So tell me, John. It's a…
It is a spectacled
or Paraguayan caiman.
-So it reach a maximum of 3 metres.
-Yeah.
Rest in the day, hunter at night.
PALIN: What does it hunt?
-It hunts mainly fish.
-Yeah.
Birds, frogs and baby capybara.
They can swallow whole.
And they rest there,
with their mouth open, do they?
Ah, he's moved now.
Opening the mouth
is for inner metabolism.
Regulating function
of the ambience.
Ah, okay.
JOHN: Sorry.
PALIN: Sorry.
PALIN: Now here's something else
I've never seen on safari before.
A capybara.
It's the largest rodent in the world.
Seems oddly embarrassed about the fact.
So tell me about the capybara, John.
The capybara,
the biggest rodent of the worm.
The males reach
about 65 to 70 kilograms.
PALIN: They live on land
or in the water?
They spend some time on the land
and in the water.
They are easy prey
for puma and jaguar.
-Jaguar, right.
-Yeah.
And you said caiman can also…
The caimans eat the baby ones.
-Eat the babies.
-They can swallow whole.
Right.
The self-defence is jump in the water
if they are scared of something.
Okay.
PALIN: As the day wears on, John finds
a spot for some quiet fishing.
It's what he's trying to catch
that worries me slightly.
You're catching piranha?
JOHN: Catching piranha. Yellow piranha.
Like this, short and fast.
Okay.
-Okay? You try.
-Yep.
I'm not a natural fisherman.
The thought that I might bring
to the surface something
that could strip flesh
from my bones in seconds
makes me more than usually nervous.
(JOHN TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
Work the fish, work the fish,
slow, please.
-Oh.
-(SIGHS)
John's refusal to let me give up
strengthens my determination.
This is my Moby Dick moment.
It's him or me.
-(SIGHS) Almost.
-Almost.
I can feel it eating.
I can feel it nibbling.
If you have a long bite,
then pull up strong.
Pull up. No… Wait, wait, wait.
Oh!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
It's become dangerous.
Well, we got one.
Okay, I nearly took John's eye out,
but at least I've seen a piranha.
And where there's one,
there must be others.
Okay.
Then, quite suddenly,
the struggle is over.
-May I help you?
-Yep.
So hold like this.
Okay, you can take it off.
-Take off, hold like this. Strong.
-Yeah.
Sorry, old mate. Nothing personal.
-This kind of…
-Is this a…
Yellow. This kind is a cannibal.
This kind is a cannibal piranha. Hmm.
So he obviously thought
this was another piranha. Ooh.
Very sharp teeth.
Don't want to get near those. Yeah.
Let's have a look at it.
His teeth are worth a look.
Just introduce him to the viewers.
So he's a cannibal piranha.
Nasty old teeth, yes?
Pretty nasty.
JOHN: Of course, some accidents here,
because the fish is very slippery.
PALIN: Slippery?
JOHN: Some people do not know how to
hold and it escapes the hand and bite.
PALIN: I'm not going to hold it.
No, absolutely not.
Are you going to make
some sashimi with it?
-Yeah, now. We're gonna have some.
-Now? Okay.
Everything here.
The freshest sashimi
you'll ever get.
This is john's party piece.
Five minutes ago
it was swimming around,
merrily looking (LAUGHS)
For another piranha to eat.
And disaster struck.
Palin, after 12 false attempts,
snatched the little beast
from the waters.
And now it's sashimi time.
Just throw that to the caiman.
Oh, wow. Wow.
Th row.
Okay.
Caiman, here you are, caiman.
I don't know what I'm doing to
the ecological balance here,
but there you go. Oh!
(LAUGHS)
PALIN: Beautiful sky, isn't it?
Fantastic clouds.
JOHN: This place is so quiet.
It is, isn't it?
After you've spent a few days
in Sao Paulo, anywhere is quiet.
Here we go.
Here we go. A bit of piranha sashimi.
Mmm.
It's good. Very good.
Piranha sashimi at sunset.
Thank you, Brazil.
It's our last day here.
And as dusk turns to night;
Guilherme serenades us
with his own songs of the Pantanal.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
I'll be sad to leave the good company
and immense restfulness of this place.
But another more epic wetland beckons.
The Iguaçu Falls is the biggest
waterfall system in the world
and perhaps the most sublime
of Brazil's natural wonders.
There couldn't be a more memorable place
for me to end my journey.
This is where the borders
of Brazil touch
the borders of Argentina and Paraguay.
All three countries share responsibility
for protecting the national park
that surrounds the falls.
Biologist Marina da Silva came here from
Sao Paulo to work on the Brazilian side.
She has to keep close contact
with her neighbours.
-Over there, that's Argentine, is it?
-Yeah.
-That's Argentine side. Yeah.
-Brazil over there.
How do they all get on,
Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil?
-Okay?
-Well, it's quite interesting.
They have a very good relationship
among these three countries.
Anything you shouldn't
talk about to them?
-About soccer. We are completely…
-Oh, dear.
-Deadly rivals.
-Yeah.
-Don't talk about World Cup.
-No. (LAUGHS)
-It's impossible.
-Yeah, be careful.
Are you optimistic for the future
of the protection of the environment?
Do you think things are going to
be different in the next 10, 15 years?
I think so.
I prefer to believe because
the things are better than
seven years ago when I arrived here.
So I have good reasons to believe.
People, their children are different.
-They think different about…
-The young people
-are more interested in…
-Yeah.
They don't like the behaviour
of his parents, for example.
The wrong behaviours about poaching,
for example.
