Campo Grande!

So last week we had a "feriadão" at PUC, as in a big feriado because we had not one, not two but 5 feriados (days off from school)! First we had Thursday and Friday off because of Holy Week, then on Monday it was a Brazilian national holiday honoring Tiradentes and then Wednesday was a local Rio holiday for Sao Jorge. Since PUC figured no one would show up to school on a day sandwiched in between two holidays, we got Tuesday off too. Woohoo! I took advantage of what was basically another spring break (Remember, I also had a week off for carnaval...) to finally visit an old friend Hevellin I had been meaning to reconnect with since I came to Brazil. Hevellin was my very first Portuguese teacher at Mar e Floresta and I had not seen her since the summer of 2008 when I first attended Mar e Floresta as a camper speaking zero Portuguese.

Back in the day 6 years ago....Hevellin is the one in front in the gray dress.

The plane tickets to Campo Grande were a bit pricey because of the feriados, but I am SO glad that I went to visit Hevellin anyway. She and her husband Fabiano were the warmest, most generous hosts and Campo Grande was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I had a trip full of great conversation, lots of (grass-fed!) meat, and Brazilian country music! Yeah you read that right, Brazilian country! Since I am a huge country music fan, I had always been extremely curious to visit the city because it is there that the vast majority of sertanejo singers (including Michel Telo and Luan Santana) come from. Visiting the epicenter of sertanejo music was on my bucket list because the music is a combination of two of my obsessions: Portuguese and country music---what's not to love?!

Me, Hevellin's co-worker Natalia who was my age and took me out for a night on the town, and the singer who had just performed at Valley Pub, the city's best Sertanejo club! Notice the western theme and cow head in the background.

But what I loved most about Campo Grande was how tranquil it was compared to Rio and Sao Paulo and other Brazilian cities I've visited. I felt like I was back in the U.S. somewhere in the Central Valley at times: it was so clean, there was barely any traffic anywhere, the McDonald's had the old-fashioned bright yellow M soaring into the sky you can see along any American highway, there were absolutely no favelas, and there was even a Wal-mart! I didn't go in though...Fabiano told me that the Wal-mart is like the ones in the U.S., messy, cheap and with equally cheap-looking customers :-/...

A picture I took at sunset on my first day in Campo Grande. I am not used to sitting in a car in Rio, so that combined with the suburban landscape and the reminder of American culture from the obnoxious Mickey D's arches made me feel nostalgic for the U.S....

Campo Grande is a very non-touristy city, but there were still cute phonebooths and trashcans in the form of animals all around that were fun to take pictures of! 

For all the similarities I found between Campo Grande and the states, the city surprised me too! I had no idea but it turns out the second largest Japanese colony in Brazil after Sao Paulo is in Campo Grande, and the japanese influence was so strong here that the local specialty is actually a japanese inspired dish called soba. Hevellin and Fabiano took me to dinner one night at the Campo Grande feira a kind of huge covered marketplace and foodcourt with more than 40 restaurants/food booths that all served pretty much the same food: lots of japanese food and grilled meats. The meat here is also abundant and delicious--all grass fed and supposedly the best in Brazil since most Brazilian meat comes from the region. But since I wanted to try something unique to Campo Grande I tried soba, which Hevellin said is the local comfort food that everyone eats for any occasion and that is especially tasty after a long night out. Soba reminded me of pho because it is essentially noodles and meat chunks in a meaty broth, but the soba noodles were thicker and less translucent (more like chow mein noodles in American Chinese cooking). Also the soba comes with very thinly sliced omelet and green onion on top. It comes in two options: beef or pork, and the waiter brings tiny cups of crushed ginger that you can feel free to top off your bowl of soba with, along with a generous sprinkling of soy sauce and hot sauce if that's what floats your boat. I'm a huge fan of all three of those condiments so I was a happy camper!

