Nike-Shocked

About a year ago, before I made my first visit to Maringá, several of my husband’s Brazilian coworkers were in the states for a meeting. One evening we took them to the mall for some shopping, the number one item on the list – Nike Shox.

Brazilians are crazy for these shoes. They bought a pair for themselves, their children, their aunts and uncles, you name it. You also see them on people everywhere in the city, even a city as small as Maringá.

My first reaction to this was one of pure shock and disbelief. I find Shox to be relatively expensive in the states. This is coming from a bargain girl who prides herself on finding $80 tennis shoes on sale for $30 - $50. I’m not sure I’ve ever purchased anything full price.

Well, if these shoes can be considered somewhat pricey in the US, they are definitely considered expensive here. The mall has displays of Nike Shox advertising prices tags of about R$500. With the exchange rate now that is well over US$250 a pair. What a complete and total rip-off! Oh, what my bargain shopping could buy for $250!

After joining the gym, we realized just how many people wear these shoes. Apparently you are only cool if you wear Nike Shox. Lucky for me, I don’t care about being cool and you would never catch me in a pair anyway. I am a New Balance and Adidas girl.

We were a bit concerned that they might even kick us out of the gym for not having a pair. This didn’t happen, of course, but I’m sure plenty of fellow gym goers have taken a look at my NB’s and wondered why in the world the Americana doesn’t have Nikes.

This whole Nike fan club going down here leads me to believe one of two things. These people themselves, or their families, travel to the US a lot, or they buy them for R$500 a pair at the mall. Both of these options leave me with one conclusion – the people here have a lot more money that what we as Americans are made to believe.

I’m not saying there isn’t a huge divide in the poor and the wealthy. Poverty exists around every corner and in most cases is more extreme than many areas of the US. What surprises me, though, is the amount of wealth that exists in a small town like Maringá with this extreme poverty.

In addition, to small things like Nike Shox we see Audis, BMWs and Range Rovers on a daily basis. If you think these cars are expensive in the US (I do), try tripling or quadrupling the price to get them down here. It really amazes me.

So while I struggle to figure out how people can afford what I would consider major luxuries, people think I am loaded because I’m an (North) American. For them American = money and for an outsider Brazilian = poverty. Both perceptions couldn’t be more incorrect.