The World Cup Post! (A year late ... )

It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year now since I've been back from Brazil *tear* ! The truth is, I've been meaning to write about the World Cup for a while now so that I don't forget the details of the amazing experience, and I had written an entire draft to myself but accidentally deleted  it months ago. I was debating whether I should write everything over again...but I just watched Brazil vs. Paraguay for Copa America (Brazil lost in Penalties...pretty embarrassing) and it made me remember how much fun the World Cup was. Also, with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff coming to DC on Tuesday, Brazil in general and my year there is on my mind....

So, for a bit of background, I was in Brazil for the entirety of the 2014 World Cup, which was one of the most insane, overly stimulating, fun experiences of  my life. It kind of felt like carnaval all over again, aka super crowded streets with people from all over the world dressed up and partying, except this time it was a month instead of just four days. And a lot more (sleazy) men in the streets, as I explained to reporter Loretta Chao exactly a year ago (not exactly how I wanted to end up in national news but hey now I can say I'm in the WSJ lol).

The very first day of the World Cup before watching Brazil vs. Croatia at my homestay

Much to the envy of my friends and family, I had quite literally won the lottery in terms of World Cup tickets. Thanks to my friend Erin who entered me into the lottery as her guest for the Rio series back in October 2013, I won 5 tickets to the World cup games to be held in Rio: Argentina vs. Bosnia, Spain vs. Chile, France vs. Ecuador, Russia vs. Belgium, and one round of 16 game that ended up being Colombia vs. Uruguay. Then upon my own initiative I was able to buy tickets for me and my friend Kate to USA vs. Germany and a round of 16 game that I believed the US would play in (as long as they placed 2nd in their group) which by a miracle they did end up in, playing against Belgium. I ended up selling all my Rio tickets except Spain vs. Chile to fund my trip to Recife and Salvador where I saw the U.S. play, so in total I went to 3 world cup games. All of them were amazingly fun and the stadiums were beautiful and well organized. As a cherry on top I was able to get Brazilian student tickets that were EXTREMELY discounted at only 30 reais a ticket for the group stage games (which was about 12 $ at the time....).

Some memorable highlights:

Getting woken up by police helicopters escorting the Dutch national team to their hotel that was two blocks from my apartment, a week before the World Cup...Running along the beach and seeing the team Dutch team board the bus, waving to them and getting a wave back from one of the players!

FIFA Fan fest in Rio, the area where they would show the games on a giant screen on Copacabana beach. Always the epicenter of the action during the world cup, the mood there would alternate between crazy fun and just pure crazy. Think a music festival with a huge stage and music, with soccer games thrown in here and there. Me and my friends got shown dancing on the jumbotron during France versus Honduras! I mostly kept my distance from Fan Fest because it was just a little too crazy. I saw several fights almost break out on several occasions between drunk fans from different countries. During the Germany-Brazil game, I was especially glad to not be at Fan Fest...there was an "arrastão" or mass mugging at Fan Fest in which gunshots were fired into the air (oh Rio...). At one point early in the Cup, it made national news that dozens of Argentines in the street were getting pepper sprayed because thousands of them were flooding the street and blocking traffic. After the final I went running along Copa beach and there was trash everywhere, and tons of Argentines sleeping on the beach, in their cars, or even in the luggage compartments underneath buses, weary travelers who had traveled a great distance to support their team.

My favorite games:

USA vs. Ghana

This was an amazing game, a surprise win for the US and also the venue I was in was simply stunning, a hostel perched at the top of Vidigal, a pacified favela with some of the best views of Rio. We rode motorcycle taxis to the top and watched the game alongside fellow Americans while eating nachos and burgers that a Cal alum who relocated to Rio to open his Mexican food business made for us!

So happy that the USA won!

Spain vs. Chile in Maracana

Almost missed this game because I thought the game was at 6 pm (11 months in Brazil yet clearly military time STILL confused me...embarrassing -___-) instead of 4pm. Me and Sarah arrived at the stadium in our red white and blue gear (neither of us had Spanish or Chilean swag but red white and blue happens to also be the colors for Chile, the country we chose to support since we wanted to see a Latin American team win in Latin America), and the area in front of the stadium was suspiciously empty, we thought it was because we were so early (this was at about 4:10 pm)... or perhaps the rain was making people late? Regardless, we were stoked to see a promotional McDonald's booth with free soft serve with absolutely NO line. Too good to be true. Then we walked around the sponsor displays and asked a woman to take our picture, and she looked at us funny and asked us what in the world we were doing out there, didn't we want to see the game? When we realized we were already almost 15 minutes late to the game, we SPRINTED to our seats just in time for the first Chilean goal---we received high fives all around from ecstatic Chilean fans who joked we were the good luck charm that made Chile score its first goal. Chile ended up winning in a spectacular upset, and we didn't miss any of the main action, but the moral of this story is to NEVER trust free ice cream when there is no line.... haha.

