TimsBlog

We took a ride into Centro Monday. The dead center and oldest part of Sao Paulo. Might also be the poorest and most defiantly the most dangerous. Even Allen pointed out that its not safe at night there. Many dug addicts that will steal your stuff. It looked like what I would expect time square in NYC to look like at its scariest. Of course during the day its safe enough. They had tons of shopping stores with what looked like upper class clothing stores and what not. We were headed for the computer/electronic area. We needed to get DV tape for shoots. It was just like Pantip (the computer mall) in Bangkok, but on street level. They sold everything form computer stuff to guitars to DJ and car audio equipment right down to a place that had all sorts of transistors and Radio Shack stuff. Guys were on the sidewalk hawking Windows Vista.

I guess this is a good time to mention that Allen bought a car. Taxis here are expensive. A taxi ride cost $10 or you can walk it in about 15 to 20 minutes. Allen’s reasoning for buying the car is that he can spend $500 a month on taxis or buy a car for $250 a month. Driving here is still a pain. Between traffic and one way streets its not easy. His new car does run on propane. Thats a bonus since gas is expensive here too. Side-note they hate Bush here and gas prices might be one reason. anyways I got a chance to snap some pictures off while in the back-seat. I’m not too happy with some of them, but its still better than pictures of the view out my apartment window. I have so many missed opportunities photo wise everyday do to the fact I can’t risk getting my camera stolen. We will be seeing more of the city now I suspect since Allen has a car now. The graffiti is amazing here. They even use it for shop billboards. They will do a mural for the store and put a small tag at the bottom with their name and phone number sort of like a business card. Design wise its been inspiring. i have seen many simple shapes and images used that I could use in my web-design. Not that I have any web design work that needs to be done, but sparking ideas is always a good thing.

We are getting internet installed at this very moment. We realized last night that we did have an open WIFI access point the whole time. It was fast one moment then dog slow the next. We are guessing its from the apartment bellow us. It was just good enough to get me logged into mail then dump the connection when I sent an email out. either way we will be so happy when its installed. Its cable here so its a 3 Mbit line from what I can gather. its about 380 kbs down and about 70 kbs up. This is from a site that tests speed. In real world surfing and downloading we could only get 45 kbs down and 25 kbs up using airport. this could be an apple airport thing where it sees two computers sharing the internet and throttles us back or it could be something else. Either way I survived in Bangkok with 45 kbs down so I will live.

We did a shoot at a “Lovers Motel” Its like Coral Court, but the deluxe version. It has a drive thru font desk and all the rooms are behind a huge wall. They have garages and stairs to the rooms. The rooms are very clean and modern. sort of what you’d expect from a really nice hotel. In the first room is a dinning table that had fluted column that divided that from the bedroom. The bathroom had a big granite hot tub in the bathroom. From the bed room there was sliding french doors that lead to the pool room. No not 8 ball but pool as in swimming. It was about 8 foot wide and maybe 15 foot long. The roof retracted by a switch on the wall to allow sun in. So the shoots by the pool looked as if they were outdoors. The rates were about $100 for 12 hours. On the weekend the rates the same but you only get the room for 4 hours. I hope I’m not making this place sound sleazy. Its was really classy.

Brazilians here have a different outlook on sex than we do in the united states. Its a little hard to explain. They have relationships, but also love casual sex. Guilt free casual sex that is. I guess they really just like to have fun. If a man or a woman goes out and sees someone they are interested in they are very upfront and go for it. They don’t feel bad about the encounter if it doesn’t lead to something more. Heres an example our guide Allen has eight girlfriends. out of those eight only one of them has a problem with the others. She was also a bit crazy. Andrew and me were using the internet at Allen’s when she freaked out on him. The argument was in Portuguese over a voice mail form another girlfriend, but very obvious that she was making a huge deal over something she should have either accepted or walked away from. Hell the second day here we were just walking down the street with Allen and he said one sentence to this girl and she started walking with us. A few minutes later they exchanged numbers then hugged and kissed and went their separate was. Andrew asked Allen if he knew this girl and he said no. We then asked what he said to her and Allen said I just asked her name. This place must be like SF was in the 60’s minus the hippies. People here have very few hang ups and live life to the fullest. I should also add that most Brazilians are highly educated. Most have college degrees. College here is cheap. I don’t know if a degree means more money in the work place.

heres a link to the hotel we shoot at The hotel

Let me start off saying I’m suffering from the same thing I did in Bangkok. I am one week into my stay and speaking in broken English. Making this hard to write and a little odd when talking to Andrew since we both find ourselves talking to each other from time to time in broken English.

