Las Llamadas in the Uruguayan Candombe

I was going to take a twilight walk along the beach in Montevideo this evening, but was caught up in a parade instead. Here are some photos and videos.

I did a little research to discover that today, December 3 is the international day of Uruguayan Candombe, which is also a “warm-up” part of Carnaval in Uruguay – they start Carnival early here and have events throughout January, February, and March, with different timing in different towns in Uruguay. In fact, the Carnaval of Uruguay is the longest Carnaval in the world, lasting over 40 days. As stated, the December 3rd day of Candombe is one of the warm-up events for Carnaval, but there are also two days of Candombe – the main days of Candombe – in February as well.

The following information is mostly taken from Welcome Uruguay, and I thank them for it – the concepts and structure is theirs, but with my editing:

The (February) parade features Las Llamadas showing off along the mythical 18 de Julio Avenue of Montevideo. The December 3rd parade, I believe, is on another street (I’ll have to walk back to see its name).

This ancestral way of gathering was used by African immigrants to Uruguay to find one another during the Carnaval – and now has become a legitimate part of Carnaval, featuring an identification and customary stamp using “the call and reply” of small drums. The celebration is now fairly popular, and this coming year, just like decades ago, will be held in the neighborhoods Sur and Palermo, in Montevideo.

Las Llamadas (the calls) derive from the calls made by those African immigrants when they began to gather, whether to celebrate or to deal with certain social issues. Each group used to have a couple of drums and get out into the streets playing the candombe in order to get the big group together to celebrate Carnaval.

The immigrants had been part of the Montevideo Carnaval for a very long time, though they generally could not officially participate in the celebrations. Therefore, they would celebrate among themselves, singing and dancing along the very same streets where most of them lived.

Today, nobody speaks about black and white people any more. Everybody speaks about murguistas, comparsistas and carnavaleros -basically carnival people- and many of them repeat a true tribute to their ancestors every year in the Sur and Palermo neighborhoods.

These celebrations began in 1956 and ever since they have become a classic cultural event in the City of Montevideo. They have now also began to be celebrated in other Uruguayan towns with carnival blood.

Las Llamadas consists of a parade in which men, women and children of all ages take part. They tour around thousands of meters in the company of a lively audience that dances to the rhythm of candombe and its drums along with the protagonists.

The comparsas are led by the estandartes (banners) representative of each group, an emblem that distinguishes them from the rest. You’ll see the Nigerian estandarte in my photos and video, for example, which represents a set of African immigrants from Nigeria to Uruguay.

Then the flags arrive, followed by a set of fantasy devices made up by moons, stars and lights carried by masked young people. These icons refer to the Islam, the religion most of the African slaves practiced before they were brought to the Río de la Plata.

Then, the gramillero appears. It is the eldest man in the comparsa and he generally wears a thick white beard that evidences his age. However, his devilish dance shows the audience an overwhelming youth accompanied by his dancing partner, the Mamá Vieja (Old Mamma) or Abuela (Grandma), a black old woman who moves her hips as if she was just a teenager.

Behind them, there comes the Escobero (broom man), who is in charge of sweeping all the negative waves and the bad weeds the street may be covered with. He leads the group of dancers and the drummers line-up, formed by the musicians of each group who play their rhythm and set the steps and movements for all the members of the comparsa.

It was 10 years ago today… don’t cry for me, Argentina

Interesting being in Buenos Aires today. It’s 10 years to the day that the government here announced some moves related to currency controls and taxation, including the corralito, which prevented people from taking their money out of bank accounts. Some of those policies and moves helped create the fiscal crisis of 2002 (it really started December 2001). Now, 10 years later, with Europe and the US melting down, Kirchner has made new tax- and currency-control announcements, and business in Argentina has ground to a halt for anyone with pesos. The spread between black market and white market currency is now approximately 8% (4.33 to 4.66). Luckily, it is still beautiful here in the Paris of South America, and the Malbec and steak is as good as ever (and at even lower prices due to government stupidity).

Fastest growing companies

I see in the San Francisco Business Times that was the #1 fastest growing East Bay company FY2008 through FY2010 (6000% growth, from US $209k to $12 mil+), and that Revolution Foods was the #6 fastest growing (345% revenue growth, to 17 mil+) company.

Those are both Catamount Ventures portfolio companies. Congratulations to Jed, Kirsten, Kristin, and Neil.

The #17 fastest East Bay company is True Wireless – way to go Jim Motter!

And the 26th fastest is Sundia – congratulations Brad Oberwager!

Separately, they are not in the East Bay, but I noted Advantis Global @ #14 on Inc’s 500 list this year (of the fastest growing private companies), and #1 in information technology services – Jeff Taylor, you rock!

Issues with real estate investments in Latin America

While investors and home-buyers can readily find information about US real estate and homes on the internet and elsewhere, there’s no good source of information about real estate in the parts of the world that have some of the best investment opportunities, including in Latin America.

For developers of property in those areas, lack of credit means that it is difficult to purchase and develop land. Lack of a centralized MLS system and relative dearth of licensed agents make it difficult to promote one’s development, and to make sales. Developers need more sales and marketing channels, in a world where business is increasingly going global and online.

For real estate professionals in these areas, the lack of standardized contracts and absence of exclusive listings make purchases and sales much less efficient. There is no collaborative marketing and sales system and that makes it much more difficult to do business, meaning more work for a lower income.

Finally, in a world where demand for food is increasing from China and India and Brazil, where there is a lack of arable farmland and water, where some foods are being used for energy, where crazy weather patterns and natural disasters are disrupting food production and distribution, farming is often the highest and best use for certain land, and sale prices for many foods, along with cash-on-cash yields for agricultural activities, are at an all-time high.