Chi-chi-chi Le-Le-Le, Viva Chile

Northeast trip

When i left the Rio bubble with my dear friend and fellow Cal Bear Kate, this is when things got really crazy for me. First we arrived in Recife at 2 AM on the day of the US-Germany game, then crashed in my friends motel room that was close to the airport (we had booked a hostel but decided it would be much more convenient to stay close to the airport since we were arriving so late). We had initially planned to awake very early to go to the American outlaw official US fan Preparty, but we awoke to torrential downpour at 8 am. Our taxi from the airport had promised to pick us up at 9 am the morning of the game to take us to the outlaws party at a bar near the stadium, but was nowhere to be found. We heard from other people in the lobby that no taxis were taking people to the stadium because the roads were flooded throughout the city. Us stepping outside to try to buy ponchos confirmed this, as we waded through a good two feet of water to cross the street to go to Lojas Americanas (basically like a Target) only to be told they were sold out there. We then went to a pharmacy, and then to Carrefour (a huge grocery store) but everywhere we went it was sold out. In a measure of desperation we bought trash bags and turned those into makeshift ponchos. Despite leaving at 9 am, we arrived at the game exactly in time for kickoff at 12 noon, after navigating two metros, a bus, then a 1km walk to the stadium located in the middle of nowhere. The US didn't end up winning but it still felt like we won because we qualified to the next round (thanks Portugal! They beat Ghana, solidifying the US's place in the round of 16.)

It was so much fun meeting fellow 'murricans in the stadiums, here we are with a group from Houston.

OK this post is going on forever so I'll wrap it up but basically long story short, after the crazy day of no sleep, torrential rains in Recife, arriving to the stadium just in time, shotgunning a beer cuz 'MURICA, watching the game, then taking hours to get home and finally arriving after sunset to our new hostel, I got a gnarly flu... I wasn't able to see Jorge & Mateus (a brazilian country duo) perform at the festas juninas of Caruaru in the interior of Pernambuco state, a small city that me and Kate specifically traveled to a couple days later in order to observe their yearly traditional festivities celebrating St. John and that are supposed to be the biggest ones in all of Brazil, basically a huge party with a huge bonfire that would have been EPIC  if my health had cooperated :-(

From Caruaru we thought we could take a bus to Salvador to make our USA vs. Belgium game for the round of 16, but they were all sold out. So then we had major drama trying to figure out how to get to Salvador, it was super stressful but we got SO lucky. Basically what happened is that we took a 2 hour bus back to Recife, then in Recife there was a line of about 40 people (mostly americans!) trying to book the overnight bus from Recife to Salvador for the USA game that was happening today and that was all sold out. In a panic we even booked a flight to Maceio from Recife, Maceio is about a 3 hour drive from Salvador. The flight would have arrived in Maceio at 9 am so it was still cutting it really close since the game started at 2pm. We were still hoping for a miracle in terms of an overnight bus magically making itself available. In a stroke of crazy gringa luck, we frantically asked all the bus companies at the Recife bus terminal if they had any seats left in overnight buses going anywhere near salvador, and one company had exactly TWO seats left to Feira da Santana, a city an hour outside of Salvador. So in total we bussed from Caruaru- Recife  (2 hours) then we took a bus from Recife to Feira da Santana  (12 hours) then another bus to the main Feira da Santana terminal (30 minutes) then a bus from Feira da Santana to Salvador (1 hour) and then a taxi from Salvador terminal to our hostel, dropped of our bags, then a bus from near our hostel to the stadium.

Still smiling despite being sick and without sleep because we MADE IT TO SALVADOR ! With new Brazilian friends in the bus to the stadium.

We ended up losing against Belgium which was sad but I was OK with it because I didn't have any more World Cup tickets anyway and I would have felt left out if team USA went on to the next round but I couldn't watch them (selfish I know, haha). Also after that crazy northeast trip scrambling to get to the games on time it was such a relief to not have to deal with that stress anymore and just relax! 

The rest of our time in Salvador was pretty chill, and then I remember going back to Rio and watching the final in the comfort of my homestay in Ipanema with my close friends :-) It was so much fun, and also hilarious how the Brazilians would cheer as loud as if Brazil itself had scored whenever Germany scored against Argentina (their biggest rival).