So I really believe that
things will be better.
PALIN: Marina's view of
what lies ahead is encouraging.
She sees her country
not just as a superpower,
but a superpower with a social
and environmental conscience.
They'll face challenges,
but with a new set of priorities.
Whoa! (LAUGHS)
Okay, waterfall. We defy you.
We defy you.
The Iguaçu Falls seem to symbolise
just how much Brazil has of everything.
How this bounty will be used
by the next generation
will have repercussions
far beyond its borders.
Well, I've come to the end
of my Brazilian journey.
From the border with Venezuela
in the north
to the border with Argentina
here in the south,
and from what I've seen and heard,
it only confirms my initial impression
that Brazil is going to be
a very powerful force for the future.
And I think they know it, too.
There's a sense of optimism.
A feeling that
it's a good time to be Brazilian.
I mean, there are many problems here,
but there are also
a remarkable sense
of tolerance and harmony,
and simple enjoyment of life.
Not bad qualities
for a potential superpower.
the world for the past 25 years.
I've met so many people
in so many countries
that everyone thinks of me
as the man who's been everywhere.
But in all these years, there's been
one big gap in my passport.
Nothing less than
the fifth largest country on Earth.
A country blessed with a melting pot of
peoples and an abundance of resources.
A country that's risen
almost out of nowhere
to become a 21st-century superpower.
It's the host to the next World Cup
and the next Olympic Games.
It's a country whose time has come.
How can I say I've seen the world
when I haven't seen Brazil?
Okay, waterfall. We defy you.
We defy you.
In this episode,
I'll be meeting a lot of people
I feel I've met before
in an epic landscape,
both natural and man-made.
For this is Southern Brazil,
where European and Asian immigrants
have created a very different culture
from the rest of the country.
And it can still spring
plenty of surprises.
I don't know what I'm doing
to the ecological balance here,
but there you go.
Oh. (LAUGHS)
Well, I'm on the last leg
of my Brazilian journey.
We're sailing down the coast from Rio.
Behind me is Brazil's other rainforest,
the Mata Atlântica,
the Atlantic Rainforest.
We're approaching a town which was once
one of the most prosperous
in the whole of Brazil.
It's called Paraty,
where the gold came out
and the slaves went in.
Three hundred years ago, Paraty lay
at the end of the Caminho do Ouro,
the Gold Trail,
which led through the mountains
to the gold mines of the interior.
It was a road built by slaves
for other slaves to carry the gold
which far a hundred years made
this little town fabulously wealthy.
But pirates made
a habit of robbing the galleons
that set sail from Paraty.
The gold trade moved north,
and the town fell into a steady decline,
which left it largely untouched
by the modern world.
A living embodiment
of the colonial period
can be found here, in the shape
of Prince Jean de Orléans e Bragança,
a staunch Republican
who's heir to the Brazilian throne.
I think people would
be quite interested,
really, to know that there's…
Well, there was…
There is still a royal line
(LAUGHS) in Brazil which you represent.
PRINCE JEAN:
It's a very interesting story. Yes.
PALIN: Yeah.
Peter I,
my great-great-grandfather,
and he was married with Leopoldina,
Habsburg from Austria.
Napoleon was married with her sister.
Mary Louise.
Okay. Napoleon was the brother-in-law.
-Yes.
-Yeah, yeah.
PALIN: Brother-in-law or not,
the Portuguese court fled
Napoleon's invading troops
for the safety of Brazil.
Their arrival, in Dom jean's opinion,
laid the foundations
of today's nation state.
PRINCE JEAN: A very interesting thing,
Brazil, before their arrival,
it was a colony.
After the arrival in 1808,
Brazil turned into a nation.
In one moment to the other,
the founding
of many institutions, cultural,
scientific and politic institutions.
-Is she one of the princesses?
-Yes.
-Yes, Princess Isabel.
-Yeah, beautiful.
She signed the law giving total freedom
to the slaves in 1888.
-And she's your great-grandmother?
-Great-grandmother.
Grandmother of my father.
PALIN: The gold that lay on the other
side of the mountains may have run out,
but it's been replaced by something else
the rest of the world buys from Brazil.
A half-hour flight from Paraty
brings me to one of
Brazil's great success stories.
Well, it was until I took the controls.
I'm in the simulator at Embraer,
a Brazilian aircraft builder
which turns out 200 planes a year.
INSTRUCTOR: Down, down, down…
Yeah!
PALIN: From being almost bankrupt
15 years ago,
it's now the third largest manufacturer
of commercial planes in the world.
Some people still think of Brazil
as being too laid back and relaxed
for the competitive world
of modern industry.
Embraer, with its smart management,
technical expertise and
skilled 77, 000-strong workforce
is the perfect riposte.
This is a company snapping
at the heels of Boeing and Airbus.
-(TOILET FLUSHING)
-Ah.
And they found a job for me
in the paint shop
with Felipe Galvao.
So, for me, this colour,
blue, is cheaper to paint.
-Is it? Why?
-Because the blue's very dark.
-Like a mirror, you know? Like a mirror.
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
When I paint, it's difficult,
the pass, the speed…
-I need very, very specific…
-Okay.
Got to be very, very careful,
otherwise… Yeah.
Oh, no! These are my
fashionable shoes, yeah?
-These are Paul Smith of London.
-(LAUGHS)
Paul, if you're watching,
look what they're doing.
They're redesigning your shoes.
-Shoes, Nike.
-Nike, yeah.
-(LAUGHS) Nike.
-Made in Brazil. Made in Brazil.
-No, no, no.
