3 DAYS IN SÃO PAULO PT. 2

Signs of spring in the middle of the city

Tidsfonemmelsen

Det er som om at tidsdimensionen her syd for ækvator er mere komprimeret og sekunderne tikker med dobbelt hastighed. Jeg begriber vitterligt ikke hvordan det igen er en måned siden at jeg sidst skriblede lidt herinde. Hvis livet skal gå så stærkt, som det i øjeblikket føles som, så har jeg jo snart et par krapyler under armen og forhåbentlig stoppet med at bekymre mig mest om mig selv og mine egoeventyr. Med det sagt så skal det ikke lyde som om at jeg tror tiden kun flyver for mig, det gør den jo for os alle. Af samme årsag har det sidste stykke tid været præget af alt for mange "åh er det allerede nu vi skal til dette?", vedmodige og kærlige -kram, -knus og "farvel og tak"-møs, til alle de smukke mennesker som har krydset hinandens veje her i Rio. 

Jeg kan forestille mig at jer der hjemme pludselig har fået julen oppe over ørerne, samtidig med eksamensforberedelser og/eller arbejdsrelaterede projekter der lige skal nå at afsluttes, inden flæskestegen skal i ovnen og stjernen på toppen af træet. 

Det er nok egentlig kun min mama (måske også lidt far)  jeg kan forestille mig er sådan oprigtig glad ved tanken om at tiden flyver, for det lader til at hun synes at de 6 måneder gerne måtte være forbi. Og hvor er det fantastisk at mærke at der er sådan noget kærlighedsstads at komme hjem til, nu hvor datoen for 1 måned til hjemrejse nærmere sig. 

Dette indlæg er det sidste i rækken af billeder fra São Paulo. Mest præget af min gadekunst og mad fetish. Lidt få ord, lidt flere billeder.

  

View from my room

More São Paulo commute

Abandoned buildings everywhere in the center of SP

 

 

Occupied buildings by homeless in the center

 

  

Eduardo Kobra

 

Gui, his friend Pedro and I went to Ibirapuera Park in SP to cruise on some boards and eat açai. Favorite combi!

 Forgot to take more pictures of this beautiful space. Recommendable to pay a visit. 

Graffiti in São Paulo

En af hovedårsagerne til at São Paulo stod som et aboslut must-see på min liste over ting jeg skulle nå inden hjemrejse, er pga. byens status indenfor graffiti. Byen bliver anset som et af verdens centre for grafitti og meget inspiration i denne kunstform kan spores tilbage til brasilianske rødder, ofte fra  kunstnere i São Paulo.
Hvis man er bare lidt interesseret i denne kunstform så kan jeg kun anbefale af se dokumentaren Cidade Cinza / Grey City. Her bliver man bekendt med historien bag nogle af SP's stærkeste crews og hvordan graffitien er en stum stemme der forsøger at udtrykke budskaber i et noget kaotisk brasiliansk samfund.  

Jeg ville ønske tiden havde været til at opsøge de mere afsides steder i byen, som der er adskillelige af, men efter jeg natten for inden mistede min telefon og tiden som bekendt går stærkere hernede, så var der simpelthen ikke tiden til at lave de vilde afstikker, da jeg allerede om aftenen skulle med bussen tilbage til Rio.
Jeg insisterede derfor på at tage til Vila Madalena, uanset hvor regnvejrs tung himlen var. Jeg kunne seriøst ikke tage hjem uden at have set bare lidt af det jeg kom for at se.
 

Vila Madalena

Vila Madalena er et lækkert og 'organisk' nabolag der er kendt for sine koncept restauranter, barer, designbutikker og sit endeløse udbud af graffiti. Det er oftest her man ender som turist og graffiti interesseret, men det er også med god grund for dette udendørsgalleri er absolut fantastisk. Søg efter Beco do Batman og derfra kan du bevæge dig rundt i de små gader og finde adskillelige andre værker på døre, lygtepæle, låger, huse, biler, skure og asfalt. Det mindede mig mest af alt om et stort urbant lærred og jeg elskede det. Afsides eller ej! 

We ate breakfast/lunch at this place MEATS, whose owner and concept developer is said to be an amazing enthusiast of a younger year than me, a with a serious love for meat especially bacon. 

I can highly recommend eating your way through one of the great burgers in the perfect surroundings at MEATS. It may not be the most aesthetically beautiful 'meat and bun' arrangement I've seen, but the taste was better than anything else I've had in Brazil. 

 

This style!! 

This small shop made me a little homesick. Not because I eat large quantities of cheese back home in Denmark, but the association of Danish summer vibes in backyards and in the small towns around in the country where the only thing you eat are small local delicacies, suddenly had it's intake on me when I came by this small place.

 

Farm one of my favorite brazilian brands. 

