Notícias de São Paulo

Sunrise from my apt.


Well, it's been a little while since I've written here, but things continue to move along in Sao Paulo. This city has everything, it's just that you have to feel well to really enjoy it, and unfortunatley, I think about 75% of the time since I arrived, I haven't felt very well. I don't know, maybe it's the pollution because my eyes are always bloodshot and I am exhausted much of the time. Hopefully this will change as I get more used to the climate. Ironically though, I love the weather here. It's fairly cool and it rains often. As long as you don't need to drive anywhere and can just walk, it's wonderful.

And I feel really lucky because within a few minutes of my house, I have the largest bookstore in Brazil, Livraria Cultura, as well as FNAC (my favorite book/music store in France)and lots of cafes and restaurants. Plus there is the Art museum of Sao Paulo (MASP) and several other galleries that have free exhibits and music on certain days of the week. This morning I was able to go SESI Art Gallery to see an exposition of Argentinan paintings from 1961, and then to a photography gallery to see a display of Luiz Carlos Felizardo's photos (O Sonho e a ruina), plus walk through one of the best parks in Sao Paulo (Trianon) on the way home - all on Avenida Paulista. This is definitely one of the best things about living in a large city!

Otherwise, I feel like I am starting to get to know the different neighborhoods as well. At first I didn't venture out as much on my own, like I usually do when I arrive in a new city, because I wasn't sure which places were safe to walk alone, etc. But despite all the violence that does exist here, I haven't felt uncomfortable walking around most areas. The downtown has wonderful historic buildings and viaducts, churches and monasteries. On the weekends, there are always flea markets (feiras) as well. So, this has been fun to explore.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend from Minneapolis, Katie, was visiting some friends of hers in Sao Paulo and we had a chance to do some site-seeing in the historic areas downtown, which was great. We went to the Mercado Municipal, which is the large food market of S.P. and were able to eat falafel! This is the first time I had seen it in Brazil. There are tons of wonderful Arabic restaurants here, but I hadn't found falafel - so happy about this because I've really missed it! Plus, at the market you can buy all kinds of spices, cheese, fruit, etc. They had some of best fruit I've ever tasted, and there were at least three kinds of fruit that I had never seen before! I will definitely have to go back there to do some more grocery shopping!;)

With Katie at the Mercado Municipal


Prior to Katie's visit, I also had the chance to visit Valinhos, a lovely town in he countryside, as well as some beautiful parks in Sao Paulo with friends from Londrina. We walked a lot along Avenida Paulista, went to Trianon park, where they have international music and dance lessons that you can join on Sunday mornings, and also visited Ibirapuera park in the Moema neighborhood. Ibirapuera is the largest park in Sao Paulo, and it's gorgeous - parts of it look a bit like Minneapolis:) In the evening we were there, they had a free concert inside the park in an auditorium designed by Oscar Niemeyer. His structures are always very bizarre and unique so it was fun to be able to see it by night.

This year, 2009, also happens to be The Year of France in Brazil. All over the country there are French exhibits, conferences, classes, concerts etc. And of course Sao Paulo has a large majority of these activities. Last weekend I went to the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa with another French teacher. They had a whole special exhibit on French-Portuguese language, comparing the two and discussing French influences on Brazilian culture - very interesting! Plus, there was a three-hour class on France for anyone who was interested. A Brazilian woman who had lived many years in France was talking about politics and French lifestyle. It was very nice and I guess it's going to be every Saturday through July, on a variety of topics all related to France, French culture and society. Superb, non?:) So, now that I have sought out a detailed map and have found all the websites with cultural events,and which ones are free on which day:), I will continue to post pictures as I explore more of the city. Here are a few from the past couple weeks.

Até logo!


