Brazil 1971 part
2
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I was at the
craft market in Rio when I met theAmerican Indian
artist Bolivian Roman who had been living in
Salvador in the famous Largo de Pelouinho, the
Afro-Brazilian area. He gave me the address of
his old landlady and asked me to give his
greetings. I never forgot this attractive
character because he refused to kiss me saying
kissing was not part of Bolivian culture! My
experience of Bahia would have been different had
I stayed there but my protector, the famous
sculptor Mario Cravo, was horrified that I should
live in the most dangerous part of the city and
immediately whisked me away to the middle class
residential area of Graca. He found me a room at
a relative of his relative and paid for a month
in advance by cheque. The landlady gave me a
strange look and obviously imagined me to be
involved with married Mario. I wish I had been
because I was in awe of his delightful
personality and talent. Mario was the first of
the generous Brazilians who gave me money.
The second is quite a story. I was staying in the
flat of the seamstress of the German ballet
dancer Gerry Maretzki. To make ends meet I put a
simple advert in the local newspaper- ‘Qualified
English teacher gives private English lessons’
and my telephone number. The phone rang one fine
day and an older man, who couldn’t speak
English, said that I was the teacher he was
searching for so that he could go gambling in Las
Vegas!
We agreed a weekly package price of an hourly
rate for seven hours per week but as he didn’t
know which days he was free, he would pay me in
advance for the seven days but I must be
available so he could tell me if he could come
that day or not!
Senor Gilbert arrived the next day and slobbered
on my hand while kissing it in the old fashioned
aristocratic way. Off we sped in his chauffeur
driven Bentley, to the posh Copacabana Palace
Hotel where we gorged on tender filet steak. He
got out of his briefcase a fan of notes with
consecutive numbers for seven days pay and that
was it!!
Each day he would call me at the same time and
cancel the lesson. We would chat a while in
Brazilian Portuguese and then he would ring the
next day and the next. Always the same story.
I never saw him again! It was as though he had
paid for my presence. After two weeks I said I
was engaged with a client and couldn’t
manage it. He then rang as if he hadn’t rung
before and repeated that I was the only English
teacher for him bla bla.
I never heard from him again!
The third man was Gileno with the Rolls Royce who
I have written about in part 1.
The fourth was Antero Paiva who lived in Recife
but I will write that story in part 3 of Brazil.
Written
6/12/24 at Nightingale
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