The title is the name of a film by one of Brazil's leading film makers shot in the 60s and it somewhat summarizes the best and the worst of the country and these first days of my stay.

It has now been a little bit over one month that arrived in São Paulo, Brazil, where I will kick-start the fellowship which aims to train citizen journalists to cover poverty related issues and to see that the news stories they develop reaches the country's mainstream media.

On a personal level, at least I overcame some initial difficulties. One of them, and a very crucial one, is that housing contracts here last on average 30 months, with a breaking clause of at least one year or 15 months. By the time I started looking for a flat, I wouldn't be able to commit to full one year contract, but a rather an 11 month one, since my fellowship is due to end on November, 2010.

Thankfully, a BBC colleague was renting his flat in the beginning of the month in a very pleasant side of town and I managed to move there a couple of weeks ago.

But I had not yet seen the last breath of the Brazilian bureaucracy.

I went to a shopping mall in order to get a plan that combines mobile phone, internet and a land line. I was sure I would walk out of the place with everything in place. How little did I know. The shop assistant told me she needed a proof of residency. I handed her my rental contract. But since it had not been certified in a registry office, it didn't do the trick.

On the following day, I headed to the closest registry office I could find. They were willing to register the contract. However, amongst the documents I needed to show was my Brazilian ID. In spite I lived for eight years abroad, I still had it, although it wasn't in the best shape. A fact that was also acknowledged by the attendant at the registry office. My old, wrinkled and roughed up document was not considered a proof that showed that I was who I claimed to be. Unfortunately, a passport wouldn't work either since...I was a Brazilian national not a foreigner.

I had to go to another place, popularly known as Poupa Tempo (Spare Time, which, given the circumstances sounded to me like a cruel irony). The new ID took 48 hours to get done. I went back to the register and got my certified contract.

But enough of the bureaucracy, let's get down to what really matters.

I would say that I am at the first steps of my project. First, trying to network with all the possible actors that will be essential along the way: print and online media outlets, web portals, universities, NGOs, institutions that fight poverty.

Apart from that, I am also thinking of means to identify the potential trainees. My choice has been to pick from people somewhat familiarized with journalism, for otherwise would be a very difficult task to implement in only one year. But I aim to train people that come from impoverished backgrounds and are, therefore, a bit more acquainted with the news they will report on.

After the country's Carnival, the idea is to start training a group of no more than seven people, here in São Paulo, having picked the most talented names from a database of 30 people or more.

Who would be these trainees and how do intend to find them?

I thought of recruiting students from private universities, but who got scholarships from the federal government known as Pro Uni. One other possible track would be to identify students from the highly competitive public universities, but who attended public schools, notoriously less resourceful than the private ones.

Initially, I thought of offering a workshop divided in two modules, one for written stories, another one for videos shot with Flip Cams. It would last roughly five weekends.

At the conclusion of the workshop, each trainee would see their videos and stories posted on a website which would have a slightly different format from what's on offer at the highly competitive Brazilian market. Not only would the readers be able to read and watch their stories, but would also be informed of all the news sources used on each one.

The trainee-reporters would also give insights into how each story was done, what were the main challenges faced and preferentially they could offer those accounts through videos.

So far, I have seen displays of interest from different sectors. Representatives of UNICEF liked the idea and told me that it is very similar to objectives that they already had. Editors from O Globo and Extra also showed enthusiasm.

After some initial contacts were made with these organizations, proper meetings are likely to take place at the beginning of next year.

There's no doubt it will be very hard work, both to convince the news outlets that the project is worth it but also to make it come to fruition. But it'll be worth every drop of sweat.

PS - Oh yes, Today I will have to go back to the shop were they sold me my internet and telephone package, since the modem they handed me is not compatible with my Mac Book. Well, here I go. Wish me luck.

If we don't speak before the turning of the year, I wish each and every one of you a fantastic 2010!