-FELIPE: Now we're ready to paint.
-What colour?
-This colour, dark blue.
-Oh, no. The difficult one, you told me.
-It's difficult to paint. Yes.
PALIN: That's a lovely colour.
It's sort of azure blue.
FELIPE: Very, very, very beautiful.
-See? Ready to paint.
-Wow, yeah.
-Paint your shoes, no?
-(SPRAY HISSING)
-Get off my… (LAUGHS)
-No? No? No?
-All right, so this goes on.
-Put on your mask.
Wow. Spaceman time, isn't it?
FELIPE: Your hair. It's blue!
Felipe, having finally got over
his obsession with my shoes,
turns his attentions to a bigger game.
The tail fin of a Kazakhstan airliner.
-Two fingers here, right? All right.
-Yeah.
Press. Press. Press. Press!
Let's go.
Yeah, let's go again.
Now, we need to wait 10 minutes
to set our coat.
PALIN: You must be hungry.
What time did you have breakfast?
-FELIPE: 4:00 a.m.
-4:00 a.m.?
4:30 a.m.
Lunch now and then
another breakfast at 2:00 p.m.
Oh, so you have three meals
a day by 2:00 p.m.
What food do you like?
What's your favourite?
Meat. Barbeque.
-Barbeque? Oh, yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, Brazilians.
-Brazilians love barbecue. Yeah.
-Yeah.
-Now pasta. Always pasta.
-(LAUGHS)
They have a surprise.
Uh, surprise, pea.
-What?
-Surprise pea.
-Surprise pea.
-Yeah, there.
-It's good.
-Okay. (LAUGHS)
Felipe was so keen
to get a job at Embraer
that he left his own engagement party
to make the interview.
He's never looked back.
The first time I entered the building,
the paint shop,
and I saw many guys
painting their aircraft.
And I stood just looking.
It was amazing, painting…
(IMITATING PAINT SPRAYING)
And I told myself
I want to be one of them.
And I have friends,
another friend there.
-Really? Yeah.
-And they helped me to get the job here.
-Does it pay well?
-Yeah, it pays very well.
What sort of…
Today I earn more or less
3,500 reais per month.
6,500 reais a month.
-Yeah.
That's about £1500.
I'm just trying to think per month.
-Okay.
-Not bad.
-Not bad.
-So how did it change your life?
-Everything.
-Like what?
Because this job,
I bought my apartment, my house,
everything that I have today.
And I have a good car,
uh, a good life.
I have a good life.
-Yeah.
-I buy everything. I have Xbox.
-I bought an Xbox. Everything.
-Yeah.
What would you like to do?
Would you like to go up
from painting to some other thing,
to administration?
Oh, no. I don't think about this.
I'd like to be a painter.
That's enough for me.
-You're happy doing what you're doing?
-Yeah.
I stop at what I have now.
PALIN: He '5 an enviable combination
of hard work and happiness.
Embraer's speciality
is short-haul commercial jets.
One of their regular customers
is Dutch carrier KLM.
They've taken 21 Cityhoppers
and they're today
taking delivery of their 22nd.
It's an important moment
marked by a very silly ceremony,
involving the Brazilian seller,
the Dutch buyer and me.
-You just wear the clogs. (LAUGHS)
-Okay, okay. Yes.
Yeah, is this good for flying?
Okay, there we go.
(LAUGHS)
I hope they fit. They look
a little big for me, but there you go.
-Oh, they're very snug!
-(LAUGHS)
Shall I try just one?
(TAPPING)
Yes, there we go.
Well, thank you very much.
That's very kind of you.
Now what we have
is we have Dutch fish.
What you call "eel".
We smoke the eel,
and if it's smoked we call it paling.
-Paling, huh? I never knew…
-Very similar to your name.
That's why…
People ask where
my name comes from
and I've never heard it
coming from smoked eel, so that's…
But that's something useful.
I like eel.
-Well, you should try it.
-Okay.
-Just try it.
-Thank you very much.
Be the first to try it, a bit of paling.
It's really good, actually.
WOMEN: Yummy. Yummy.
It might seem a bit wacky, but actually
this is a very, very important part
of the whole delivery process,
because they're here,
the KLM people, to do final checks.
And then in a week's time
they'll have to write the big cheque
to pay for the plane,
so that's why everyone's very,
very happy and jolly,
but underneath it all
there's a lot of money
hanging on this cloggy, paling-y moment.
-Can I have one more?
-MAN: Of course.
-I like this paling. For some reason.
-(LAUGHS)
Don't like all paling. Mmm.
Thais is the woman from Embraer
who's been cashing in those
big KLM cheques for the past few years.
PALIN: You've obviously got
a good relationship with KLM.
I mean, does anybody else provide
smoked eel or clogs?
No, no, no, not really.
But I must confess
that in the beginning
we were expecting
something more serious, more cool.
Then, when they come,
they already come with smiling faces
and very open minds, and talking to us,
doing this kind of culture.
Exchange culture things,
so it surprised us a lot.
(COUNTING IN PORTUGUESE)
(CHEERING)
How do you feel
when it all goes through?
Do you feel very proud
of what's being done here?
-Totally. Totally.
-Yeah?
To see their plane going
back home with the customer,
very satisfied.
It's part of us. We are proud of it.
We are proud of our product
and we represent Brazil.
For us, it's crazy.
Crazy it may be,
but as another $40 million
worth of airliner takes to the sky,
one Brazilian company
is getting it exactly right.
A few minutes flying time from Embraer,
the vast megalopolis of Sao Paulo,
largest city in the southern hemisphere,
rises like a man-made forest.
