The City of Swallows

Campinas is a city that feels more local-style than it's larger city counterparts. It's not a typical tourist destination, in contrast to Rio. And compared to its monstrous neighbor São Paulo about an hour drive away, it's much prettier, with rolling hills, not so many high rises, and year-round warm weather. Campinas is still somewhat industrial, but its residents are much more laid-back. Both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are smog-ridden, but Campinas's pleasant breezes and location on a plateau that borders mountains equates to little pollution.

Luana grew up there, and I was more than happy to tag along with her when she visited home. We were welcomed with bird designs on the sidewalk outside. Campinas is known as the "Cidade das Andorinhas" (City of Swallows). The small birds are a symbol that are scattered around the area, often on signs or gates.

The pride and joy of the city must be the largest shopping center in Latin America, called Parque Dom Pedro. When they built a mall here, they weren’t messing around. Besides the innumerable stores and restaurants, it boasts a recreational car racing track, nightclub, rides for kids, Target-like store and supermarket, and a fitness center.

Here I tried acaí for the first time. In its typical form, this anti-oxidant-rich berry from the Amazon is made into a cool, yogurt-like treat topped with granola and banana. It’s healthy, but sweet enough to seem like ice cream.

Here's Luana and I trying on hats...

And one of her two older sisters modeling the glasses she bought...and returned the next day.

Besides shopping, Luana and I laid out to soak in the glorious sun and visited a local bar called Seo Rosa with her friend. About an hour after we arrived, we were graced with the presence of a real live superhero. It was Spiderman in the flesh. Or rather, Spiderman in the suit.

I've heard there is a Brazilian tv show where some guy dresses up as Spiderman and runs around pulling shenanigans everywhere. I guess this Spidey was imitating that, but I wouldn't know because I avoid the local shows like the plague. (The only good one takes old kung-fu and classic movies and dubs over them with completely different words.)
But what provided us even more comic relief was one of the employees, who honestly thought the credit card machine was a phone. Luana and her friend saw him pick it up in the corner of the bar, hold it to his ear and repeat “hello?” So we kindly asked another employee to pose for a re-enactment.

Funny Site Translations

I don't think that's the intent, but some of the website translations from Portuguese to English are hilarious. Here's an entertaining blurb for a hotel:

"El Parador it possesss a charmosa swimming pool, with submerged banks, where they can start the day with a juice or fire the afternoon with one drink. The room of the coffee of manha very glad and is colored. The social area has sinuca, room of reading and TV. In the terrace we have churrasqueira that it can be used by you house them. The inn has access the Internet wireless, and a PC disponivel for ours you house."

Disponivel???

I wonder if these guys actually get business from native English speakers. But you have to give it to them for trying.

These Places Are For Beer, Not Martinis

For a bar that offers a true Brazilian experience, you can't get better than Ó Do Borogadó. This small, unpretentious and somewhat scroungy São Paulo bar has great live samba music, and somehow with all the energy still feels laid-back. The graffiti covering every inch of the bathroom walls is evidence.

The band doin' their thing...well

Rita, João & I

All Black is another great place for cerveja. During my girls-only outing to the Jardins district pub, we sang along to a rock band that played everything from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Rolling Stones to Maroon 5. We also enjoyed (too many) morango caipiroskas, a.k.a. strawberry vodka caipirinhas. It's a slightly older crowd than at many of the dance clubs, called "baladas." The place was packed, so when we discovered a fan in the corner it felt like a hot tub after a cold day skiing.

At most bars in Brazil, you pay for everything at the end rather than by drink. This makes it easy to order quickly, but it also makes it easy to lose track of your bank account funds.

Actual Sayings on T-Shirts

As I've alluded to before, the shirts with English phrases are definitely amusing. (See the World-Class Customer Service post). To continue with this topic, I've provided some thematic examples.

There are the wannabe-funny ones:

• Don't drive and drive. You might spill your beer.
• I'm not gay, but my boyfriend is!

