asianculturalfestival.org

Iain Kemp

Casa Turquesa

1. Stay in a Brazilian prince’s villa.

Upscale boutique hotels like Casa Turquesa are increasingly appearing in Paraty’s historic center, though the best accommodations are still in private homes there and on nearby isles. You can rent out the waterfront palace of João de Orleans e Bragança, Paraty’s most prominent resident and a pretender to the Brazilian throne. The 18th-century stone house revels in its regality, with old family portraits and period furniture. It also comes with a household staff. From about $2,000 per night, brazilianbeachhouse.com

2. Hike a gold trail through the rainforest.

In the 18th century, gold and precious stones would be brought down to the coast ships via a cobblestone road carved out of Atlantic rainforest by African slaves. Parts of the old Caminho do Ouro have been restored and form one of the best routes through Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina. Hikes past colonial churches and plantations run about three hours and come with the required guide. Make arrangements with Paraty Tours (from $50 per person, paratytours.com.br) or Paraty Explorer (from $50 per person, paratyexplorer.com), which combines treks with beach-going or stand up paddle surfing to isolated fishing communities.

3. Paint yourself in mud and carry a cattle skull.

In 1986, a few days before Carnival, some friends walked into town after trouncing through the mud in a local mangrove swamp, Praia do Jabaquara. Commotion ensued. The next year, a larger group came, as it did the following year. Now the Bloco de Lama (Mud Block) is an annual ritual. Attendees resemble a prehistoric tribe of mud people carrying bones and chanting guttural sounds in the hopes of warding off any evil spirits that have shown up for the festivities. City officials, who at first frowned on the mob, have embraced the event as a form of outdoor theater and now encourage a finish in the Rio Perequeaçú or at Praia do Pontal. Bloco de Lama takes place on the Saturday of Carnival at 5 p.m.
blocodalama.com.br

Walter Craveiro

Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, aka FLIP

4. Attend an all-ages literary festival.

In 2003, Liz Calder, a former model and co-founder of London’s Bloomsburypublishing house, launched the Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, aka FLIP. Now a major literary event, every July it draws culture vultures from around the world to mingle with big-name authors, from João Ubaldo Ribeiro (right) to Salman Rushdie. Perhaps more unusual are its parallel festivals aimed at school children and teenagers, known as Flipinha and Flipzona. It’s book fun for the whole family.
flip.org.br

—Nicholas Gill

By M.P. MCQUEEN

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Homeowners in Western states already grappling with the season’s wildfires are in the midst of another sort of battle, this time with insurers.

Companies are imposing tougher fire-safety requirements, including inspecting properties for hazards and telling homeowners to clear a broad swath of brush around their homes — sometimes much wider than even state laws require. And some homeowners say that insurers have dropped them or refused to write a policy, even though they haven’t filed a claim.

Getty Images

A firefighter battles a blaze near Goleta, Calif., in July.

Allstate Corp., for example, stopped selling new homeowner policies in California last year and has 50,000 fewer homeowner policies today in the state than in 2006, a company spokesman says. While the company says the decrease in policies is mostly due to attrition, the company acknowledges it’s looking to manage its exposure to disasters in California.

The situation is reminiscent of recent trends on the East and Gulf coasts, where millions of homeowners lost coverage because of insurers’ worries about rising property losses from hurricanes. Unlike in the East, however, few Western homeowners have been forced into their states’ high-risk pools, officials say. Instead, many homeowners living in hazardous areas face fewer choices in residential coverage and are being told to fire-safe their homes.

Daniel Sparks, a 29-year-old investment manager, bought a home last July in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood of San Diego, where thousands of houses burned down in October 2003. He had to scramble to find coverage, saying his old insurer, Mercury Insurance Group of Mercury General Corp., refused to issue a new policy.

“I tried to use the same insurance provider, and he would not cover my new house,” Mr. Sparks says. “They said [his property] had to be 1,000 feet away from brush.” Since his lot abuts a Marine air base, he can’t clear it because it’s government property, he says. (A spokesman for Mercury said its clearance requirement for the area isn’t new.) Mr. Sparks finally found insurance from another company.

