BRAZIL REVISITED is a non-fictional account of life on British (Vesteys) owned, Brazilian fazendas (ranches) in the fifties.
I left England in 1957, at the age of twenty, to work for Vestey, the meat people, on their cattle fazendas in Brazil. From a combination of notes and essays, written then and later, I have compiled an account of those extraordinary and exciting years. It is a glimpse of life in the interior of Brazil during interesting and often dangerous times; definitely off the tourist trail, especially in the fifties. In May, 2000 I had the opportunity to revisit two of the fazendas in Mato Grosso where I had previously worked. This book takes the reader on two journeys to the interior of Brazil, divided by forty years. It is not about me, but about fascinating Brazil and its amazing people.
As a young novice, recruited, as we were in those days, with no prior knowledge or experience in the business of cattle farming, life started on the bottom rung of the cowboy’s ladder. I milked cows and rode the range as one of the team of vaceiros and boiadeiros. I was taught about cattle and the Portuguese language by the Brazilian cowboys, in the school of hard knocks – as well as the monkey-see-monkey do and monkey-hear-monkey-say methods. Gradually I was given management responsibilities and moved to different fazendas.
The interior of Brazil in the fifties was a wild and yet beautiful place, as were the people, who could be child-like in their sense of humour, yet, cold and ruthless when provoked. I have described incidents that happened, which today seem like fiction but were real.
I feel that anybody who has an interest in other places and other times, and especially those interested in Brazil and its people, will enjoy reading this book.
I left England in 1957, at the age of twenty, to work for Vestey, the meat people, on their cattle fazendas in Brazil. From a combination of notes and essays, written then and later, I have compiled an account of those extraordinary and exciting years. It is a glimpse of life in the interior of Brazil during interesting and often dangerous times; definitely off the tourist trail, especially in the fifties. In May, 2000 I had the opportunity to revisit two of the fazendas in Mato Grosso where I had previously worked. This book takes the reader on two journeys to the interior of Brazil, divided by forty years. It is not about me, but about fascinating Brazil and its amazing people.
As a young novice, recruited, as we were in those days, with no prior knowledge or experience in the business of cattle farming, life started on the bottom rung of the cowboy’s ladder. I milked cows and rode the range as one of the team of vaceiros and boiadeiros. I was taught about cattle and the Portuguese language by the Brazilian cowboys, in the school of hard knocks – as well as the monkey-see-monkey do and monkey-hear-monkey-say methods. Gradually I was given management responsibilities and moved to different fazendas.
The interior of Brazil in the fifties was a wild and yet beautiful place, as were the people, who could be child-like in their sense of humour, yet, cold and ruthless when provoked. I have described incidents that happened, which today seem like fiction but were real.
I feel that anybody who has an interest in other places and other times, and especially those interested in Brazil and its people, will enjoy reading this book.
