Pre-Carnaval Mayhem

Next week is the magnificent, the legendary, CARNAVAL!!! This weekend in Sao Paulo, you could feel the energy building. Friday night I just chilled out because I was tired. I went to a bar to say bye to the Norwegian kids I had met, then just went back to the hostel and slept. I think I´m allergic to the pollen here, I´m such a baby. One guy said it´s impossible because it rains every day, but I don´t feel sick and I think anything is possible, so I´m saying I´m allergic. Saturday was a little crazy, but once again I stayed a bit calm, despite my biting urge to do something craaazy. On my walk back from site-seeing, again a sweaty, exhausted mess, the streets were beginning to come alive. It was around 7pm and the market I had seen earlier was closing down as the restaurants and bars on the periphery of the square were packed full of people. My pal decided to rest at the hostel, so I dropped my stuff and went back out. Our little symbiosis has been really great-he speaks Portuguese but can´t read a map for shit, while I always know where we are but am a total dumb ass with the language. Anyway, off I went.

The sun sets late here, so I had a good hour and a half of day light left. The crowded bars were a bit less than inviting to the lone wanderer who doesn´t speak the language, so I walked past. I turned down a street that looked lively enough, and started to hear music. Some guys had opened up the front of a guitar shop and set up a drum set, bass, guitar, and a rack of clarinet, sax, and a trumpet. They plugged the stuff and and made an impromptu concert in the street. A crowd materialized in seconds, the corner store turned into a bar, essentially, since drinking is allowed in the street here, and it was a little dance/jazz/chill-out session for about a half hour. I love that kind of stuff. First off, drinking in the street sets a really chilled-out vibe and is wayyy better than being stuck in a crowded bar. Plus, this was just a random gathering of passers-by:moms, dads, kids, teenagers, old people, random hippie guys and girls...... just really really nice. So after that, I came back, cooked some dinner (saving money where I can) and hung out. I took another walk later to check out this club that the hostel owner told me about, but it was to no avail.

Last night was when I got to really let off some steam. We went to a Samba school practice. Sounds tame, but it´s not. Being the week before Carnaval, this is their last chance to rehearse before they go. The school is just a school, but this `practice` was really a huge outdoor performance. The street was closed, there was a massive stage, food stands and people with coolers full of beer, soda, water, cigarettes, and candy were all set up outside the make-shift wall framing the venue. You have to pay to go in, and it´s definitely one of those places that made me glad I didn´t have anything on me except a few reis in my swimming trunks, but it was absolutely incredible. We were somewhat early, and maybe an hour after we got there, it was jam packed. The samba dancers were insanely awesome, and this country seems to have an infinte amount of talented percussionists that make it impossible not to be moving. I was intimidated about being surrounded by Brazilians dancing, but in the crowd, there was no rule as to what you´re supposed to do, it was just a free, do as you please, vibe. Everyone is drinking, smoking, eating, laughing, and dancing. Kids are running through the crowd, parents are holding their babies up, it was just a huge, awesome gathering. If this is the teaser before Carnaval, I can´t imagine what the real deal will be like! Long and short of it, we made some Brazilian friends in the crowd, had a crazy drive through the city to go other places, and just had a great night! One of the Brazilian guys we met warned me about Rio, but he also was talking about the huge rivalry between Cariocas, the people from Rio de Janeiro, and the Paulistas, a bit more clear in its meaning. But he said it´s dirtier, poorer the people are arrogant, the beaches suck...... I have to take some of it with a grain of salt, considering how, from Atlanta, we talk shit about every other southern city, and from new york, we talk shit about every city. I´m totally not ready to leave this place yet, but tomorrow is my last day! After Rio, I´ll have to drag Natasha back here for a couple days. Anyone would love something about this city, despite the incredibly bad rap it gets.

I´ve managed to not blow my budget here, but it´s a constant fight to resist the temptation of the insane amount of nice restaurants, bars, and clubs that are constantly making me drool. Like, I will walk past a clothing store and have to go in because A) I like the nice clothes, but also B) because of the amount of attention they pay to detail in the architectural design. Everything is beckoning you to go in, even more so than in New York. Then the restaurants, it´s the same thing. So many design elements go into these restaurants! They´re not grossly expensive compared to what I´m used to, but more than I would like to pay. The bars also. The one we went to the other day had a regular-width bar that just wound through the entire room, so wherever you´re sitting, you would be at a somewhat open angle to other people there that you are not with. Everyone ends up facing each other. The design is supposed to faciliate meeting new people, to oppose the tendency of going to a crowded place to hang out exclusively with the people you came with (shout-out to Annie :) Very cool stuff, anyway. Alright, I´m going to go reheat some of the food I made the other night and figure out what´s going on tonight. 2 nights left in Sao Paulo, then Rio or bust.