Western wildfires are nothing new. But in recent decades development has soared, with expensive homes and condos being built in fire-prone areas. The density of brush, combined with prolonged droughts, make conditions ripe for devastating — and costly — fires. A single blaze in San Diego last year, called the “Witch Fire,” resulted in at least $1.33 billion in insured property losses, according to the Insurance Services Office Inc., which gathers data on claims. And so far in 2008, more than 2,000 blazes have occurred in California alone.

Caps on Payouts

In the past, insurance companies were willing to accept most of the risk. Agents would sell policies that promised to fully rebuild a home after a loss, regardless of cost. Then in the early 1990s, a series of natural disasters struck the West Coast, including the devastating Oakland Hills fire of 1991, which caused about $2.8 billion in damages in 2008 dollars, according to the ISO.

So now, most insurers have capped their payouts at a percentage above the home’s insured value, usually 25% or 50%, to help curb losses. Only a minority of policies still offer “guaranteed replacement,” usually for a higher premium.

Companies also impose tougher policy conditions. Some have recently started requiring property owners to increase clearances to as much as 1,500 feet of vegetation from around homes in some fire zones. That’s 15-times more clearance than what’s currently required by California law. Indeed, Allstate says that 1-in-5 houses in high-risk areas it has inspected had hazardous brush conditions.

Increasingly, some insurers also won’t issue policies for homes on steep slopes, because wildfires burn uphill faster. Some are underwriting policies only where the home is located near a professional fire department, not the volunteer fire departments common in some rural areas, agents and brokers say.

Satellite Imaging

Most insurers are using satellite imaging to inspect properties, agents say. And more companies also are physically inspecting houses and requiring documentation for safety measures like fire-resistant roofing. Homeowners whose properties are cited for hazards are given a period of time, usually six months, to correct the problems or their policies can be dropped.

In Arizona, insurance companies have stepped up property inspections in the past 18 months and are ordering homeowners to clear their properties or risk being dropped. “That is a relatively new phenomenon,” says the Arizona Insurance Director, Christina Urias. Companies are taking similar steps in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

To further bolster revenue, some of the largest insurers in California, including State Farm Insurance Cos. and Farmers Insurance Group, a unit of Zurich Financial Services, also are asking regulators for premium hikes, with both companies seeking a 6.9% increase. Allstate’s previous request for a 9.3% increase was rejected by Commissioner Steve Poizner last month, and the company was instead ordered to cut premiums by 28.5%. Mr. Poizner recently also ordered several other home insurers to roll back rates.

Insurance companies say these moves help them stay solvent so they can pay claims when disasters occur. Several big insurers blamed wildfire losses in San Diego and San Bernardino among others for reduced earnings in the last quarter of 2007, and are citing losses from tornadoes and severe thunderstorms for lower earnings in the second quarter of 2008.

But the risk-management tactics often cause headaches for consumers. Independent insurance broker Derek Ross, 34 years old, who lives in hilly Oak Park near Los Angeles, says he had trouble getting coverage for his own house because he lives too close to brush. “I’m unable to get insurance from the majority of insurers I represent,” he says.

Sharmila Bhushan, 43, a homemaker who lives in Scripps Ranch and whose longtime insurer refused to cover the new house her family bought in 2006, says insurance problems are compounding an already difficult real-estate market there.

“A lot of homes are sitting in San Diego and have lost 15% or 20% of value depending on where you are. For anybody who is buying now, they will go through the same problems we did if they are close to a natural canyon,” she says.

Meanwhile, disputes between homeowners and insurers over claims settlements from last year’s wildfire season are also continuing, including complaints about homes being underinsured, a widespread problem several years ago. State officials received more than 512 complaints about claims after the 2007 fires in Northern and Southern California, including 93 complaints of being underinsured as of the end of July, according to spokesman Darrel Ng, a smaller proportion than in 2003.