 

Beco

Næste skrivelse vil igen udspille sig i Rio! 

Peace and light
Alona

English Recap// 

 

The time dimension

Don't know what's up but It's like the time dimension south of equator is compressed and every second last half the time of what's supposed to. I absolutely do not understand how it's already one month ago that the last words were written in here. If life passes like it does right now, I'm afraid I'll wake up with two kiddos underneath my arms before I realize it.. That being said, I'm totally aware that this ain't something just for me. Time flies for all of us. Which is also why many of us here i RJ have been caught by surprise, that the day of our saying goodbyes already arrived. The last week has been a row of meetups where goodbye kisses and hugs and appreciation has been exchanged in large amounts between all the persons who crossed each others life while being here in Rio..  The low probability of never ever seeing a person who became a friend again is probably one of the saddest things about doing exchange. At least for a sensible guurl like me.

I can imagine that all of you in your respective homes already got a bit of Christmas fever and has some things at work and school that has to fall into place before the Christmas is fully allowed to arrive. 

I think my mama (maybe you too dad) is the only one who actually appreciates that the time is flying this moment, it seems like these 6 months could come to an end if you would ask her. And how grateful I am for feeling that I have quite some lovestuff to get back home to now when the date of 1 month to the homecoming date is coming closer and closer!

This entry will bring the last pictures from SP. Mostly showing my love for urban/street art and a little bit of food too. A bit fewer words, a bit more pictures.
   

Graffiti 
One of the main reasons that São Paulo is placed high on my list of things I have to experience before leaving, is because of the city's status within the graffiti world. SP is regarded one of the world's centers of grafiti and much inspiration in this form of art can be traced back to brazilian roots, often from artists from São Paulo.

If you are interested in this art, I can higly recommend you to watch the documentary Cidade Cinza / Grey City. Here you are able to get to know the story behind some of SP's strongest crews and how graffiti is a silents voice trying to express messages within a massive and caotic Brazilian society. 

I wish it would have been possible to really dig in at seek into more remote places in the city. But loosing your phone which I did the night before, is a trouble maker, having a bus back in the night and the fact that time, as you know, disappears faster down here, there were simply no time to make a detour.
Therefore I insisted on going to Vila Madalena, no matter how heavy and unpredictable the sky was. I seriously could not go home without having seen just a bit of what I came to see.
 
Vila Madalena is a charming and 'organic' neighborhood known for its concept restaurants, bars, designer boutiques and its graffiti!!!  Often it is here you end up as a tourist and 'graffiti interested', but it there is a ligit reason for that because the outdoor gallery is absolutely fantastic. 
Head to Beco do Batman and from there you can move around in the small streets and find several other works on doors, lamp posts,, doors, gates, houses, cars, corners and asphalt.  
Most of all the places reminded me of creative freedom on a large urban canvas. I loved it. Remote or not!

3 DAYS IN SAO PAULO PT. 1

The famous Avenida Paulista. Melting point of the financial district.
I loved driving down this avenue.. So stoked everytime. I kind of found it both ugly and beautiful in some weird aesthetic way. 

SÃO PAULO

Tror det eller lad vær, men en hver hverdag kan man blive træt af – uanset om den udspiller sig i skandinaviske København eller eksotiske Rio de Janeiro.
For et par uger siden synes jeg tiden var inde til at se noget andet, og jeg hoppede derfor på en bus mod millionbyen São Paulo.

Det ville være dumt at skrive langt og bredt om hvad byen er for en størrelse (det har vi jo Google til), men for at det er muligt at forestille sig for jer derhjemme: så er São Paulo nærmest ude af proportioner med op imod 12 millioner indbyggere, og så er byen kendt som Brasiliens centrum for industri- og erhvervsliv.

Hvis jeg skal være ærlig så havde jeg personligt nogle forudindtagede holdninger og tanker om byen, baseret på naboomtalen her i Rio og et par timers visit tilbage i 2005.

Nogle af dem var blandt andet at byen farveløs, larmende, fyldt med vulgært høje betonbygninger og en forurenet tung himmel. Desuden så ejer folk ikke den der brasilianske rytme og glæde, som jeg kender fra Rio. 

Nabostridigheder

Generelt er Cariocas ikke glade for Paulistas (folk fra São Paulo), og omvendt. Selvfølgelig er der beef.. hvad kunne man ellers forvente.

Cariocas går for at være: luddovne og altid fede den på stranden. De er malandros (”hustleeers”), og så udtaler de ”ssss’er” med ekstra meget tryk på og med kaskader af spyt i retningen ud af munden!
Paulistas skulle være: snoppede, selv- optagede og henførende (gøre voldsomt brug af udtrykket meu = min, uden grund) og så er de stressende og arbejder for meget. Deres accent kommer fra næsen, indebegrebet af nasal, men de mener ikke selv at de har en accent, men det har aaalle de andre til gengæld.
Ikke så lidt pæne ord de kan sige om hinanden…

 District Liberdade (=Freedom) where most Japanese make a living! 
Brasil, especially São Paulo is home for the biggest colony of Japanese, outside Japan.  