Forty million people. One in
five Brazilians live in Sao Paulo
and it's surrounding state.
This is the economic
and financial heart of Brazil.
And it's already full to overflowing.
(RADIO CHATTERING)
The very rich Paulistas
have grown so impatient
with the crush and the congestion
that they no longer live on the ground,
but in the skies above.
Sao Paulo is the helicopter capital
of the world,
which is not surprising,
'cause it's also the traffic jam capital
of the world.
One of them recently reckoned to
be nearly 200 miles long.
So here in the city, there are 400
helicopters making 300 journeys a day.
The rich and successful
go from building to building
to make meetings
without ever having to touch the ground.
And I'm going with one
of those people today
in the helicopter with Wilson Quintella,
king of Brazilian garbage.
Wilson Quintella can look down
on Sao Paulo with some satisfaction.
Last year, his waste management company,
Estre Ambiental,
made a £400 million turnover
from everything
that Sao Paulo throws away.
Wilson, like many multimillionaires,
travels his empire by air.
Today, he's flying me
to one of his biggest landfill sites
just outside Sao Paulo.
"Waste is just the beginning",
is the company slogan.
As far as Wilson is concerned,
every rubbish tip has a silver lining.
So you're in the right business.
Garbage.
-Garbage is good business.
-Yes, yes.
-It's growing a lot.
-Yeah.
Brazil brought about 40 million people
who was in poverty.
PALIN: Forty million people
who were poor,
and now are consumers, got money…
WILSON: Maybe 40,000 tons per day.
That's the waste of a city
like Sao Paulo.
Wilson, this is not just about
collecting people's garbage,
-this is business, isn't it?
-Oh, yeah.
-This is big money.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Big money… I don't mean big money.
Well, I heard your profits last year
were good.
It's doing good. Doing good, yeah.
-And it's growing all over the world.
-Yeah.
But I believe that
the most interesting thing
that we can do,
environment business,
joined with economical business.
We can get money from the recycling.
I believe that it's going to change
completely this market from now onward.
Maybe one day,
we're going to pay to the garbage.
For instance, like a can,
like a paper…
All these have a market.
Nowadays, China imports more plastic
coming from the recycling business
than the total consumption of Brazil,
in terms of plastic.
PALIN: Recycling used to be confined
to poor people scavenging rubbish tips.
Wilson acknowledges their contribution
by offering them a safe
and secure role in his business.
WILSON: In Brazil, this market's booming
because we are having economic growth,
and besides that, we have a new law
that obliges to finish with them dumping
and obliges at least
to recycle 20% of the total waste.
It's going to be a revolution in Brazil.
And to have a huge opportunity
for companies like ours.
Not to make money, but to do
something good for the society.
-And make a bit of money.
-And make some money.
The scavengers who eke
a living from rubbish dumps
have recently received
the ultimate accolade.
To become characters in one of
Brazil's hugely popular soap operas,
Avenida Brasil.
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
One of the stars of Avenida Brasil
is Carolina Ferraz,
a much-admired actress
with over 20 soaps under her belt.
She's the perfect person to show me
around the make-believe world
where the stories are filmed.
And to explain just how they do it.
…go there to visit.
And here is, if you look,
you have all the outside cities.
They build the scenario outside.
-This is the outside lot, yeah.
-Each soap opera has its own.
So we go there and we shoot.
PALIN: Should we get out
and have a look?
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
So what's actually happening now
in this part of the story?
They're shooting the soap opera.
This telenovela called Avenida Brasil,
which is the one
I'm shooting now as well.
And this is the neighbourhood.
The outside set that
they have the poor neighbourhood.
-Everything that happens, happens here.
-This is the poor neighbourhood.
We are in the middle of a shooting,
actually. They are shooting.
You see, everything is happening…
Everyone's acting.
We're acting, they're acting.
Yes, that's it.
It's very realistic. Yes.
You have a lot of extras.
A lot of different cameras shooting…
If you think about it, you shoot
something like 30 scenes per day.
Thirty scenes a day?
So it's like shooting
a whole movie a week.
Yeah. What sort of
character do you play?
I'm part of the comic part
of the soap opera.
I play a very rich woman
who is going to lose everything.
I'm going to become poor
and I'm going to come and live here.
-It doesn't sound very comic.
-But it's in the comic way.
-It's tragic, yeah.
-Yeah, it is.
But I'm going to come here
and I'm going to make lots of confusion
with all the characters
and it's going to be fun.
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
PALIN: There's something
about the soap operas.
I see them on in, you know…
There are television sets
all over Brazil, people watching.
Tell me about how popular they are.
It's like our Hollywood, you know.
People love it.
Truly, they don't go
out of their houses,
because they want to stay
and they want to watch the soap opera.
And because we don't have a soap opera
that goes on for 10 years,
our soap operas,
they go on live something like
for six to eight months,
maximum eight months,
so everybody knows
that it's going to end.
So everybody wants
to follow this soap opera
to know what is going to happen,
how it's going to finish,
who is going to marry who in the end.
PALIN: You say "everybody".
What size audience does that mean?
CAROLINA: Oh, it's huge.
It's something like 72 million people
watching you every night.
It's amazing, it's crazy, isn't it?
Is it like people sort of
working out their own
sort of dreams through you,
or do they use it more in real life?
CAROLINA: They sort of have
a social obligation.
They always bring different issues,
topic issues that people
as a society should discuss,
because it's so popular.
And we are in such a poor country,
so we use this,
because it's very popular
to debate different issues.