Saturday after our first shoot we were asked to a BBQ at this studio a few blocks away. The studio is a huge warehouse space for photo shoots below an apartment building. This studio was really big. They have 7 areas for shooting in various settings. The owners Marcus and Pauline are in the process of buying a farm house next to a river in the country for shooting as well. Prices are rather cheap at $150 a day. Both of them were incredibly nice and warm people.

Took me an hour or so to understand the dynamics of this group. I mean for one when we first got there they was a guy giving out hair cuts. Marcus and Pauline are the mother and father figures to this rag tag group of kids. Well not really kids, they are in there early twenties. They were all actors. I think Andrew and me were the only photographers. Well Allen is a photographer as well but acts 95% of the time. I don’t know how old marcus is but Pauline told me she was my age or 6 months older than me.

The food was slow cooked and went on till dawn. The sausage was some of the best I have ever had and the beef here is just top notch. The beef was covered in rock salt to retain heat. Man Brazilians can drink. We filled a big industrial sized trash can with beer and ice three times. There was only about a dozen of us there.

When marcus noticed I was making over his cat he proceeded to tell me in broken English how he rescued it of the street and was being lazy in getting her “fixed” and how that worried him. I talked to Marcus and Pauline most of the night since the others were all busy hanging on there partners. Heres a side-note. Brazilians are very passionate people. I had to witness a couple damn near fucking in our elevator on the 18 floor ride. anyways when I was talking to Pauline she told me her story. I was sort of surprised since we just meet. She told me she was half Italian and her family was very wealthy. This explains the building and how they acquired such a huge place along with the farm they are buying. She said her parents don’t like Marcus since he is poor. Maybe I should also explain that Marcus is a very common looking portly man were Pauline is drop dead gorgeous. Pauline told me that she is in university to be a vet. Marcus and her share a love for animals. Horses in particular. Which explains the farm. I should also explain that she speaks English very well. English speaking people are very rare here. So after more personal conversation about their life she goes on to explain that Marcus has no friends outside of work. She is very insistent on me going to their farm to spend time and make friends with Marcus. i found this a bit odd since I am also in the business. I’m assuming she meant people that are not actors. I should also explain that Pauline is a straight shooter. She’s not afraid to speak her mind. So I took it as a complement when she took a liking to me. At first I thought she just wanted to practice her English. I soon understood that I was just a down to earth guy that didn’t need anything form them. Our social classes aside we were more like peers vs someone they needed to look after. So when I was asked to go to the country with them I asked if there would be fishing. When I asked about the fishing Marcus appeared out of nowhere grinning ear to ear. I gather that none of his friends like fishing. Being that all of them are younger and more interested in drinking and sex. Pauline was reading me like a book at this point. I mean I was having a lot of fun, but she could tell I wasn’t so interested in partying and/or had my fill at my age. She then went on to insist that she hook me up with a friend of hers from university. Explaining that she knew I wasn’t the type to be interested in actors and prostitutes. I would also like to take this moment to say that here in Brazil no one is the type to worry about their wife or girlfriend talking to another man. Its very refreshing. It also is rather sad considering how insecure it makes most americans look. I mean short of my close and old friends back home I can never talk to someone’s wife or girlfriend without some problem back home. People wonder why I stay in when i home. I just never shared the American attitude in a lot of cases.

On to other matters. Let me take the time to assure everyone that my security worries are a little more at ease. Basically if we are by ourselves (without a local) after 9 pm we are pretty much fucked. That is the only time it is not safe for a gringo. Now ATMS are still a hassle since they are so far away and only at banks.

We were eating lunch Saturday and everyone was watching a football game (soccer) the favored team scored a goal and everyone cheered. Three seconds later what sounded like a four or five bomb went off. To which I laughed because they were just loud firecrackers set off in celebration. I then became very confused when someone pointed out that there was a ton of smoke coming from a 20 story window. I mean did someone set these off in their apartment? I still have no idea what that was about.