Go get some springrolls! 

Er jeg I stand til at abstrahere?

.. Nu bliver jeg jo aldrig ærke carioca, da jeg ikke er født i byen, men jeg har alligevel et stærkt tilhørsforhold til Rio, da jeg udelukkende har boet her og levet livet omsider med cariocas. Det er måske også med en vis stolthed i skrivelsen her, at jeg kan sige at jeg er nået dertil hvor jeg ofte bliver forvekslet med en carioca pga. min udtale (aaaah så pisse FEDT man!!).

Fyldt op af disse opfattelser der har oprindelse i Rio, var jeg virkelig spændt på at finde ud af hvordan, jeg ville opleve São Paulo.

Hvis jeg nu gjorde mig umage og fandt et forholdsvist objektivt tankesæt frem, samt ikke lod mig påvirke for meget af, hvad jeg er socialiseret til at synes. Ville jeg så kunne nikke genkendende til alle de kendetegn skrevet for oven, eller er de alle det pure opspind som følge af stereotype magtkampe blandt byerne?

Galeria do Rock, shopping center where you can get all your skateboarding supply, or skateboards dudes and chicks if that's what you're looking for... 

and chicken from the north..

 Avenida 23 de maio, one of the busiest avenues in SP

I ly hos en ven

Jeg ankom til SP ved midnatstid (i øvrigt aldrig en god idé at ankomme alene til øde busstationer i Brasilien midt om natten) efter en lækker bustur på 6 timer med tid til egne tanker. Jeg blev overraskende nok ramt af en følelse af at befinde mig i rolige omgivelser.. Hvilket stod meget i kontrast til busstationen, Rodoviaria, jeg forlod i Rio - et ekstremt nederen sted! Således blev min første fordom afkræftet. Det larmer jo ikke i SP?

 Jeg fik ly for natten hos Guilherme, som jeg kender tilbage fra 2008 hvor han var på udveksling på Næver Gym.. Yes, af alle steder i verden!

Der er ingen tvivl om, og det vil mange nok være enige i, at de bedste rejse- minder og oplevelser oftest stammer fra de øjeblikke, hvor man er blevet inviteret ind i livet hos et andet menneske. En ting som meget hurtigt gik op for mig er at São Paulo simpelthen er for stor til at man bare kan vade rundt og støde på alt hvad der er værd at se, og da slet ikke på blot tre dage og udtrådte sko. Jeg er derfor virkelig taknemmelig for Gui’s gæstfrihed, og lyst til at vise sin by frem. På den måde så jeg hans hverdag, de vigtige seværdigheder og de hitten gems, som kun en lokal får opstøvet. Han gjorde det så godt!

 Quick snap of the good man, Guilherme!

... Faktisk så godt at jeg i dag sidder, og er ret så pjattet med São Paulo.

Jeg føler mig lidt forræderisk sådan at flirte så åbenlyst med fjenden. Jeg troede ikke det skulle ske, men alle mine forestillinger blev gjort til skamme!

Gui elsker sin by, hvilket klart smittede af på min oplevelse. Jeg elsker den sku også lidt.  

Destination for kunst og kultur

Jeg var virkelig fascineret af den enormt veletablerede scene for kunst og kultur i SP. Konstant var jeg fyldt af en følelse af at være i en by der er i bevægelse, fokuseret på fremdrift og udvikling. Man mærker at der er ting og sager som bliver til rundt omkring i højhusene, gaderne og i de stærkt forbipasserendes tanker.
Meget mere end hvad jeg umiddelbart mærker i Rio.
SP har mere end 40 kulturelle centre, hvor der hver dag er exhibitions, forestillinger, undervisning, debatter og workshops og alle former for kunst. For ikke at glemme de 110 museums og 260 biografer, 80 biblioteker og diverse årlige koncerter og festivaller. Sidst men ikke mindst, er byen verdens berømt for sine graffitikultur, og helt generelt den urbane kultur - hvilket jeg vender tilbage med i et andet indlæg! 

Det var ren ekstase for mig at befinde mig i sådanne omgivelser. Jeg måtte derfor konstatere at byen på ingen måde er farveløs, som jeg forstilte mig. Nok er husende vulgært høje, men hvis det er det der giver plads og kapacitet til projekterne, så kan jeg lide det. Ærligt talt, så endte sku også med at synes at de spejlblanke højhuse var for fede, for er I vimmer nogle knivskarpe reflektioner, man kan finde rundt omkring i glasfacaderne!         