(SPEAKS PORTUGUESE)
PALIN: Shooting a part of Avenida Brasil
in a rubbish dump
has given a voice to a previously
marginalised underclass.
CAROLINA: This is…
This is what is new in Brazil.
They're starting to have
these kinds of characters coming out
and speaking in the society.
This is what is fresh now…
These people,
previously no one would have really
bothered about or listened to them.
They wouldn't have space to come out.
That's not about people
paying attention to them.
They didn't just have
the chance to come out…
And you think this is because Brazil
itself is more confident and prosperous,
so they don't feel
threatened by people…
Not only threatened.
-People have more real chances.
-Hmm.
PALIN: Increasingly, the voices
that are being heard in Brazil,
are the voices from the shanty town,
who's none louder than that of Criolo.
(PORTUGUESE SONG PLAYING)
Criolo is a rapper,
poet and composer.
His poems are eloquent but enigmatic,
delivering a message
that has struck a chord
with the generation who've
grown up at the bottom of the pile.
Carolina is an admirer
and has taken me to meet him.
When you were growing up
and what you saw around,
did it make you angry in any way,
the way people were treated,
the way people lived,
did it make you angry with the system?
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
TRANSLATOR: We can't feel
how hot the pot of soup is,
if we are the vegetables
inside the soup.
Our system here has
been broken for 80 years
and we are the ones paying for the
superglue to keep the thing together.
PALIN: The economy is going well.
At the moment,
it seems to be going well for Brazil.
Do they notice any change
as a result of that?
(TRANSLATES IN PORTUGUESE)
Uh…
TRANSLATOR: The details seems
to be in the words he used before
"seems to be going well".
Yeah.
TRANSLATOR: Anyway, we have to think
that this situation has to last
for at least 50 years,
otherwise I don't know.
To think that five or 70 years would
change a single leaf under this tree.
PALIN: His bleak views might be
uncomfortable for many Brazilians,
but the man himself doesn't behave
like a prophet of doom.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
Criolo remains engagingly loyal
to the streets where he grew up.
Streets where poverty is endemic,
but where the compensations,
like the music that nurtured him,
still raise the spirits.
On the other side of Sao Paulo,
the affluent streets which cater
for the burgeoning new middle class.
Someone who did more than most
to set this tide in motion
is the man who's credited with turning
the Brazilian economy around
in the 1990s.
He is former president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
known to all as FHC.
I talked to him about his home city.
Especially being in Sao Paulo,
I'm aware of the importance
-of immigration to this city.
-Yes.
Well, I suppose
people then saw Brazil like America,
as a dream.
-Brazil is a kind of America.
-Hmm.
You know?
And our minds are European.
We consider about ourselves
as, kind of, a part of Europe.
This is senseless,
because we are not.
But, anyhow, the feeling
was much more European.
And I used to say, "Well, we are in,
you know, in our culture,
"we are much more Americans
than Europeans."
-Yeah.
-This is a new nation, migration.
Blacks in Brazil, like in America.
The true melting pot is not US,
it's Brazil.
-Yes, yes.
-Because in US,
they live together,
-but they don't integrate each other.
-No.
It's much easier to be part of
-the similar confusion of things.
-Yes.
How you live with the other.
This is more relaxing here, no doubt.
PALIN: Sao Paulo may indeed be
the greatest melting pot on the planet,
but there are distinct advantages
to not looking particularly Brazilian.
Supermodels like Gisele Büindchen
could hardly be less of
a Brazilian stereotype.
She's made a fortune
from her Teutonic (oaks.
And, unsurprisingly, she's become
a model for all potential models.
Her brand of tall, long-legged elegance
is drawn largely from
an area some way from Sao Paulo.
Five hundred miles south
in the city of Blumenau,
white European immigrants predominate.
Here, where the buildings
are half-timbered
and beer drunk in steins,
is a fertile recruiting ground
for some of the most
sought-after models in the world.
One of them,
a second-generation German,
local girl Priscila Falaster,
is already well established
on the fashion runways of the world.
Is it a big ambition
of girls in Brazil to be a model?
Like Gisele Bündchen
or someone like that,
-is it something that girls want to be?
-Yes.
Everybody wants so much
to be a model here.
Maybe because we have
Gisele Bündchen and the girls see,
"My God, I want this life."
Do you feel quite proud
of what you've done?
You know, you're here in Blumenau.
-Yes.
-Do you feel quite good?
-You've done…
-I'm so proud.
I'm so proud, because I love here.
When I am in Germany,
I'm so happy because
my grandfather's from there.
And here I'm so proud,
because it's one beautiful city,
and it has a culture, you understand?
And it has German buildings.
I love… I love here.
PALIN: I think! know what she means,
as I see everywhere around me
a world I'd never expected to find
in the land of sun, sea and samba.
We have now reached
the deep south of Brazil,
over 3,000 miles from where I started
just out by the Venezuelan border.
And the immigrants that have settled
this part of Brazil are very different.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
My preconceptions of Brazil
need some readjusting,
as I find myself drawn
ever more deeply into a different place
in a different time.
In the small town of Pomerode,
90% of the inhabitants
not only speak German
but speak it with a 19th-century
Pomeranian dialect.
And funny hats are obligatory.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
Like so many immigrants, the Germans
of Pomerode stick to their old ways
with a fervour that the homeland
rarely equals,
complete with whoops, yells, accordions
and dances that health and safety
would have banned years ago.
Drinking a lot of beer helps
if you're wielding an axe
night next to your foot.
I've been enlisted to help Ingo Penths,
who serves ice-cold pilsner
from a motorcycle sidecar.
