Health Tips

Alex Tabarrok demolishes nostalgia for the lost utopia of the 1950s. But what’s odd about this whole discussion is that it started with Ben Wallace-Wells profiling Paul Krugman who reflected positively on the more egalitarian Long Island of youth. But here’s Krugman making Tabarrok’s point:

This Edenic Merrick has long since evaporated, giving way to something more socially distended and bizarre. (Amy Fisher, for instance, attended Krugman’s high school.) Would he prefer Merrick in the sixties to his current life? “Knowing that I am in fact me, this is a much better society for me to live in. And not because of the money but because it’s more open, more tolerant,” Krugman says. The food, he says, musing, is “a lot better.” You can get really good coffee just about anywhere.

Nobody’s actually saying it would be better to return to the America of the 1950s. The question is whether we in some sense had to give up the much greater degree of household-level income equality that existed then in order to obtain the better, more tolerant America of today. You can draw various kinds of causal links between social progress and growing economic inequality, but it seems to me that none of this can even begin to explain the drastic escalation in the rewards going to a relatively tiny number of high-flying financiers.

from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/matthewyglesias/~3/osFqEcjqoZo/

Santarem, Brazil

After the grimness of Manaus, Santarem was a welcome stop-over with its charming waterfront and nearby beaches of white sand and barmy river water. It would have been very easy to have waited an extra day in Manaus and picked up the twice-weekly boat direct to Belem but then I would miss out on seeing a miniscule proportion of what lies beyond the towns, villages and forest lining the river. Myself, Alejandro and Marilia planned to stay two nights in Santarem before picking up the boat to Belem that originated in Manaus.

Marilia, true to form, had befriended a Brazilian – Carlos – who knew a good and cheap hotel near the port so off we trotted and checked into a four-bed room complete with ice cool air conditioning – Very much needed in these parts when not blessed with the breeze of a moving boat. Now I felt ready to have a couple of drinks to unwind and enjoy a town which made the most of its position on the south bank of a series of lagoons temporarily widening the main thoroughfare of the Amazon. Before I began my journey down river I had imagined, simplistically, that it would simply be a case of pointing the boat east, following the curves north and south, but the Amazon is a maze of tributaries, huge lagoons and forested islands. The bends in the river give the 360-degree horizon a fully forested rim, hammering home the feeling of being surrounded by rain forest on all sides.

We found a nice bar right on the promenade and quickly ordered a round of caipirinhas – something that is definitely much cheaper here than in the UK – and took in the scene of a groups of young people drinking beers and spirits along the front listening to music from parked cars. The Santarem equivalent of a few cans in the park to get the juices flowing before heading off for a night on the town. A few caipirinhas to the good and I was starting to develop thoughts of bed and sleep but Carlos was keen to take us to a big Forro (popular kind of Brazilian music) event that was going on on the outskirts of town. So we all jumped into a taxi and paid our R$15 entrance fee into a huge walled arena that housed a large stage complete with a big live band and three inter-changing singers who banged out the popular hits that had hunderds of locals dancing the night away. There was a very particular dance to this kind of music which I was happy to watch whilst shaking my hips in true gringo fashion. Carlos served up a few more caipirinhas before the live music stopped around 2am and it definitely was time for bed. Again, I was left with the sensation that I could not possible be in the midst of the Amazon rain forest, my childish imagination of the great unknown unable to pair this big event with the great outdoors that lay beyond…

We had arranged to meet a Dutch and Hungarian girls – Ellie and Olivia – whom we had met on the boat, the following morning at 8am to catch the bus east to Alter do Chao and its pristine sandy beaches. We were about an hour late by the time we made it to the harbour, and I had quite the cachaca headache as we boarded the bus with rattled into the countryside. It was great to get a glimpse at the Amazonian countryside as we passed through villages as urban Santarem gave way to small, rickety clusters of agricultural buildings and lines straining under the weight of washing generated by large families. We were dropped on the edge of Alter do Chao and walked the couple of blocks to the waterfront plaza. I had been told that the beaches would be underwater but was not prepared for quite how much water. The lapping lagoon had reached the roofs of the thatched beach huts!

There was a sandy island which was still in full use. A gaggle of men with rowing boats were soliciting for business and we hopped in a boat and were taken across the lagoon to the island and its cluster of restaurant/bars. The sand was dotted tables, chairs and umbrellas belonging to the various establishment and this was clearly a spot for a Brazilian family to have a day out and enjoy good food, cold beer and the closeness of three generations enjoying the warm lapping water. I felt slightly envious to be honest and wished that I could bring my family here for a fun day out, but I made do with swimming and sunbathing before we were rowed back.

Marilia in search of a trip into the jungle to satisfy her deep burning need to see “a 70-metre tree”. After eating a slightly dubious meal in a pretty unfriendly restaurant the heavens opened and we took cover by a nearby supermarket. The deluge ceased but we did not want to get caught mid-river when the next heavenly evacuation came so decided to head back to Santarem. My dip in the water had put me back on an even keel but I feel sound asleep as soon as I lay back on my bed. I woke at 9pm feeling totally confused – when Alejandro had told me it was 9 o’clock I had though I had slept through til morning and could not understand why it was dark outside! Still, I recovered my faculties sufficiently to get some dinner and take a stroll along the waterfront with Marilia. If only Manaus could have made the same use of its prime location.

We got up early the next day with boat to Belem leaving at 12noon, and boarding starting from 10am. We took a cab to the larger port complex out of town and coughed up the R$120 for a ticket for the two-night journey, before joining the scrum of people waiting by the closed boarding gate. The Amazon Star had originated in Belem and was different from the previous two in that the sides of the hammock deck were closed with windows and air-conditioning. We finally boarded and found space for our five hammocks next to a lovely family. It was sweltering on board as the air-con is only switched on when the darkened windows are shut at night. The view from my hammock was now reduced to just the sky which was a bit of a come down from the expansive vistas I had become accustomed to.

My neighbours to the left were Ellie and Olivia and to the right I was quickly befriended by permanently smiling and laughing brother and sister Rodrigo, eight, and Amanda, 10. Some of my fondest memories from my journey on the Amazon are of the children I met and my new companions radiated a lovely sense of fun and happiness that one does not encounter very often. I imagined Bryn and Isla – my nephew and niece – put in the same situation and, while they are the apples of my eye, I could not imagine them lasting two days and nights without needing some parental intervention. But then I guess it is what kids are used to, maybe this is something the Brazilians have grown up with. Nevertheless, their lovely nature really struck me and it was fun to try and communicate with them as they took much pleasure in my inability to speak Portuguese.

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/stemaxc/1/1303292207/tpod.html