So today (Sunday) we walked to the bank to get our weekly money. half way home we go stuck in a sudden down pour. I mean I lived in Key West where sudden and hard rain falls were a daily thing in the wet season. This one was hard and strong. the street became a river. We hailed a taxi and took the last few blocks in comfort. The taxi was plowing thru standing water like nothing. You could only see maybe 5 yards in front of you. At one low point on a side street the taxi actually floated. I’m not making this up we were started to drift. I was waiting for the car to stall but it never did. The taxi driver insisted that it was no big deal after we both sort of freaked out when he plowed into about a foot of water that was at least 20 foot across. So at some point between the lobby and the apartment I now was worried about our open windows in the apartment. The maid had closed our windows once when she was cleaning and I now understood why. When we entered the apartment there was about a half inch of water in the living room. I was spared I only had a wet side of my bed. Andrew was also spared since he had just moved his workstation away from the window the day before. A few things got wet and need to dry out good before we power them back up. If Andrew had lost all his electronic equipment we would be sort of fucked. We found out early that there is no where in Sao Paulo that sells Apple products. Well thats not totally true Pauline told us there was a place in a fancy mall that sells them, but at a high price. Thats really not good considering apple shit is expensive anyways. We had asked her where to get apple stuff right after introductions since we meat in her all apple office. Lots of things here are expensive. Like my camera is about $1000 more here.

Day 1

First night in Sao Paulo was a very late night. Waiting for luggage all I could smell was coffee. After having my first expresso it was just as great and sweet as in had smelled. We were picked up at the airport by our Brazilian contact and guide Allen and taken to our apartment, We were told that his friend was playing at a bar that night and joined him after a brief unpack. The bar named Las Vegas was in the a red light district. The place was dead. Just a manager, bar tender and 2 or 3 working girls. Oh and one old working girl er lady sitting at the bar. We were severed an ice bucket of can beers and small glasses. Cans because Sao Paulo is very big on recycling. To the point that street people will ask for your empty can. Anyways we are introduced to a handful of Allen’s all of which seemed to be very down to earth. Ok heres where I need to inform you that no one speaks English here. I mean no one. Allen and all of his friend brought percussion instruments of some sort with them to the bar. So even though this was a “prostitute bar” as allen described it, it was also more of just a place to play music and hang out. As soon as the mic was turned on every one started in on playing what ever was tossed to them. One person holding the mic for the drummer to sing and everyone else just joining in. They seemed to be going thru all their favorite standards. On person would sing a part of a song and see if everyone agreed on it and or knew it. After a few songs we doubled the crowd with more of Allen’s friends. Andrew and me almost at the same time agreed that Sao Paulo was much more culturally compatible to us verses Thailand. Makes sense were are in the same hemisphere. Even with the lack of English it still felt more like home. More importantly it felt less of a burden in general. No one here was kissing our white tourist ass like you find in Thailand. Ok so at some point the police walk in. We were told that they were not here for us. I agreed and assumed that it was a random check or shake down on the girls( all three of them) Turns out that it was for us after all. I was listening close to the conversation in Portuguese. I gathered that someone upstairs had called about the noise. I turned out to be right. An older lady lived upstairs and was needing some rest.

So we moved out to the street where we hopped form one small restaurant to another. These were like small diners you’d find state side. Pool table in the back and video poker machines in the front. Small tables here and there with a bar close to the grill. We grubbed on these breaded chicken things. They were in the shape of a drop of water. Tapered at the top. They were about 3 inches round and filled with chicken and spice in the middle. Man they were good. At some point Allen’s friend won 400 real or close to $200 on video poker and that was a stroke of luck and improved the mood a bit in the early hour. We then got to talking to two older street guys that happened to join our drinking party. The conversation ranged from the virgin marry to George Bush. One of the street guys knew four languages. Or knew the basics of English, German, French and Portuguese. Allen made a comment about how this man knows four languages yet has no job. Told the fellow this as well. At some point I was asked about the tattoo on my hand. What it meant. All evening I had noticed everyone at some point looking at it. I explained that it said my name. I was informed that in Brazil as in a lot of countries a tattoo on the hand means your in the mob. One up on the looking scary for security reasons.

So the night ended at dawn with Allen buying us the largest water melon in the back of this truck. I snapped a few pictures before getting some sleep for the night er day.

