TimsBlog

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?