 Praças das Arte in the center

Der venter mere São Paulo pladder forude...
Indtil da: det er for optur I læser og kigger med!!

Alona 

 

English recap//

 

Instagram @alonavibe

SÃO PAULO

Believe it or not, but any kind of everyday life can get boring – doesn’t matter if it takes place in scandinavian Denmark or exotic Rio de Janeiro.
I few weeks ago I thought it was time to see something else, breath a different air so I jumped on the bus heading to the enormous city São Paulo.

Not going to write much about geographic facts (Google was created to help me with that), but to get an idea: São Paulo has around 12 millions of inhabitants, and the city is known as Brazil’s center of industry and business.  

To be honest, I personally had preconceptions about the city, based on the reputation given by the cariocas, and a short visit I had back in 2005.

The city is colourless, noisy, filled with tall concrete buildings and a polluted sad sky. Of course the people would also not have a clue about that famous Brazilian swing/rhythm that I know from Rio, due to spending most of their time sitting on their asses doing business stuff, all day, all night. 

The battle between RJ and SP

The Cariocas and the Paulistas doesn't really like each other in general. Of course there’s beef between two massive competing cities.. what else could one expect.

Cariocas are: Lazy and live life at the beach. They are malandros (= hustleeers) and they pronounce s like a portuguese x, pushing it hard(!!), which also causes alot of drool leaving the mouth in cascades.
Paulistas are: stuck-up, selfcentered, -conceited, and they are stressful and work too much.
Their dialect is the definition of nasal, but they don’t find them self having one. In their oppinion It’s all the others that speaks “wrong” portugues. 

 What about the prejudices?

Since I’m not born in the city, I will never be a real Carioca da gema, but I do have a strong feeling of attachment to Rio… It’s the place I’ve been returning to the past 9 years, and now I’ve also lived side by side with cariocas. I must say it is with some kind of pride, that I’ve reached the point where I sometimes get mistaken as being a carioca, because of my accent. So unreal I obtained an accent in Portuguese (YEAH!!) and everyday have conversation in this beautiful language. Now it’s just the gramma and vocabulary that needs work!   

Anyway, affected by the opinions originated in Rio, I was really excited to find out how I would experience São Paulo. If I did my best on approaching the city in a relatively objective way and did not let the socialisation of Rio influence my opinions too much, would I then notice the characters as mentioned above? Or would they be rejected from being a simple hoax created by the stereotypical struggle for power between two cities.     
 

The hospitality of a friend

I arrived at SP at midnight (btw an awful idea to arrive at deserted bus terminals in the middle of the night).

I was surprisingly struck by a feeling of quiet surroundings.. Which stands in great contrast to the bus terminal, Rodoviaria, I left Rio – such a shitty place! Thus was my first bias ruled out. Where’s all the noise huh?
I was provided with a hospitality by Guilherme, who I know from back in the days where he did one year of exchange at my high school.. Yes, “Næstved Highschool” of all places in the world!
There is no doubt about, and probably many will agree on, that the best travel memories and experiences often comes from the moments where you got invited into the life of an other human being. That realness. One thing that very quickly dawned on me was that São Paulo is simply too big for you just to stroll around and encounter all that is worth seeing. Especially not in only three days and demolished sneakers.. So I am really grateful to Gui's hospitality and his desire to show me his city.
In this way I saw his everyday life, the important sights and the hitten gems that only a local get tracked down. He did well!
... In fact that well, that I became rather upbeat with São Paulo! I feel a little treacherous to be flirting this hard with the enemy... I never thought it would happen, but all my ideas were proved wrong! 
Gui loves his city, which clearly affected my experience. I love it a bit too.  

Destination for culture  and art

I was really fascinated by the well-established scene of arts and culture in SP. I was constantly filled with a feeling of being in a city that has a strong movement, and focus on progress and development. One can feel that there are things happening in those skyscrapers, in the streets and in the mind of the people passing by.
Much more than I feel in Rio.
SP has more than 40 cultural centers, that everyday hosts exhibitions, performances, lessons, debates and workshops and all kinds of art. Not to forget the 110 museums and 260 movie theaters, 80 libraries and various annual concerts and festivals. Last but not least, the city is world famous for its graffiti culture, and in general the urban culture - which I will write a bit more about in a future post!

It was psychedelic to find myself in such an environment. So I had to note that the city is by no means colorless as I earlier imagined.  
The buildings may be tall, but if that's what gives the space and capacity for devoloping such fine projects, then i'm fond of them! Frankly, I actually ended up thinking that those glassy skyscrapers are rad. Bombed by the crispy reflections that can be found around in the mighty glass facades!

Much more São Paulo is ahead of this blog, until then: I'm thrilled that you stepped by!

 xx Alona