After the World cup I spent a lot of time with my Brazilian friends and roomies, training for the Rio half-marathon, and just soaking up every last drop of Brazil I could.

Running the Rio half-marathon-- a "goodbye Brazil" gift to myself, couldn't have asked for a better year abroad!

OBRIGADA BRASIL <3

QUE SAUDADES !

xoxo

M

The Amazon

Another day in Rio, another strike... Here I am sitting in the computer lab at school but for the second time in less than a week none of my teachers are taking roll and many students are not in school because of a city-wide bus strike. I walked to school today which took me about 40 minutes and I live relatively close to school compared to most! The strike is supposed to last 48 hours, which means I won't be able to go to my internship in Botafogo tomorrow on the bus...I'll probably work from home. However inconvenient the bus strike is for me, I can't imagine how debilitating it must be for people who actually rely on the city buses to get to work every day.

The city seems to be falling apart, right in time for the World Cup. (Less than a month away!) Last week there was also a strike of the security guards for most banks, making it impossible for many people to withdraw money or pay their bills, and a teacher strike in the city's public schools also started this week. When I had arrived to Rio in July there was also a teacher's strike, so this would be the second strike in less than a year. And how could we forget the trash workers' strike that happened right after carnaval, leaving the streets and beaches of Rio a disgusting smelly breeding ground for rats and other nasties? Also, the metro construction in Ipanema is going to be delayed once more because craters have formed where they dug the tunnels for the metro, causing the sidewalk to cave in on my street and cutting some apartments' access to water and electricity....

So you can imagine Rio is as interesting a place as ever to be studying abroad, and things will probably only get wierder as the Copa approaches...hence my intense gratitude for being able to escape to the Amazon a week and a half ago! I almost missed my flight because of Rio rush-hour traffic.... Basically I left my house three hours before my flight and took the bus to the airport then had to get off mid-way and flag a cab because the bus was taking too long then even in the cab the traffic was so bad that I got to the airport when my flight was boarding then I used that good ole jeitinho brasileiro and cut the line by checking in at the odd-sized baggages counter and was so relieved I hugged the guy who printed my ticket then I ran through security (OK not gonna lie I felt like I was in a movie haha) to make it onto the flight just in time!

Giant Lilypads in the Amazon!

And boy am I glad I made that flight because the Amazon was AMAZING! I had heard from a couple people that it was overrated (ie you can see more animals in other places) and out of all of the Brazilians I know none of them have actually been there so they all gave me puzzled looks as to why the heck I would want to go there... Yes, the mosquitos were terrible (they bit through my repellent covered pants like it was nothing) and yes it was pretty physically uncomfortable at times sleeping in hammocks in super humid weather but the experience of being completely off the grid (no wifi or cellphone signal), boating along pitch black opaque waters, having a clear view of the stars in the complete darkness of deep nature, swimming in the Amazon river under a neon pink sunset, holding a sloth, and much more was sooooo epic!!

Hammocks with oh-so-necessary mosquito nets! Our sleeping arrangements in the Amazon (the beds were more expensive and mostly taken up by other guests of the lodge)

I only spent two nights in the actual jungle but we had a busy schedule packed with activities every day. On the first day we spent the whole morning traveling to the lodge from Manaus. The voyage involved getting picked up from our hostel then taken to the agency with whom we booked our tour, then taking another car ride to the port of Manaus, then a boat to the other side of the river where a kombi was waiting for us to take us to another boat on a smaller river that took us to the lodge (all in the pouring rain). After lunch at the lodge the rain calmed down and we went piranha fishing (I almost gave up because I had no luck catching any but then the guide told me not to be a quitter and on my last try I caught the biggest one! He jumped off my hook soon after though). The cooks at the lodge prepared the piranha for our lunch the next day, pretty standard in taste as far as white fish go but super duper boney. We also swam in the Amazon which is something you should only do in the wet season (which, lucky for us, it was). There was a case two years ago when a 7 year old boy got attacked by piranhas and died because he went swimming during dry season where the piranhas are concentrated in a much smaller region of water. All it takes is one bite for the piranhas to swarm you because once they smell the blood it's game over... So my paranoia about the piranhas getting me was a bit reduced because of wet season, but Nigel our guide freaked us out anyway warning us not to pee because that would attract a certain kind of parasite that can enter genital orifices then grow inside of you. Apparently its more common in men though...?

At night we went cayman spotting (I got to hold a baby cayman!) and we found a bright green iguana too! The next day we went on a jungle trek (my skin will  never be the same...getting swarmed by mosquitoes for three straight hours is no fun) and saw tons of cool jungle creatures like boa constrictors and tarantulas. The adventurous eaters of the group got to taste a kind of larva that grows inside of a poisonous nut, feeding off it and becoming an edible, non-poisonous, nut-tasting, protein-laden bug in the process!

