CARNIVAL AND MY WEEKEND IN SAO PAULO

Sunday February 26, 2012

Last week was Carnival, and I honestly don’t know how to begin.  I could probably write an entire blog just about Brazil’s Carnival, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one already exists.  So to avoid attempting to describe every detail of the wonderful festivities, I will give you a quick rundown of Carnival, and move on to other things that seem far less intimidating to write about. I know this short description is not going to do it justice, but nonetheless here goes. 

With all the research I had done about Brazil’s Carnival before coming, it somehow didn’t stick in my memory that it was actually a 5 day (and night) long holiday.  We don’t have any holidays in the US that last 5 days, so it never really occurred to me. Here it’s a legitimate 5 days almost, if not entirely, focused on partying, dancing, and pure fun, which is exactly my kind of holiday.

For you to understand Carnival, try to imagine the celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans multiplied with New Years Eve in New York City, add some Cirque du Soleil action, and mix all that with the colorful and extravagant floats from SF Gay Pride Parade, except far more elaborate.  Then, celebrate it in every city in the country, literally all night long, for five days straight.  That will at least give you an idea of Brazil Carnival. (In the picture above, the girls are doing ballet in and out of the pool, while riding the float!)

Even aside from Carnival, my weekend in the city of Sao Paulo was amazing!  On the bus there, Daniel helped me with my Portuguese/English study cards.  Apparently I had been memorizing the wrong pronunciation for most of the words, so that’s all we focused on. I can’t wait to finally learn his language.  Daniel can’t wait either, he gets really tired of speaking English.

When we arrived in Sao Paulo Saturday night, I was instantly excited. I have to admit that, no matter how much I fantasize about living on some isolated relaxing island spending my days painting, I am a person who just really likes big cities. I got an adrenaline rush just being at the bus station.

We took the metro to the last stop, Jamacuara, where Daniel’s cousin’s Tatiana picked us up.  Daniel calls her his “irma” which means sister, because I guess they grew up together.  Her name is pronounced “tat-chi-an-ah” but Daniel calls her “tat-chi”, which I think is really cute. 

She was really nice, but didn’t speak a lick of English, except the one word she knew, beautiful.   I suppose, if you had to choose one word to know in another language, beautiful isn’t a bad choice. She told me I was beautiful a bunch of times, which was probably partially because she really thinks that, but mostly just being proud she knew how to say it. 

Tati lives in a much poorer area than the rest of Daniel’s family.  It isn’t the worst of Brazil by any means, but it was the poorest I had seen so far.  I have to admit that it was an adjustment for me.  We arrived at night, and it certainly would not have felt safe walking around by myself.

Tati has a balcony in the back with an inspiring view.  It is kind of what I had imagined the buildings would look like,  a hillside of different colored homes, all crammed on top of one another.  I couldn’t wait to see it during the day. Looking at the different homes, I saw laundry and carpets hanging over balconies and clotheslines all throughout the neighborhood.  I heard dogs barking and babies crying.  But I loved it.  Tati thought it was really weird I liked the view because it was ugly, which it was.  I didn’t like it because it was beautiful I liked it because it was so different.

When I woke up the next morning, Daniel and Tati were already in the kitchen eating, talking and laughing.  I really love to see Daniel with his family, he comes to life in a way he doesn't around other people.  Tati asked in Portuguese if I wanted “tomar café”, which directly translates to “to take a café”.  I hadn’t been able to drink coffee at all since being here, so I was really excited she offered. But then Daniel informed me that “um café” in Portuguese means coffee, but when someone says “tomar café” it is short for “tomar café da manha” which actually means breakfast, which is really confusing.  

I think Tati is my favorite person I’ve met in Daniel’s family so far, probably because she is the most liberal.  She drinks coffee and beer, and smokes cigarettes, which is all fine, but what I really like is that I feel I can really be myself around her.

Daniel and I took the bus at the top of Tati’s street, which was far more daring than I had anticipated.  Bus drivers here are crazy and drive like maniacs. They speed through lights, cut in and out of cars, come to screeching halts, and speed down steep hills, like the one Tati lives on.  Daniel said they speed so they can pick up more people.  Which didn’t make much sense to me until he explained that the bus driver owns the bus and makes money off each person who gets on.  Apparently none of the busses in Brazil are public. Some are owned by the driver, and others are owned by companies, regardless they all make more money picking up more people.  I still don’t fully understand how that system works.  I mean if just some Joe Shmo guy off the street can buy a bus and start picking people up, then how can people even trust where they are going, or if it's legal? Daniel said it is kind of regulated by the city, but that there aren't any bus schedules or anything like that.   I’m still confused by it, but was more preoccupied with the ride.  I closed my eyes and held on the bars while we went down hills and small alleys.  Daniel laughed and said it was like riding a roller coaster, but I don’t like roller coasters either. 

The first place Daniel took me was Japan Town, which was pretty uneventful and wouldn’t even be worth mentioning, except that on one of the streets we found 7 wooden frames for painting that were in great condition. We didn’t want to carry them so, Daniel found a spot to hide them on the street.  Then he took me to a building where we could over look the whole city.  Waiting for the elevator was the first time I had heard English. In fact it was the first time I had heard anything BUT Portuguese.  I suppose it was the only actual tourist place we had been, and the only place since.  Seeing the city was incredible.  I have never seen anything like it.  New York City has bigger buildings, nicer and newer, with a lot of metal and glass, but it still doesn’t have this effect.  In Sao Paulo it really looks like the city goes on forever, and in every direction.  Daniel said it reminded him of the ocean, an infinite city, and it was.  As the buildings got farther away, they just became harder to see, more and more faded until it was just lightness behind them, eventually not able to distinguish between land and sky on the horizon.

Afterward Daniel took me to one spot where the streets were crowded with people.  He said the area was mostly “C and D Class”.  


In Brazil they rate classes by letters: A, B, C, D, and E.  A is upper class, B is kind of upper middle class, C is middle class, D is lower middle class or working class, and E is very poor.  I don’t really think we have a comparison to E class in the US. I was all too excited and curious anyway to really notice class differences.  

That night Daniel and I happened upon our second carnival celebration in the streets.  At midnight we impulsively left for the main Sao Paulo Carnival celebration in the stadium, to see our third Carnival celebration, where we stayed until 4am.  It was a great weekend.