Keeping Current

Being underinsured can result from owners’ failing to report additions and improvements, and from agents’ and insurers’ under-estimating rebuilding costs or otherwise miscalculating, experts say.

The Insurance Information Network of California, a trade group, contends its survey of insurance companies found the vast majority of claims from last October’s fires have been settled, or about 30,000 of 34,000 residential claims, most for partial losses.

Write to M.P. McQueen at mp.mcqueen@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

In the Scripps Ranch neighborhood of San Diego, more than 300 homes burned down in the October 2003 wildfires. This article incorrectly stated that thousands of homes in the neighborhood were lost to fire.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D1

Por LESLIE KWOH

Acrescente ser banqueiro de investimentos à lista das coisas que podem fazer mal à saúde.

Uma pesquisadora da Universidade do Sul da Califórnia encontrou insônia, alcoolismo, palpitações cardíacas, distúrbios alimentares e temperamento explosivo em alguns dos cerca de 25 profissionais iniciantes do setor de banco de investimentos que ela monitorou, assim que eles saíram da faculdade de administração.

Todos os indivíduos que ela observou durante dez anos desenvolveram uma doença física ou emocional relacionada a estresse, diz ela num estudo a ser publicado este mês.

Há muito o setor de banco de investimentos exerce grande atração sobre pessoas ambiciosas que anseiam por competição, muito dinheiro, jantares extravagantes e transporte de limusine pago pela empresa. A semana de trabalho de cem horas é apenas a primeira mão em um jogo de altas apostas.

Mas banqueiros de investimento, operadores e traders são apenas seres humanos. Sob o imenso estresse do trabalho, muitos sofrem problemas pessoais e emocionais que se transformam em crises graves, e alguns contraem doenças que persistem por muito tempo depois que eles abandonam o setor.

Lindley DeGarmo, de 58 anos, ex-conselheiro da Salomon Brothers, que deixou a indústria financeira em 1995 para tornar-se pastor protestante, recorda como os gerentes muitas vezes faziam os jovens contratados trabalharem até a exaustão. “A cultura lá era que esses eram corpos de cachorros”, diz ele.

John Chrin, ex-diretor-gerente da JP Morgan Chase & Co., que deixou a firma em junho de 2009 para tornar-se executivo-residente da Universidade de Lehigh, lembra-se de ver novos funcionários engordarem 15 ou 20 quilos dentro de um par de anos no cargo. Quando trabalhou na Merrill Lynch & Co., agora uma divisão do Bank of America Corp., Chrin se lembra de que um diretor-gerente mandou um motorista ligar o ar-condicionado apesar de ele estar quebrado, o que fez o carro pegar fogo. Esse diretor ameaçou então despedir o motorista. O Bank of America não quis comentar o assunto.

“Talvez o trabalho aumente algumas tendências que já existem”, diz ele.

O estudo da USC começou há uma década em dois bancos de Wall Street que deram acesso à pesquisa, sob a condição de permanecerem anônimos.

Alexandra Michel, professora assistente de gestão na Faculdade de Administração Marshall, da USC, seguiu de perto os banqueiros de investimento nos seus escritórios — sentando-se perto deles, acompanhando-os às reuniões, imitando a sua jornada de trabalho e até mesmo varando noites — por mais de 100 horas por semana durante o primeiro ano, cerca de 80 horas por semana no segundo ano, e então deu sequência com entrevistas pessoais.

O estudo será publicado na próxima edição da “Administrative Science Quarterly”, que deve sair ainda este mês.

Durante os dois primeiros anos, os jovens executivos trabalharam em média 80 a 120 horas por semana, mas se mantiveram animados e cheios de energia, diz ela. Normalmente, chegavam às 6 da manhã e saíam por volta de meia-noite.

