Palmas is a small world

We recently went out to a bar – a fairly typical event where we bumped into the usual amount of friends. Here is who we bumped into:

Friend #1 is Sonia’s longstanding friend. Her boyfriend, friend #2 is my drinking buddy. He works with friend #3, who attended me when I needed medical help when I was here in 2010, and helped me when I was admitted at the start of this year. Friend #3’s brother, friend #4, graduated with Sonia and is also the guitarist in the band that was playing that night in the bar. Friend #4’s girlfriend, friend #5, works with Sonia. We bumped into friends #6 and #7. The last time we were at this bar, friend #6’s father was playing in the band. Friend #6 studied in Portugal with Sonia and is married to friend #7 who, separately, has been a friend of Sonia’s for a long time and is a friend of friend #1’s sister. Friend # 8 works with Sonia and also in the same department as me at the university.

When we go out for lunch we bump into numerous friends and acquaintances and it is often a prolongued process to shoehorn Sonia out of the restaurant as the conversation flows.

My students quite often know me or of me before they meet me, through a mutual acquaintance, and they often know each other somehow. There is always a link to connect people here.

For a city with a population of over 250 000 people, Palmas feels incredibly small. Part of that can be explained by the fact that many ties remain strong amongst the small community that was here when Palmas was created in 1989. Also, society here is strongly divided by social strata – the majority survive on the minimum salary of around £150 per month. The smaller section who are socially mobile and active are the ones likely to be seen at social events. Here, so much depends on who you know. If networking is not in your skills set, you will struggle. If you know the right people your career, social life and health will prosper. As a doctor student of mine told me in their first class: the best thing to do in Palmas is to be friends with a doctor.

There is also the fact that Brazilians are naturally a social people, they generally love to chat. People often have few interests outside of the family and the community. In most neighbourhoods you can see people sat out on the streets every evening with nothing to do but chat to neighbours and passers-by. As a result everyone knows each other and the city often has the feel of a village community.

If anonymity is your thing, Palmas is not for you!