With Katie at her friend Patricia's barbeque


With Paulista friends, Elaine and Carlos at the barbeque




Estação da Luz



Catédral da Sé




Beautiful square near the Banespa building, downtown São Paulo



From the top of the Banespa building


Patricia and Katie


Looking down on Catedral da Se and central Sao Paulo




São Bento monastery



View from the top of the Edificio Italia


Avenida Paulista and its buildings, with Telma


Dance lessons and relaxing in beautiful Parque Trianon


Parque Ibirapuera with Mariana



Inside the Niemeyer auditorium in Ibirapuera park


In Valinhos

Easter holidays in Minas Gerais

Easter weekend in historic towns Sao Joao del Rei, Tiradentes, Ouro Preto and Mariana


From Good Friday to Easter Monday I was in the historic, colonial towns of Minas Gerais, about 10 hours north by bus from Sao Paulo. This area of the country is very hilly and beautiful and was the main focus of the gold rush in the 18th century. Therefore there are a lot of beautiful European style churches and buildings, but also reminents of the sad stories of the slaves that were brought here to work in the gold mines and build the railroad. The slaves also had their own church in Ouro Preto as well and it was said that though they didn't have any money to give as an offering, they would shake their heads and clean their nails in the church in order to be able to leave some of the gold dust they might have from working in the mines. Amazing!

These towns are known for their traditional processions and flower carpets lining the streets at Easter. That along with cobblestone streets and 18th churches seemed charming, so I decided to go and visit at this time of year. It was by far the most interesting thing I've ever done for Easter - just gorgeous there! I took the overnight bus on Thursday and arrived in Sao Joao del Rei early Friday morning. I walked around the town and saw some of the churches and then took the old steam train (first in Brazil) to another mining town, Tiradentes. This town is beautiful, very well preserved and set up in the hills. When I got back to Sao Joao in the early evening they were setting up for mass on the steps of the church followed by the ceremony where they take down the cross and parade around town with this from church to church. The whole day had a very holy and religious feel to it, but at the same time was also a bit like Disney world or something very showy. They were selling popcorn and carmel apples, chestnuts and mini pizzas in front of the church at night. I almost felt like I was in at a fair from Pollyanna or some other story set in the early 20th century:) It was a beautiful atmosphere, the only bad part was the priest speaking for 1 hour about absolutely nothing. He kept repeating himself and going around in circles. I truly think that in order to become a priest, pastor, rabbi or other spiritual leader, you should really have to pass a public speaking course! But other than that, the night was beautiful and there was a full moon which added to the ambiance. See photos and videos below.

Tiradentes:










Train from Sao Joao to Tiradentes







Sao Joao


Beautiful carpets laid throughout the city on Good Friday









Amazing rising of the moon while waiting for the Good Friday procession


Crowds of people waiting for the "Descending of the cross"








Ouro Preto

The only buses that leave from Sao Joao to Ouro Preto, the most famous of the colonial historic towns, are at 6:00pm and 3:00am. Since I wanted to see the procession in Sao Joao on Good Friday evening, I had to take the 3:00am bus if I wanted to be able to spend Saturday in Ouro Preto. So after being up all night on the bus from Thursday night and walking around all day Friday, one hotel in town was nice enough to let me sit in the lobby until 2:30am when I could go to the bus station and stay up most of the night before arriving Sat morning in Ouro Preto! But it worked out okay. Julie, another American teaching fellow working in Belo Horizonte, decided to meet me in Ouro Preto (only an hour and half journey for her) and we had found a hotel to stay there for Sat night - not easy to do since the city was packed from Friday until Monday! But they had my room ready right away and I was able to sleep a little before wandering around some more. Julie arrived around noon and we went to have a huge lunch of typical food from the region - beans, rice, meat, and pumpkin soup. Excellent! We toured the city during the day and then saw the Easter vigil procession in the evening, as well as the laying out of the carpets, which begins at 10:00pm on Saturday evening and finishes in the very early morning on Easter Sunday. If you want to see the finished work of all these beautiful carpets, you have to go out before 7:00am Sunday morning when Easter service lets out beacause at that time there is a procession through the entire city and the priest and followers walk on top of the carpets. See more photos and videos below.

With Julie at Chafariz restaurant - excellent!




Laurel and Hardy!:)



Saturday, touring the city











Saturday evening in Ouro Preto




Could be the French quarter of New Orleans!



Easter Vigil


Easter vigil procession



Easter morning in Ouro Preto








Easter procession from our hotel - I love the bells, could be Salzburg!



Mariana, the old capital of Minas Gerais

On Easter Sunday afternoon before leaving Ouro Preto we took the local bus to another colonial town, Mariana, a short distance from Ouro Preto. This was the old capital of Minas and has a similar style of churches and buildings as Ouro Preto. We just walked around the town a bit and visited the Catedral Basilica da Se which holds a fantastic German organ dating from 1701. It was a very charming city and a nice end to a great weekend. See photos below.








Feliz Pascoa para todos!