Similarly, growing demand for consumer products in a world of scarcity has lifted the prices for many commodities and metals. Eroding faith in various currencies has had a positive impact on the prices of precious metals in particular.

These trends have meant that farms and mines are among the most profitable activities for the investor, and farmland and mines are particularly good investments in today’s climate.

We have solutions for the issues above which I’ll be sharing with you over time.

Hiring tips – geared for startup technology companies

Here are some of my tips from my background as a CTO and VP of Engineering in Silicon Valley:

a) It’s clichéd, but one must only hire “A players” to begin with. The initial small team should be comprised completely of rock stars, with lots of specific experience in the domains that they are working in. The early product decisions and product releases are absolutely critical. Being able to release quality product quickly, that performs well, and iterating, is critical.

b) Besides and including the technology team, the most important function in a product development team (this comprises marketing+technology) is product management. Product management defines what iterative releases of the product will have. If we don’t define the target well, we’ll never hit it.

c) I am a big believer in small teams… and continuing to break down teams that grow beyond certain sizes in to bigger numbers of smaller teams. Communication overhead is significant. The mythical person-month is, indeed, mythical.

d) Despite the recommended small teams, in the early days, one should defer any layers of management as long as possible.

e) Creating cool corporate culture and cohesive teams is incredibly important early on (and fostering that as the company grows is also hugely important – just much more difficult). I like to see all-hands meetings (while a small company) on Friday afternoons (or other times that make sense) so that everyone gets to hear what’s happening, and the employees are all properly motivated and aligned.

f) As the company grows, it is important to begin to hire *some* junior people with less experience (still should be super smart, great communicators, team players). Those people can do the tasks that are less exciting / more mundane, and then we start to create a healthy social organism that can, over time, care for, train, and promote some of those junior people to more significant roles.

g) With this type of company I do not believe in outsourcing… overseas development, potentially, partially (can save on cost, among other positive factors) but not outsourced.

h) Believe it or not the #1 thing I looked for in engineers… is communication and teamwork! Especially communication. Not always easy to find in engineers .

i) I like to give flexibilty to people, but I am not a big believer in people working at home a lot, with only a few exceptions. There is no substitute for in-person collaboration, including as a whole company.

j) Related to the flexiblity that many information workers have and need, I do believe in flex time… people can work any 16 hours of the day they like .

Background on Ecuador, one of my favorite countries

Ecuador, with a population of 14.5+ million, is considered among the most mega-diverse countries in the world. In relation to its surface, Ecuador holds the greatest amount of species of plants and animals on Earth. It occupies fourth place in bird diversity.

Ecuador’s official language is Spanish. Its capital is Quito (3½ hours by plane from Miami), which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved old town center in Latin America. Its government is a Democratic Republic. The predominant religion is Roman Catholic, but there is complete religious freedom. The country is divided into four different zones: the Amazon Basin, the Andean Highlands, the Pacific Lowlands (where Hacienda Palo Alto is located, and the cities of Bahia de Caraquez and Manta) and the Galapagos Islands. Since it is located right on the equator, the country as a whole experiences no extreme weather changes, and it is generally spring weather year-round, except at high elevations.

The currency is the US Dollar. Ecuador’s local coins are equivalent to American pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and fifty-cent pieces, all of which are legal tender in Ecuador. Ecuador is located in the same time zone as the Eastern Time Zone of the United States, and it does not have daylight savings time. Ecuador welcomes foreigners, including North Americans and Europeans, who seek residency. There is no income tax and very low property taxes. There is a consumption tax (sales tax) of 12%. Foreigners are permitted to own land in Ecuador directly or through various domestic and overseas entities, and many have done so happily for many years.

The relatively new 2008 constitution is the first in the world to recognize and provide legal Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

Ecuador is rich in resources, and it exports petroleum, fish, shrimp, timber, and gold. The many farmers of Ecuador grow bananas, flowers, coffee, cacao,sugar, tropical fruits, palm oil, palm hearts, rice, roses, and corn year-round.

numbers changed in Honduras in November

I tried to call a number in Honduras tonight, but wasn’t getting through, and was getting the message that the country had changed its phone numbers.

The telecom authority in Honduras introduced a change in the country’s fixed telephone numbering system on November 14, 2010. Namely, all fixed numbers now have the digit 2 (two) added to become 8 digit numbers.

Examples:

-Tegucigalpa numbers: 2?? ???? before Nov. 14; 22?? ???? after Nov. 14.
-San Pedro Sula numbers: 5?? ???? before Nov 14; 25?? ???? after Nov. 14.

I guess this will help them route landline and mobile number calls, and also accommodate telephone number growth – so it’s a good thing!

I cannot resist closing with the thought that the added numbers are both prime numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.

Piper Renner’s blog

Her trip to South America and specifically Ecuador is here

smart opt-in technique

This is on Octopus Travel:

“We would like to contact you with offers relating to product/services of ours that we think you might be interested in. Tick here if you object to receiving such offers.

We would like to pass your details on to other businesses so that they can contact you with offers of products/services that you might be interested in. Tick here if you wish to receive such offers.”

I bet they capture more than half the people who don’t want to receive at least one of the sets of offers.

new law in San Francisco prohibits officers from asking for insurance

I was pulled over in January 2011 in San Francisco.

Talked my way out of the ticket, as happens the majority of the time.

The big surprise when I gave my insurance information to the officer was that he told me that though statewide in California officers are required to ask for insurance, in San Francisco they no longer are allowed to ask about auto insurance due to some new SF law – as of January 2011. Apparently asking for insurance in the sanctuary city of San Francisco would be discriminatory to illegal aliens.

I have Googled to try and find information on this law but cannot find anything on it – anyone know anything?