Ingo sees my potential
as a travelling barman.
PALIN: Ooh, what a creamy top that is.
Okay.
Tip it up a little, dear, that's it,
there we go.
-Not very much.
-MAN: Hi.
Hi. Yes, now you want a lot.
You're hot. You're hot.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Oops. Oh.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Yes, to the team! To the team!
Yeah! Yeah!
Then, just when I thought
I could get quietly pissed…
-Please?
-Oh! (LAUGHS) Thank you.
Oh! Well, here we go. (LAUGHS)
- Okay, yeah.
_Yes?
Yes. All right.
I've got that bit. Yeah.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(MAN WHOOPING)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
After some initial embarrassment,
I get into the swing of it.
And soon we're
a fully-fledged dancing unit.
Thank you.
They call this the European Valley,
largely settled by Germans who
don't seem in any hurry to assimilate.
My evening with Ingo
is hardly going to break the mould.
He's taking me to a bierkeller.
The band is led by a man
called Michael Lochner,
who, for once, is not Brazilian-German.
He's actually German-German.
(SINGING IN GERMAN)
He came here for a beer festival,
met a local girl, and stayed.
His band is quintessentially Brazilian.
And they don't take it
all too seriously.
One of their biggest hits is called
White Sausage Samba.
So you're all really dealing with
a kind of quite difficult fusion
(LAUGHS)
Of Brazilian and German,
and Portuguese and German.
-It's quite challenging.
-It's very complicated.
With the music, as well,
you've got brass band,
and you've got guitar,
you're playing samba
and you're playing… (SCATTING)
We recorded about 15 CDs.
-Okay.
-Until today,
our record company
don't know where to put them.
In German, Brazilian, rocking,
what place in the record store.
Put this record… It's complicated.
-Folk? I don't know.
-Yeah.
He's not the only one who's confused.
After a few beers,
Michael looks distinctly like a woman.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
So the German and Brazilian
senses of humour
can appreciate the same thing?
Or not?
I think it's different. (LAUGHS)
What's the German… All right,
we know the German sense of humour.
Nice and good.
They love Monty Python, so it must be…
(LAUGHS)
What about the Brazilian sense
of humour, how different is that?
What do they laugh at?
For me,
it's a little bit superficial.
-Is it?
-I think, Brazil is a country
for many immigrating countries,
Italians, German, Portuguese,
Spanish, Holland.
It's complicated.
This mixture,
to understand the same kind of humour.
(CONTINUES SINGING)
(ALL CHEERING)
PALIN: The surprises of Southern Brazil
keep on coming,
like this wonderful railway train.
Brazil's railway heyday
was 100 years ago.
It's rare to find a train
that still carries passengers.
We're running on a freight line
cut through the Mata Aflântica.
The scenery is spectacular.
We few lucky passengers
are thoroughly spoiled.
I'm sharing my champagne
with a serious young Brazilian
called Marcelo.
It's a good way to see the forest,
isn't it?
-Yes.
-Because there are no roads here,
-only the railway…
-Yes.
…gives us this chance to see it.
It's beautiful.
MARCELO: Yeah. This is
so beautiful and it's amazing,
because 12% of the biodiversity
of the world is right here.
PALIN: Twelve percent
of the biodiversity of the world.
Yeah.
You see all this in the forest
and I'm walking,
it makes you quite, sort of,
spiritual in a way, you know…
-Yes.
-…about how this came to be,
why is it so beautiful, all that.
-Do you have a religious belief?
-Yeah.
Are you a Catholic or…
No, I'm spiritualist.
I believe in spiritualism. Right?
-Yeah.
-I believe that.
I believe, too, then,
that the forest is a big soul.
It provides us our energy,
our lights,
everything that we need
comes from the forest. You know?
Do many people,
young Brazilians like you,
feel the same thing?
Yeah. It's amazing, because
many people feel like me.
Many people now is feeling
this important thing that nature,
the human people, the animals,
everything is connected.
We can change…
We need to change this world.
We are a part of everything.
What is your…
I got this from Maori culture.
Maori culture.
I passed one week
dreaming with Maori people.
-Dreaming?
-Dreaming.
Oh, yeah. The dream culture.
And this Maori people,
one man, you know, with tattoo,
-he's teaching me to carve.
-Yes.
-Oh, right.
-I never did that before.
Yeah, of course, I've seen that…
This is the first job that I made,
and when I give the person
like this,
okay, and have them pray.
Have them pray, and you know,
desire everything.
This is for you, man.
This is for you. You're going
to use this to protect,
to protect your family,
to protect your body,
your mind, your spirits.
This is a gift for you right now.
Okay, receive my love,
the universe's love, okay?
You know you can feel.
This is for you.
-Thank you.
-This is yours.
-This is mine?
-For you.
-Aww.
-This is for you.
I'm very touched. Very touched.
-Thank you.
-This is a gift for you, my friend.
My old new friend.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
PALIN: My encounter with Marcelo
is typical of many I've had
on my way through Brazil.
There's a sense of openness and
un-self-consciousness about people here.
If they like you,
they'll tell you.
There's nothing better than
a breath of Brazilian fresh air
to blow the dust
off British reserve.
I can't leave Brazil without
reminding myself once again
of the size, scale, and beauty
of its rarely visited interior.
I'm flying 500 miles to the west,
where the central plateau
drops away.
Below lies a very different vista
of lagoon and forest.
It's the largest wetland
in the world.
They call it the Pantanal.
And the transport is traditional.
Get the camera off for a bit.