So what you see on top is actually sliced egg omelet, green onions, and pork chunks. The noodles and broth are hidden underneath! Notice the tiny cup of crushed ginger too, emptied onto my bowl of soba after this picture was taken :)

Another great thing about Campo Grande is its proximity to the Pantanal, which is a UNESCO human patrimony site, rich in biodiversity and home to some of the biggest wetlands in the world. On the day before Easter sunday Hevellin and Fabiano woke me up at the crack of dawn at 4:45 and we drove into the Pantanal for about three hours, stopping for breakfast along the way to eat chipas (a cornmeal based cheese bread usually served in the shape of a horseshoe) then going to a farm to see some birds and capybaras before stopping at another farm for lunch. The Pantanal impressed me with its vastness and lack of people! I guess this time of year it is usually wetter and thus has more wildlife but since it was a dry year there were not as many animals out. I still saw lots of colorful birds, capybaras, alligators, and even a toad that was on the toilet seat in the women's bathroom at the last farm!

The first hotel farm we visited was all built on raised platforms and bridges for the periods when the wetlands fill with water and the water level rises.

I didn't get to see a leopard...:( but at least I saw a gator!

My last day in Campo Grande Hevellin and Fabiano spoiled me one last time treating me to several souvenirs after we had breakfast together at the Mercadao Municipal, or their version of a popular market that has every kind of food and trinket and is especially popular on Sundays. Among the goodies I got to bring home to Rio was Terere, or the ubiquitious drink that is culturally important in this region of Brazil and in Paraguay. Similar to the gaucho drink of mate, it is made with crushed yerba mate leaves but instead of using hot water you pour iced water over the leaves then drink it with a special straw that has a strainer built in on the bottom so that you don't swallow any of the leaves. It tastes like a strong iced green tea, and I especially enjoyed it when we were in the Pantanal (Hevellin's cousin brought some and had me try it) because it was so hot that day and the tea is very refreshing.

A vendor at the municipal market selling terere leaves in bulk in different flavors. The jugs at the top can be filled with water and ice to drink terere on the go!

Me and my wonderful hosts dropping me off at the airport on Easter Sunday! I felt like a spoiled child the whole week, I did not want to go back to Rio haha!

All of the booty I got to take home! Terere leaves with special cup (made out of a bullhorn) and straw. Pantanal pepper hotsauce, chocolate bonbons, doce de leite caramels wrapped up in corn husks and put into a cute garland, earrings, and a brazil bag!

What an amazing trip, I miss Campo Grande already! I really do fall in love with places too easily...anyway, thanks for reading everyone.

Next week I'm going to *drumroll*......the Amazon! I cannot wait! Stay tuned....

Beijos,

Marie

São Paulo

It's official! I've found a new favorite city in Brazil! Sorry Rio, your physical beauty is stunning and all, but sometimes you're just so--- shallow.  Like why so many snotty people and fake blondes and overly-tattoed, overly-yolked (buff) surfer bros? And don't even get me started on the food. Do cariocas have to eat some derivative of rice, beans, farofa and meat every. single. day?! ( The answer is yes by the way -___-) K fine so at the end of the day I love the Cidade Maravilhosa no matter what, I fell in love with this city hard from the day I met it, but honestly my weekend getaway to the concrete jungle of Sao Paulo last week-end was sooooo necessary. My good friend Auriane was visiting Brazil these past two weeks so I took advantage of having a travel buddy to explore Sao Paulo with her and I'm so glad I did! It was actually much nicer than I imagined it, a lot greener and less  polluted and crowded than I imagined. Granted, it was the week-end so I did not get a taste of the infamous traffic and sardine-can metro rides the city is known for. 

So why did I love SP so much? Honestly I think it's because it reminded me of home/SF. Seriously! The neighborhood I was staying in, Vila Mariana, was very cute and safe with tons of little city townhouses painted different pastel colors, hills, and a significant asian demographic (Rio is almost completely devoid of asians :( ). Also, the city has a fast metro that is much more spread out among the main parts of the city than in Rio, a lot more museums, and most importantly lots and lots of AMAZING food!!! Finally! 

