When In Brazil...

It had been only one month since I stepped into Logan International on my way to Brazil. One month seems like too brief a time for all that occurred and all that we learned but somehow we managed to fit it in. Our journey over, we now have time to stop and reflect on all that happened.

Week 1:

Within the first couple days of being in Brazil we experienced their version of the T or subway which is possibly the fastest and most efficient version I have ever seen. The cars came one after another and I do not think we ever waited more than five minutes except for the one time when there was a problem. Meanwhile in Boston or New York you are lucky if you wait less than ten minutes. Furthermore, there were pieces of art scattered throughout the many different stations which was a neat aspect. It should be noted however that while the subway was efficient and fast, the stops on the lines were not the best. There are many places that are inaccessible unless walking for thirty minutes or more due to the placement of the stops. Also there is no commuter line or park and ride option for people on the outskirts of the city so they are forced to take the bus which is far less efficient, far slower, and often a lot more crowded. After all the bus system is one of the major complaints of the protests.

After a lesson on transportation in Sao Paulo, we took a tour of Downtown where we learned the city was settled by Catholics who supposedly built this grand church for monkeys according to Gus.

He also informed us that in the area in front of the Church people would always rant about whatever was on their mind and it was a pretty common gathering place. I found this interesting as the same can be said in most cities in the US. People love church courtyards for raving I guess. Anyways we continued our trip through downtown and then took the subway up Vila Madalena which is a nice area filled with bars and clubs. We were told it was the place to be at night although the only time we went was for the Bar Crawl which I will get to in a bit. Anyway along with the many bars there was also a ton of graffiti including an entire street covered with it. It seems no city is safe from the hand of the street artist.

The following day was the Fourth of July so naturally we had to celebrate. That was when we went one of the nicest places in all of the city, Skye Bar at Unique Hotel.

This was perhaps the only place in all of Sao Paulo were more than ten percent of the people there could speak English. That night we spent six hours on top of the city sipping champagne and enjoying the view.

The following night we had our first taste of a Brazilian Club and it was terrible. The average age in the club was probably close to seventeen and the music was American, but from a decade ago. Needless to say that was not what we were expecting and unfortunately all of the other clubs we went to were more of the same. High School kids and American music, most of us just gave up on the club life.

We concluded our first week by going to a soccer game which, despite the fact that both teams were terrible, was really cool. The stadium is broken up into neutral sections and both the home team and away team supporting sections. We naturally sat in home team supporting section and had a blast watching everyone cheering and jeering. We even got involved in some of the chants even though we had no idea what we were saying.

Week 2:

Most of our second week was spent in class or trying to find good clubs/ bars and we all had spent way too much money in the first week so it was for the most part uneventful. We did however visit a couple of areas of interest including an art museum and street market. Both of which were nothing really out of the ordinary and similar stuff can be found in any major city. What we did establish during that week however was that caipirinhas are amazing. Caipirinhas are Brazil’s national drink made with fruit, sugar, and cachaça which is sugar cane hard liquor. Every place we went had them and oftentimes different places offered different fruits to go in them. Lemon, Lime, and Strawberry were the most common though.

Also during that week we attended Samba lessons as our first experience with the dance was at a dive bar which was not the most conducive place to learn. Samba was a relatively simple dance to learn, but other than that night we never really had an opportunity to do it again.

The best part however of week 2 turned out to be the best part in all of Sao Paulo, and that was finding Ibirapuera park. This was hands down my favorite place to be and I would have spent every day there if I could have. The park is filled with lakes, pathways, fields, courts, and even museums. Not only that, but I interacted with other Brazilian kids here more so than all of the other places combined. Ibirapuera was more of a cultural hotspot and gathering place than anywhere else in Sao Paulo as there were easily more than 10k people there a day.

Week 2 concluded with the aforementioned Bar Crawl which was a ton of fun as we went from one bar to another bar to a Samba bar to a club. Nothing really significant about it other than the Samba club but it was cool to go to a bunch of the different places in Vila Madalena.

Brochure for Bar Crawl:

Week 3:

Our third week in Brazil was one of the best as it was filled with a bunch of different site visits including ones to the Solar Plant, Bosch, and Henry Borden which I already blogged about in other posts. Also during that week we visited the fruit marketplace which I also already blogged about as well as the best and worst of the museums, the former being the soccer museum and the latter being the Afro Brazilian museum. Brazil as expected, has a deep history with the sport and it was really cool to see everything from their perspective as it relates to soccer. The museum itself was moderately interactive plus it was about soccer so naturally it was enjoyable. The Afro Museum on the other hand was relatively dull as most of what we were told was the same thing I was told in elementary history about our own Afro American population.

It also did not help that the tour guide talked for nearly two hours and we only had twenty minutes to explore it ourselves.

Our week concluded with us spending a day at Guaraja beach which was an amazing place. The beach itself was immense and the sand was very level and hard packed which made it great for playing soccer or anything else on. Furthermore, despite the fact that it was winter season for Brazil it was in the high 70’s and many Brazilians were at the beach swimming and enjoying the sun. Benefits of being a tropical nation I suppose.

Week 4:

During this week was the most miserable time of our trip to Sao Paulo as we actually experienced winter like weather for the first time since our arrival. It was cold and rainy for the better portion of the week and this was when we had to walk around a landfill. Prior to that day however we listened to a lecture from Milton Lautenschlager who is the Sub-Secretary of Energy and focuses on renewable technology. I actually liked his lecture as he was very straightforward and honest. He informed us of what technologies he believes needs to be a focus as well as some other things. Again I already blogged about both him and the landfill so please see my other posts for more info on these visits.

Near the end of the week things brightened up as it got warmer and sunnier and we even attended a Capoeira class. That was an interesting experience and I am forever convinced in order to be good at it you must have a rubber spine. Despite the fact that my spine is not rubber it was still a lot of fun participating in it and even more fun playing the instruments.

The week concluded with our trip to Veloso which hands down was the best meal I had since being in Brazil. The caipirinhas were the best there and the coxinhas are legendary. To top it all off we had some churros with caramel and Nutella, yeah we might have gained some weight there but oh well.

Final Days:

Our final week started off amazingly and that was thanks to our trip to Angra Nuclear Plant being cancelled due to a strike. We spent the Sunday at Ubatuba beach where we had a soccer game and juggled with a Brazilian kid who was maybe half our age and easily twice as good. We also climbed some rocks and got a marvelous view of the ocean. Unfortunately one of our classmates was not the most graceful and actually was saved by a Brazilian who just happened to be on the rock as well. Shortly after that we left and continued on our way to Paraty which was where we would spend the night.

Paraty was a neat coastal town which has lived and died many times and is now being sustained by the tourism industry. As such there was vibrant nightlife and a lot of cultural things to see.

  

The following morning was supposed to be our trip to Angra but instead we spent the day on a boat island hopping.

  

Once we were back in Sao Paulo we spent the rest of the days going to our favorite places; Veloso, the fruit market, and Ibirapuera two more times.

Overall our journey to Sao Paulo was full of interesting experiences and neat places. The most amazing aspect of it to me though is that it seems we barely scratched the surface. The city is so vast it is impossible to have seen it all in a month but I think we saw more of Sao Paulo than most of the people who live there.