From Before...São Paulo

So I TOTALLY forgot to talk about my trip to São Paulo. Just to say...I'M IN LOVE WITH IT!!! It's a mini New York and I LOVE it. While there, Delfina and I decided to explore the city and we walked along Avenida Paulista, which is HUGE (although not too big in comparison to New York streets). It is full of culture and life! In my opinion, the fast-pace of the city makes it a bit safer than Salvador. We were outside at midnight and felt COMPLETELY safe. In Salvador, I don't think this is possible. At 9pm, I already feel unsafe, but....anyway...


While in São Paulo we had the chance of meeting up with our professor from the winter, Carlos. He came over to the hotel and picked us up, took us to the center of the city, and showed us all of the wonders of São Paulo. After touring the city a bit, we went to a tiny bar and ate some pastelzinhos de carne (some meat thingy) and drank beer (isn't that funny? drinking beer with a prof?). Following that appetizer, we decided to head back and go to the market to buy some pasta and stuff for dinner. We bought pasta, tomato sauce, meat, and such. We then went to Carlos's house, where we met up with his partner, Francisco. Us ladies, Delfina, Joceline, and I made caipirinhas (Brazilian drinks), while the men (Francisco and Carlos) cooked us dinner. It was a lot of fun and we had a blast.

My Experience in the Favelas (Kinda)...

Actually we never went INTO the favela, but we were REALLY close. So, Dani and I decided to go to Shopping Lapa (which is a mall), to buy tickets for the Ivete Sangalo show on Saturday. Only in Lapa can you find the tickets for R$25 (which is less than USD$15) for a CONCERT of one of the most famous singers in Brazil!

Anyways, so we took the bus and I even asked the guy that collects the money if the bus was going to Lapa. He said yes. While we were on the bus I recognized a lot of the streets and whatever. Suddenly, I noticed that the bus made a turn that I wasn't expecting. I'm not even going to lie, I panicked a bit, and decided it was better to get off the bus. So there we were, two lonely girls, on the side of a highway (yea, did I tell you that we got off on a kinda highway street?...LOL). So we decided to cross the highway, and almost got hit by cars. Luckily we arrived safely on the other side, only to find out (after asking people) that we were actually supposed to STAY ON the bus. So of course, we debated the idea of crossing the dangerous highway again, but actually decided against it and thought it was better to just walk to the mall.

So, there we were, two AMERICAN girls, walking on the streets of Salvador, surrounded by favelas (literally) and the highway (favelas on the left, highway on the right). We walked and walked and walked and walked. The only thing we kept seeing were a bunch of auto-shops, with sketchy Brazilian guys working on cars. According to Dani, when you are surrounded by auto-shops, then you know that you have to be careful. LOL. So while we were walking down this street, for the first time in my two times in Brazil, I thought I was going to get mugged. We were walking and all of a sudden a man stopped VERY abruptly next to me and both Dani and I jumped. Not even gonna lie, I was a little afraid. But then I realized he was just crazy...LOL.

Anyways, we FINALLY saw lots of people and stores. By the way, things on that street were RIDICULOUSLY cheap; it was amazing. Anyways, we finally found the mall, but turned out that we went into Shopping Piedade (another mall), which is down the street from Shopping Lapa. Of course we realized this after we were IN the mall. Since we had taken a different route, I didn't recognize the area. I wanted to find the entrance that was down the street from Shopping Lapa. So after wandering Shopping Piedade for about 20 minutes, we finally found the exit that I wanted and FINALLY got to Shopping Lapa. We bought the tickets and went in search of bootleg DVDs (3 for R$10 = 3 for USD$5). But I didn't find any that I REALLY REALLY liked. So we just took the bus back home. This time I knew exactly where I was and it was like a 10 min. bus ride home.

So, yea...that was my CRAZY afternoon.

So Far...

Hey all,

So, I've finally made the decision to write a blog about my experiences in Brazil. As many of you may or may not know, this is my second time in Brazil. I must say that honestly, things look just the way I left them a year ago.

Bicha Louca is still roaming the streets asking people for money. Although now s/he thinks that s/he's pregnant. Weird. S/he also told Delfina that s/he was getting married. Well, s/he still says hi to me and treats me cool. Better watch out for me when I get home late at night. LOL.

Anyway, so...so far we went on a boat trip around the Bahia de Todos Os Santos last Saturday (which consequently happened to be my birthday!). We visited Ilha de Itaparica and Ilha dos Frades. I like Itaparica better. We took pictures, swam from the boat to shore and back (actually I didn't do this, since I don't know how to swim...but...others did). I took a little tiny rowing boat to shore and back.

On our way back from the islands we decided to have a party on the boat. UCLA and Dartmouth kids sure know how to get down. Uju, who is doing some research with us Dartmouth students, decided to invite people over to her place to continue the party and celebrate my birthday! YAY! It was AWESOME!!! I got to celebrate my 21st as if I truly were in the US.



So now we are just getting into the routine of classes and such. I am very excited to start my Independent Study on Candomblé, the Afro-brasilian religion here.