The undignified bit.
-…like that.
-Hold it there.
-Yeah?
-Hold it there.
Over. Very good.
-Okay?
-Good. This is about the speed I like.
(CHUCKLES)
-Thank you, Alex. Thanks.
-You're welcome.
PALIN: Alex and my fellow horsemen
are the Brazilian counterpart
of the gauchos in Argentina.
And here, as there,
their life is inextricably linked
to the movement of cattle.
The young cattle are particularly
vulnerable to predators,
as I'm to find out.
Ho!
(WHISTLES)
That's gonna be looked at.
This calf has been attacked
and needs to be treated.
One of the team keeps
the mother at bay,
whilst Alex applies
some modem medicine.
(CALF BLEATS)
Oh… He's been attacked by a jaguar.
PALIN: Oh, really?
What damage has been done?
-Been attacked?
-Yeah, he's been attacked.
-You see, a bite in his neck.
-Okay.
He's lucky,
'cause the mom is really courageous.
PALIN: The mother would
have attacked the jaguar.
ALEX: Yeah, yeah. Defended him.
(SPRAY HISSING)
I'm gonna leave him.
So you were just able
to put some antiseptic on.
Yeah, antiseptic.
If it's too big,
we get some dry shit.
-Huh? Dry shit, really?
-Put it in. Yeah.
-And that helps heal the wound?
-Yeah.
You don't often see that.
A calf attacked by jaguar.
Anyway, better go.
Calves to save,
work to be done.
Come on, camera.
(WHISTLES) Whoa!
They respect the old ways here.
Even down to the mighty curved horn
that's carried to summon the cattle.
There's a peace and serenity
here in the Pantanal
that's like nectar after
the crowded cities of the coast.
The cattle ranch,
or fazenda, where I'm staying,
had been run by the Rondon family
for nearly 100 years.
Pollyanna Rondon,
the naturalist among the family,
tells me about the reality
of living in a wetland.
The water will reach
about 1.5 metres high.
Really?
So where we are here,
it would be up to about there.
Yes, we would never
be walking here.
We wouldn't be.
just the top of my hat sticking out.
-POLLYANNA: There are ducks. Yeah.
-Yeah.
Over there, those big…
Are they the, um…
-Jabiru. Jabiru stork.
-Jabiru.
-PALIN: Yes.
-There is a couple of jabiru stork.
They are dating already.
-Are they?
-They are. Yes.
They are normally on couples.
They live together.
And over there we also have some egrets.
-Yes. Yeah.
-We also have some ibis over there.
They're called quidicaca in Portuguese.
The names in Portuguese are related
to the sounds they produce.
This bird makes something like…
(IMITATES BIRD CALL)
-(LAUGHS) Yes.
-All right. I know the bem-ti-vi.
-That's a bird, isn't it?
-Yes.
-Kiskadee.
-Kiskadee, yeah.
-"Bem-ti-vi."
-"Bem-ti-vi, bem-ti-vi." Yeah.
PALIN: "Bem-ti-vi, bem-ti-vi."
(CHIRPING)
Lunch with Pollyanna
and her father-in-law
is a simple affair
of two pigs and half a calf.
Just to get an idea of the scale,
the Pantanal is big, isn't it?
It's an enormous area?
They say we are the size
of Holland and Belgium together.
Holland and Belgium?
(LAUGHS)
Belgium's always dragged
as a country to measure size by.
Holland and Belgium?
Whoa, that's a tricky one.
Guilherme Rondon is a descendant
of the great Brazilian explorer,
Colonel Cândido Rondon,
the first man to map
and settle the Pantanal.
This idea of Brazilian…
What is Brazilian, and all that…
Being a Pantanero, is that
something which is more important
than being a Brazilian? Or is it…
-You answer this.
-(LAUGHS)
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
-Yes.
-PALIN: Yes.
Yes, because it's…
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
It comes from the soul.
It comes from the soul. Yeah?
It's something you feel. Yes.
The Pantanero is…
(SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)
-Unique.
-Yeah. Yeah.
POLLYANNA: I see this, like Espasiolo,
he was serving the meat for us…
-Yes?
-…he's proud of being Pantano man.
Much more,
he would say that than, "I'm Brazilian."
Of course,
he's happy to be a Brazilian.
But he would say,
"I am a Pantano man."
-And be proud of it.
-Yeah.
PALIN: To see more
of this unique wetland,
I take to the river, in the company
of another proud Pantanal man,
my guide, John.
Pollyanna joked that
they don't have big game here.
Only small game.
But there's some impressively
ferocious life on the riverbank.
So tell me, John. It's a…
It is a spectacled
or Paraguayan caiman.
-So it reach a maximum of 3 metres.
-Yeah.
Rest in the day, hunter at night.
PALIN: What does it hunt?
-It hunts mainly fish.
-Yeah.
Birds, frogs and baby capybara.
They can swallow whole.
And they rest there,
with their mouth open, do they?
Ah, he's moved now.
Opening the mouth
is for inner metabolism.
Regulating function
of the ambience.
Ah, okay.
JOHN: Sorry.
PALIN: Sorry.
PALIN: Now here's something else
I've never seen on safari before.
A capybara.
It's the largest rodent in the world.
Seems oddly embarrassed about the fact.
So tell me about the capybara, John.
The capybara,
the biggest rodent of the worm.
The males reach
about 65 to 70 kilograms.
PALIN: They live on land
or in the water?
They spend some time on the land
and in the water.
They are easy prey
for puma and jaguar.
-Jaguar, right.
-Yeah.