The bitchy ones:

• If nobody is perfect, I must be nobody.
• My life is gemstones
• Don't be impressed by me (don't worry)

The classy ones:

• More than ready
• You've been naughty...go straight to my room

And the ones for people who can't read English:

• Orange Juice - refresh drink
• The Up

American culture has a large influence on the entire the local landscape. Many shops and small businesses have English names, like Doctor Feet and HobbyStar Games. American music is prevalent, and Brazilians often attempt singing in English. American movies are extremely common - there are 3 movie channels on cable dedicated to American films. The only American movies that theaters feature, however, are the predictable Hollywood blockbusters produced for the largest possible audience. No wonder my friend said she doesn't like American movies.

While English titles and words might be spelled the same here, pronunciation is a different story. As a general rule for pronouncing English terms transferred to Portuguese, just an an "ee" sound at the end and you're good.

ping pong sounds like "pingey-pongey"
feedback = "feejebackey"

But then Coke, which already has an e, is said the same way. Go figure.

The Orkut Phenomenon

How successful have I been in infiltrating myself into Brazilian culture? I can speak the basics of Portuguese. I'm listening to Brazilian CDs, thanks to Vicente and Beth. I even store goiabinha in my cupboard. But there was one thing I didn't have that every Brazilian has. No, not a tan. An Orkut account.

Orkut is Google's social networking site, which provides separate personal, social, and professional profiles. In March 2007, 57% of Orkut's 44 million users were Brazilian.

"In Brazil, Orkut feels like it's as big as Facebook and MySpace put together."
-Bernardo Malfitano, Brazilian-born U.S. resident & former Google employee

In reality, it's only about half the size of Myspace in terms of users right now. But Orkut is to Brazil as snow is to skiers. Everyone uses it. Even local celebrities create accounts to promote themselves and control their relationship the public.

And so I decided that to become a full temporary Brazilian, and get everyone off my back about creating an account, I would join the uber-popular site. Otherwise known as a stalker's best friend.

Searching for Capoeira

My highschool cross-country coach once said I had the most willpower she's ever seen. When I'm determined about something, I'm serious. The other day I was determined to watch capoeira, the dance-fighting that was invented by the African slaves brought to Brazil. I got a tip that the martial art could be seen on Sundays at the basketball courts at Ibirapuera Park, so I began my quest there, killing two birds with one stone by running as I searched.

I first encountered a stadium featuring Mickey on Ice, which was not the ideal spot for running as I had to evade hundreds of sugared-up kids in mouse ear hats. There was a grade school athletic competition next door, called Junior Olympics where I grew up. When I entered the actual park, I came across a disappointing magic show that was 95% yelling & 5% tricks. But the next thing I saw had some impressive tricks - the army sponsored an event and I got there just in time to watch the dog show. These were the best trained canines you could imagine. Each dog stood patiently by their own military master, ready to show off their skill. They followed commands like doing figure eights between the trainers' legs, jumping into their arms, and walking backwards on their hind legs. Then they competed in an obstacle course of ladders, hoops and hurdles. The crowd went wild when two of the dogs made the highest jump.

So I found some fun, but no capoeira. I jogged on, discovering a sports tradeshow and the preshow buzz of an MPB (Brazilian pop) concert. I asked a few people where I could find the sport, and where the basketball courts were, but I was out of luck. However, I did speak to Juliette Lewis when she was about 15, and time travel beats dance-fighting any day.

Grazie a Dio

This is the type of bar I knew I wanted to frequent as soon as I walked in. The food is excellent, there's live music every night, and the women were in agreement about the general attrativeness of the men.

http://www.grazieadio.com.br/

The main difference between the bar food in the States and the bar food in Brazil is that here it's not just fried appetizers, threatening you with indigestion and clogged arteries. In Brazil bar food is great - as good or better than a regular restaurant. This stems from the fact that here there is more of a natural blend of bar-restaurants, instead of both being distinct places.

I scoped out the scene with Erin, Luana and Ricardo. All four of us thought it was a treat.

My tender chicken dish was inviting in a fun pineapple shell, and after tasting the escondido I quickly decided what I'll order next time.

The music was a locally well-known Brazilian samba-rock band called Farufyno. I don't dance well, but it was joyously easy to dance to. I adore this musical genre.