So this may just look like a normal bowl of ramen to you but let me tell you it was a VERY SPECIAL bowl of ramen to me aka first real japanese food in months! I had a happy tummy in Sao Paulo^___^

I also met a lovely woman named Ana at the Hostel I was staying at who was 35 but had such a youthful and friendly air I thought she was just slightly older than me! We went out to dinner the first night when I was still alone because Auriane had not arrived yet, and on our way back I pointed out a book vending machine in the metro. All the books (children's books, religious books, novels, even recipe books) were only 2 reais each! That's less than a dollar! She was so stoked about the machine that she bought a book and then she even treated me to one! I got a love story/murder mystery that I started reading on the bus back to Rio and it's pretty gripping :D We stayed up chatting into the wee hours of the morning and once Auriane arrived, I got to practice my translating/interpreting skills a lot since she spoke no English or French and Auriane speaks no Portuguese. Part of what I love about traveling and staying in hostels is the people I get to meet from all over. So now, having met Ana, I have a friend in Cuiaba, in the Mato Grosso (Pantanal)region and one day I hope to visit her! If only I had more money to travel haha.... 

Sao Paulo seen from the 8th floor of the Contemporary Art Museum 

So I was only in Sao Paulo two nights technically but i packed in a LOT into my short stay there. The first day I got there I dropped my stuff off at the hostel and after a 6 hour bus ride from Rio I was feeling antsy so I walked more than an hour around the neighborhood and to Ibirapuera park, the biggest park of the city and more or less the Brazilian equivalent of Central park with several museums, ponds, gardens, skate parks, bike paths and other recreational areas within the park. I wanted to visit the Museum of Modern Art in the park (MAM) but they were closed to set up a new exposition. Luckily for me, right across the street from the park was the new MAC or Museu de Arte Contemporanea that was 8 stories high and chock-full of awesome modern art. It was also free! I made it an hour before closing and even got to see the skyline of Sao Paulo under a pre-sunset smoggy haze from the 8th floor viewing deck of the museum which was actually way more stunning than it sounds (see picture above).

Estacao da Luz in Sao Paulo, home to the Museum of the Portuguese language and still in use as a train station today!

The next day me and Auriane woke up early in order to be at the Museu de Lingua Portuguesa, a recently-opened museum all about the history and development of the Portuguese language around the world (and free on Saturdays! score!) in time for its 10 AM opening. The museum is itself inside a recently renovated train station, the Estacao da Luz just north of the Sao Paulo downtown, a beautiful Big Ben-like structure (it was built by a British company) that used to be the main point of entry into the city back in the early 20th century. As a language nerd I loved the museum, but unfortunately for Auriane it was all in Portuguese. Luckily we did not stay too long as we had to walk to Praca da Republica in downtown Sao Paulo for a free walking tour of the historic center of the city at 11:30 that we had found out about from a flyer in our hostel.

Quick stop for some Fresh pineapple while walking to downtown Sao Paulo from the Portuguese Language Museum :D

The walking tour turned out to be a great choice to spend our day, as we were able to visit all the main sights of the historic downtown, learning the history of the city from our dynamic guide Rafa. We also met travelers from all over the world (Peru, France, Australia and lots of Brazilian travelers too!). I had read in my French guidebook le Routard that the downtown area of Sao Paulo is unsafe on week-ends due to its relative emptiness compared to during the work week and the high number of drug addicts and homeless who live in the streets, so I was glad we had a guide taking us around. However, after walking around all day there, I can honestly say that never once did I feel threatened. Sao Paulo's downtown is no sketchier than Rio's, if anything it is less sketchy. I guess there's another pro to studying abroad in Rio...everywhere else I go seems significantly safer! Haha!

Here is one of Sao Paulos most famous landmarks (sorry for the terrible picture...it's such a big building it's hard to get a good picture). The Copan building was built by Oscar Niemeyer and has more than 1,000 apartments as well as a shopping center on the bottom floors. Truly a city in itself, it has so many inhabitants that it has its own zip code!

