A letter to Prince Harry of England
Dear Prince
I am sorry I haven’t started this letter with Your
Royal Highness, but once I am not a subject to the queen, your lovable
grandmother, and the fact that I am Brazilian, world known for our simplicity
and friendly approach, I reckon I could be a bit informal when addressing to
you. Firstly, I am writing to thank you for your visit to Brazil. Make yourself
at home. That is what we normally say when we have guests and we mean it.
However, I would also like to apologize for some inconvenience during your stay
here.
I have learnt about your visit mostly from some
flash news on TV and pieces of information on the internet. I know you were at
the stadium Mineirão in Belo Horizonte when England played Costa Rica and bowed
out of 2014 World Cup. It must have been hard all that suffering especially
after having seen the Brazil’s 4-1 victory over Cameroon one day before. As
consolation I must say that at least England’s team kept on trying. Well, I am
sorry England is out of the Fifa World Cup but now I invite you to cheer for
Brazil. Just one word of advice, if you plan to do that, with all respect, I recommend
that you get rid of your tie and put on a yellow T-shirt. Forget about the
protocol and feel free to shout and scream as well as hug anyone around you as
it is allowed here when Seleção Brasileira scores a goal. I know that some use
this moment as an excuse to hug and kiss the ones around them, but we are not
really worried about that when it happens.
However, when I was watching some piece of news
about you, there was a moment when I felt rather upset. It was about your visit
to ‘Cracolândia’ (the land of crack) in São Paulo this morning. The reporter
said that our mayor took you there to learn about ‘Operação de braços abertos’
a organization meant to help drug addicted homeless people to find work and
start treatment. The first thing that came to my mind was: “Who had this
fantastic idea to take him there?” I’ll tell you, I have had many friends
coming from other parts of the country and abroad to São Paulo but I have never
considered taking them there. This is an area that I myself avoid walking
around as it is filthy as well as extremely dangerous. After this operation
started more and more homeless people are living in the streets around the city
and most of them are crack users. So, maybe, just maybe, as we are approaching election
time, some politicians might have used your visit to Cracolândia as an
opportunity to show that they are doing something about that, although the
citizens of the city of São Paulo know it is something for the English to see. It
is a Brazilian expression which equivalent in English could be ‘just for the
sake of appearances’.
I resent that when a gringo comes to visit us,
either they are recommended visiting a ‘favela’, some exotic part of the
country, or they are shown the high profile shopping malls which sell
overpriced stuff. I think it is
interesting as it clearly shows the huge social gap in our county, but I assure
you that there is more to be seen than just that. I know you are not free to
visit the places where common people go and I am certain that people would not let
you walk freely without disturbing you. Nevertheless, if you could disguise
yourself and walk free as I do as well as most of the Brazilian citizens or
tourists who have come for the World Cup, I would take you to some very nice
places to visit.
I would invite you to go up Serra da Cantareira
where during a stroll to the rocky mountain you would see little monkeys and
beautiful birds and butterflies along the way. From the top of the hill, you
would see the massive spreading of buildings of the 3rd biggest city
in the world. After that, I would take you to a street market where common
people buy fruits and vegetables and then you would have a go at eating
‘pastel’ and drinking ‘caldo de cana’, typical Brazilian food from São Paulo.
In the evening, we would go to Vila Madalena or Rua Augusta and mingle with the
massive number of young people, coming from various urban tribes, who gather
for beer and flirting. As our pubs and bars don’t have last calls, we could
linger on drinking as long as we wanted and then stretch to a small night club
where people spend the whole night, just leaving at dawn.
I heard that during the commemoration for your
grandmother birthday at Centro Brasileiro Britânico on the 24th of
June, you were invited to come for the Carnaval in São Paulo. If you accept our
invitation, bring some of our friends with you and indulge yourself to doing
what the Brazilians do. Don’t be shy and don’t worry if people are so friendly.
That is the way we are. However, I should warn you that most of foreigners are
quite gullible when it comes to understanding the Brazilian way. Most of us are
friendly and nice and we mean it, but some of us could be quite malicious and
use any chance to use and abuse of your kindness. However if you come here with
a clever and honest Brazilian friend, you will have the time of your life.
I look forward to seeing you here soon
A Brazilian friend