Day 2

On our second day we needed to get to a bank to get cash. For security reasons they only allow you to get $50 out of ATM’s at night. Also there are very few ATM’s anywhere. So we hiked up to the “wallstreet” of Sap Paulo. Well I’m not sure if their financial market is on this road, but its very business oriented. On the way back i noticed a terraced park like garden that I had seen on a flickr search of our neighborhood. Odd to see it in real life. I had also deducted that since our road was short that this tall building on the north end of our road must be our apartment since Allen our guide lives there too and on the 16th floor. I was using google earth and map to locate our building weeks before I left. Turns out I was right on the money. Even more odd is seeing the street guy that was also on flickr. This guys flickr picture was him in diaper like shorts and covered in dirt. He was rather large for a homeless guy. Anyways I was sort of in a shocked state when I saw him sitting on a curb in a Bill Cosby sweatshirt. This is a little more than “Its a small world after all” I mean flickr was the middle man in making this so surreal. I really truly believe that in 10 years time flickr will be seen for its true power. Photo sharing is so much more than showing grandma her new grand son or daughter. I can be talking about somewhere in the world and even if I don’t have a personal picture of the place I surely can find one on flickr. Not a stock photo either. I can find many pictures and from the perspective of amateur as well as professional photographers.

Day 3

Rather slow day. We made it to the bank again but this time by ourselves and from memory. Was rather risky since no one speaks English here and we didn’t really know what road our apartment was on. Later that night we went to a grill restaurant refereed to us by our guide the previous day. It was buffet style on all the side dishes. The meat was grilled or BBQ. about 4 or 5 servers would come around every 30 seconds offering different cuts of meat on a skewer and would slice off fresh grill slices or pieces at the table. It was very good meat. I think I ate more meat in one sitting than I have in a very long time. BBQ seems to be the Brazilian specialty. We asked Allen what dishes Brazil was know for and he only said BBQ. I must also add that this was our most expensive meal at $7 a plate. Would have cost in the $15 to $20 range back in STL. Well worth it.

On a side note we both freaked out to find when we noticed it was 8:30 PM and still light outside. I thought it was 6PM or so. We both forgot its summer here and gets dark later.

Day 4

Went to a place right around the corner from our building and had lunch. Our server actually knew some English to our surprise. Now he knew only basics like beef chicken and so forth, but that was more than anyone we’ve meet so far. He seemed to be happy to have a chance to use the English he knew also. I ordered a stake with rice and beans and Andrew had the Chicken parmesan. We both left saying we are going to leave this city fat.

Day 4.5

So I thought it a strange to hear a jack hammer at at 11pm at night tonight. Until I saw a parade going down my block at midnight. I shit you not. Latin music with lyrics about the virgin mary. Or at least thats the only words I understood. Guessing it has something to do with canivale since its based on lent. BTW the jack hammer started right back up after the parade passed. They say New York never sleeps, well this town must make NYC look like child’s play. I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked. Some friends of Andrews that he knows from a business forum we hang out at online want to meet up with us sometime tomorrow since we are in town. andrew asked what time and they said oh about five. you would assume thats 5pm but here 5pm is 17:00. So they meant 5am. Shit just never closes down around here. So much for my 8am work schedule. I think we will both have to switch to the nocturnal time frame of things around here. People are out and about all night doing everything to the point one must wonder who in the hell is doing shit during the day? Just bankers and Bakers?

I’m about 8 hours from leaving for the Airport. I’ll post something as soon as I’m settled in.

Naomi Judd singing “Hepatitis in the Key of C“

9 days before I leave the Brazilian Embassy decides to approve my visa. I was getting extremely worried for a while there. I was thinking what would happen if I didn’t get my visa. I didn’t think about it long because I  don’t know what I would have done really.

Well I finaly had it with firefox. I love it, but its time to change till they get their shit together. Unstability is the main reason. Not to mention 2.0 is dog slow and a still a memory hog. I choose firefox over Opera years ago becasue Oprea was not free. Well it is now and has been for a little while. I would still suggest firefox over IE anyday for most people. I think the switch to Opera might be too shocking for most. I seem to have a tolerance for adapting to new software. Exspecialy when its a proformance issue.

This being said I will be most likly falling in love with Safaris speed when I get on my Macbook Pro. So this might be temporay. Then again who knows.