That afternoon we went on another boat tour and just by chance happened upon a sloth! The guides never guarantee animal-sightings, and previous groups we had talked to said they had not seen a sloth so we felt very lucky that day, and even more so when the driver of the boat sacrificed his body to climb the tree we saw the sloth in. He climbed all the way to the top where the sloth was chillin' to bring him down into the boat. The poor sloth held onto the branch for dear life with his enormous claws but he ended up caving to the driver's strength and then we each got to hold him on the boat. He didn't seem too upset in the end, which may have to do with how the sloth has an adorable perma-smile and super gentle demeanor, but I do still feel bad for interrupting his alone time up in the tree. We joked that he would probably take at least five hours to get back up the tree when we plopped him back onto the lower branches.

On the last day we visited a caboclo (mixed indian descent Amazonian people) house that just got electricity a couple years ago from Lula's "Luz para todos" project where we saw people making farinha (manioc flour), tasted some exotic fruits native to the Amazon then traveled back to Manaus. Then we hung out for a bit in Manaus near the beautiful Amazon theater that was built with rich rubber baron money in 1896, then I came back to Rio on a 2 AM flight! There is no such thing as uninterrupted sleeping schedules for people who want cheap flights!

Our awesome guide Nigel, complete with Machete and awesome outfit, who was from the border of Brazil with Guyana. His grandfather was an English man who settled in Guyana with a native woman and thus he had an English name (Nigel Kurt Atkinson) and perfect English!

This past week-end was the UC trip to Paraty, another welcome respite from Rio. And on Saturday I'm off to NYC to see the big bro graduate law school. Woohoo! USA and, especially, MEXICAN FOOD, here I come! I haven't been back since July!!! 

Thanks for reading!

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

Summer in the Sand Dunes: Part 2!

OK so NEWS FLASH yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life because I got World Cup tickets to USA vs. Germany people!!!! I also got a ticket for a round of 16 game in Salvador where #2 in the group of death (the group with Germany, Portugal, Ghana and the US) will be playing for July 1. This is such a dream come true and I can't believe my luck... Although for the record, I did make sure to set my alarm so that I would be on-line right at 8am when FIFA opened up the first-come first-served ticketing phase to sell all of the remaining tickets yesterday and this simple act made a world of difference. I know countless people who slept in a little past 8 and by the time they logged on all the games they wanted tickets for were sold out....If everything goes according to plan, on June 26 I will head to Recife on an early flight from Rio with Kate to watch team USA take on Germany the very same day!! Hostel reservations are done and I already bought my plane ticket, now I just need to pay the bill at the bank in cash (TAM, the airline, wouldn't allow me to buy the ticket with my card online so gotta use the Brazilian method...) and I'll be all set! Woo!

After the USA game (I already have my patriotic outfit planned eee!!! Look for me on TV guys!!! hehe) we will enjoy Recife, the colonial town Olinda right next to it, and of course the famous northeastern festas juninas, festivities typical of the northeast  for a few days before making our way down to Salvador for our other game. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Anyways, I am getting way ahead of myself... I still need to tell you about the end of my summer break, when I explored the Lencois Maranhenses national park! It was such an adventure and simply a wonderful way to wrap up my summer with unique experiences before heading back to the grind in Rio.

Me and Kate trekking through Lencois Maranhenses park!

So. First things first. Getting there! Now the distance we covered to get from Jericoacoara to Barreirinhas, the starting point for exploring the parc, looks quite tiny on a map. In reality it is quite small, only about 380 kilometers. However, in practice, our voyage between the two places took about 24 hours in total and 5 different vehicles, with a stop at a sketchy motel for a couple hours rest in between...

 To say I was relieved I only had to sleep here one night is an understatement...