The Municipal Theater in Sao Paulo

Se cathedral

And now for the highlight of the day...what way to better top off a lengthy walking tour than with trip to the gigantic municipal market of Sao Paulo? Or specifically, what better way to reward yourself for being a good tourist than stuffing your face with the most indulgent and giant sandwich known to man? After tipping our guide at the Sao Bento square we quickly sped off to the mercadao municipal, an enormous municipal market of fresh fruit stands, bars, butcheries, fish vendors and more that is open almost every day of the year. There was just one thing on our minds the whole walking tour, and that was the amazing mortadella sandwich that the municipal market is famous for! We definitely deserved it after walking for four hours and let me tell you it was worth the wait. The sandwich was even featured on Anthony Bourdain's TV show "No Reservations" and features a good two inches of freshly sliced mortadella lightly fried on the grill and another centimeter of melted mozzarella cheese overflowing from a grilled french bread roll that can't possibly hold all the goodness inside of it in (aka the sandwich becomes a sloppy mess when you eat it but of course it's totally worth it). No good pictures of the sandwich (mine came out blurry with grease stains on the plate showing) unfortunately but I beg you all to go eat this sandwich if you ever go to Sao Paulo because it was something to write home about. I wish I could eat another one right now. And I'm not even hungry....*sigh*

Friends, meet the famous mortadella sandwich from the Mercado Municipal of Sao Paulo. (And this is only half! I split one whole one with Auriane)

There was also tons of exotic fruit at the market that we enthusiastically sampled from various vendors, but then one vendor tried to charge Auriane and I 130 reais for three small dragonfruit-y type fruits and two small boxes of dates. That's about 60 dollars. For a tiny amount of Fruit! Umm... no. At least it was pretty??

Here's a vendor offering us a sample of delicious exotic fruit. I tried so many fruits I'd never even seen before that were so good, too bad they were charging us an arm and leg for them though....

The next day, Liberdade, or Sao Paulo's japantown, was having a weekly Sunday streetfair so we went and explored the fair as well as the asian stationary and grocery stores all around the neighborhood. So many asian goodies and people, I felt right at home! We feasted on gyoza from a street vendor and it was fresh off the grill. This particular stand was so popular we had to grab a ticket and wait for our number to be called. Then, once we got the gyoza we were allowed to top it with as many toppings as our heart desired. There was soy sauce with green onions, a sesame ginger sauce, asian cucumber, and in true Brazilian style there was vinagrete (similar to pico de gallo minus the cilantro and a staple in Brazilian cuisine).

Can't believe it's not Asia! Even got photobombed by a Japanese schoolboy! And the building in the back is a Brazilian bank by the way.

STREET FOOD FTW!!!! Fresh red bean cakes being made in Liberdade 

All over the neighborhood were these lantern-style streetlights. Super charming!

My Brazilian japanese fusion gyoza!

After eating until we literally couldn't anymore we walked to Paulista Avenue, a huge modern avenue bordered by skyscrapers that reminded me of New York. Right when we got there it started pouring rain but it wasn't so bad because we escaped the elements by ducking into the MASP (Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo) and ironically we saw mostly European art from artists such as Degas, Rodin, Van Gogh and Picasso in what is supposed to be the best art museum in Latin America. There was also an antique fair right outside the museum, and a protest (something about the anniversary of the military coup of 1964) so there was plenty of activity and people to watch as we waited out the rain before hopping back onto the metro to go home.

So there you have it! Sao Paulo was muito legal (really cool) and I hope I'll go back someday....I simply did not have time to see (or eat!) it all. I still have to try their pizza, it's supposed to be the best in Brazil. On that note, me and Auriane concluded that if Rio is the city of lust with beautiful people and landscapes, then Sao Paulo is most definitely the city of gluttony with an abundance of delicious food everywhere you look. And now I've had a taste of both! 

Tchau beijos! Thanks for reading :D

Marie