I wrote the second issue of Folha da Frontera on July 14, about two-thirds of the way through my trip. I am still far from fluent in Portuguese, but during the last month I found that I could leave my little dictionary at home and still manage in all kinds of situations, like working my way through government bureaucracies, discussing politics, and arguing with Varig, the major Brazilian airline. Arguing with Varig is a kind of national pastime. I got pretty good at it. The way we did this newsletter is that Pam has helped me pick out some of the more interesting bits from the many letters I wrote during the last month.
Some cars run on it, for example, and it is used in mimeo machines.
Instead of lighter fluid, a grill is started by soaking stale bread in alcohol. This seems a lot more sensible to me than paying a small fortune for specialized chemicals that cost more, pollute more, and don't work any better. I definitely want to try the bread trick some time. Charcoal is produced here in the region in family-sized operations that use brick ovens. Of course, the source is recently cut rain forest, but I don't think charcoal-production is as significant a factor in deforestation as it is in some parts of Africa.