Ao chegar o quarto ano, porém, muitos deles estavam em péssimas condições, segundo o estudo. Alguns tinham muita carência de sono e culpavam seu organismo por impedi-los de terminar seu trabalho. Outros desenvolveram alergias e dependência de substâncias químicas. Outros, ainda, foram diagnosticados com problemas de saúde de longo prazo, tais como doença de Crohn, psoríase, artrite reumatóide e doenças da tiróide.

Enquanto isso, as “vantagens” oferecidas pela empresa, tais como refeições trazidas ao local de trabalho e motoristas, também aos poucos apagaram a divisão entre o trabalho e a vida pessoal.

Um vice-presidente descreveu o trabalho como um pesadelo eterno, acordando todas as manhãs e desejando que o dia anterior tivesse sido “apenas um sonho mau”. Outro vice-presidente disse que ele estava com tanto medo que os outros notassem o seu alcoolismo que “vivia perdendo metade do que diziam”.

Ao chegar ao sexto ano de trabalho, os participantes, agora na faixa dos 30 e poucos anos, se dividiam em dois grupos: 60% continuavam “em guerra” contra seu próprio corpo, e os outros 40% haviam decidido dar prioridade à saúde, ou seja, davam mais atenção ao exercício, sono e alimentação e só permitiam que o trabalho os consumisse até certo ponto.

Q: I enjoyed your column on the value of an undergraduate college degree. My daughter is considering attending law school. Do you have any research on the value of a post-graduate degree? —D.J.R., McLean, Va.

A: People with master’s degrees post median annual incomes almost twice as high as the typical full-time worker with only a high-school diploma, says a 2007 study by the College Board, New York—$61,300, compared with high-school grads’ median annual earnings of $31,500. Compared with bachelor’s degree holders, the master’s degree premium is 20%—$61,300, compared with $50,900. Median income for people with professional degrees in such fields as law, medicine or engineering was $100,000, more than three times that of high-school graduates and 96% more than bachelor’s degree holders.

Over the course of a lifetime, the ratios are similar. People ages 25 to 64 who have master’s degrees tend to earn 93% more than high-school grads over a 40-year career, and 20% more than bachelor’s degree holders, the study shows. And those with professional degrees earn 187% more income than high-school grads over the course of a 40-year career, and 78% more than bachelor’s degree holders, says the study by Sandy Baum and Jennifer Ma.

Q: I saw your recent column on people having positive midlife crises. I am a 37-year-old manager and am wondering whether I am having one. In the past two years, I have started taking martial-arts training and am close to earning my black belt. I also began to learn to play the piano. How can a person tell whether he or she is having a midlife crisis? —A.F., Far Rockaway, N.Y.

A: Midlife crisis doesn’t bear defined clinical symptoms; it is a popular label for a time of psychological transition. Researchers have offered various definitions: It is seen as a period of self-reported emotional and personal turmoil or psychological change; a time of taking stock of one’s life so far and one’s goals for the time one has left; a turning point, where one’s life takes a different direction and views about relationship commitments and life roles undergo a change; or a time of personal turmoil and sudden changes in personal goals and lifestyle. Midlife crisis is often triggered by a realization of aging; family events or problems such as a death, divorce or extramarital affair; problems or disappointments with children; career setbacks, health problems, or worries about losing one’s attractiveness.

Whether you define the changes you are going through as a midlife crisis depends on the significance you assign them, the psychological power they have, and the outcomes you foresee. Most people would probably not define new pursuits as a crisis if they were merely alleviating boredom or pursuing longtime personal goals. But if you feel you are going through a crisis, consider getting counseling or seeking advice from a trusted mentor or friend to help you keep perspective and restraint through what is often a turbulent time.

Q: Regarding your column on the link between the amount of housework people do, and the frequency of sexual relations in their marriages: How can I find the study you cited? —N.W., Ithaca, N.Y.

A: The article was published online last October in the Journal of Family Issues under the title, “Who Has the Time? The Relationship Between Household Labor Time and Sexual Frequency.” The full article is available by subscription, or through one-day online access for $25, on the journal’s Web site; it can be found by typing “Who Has the Time?” into the search box.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com