And you said caiman can also…
The caimans eat the baby ones.
-Eat the babies.
-They can swallow whole.
Right.
The self-defence is jump in the water
if they are scared of something.
Okay.
PALIN: As the day wears on, John finds
a spot for some quiet fishing.
It's what he's trying to catch
that worries me slightly.
You're catching piranha?
JOHN: Catching piranha. Yellow piranha.
Like this, short and fast.
Okay.
-Okay? You try.
-Yep.
I'm not a natural fisherman.
The thought that I might bring
to the surface something
that could strip flesh
from my bones in seconds
makes me more than usually nervous.
(JOHN TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
Work the fish, work the fish,
slow, please.
-Oh.
-(SIGHS)
John's refusal to let me give up
strengthens my determination.
This is my Moby Dick moment.
It's him or me.
-(SIGHS) Almost.
-Almost.
I can feel it eating.
I can feel it nibbling.
If you have a long bite,
then pull up strong.
Pull up. No… Wait, wait, wait.
Oh!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
It's become dangerous.
Well, we got one.
Okay, I nearly took John's eye out,
but at least I've seen a piranha.
And where there's one,
there must be others.
Okay.
Then, quite suddenly,
the struggle is over.
-May I help you?
-Yep.
So hold like this.
Okay, you can take it off.
-Take off, hold like this. Strong.
-Yeah.
Sorry, old mate. Nothing personal.
-This kind of…
-Is this a…
Yellow. This kind is a cannibal.
This kind is a cannibal piranha. Hmm.
So he obviously thought
this was another piranha. Ooh.
Very sharp teeth.
Don't want to get near those. Yeah.
Let's have a look at it.
His teeth are worth a look.
Just introduce him to the viewers.
So he's a cannibal piranha.
Nasty old teeth, yes?
Pretty nasty.
JOHN: Of course, some accidents here,
because the fish is very slippery.
PALIN: Slippery?
JOHN: Some people do not know how to
hold and it escapes the hand and bite.
PALIN: I'm not going to hold it.
No, absolutely not.
Are you going to make
some sashimi with it?
-Yeah, now. We're gonna have some.
-Now? Okay.
Everything here.
The freshest sashimi
you'll ever get.
This is john's party piece.
Five minutes ago
it was swimming around,
merrily looking (LAUGHS)
For another piranha to eat.
And disaster struck.
Palin, after 12 false attempts,
snatched the little beast
from the waters.
And now it's sashimi time.
Just throw that to the caiman.
Oh, wow. Wow.
Th row.
Okay.
Caiman, here you are, caiman.
I don't know what I'm doing to
the ecological balance here,
but there you go. Oh!
(LAUGHS)
PALIN: Beautiful sky, isn't it?
Fantastic clouds.
JOHN: This place is so quiet.
It is, isn't it?
After you've spent a few days
in Sao Paulo, anywhere is quiet.
Here we go.
Here we go. A bit of piranha sashimi.
Mmm.
It's good. Very good.
Piranha sashimi at sunset.
Thank you, Brazil.
It's our last day here.
And as dusk turns to night;
Guilherme serenades us
with his own songs of the Pantanal.
(SINGING IN PORTUGUESE)
I'll be sad to leave the good company
and immense restfulness of this place.
But another more epic wetland beckons.
The Iguaçu Falls is the biggest
waterfall system in the world
and perhaps the most sublime
of Brazil's natural wonders.
There couldn't be a more memorable place
for me to end my journey.
This is where the borders
of Brazil touch
the borders of Argentina and Paraguay.
All three countries share responsibility
for protecting the national park
that surrounds the falls.
Biologist Marina da Silva came here from
Sao Paulo to work on the Brazilian side.
She has to keep close contact
with her neighbours.
-Over there, that's Argentine, is it?
-Yeah.
-That's Argentine side. Yeah.
-Brazil over there.
How do they all get on,
Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil?
-Okay?
-Well, it's quite interesting.
They have a very good relationship
among these three countries.
Anything you shouldn't
talk about to them?
-About soccer. We are completely…
-Oh, dear.
-Deadly rivals.
-Yeah.
-Don't talk about World Cup.
-No. (LAUGHS)
-It's impossible.
-Yeah, be careful.
Are you optimistic for the future
of the protection of the environment?
Do you think things are going to
be different in the next 10, 15 years?
I think so.
I prefer to believe because
the things are better than
seven years ago when I arrived here.
So I have good reasons to believe.
People, their children are different.
-They think different about…
-The young people
-are more interested in…
-Yeah.
They don't like the behaviour
of his parents, for example.
The wrong behaviours about poaching,
for example.
So I really believe that
things will be better.
PALIN: Marina's view of
what lies ahead is encouraging.
She sees her country
not just as a superpower,
but a superpower with a social
and environmental conscience.
They'll face challenges,
but with a new set of priorities.
Whoa! (LAUGHS)
Okay, waterfall. We defy you.
We defy you.
The Iguaçu Falls seem to symbolise
just how much Brazil has of everything.
How this bounty will be used
by the next generation
will have repercussions
far beyond its borders.
Well, I've come to the end
of my Brazilian journey.
From the border with Venezuela
in the north
to the border with Argentina
here in the south,
and from what I've seen and heard,
it only confirms my initial impression
that Brazil is going to be
a very powerful force for the future.
And I think they know it, too.
There's a sense of optimism.
A feeling that
it's a good time to be Brazilian.
I mean, there are many problems here,
but there are also
a remarkable sense
of tolerance and harmony,
and simple enjoyment of life.
Not bad qualities
for a potential superpower.