Basically, because of the poor infrastructure and geography of the region, some portions of the trip were made in Toyota 4x4 trucks on sand, and these stretches took much longer than if we were driving on asphalt. First we were picked up at 6am at our hostel in Jeri by one of these toyotas, then we were driven accross the sand dunes surrounding Jeri, ferried accross a river, and drove a little more to the closest big city of Camocim. We got off the Toyota there then transferred to a bus that took us to a "bus stop" (it was literally someone's front yard, although the family was resourceful and turned their living room into a rest stop for travelers with soda and candy for sale) in a tiny town called Chaval. From there we transferred to a van that took us to Parnaiba, a city in the state of Piaui that is a starting point for visiting the delta region there. In Parnaiba, we arrived just in time (thank god for Brazilian time...we were technically late) for a bus that would take us to Paulino Neves. When we got on that bus, not only were we the only people on board, but half the windows were boarded up with actual wooden planks. It was an interesting (breezy!) ride to say the least, as at the next stop a flood of about 50 people got on board, enough to make it so that there was not a single seat left. Me and Kate were the only gringas of course. Once we finally got to Paulino Neves, at this point past sunset, the bus driver dropped us off at a very cheap pousada (that also doubled as the town's bus stop) that was a steal at 30 Rs (a little less than 15 dollars) for the night. But you get what you pay for I guess...there were tons of mosquitos, the shower had a cockroach in it, and the bathroom itself had no door except for a flimsy curtain.... (see picture above)

The famous Toyotas that took us through the dunes and are ubiquitious in Barreirinhas

Luckily we didn't have to stay there long, because at 4 (yes you read that right) AM we were to be picked up by a Toyota truck to go to Barreirinhas! The journey, through enormous sand dunes, into giant puddles, and weaving through wild cows, took about 2 hours in total and was mildly terrifying. It kept feeling like all of our stuff was going to fall into the giant puddles as we were all sitting in the bed of the truck with nothing attached to the truck itself. It didn't help that it was pitch black most of the way so I was doubly paranoid about hitting an animal.

Despite the long and tiring journey, pulling into Barreirinhas at sunrise was something I'll never forget. Whereas driving through the sand dunes at night felt like I was in the opening scene of Aladdin and I kept expecting a giant tiger head to form out of the sand, driving into Barreirinhas with the Sunrise behind us as a giant yellow orb peering up from behind scattered clouds was straight outta Lion King. No joke, the circle of life started playing in my head...it was EPIC!!!

We got to our hostel a little after 6, had a quick breakfast at 7 and then napped for a bit, but not too much because you can't rest when you only have two days of vacation left! With a little help from our trusty friend Coca Zero, we powered through our sleepiness to go on one of the classic tours of the park that includes a river crossing into the park, driving through the park on yet another Toyota and then hiking through the dunes where it gets too steep for the truck to drive. At the end of the hike is a refreshing dip in the lagoa do Peixe (fish lagoon) before we hiked back. Unfortunately we were visiting at a time when the "lencois" or narrow lagoons that form between the dunes and give the park its name were mostly dried out, but the landscape was still so visually stunning and serene that we had a wonderful time nonetheless. We also had fun acting like kids again and rolling down an entire huge sand dune and plopping into the water at the end. Never been so dizzy in my life...

 Ferry ride to enter the park!

We got to swim in this lagoon, Lagoa do Peixe, at the end of our hike.

On our last full day of vacation *sob* me and Kate did a river tour up the Rio Preguica (lazy river). It was super convenient because our hostel had a small private beach and dock area on the river from which the boat for the tour picked us up directly. Our first stop was a  little shack with tons of monkeys that at first glance seem cute, but it didn't take long to realize these were the most aggressive, planet-of-the-apey, crazy monkeys that would come flying at at all the tourists brave enough to give them bananas. A kind Brazilian woman gave me the inside of her green coconut, but once I put it down on the table a monkey instantly jumped off a tree, onto the table and swooped it from me :(

Warning: monkeys appear cuter than they really are! This one was ready to pounce...

I was sooo glad to leave the crazy monkey area, and our next stop was beautiful anyway. There was a huge lighthouse made by the Brazilian marines that we walked to the top of for an awesome view of the park, the river,and the ocean too! Me and Kate treated ourselves to a local specialty, a caipirinha de caju or cashew caipirinha made from mashing the pulp of the cashew fruit (the bottom fleshy part of the fruit--the nut is only in the tiny top portion!) with sugar and cachaca. It was amazingly tasty, but would be very expensive in Rio though because all the fruit has to be imported by plane from the region near the park. 

Our next and final stop was at another river beach area with restaurants that was really remote and just about 100 meters to the actual ocean. I got to swim in a river then take a dip in the ocean right after on a deserted beach---it was pretty surreal! We then had lunch with a group of Brazilian women who were excessively friendly and basically forced us to eat their food. One of the women liked me so much she even offered me a job to work at the Sao Luis (the capital of Maranhao) mayor's office, and she kept repeating how enchanted she was by me and Kate. It was pretty comical in fact, I'm not sure if it was her or the copious amounts of beer she was drinking talking...

Just a little sunburnt....

Anyhow, those are some last snapshots of my summer break. I miss it already.... Maranhao is so different than Rio and it was so refreshing to see another side of Brazil! Until next time....

Beijos,

Marie