"So excited I can Hardly Stand It!"

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Greetings to my family, friends, and colleagues. This is my/our last night in Sao Paulo before
flying to Salvador, Bahia in the morning. I am exhausted mentally and physically but so
exhilirated at the same time. I love Brazil and the Brazilians as I knew that I would, despite
the glaring social inequalities and wealth inequalities of its social and political systems. Despite
these things, I have been in love with the idea of Brazil since I was a teenager and now I
am here! Sao Paulo is very much like New York City in the U.S. except on a much vaster scale
in terms of population (10 million in the city - 16 in the metro area!). Sao Paulo is bustling, with
all kinds and colors of people scurrying everywhere accomplishing things. It is a difficult city
to tour because much of its colonial history has been obscured but we have visited such
old sites as the Central Cathedral and the old Jesuit College which has been transformed into
a fascinating and very well run Museum of Sacred Art. The first evening, we saw the sunset
from one of Sao Paulo's tallest buildings, the Edificio Italia where we attended our opening
night reception. There they served us a wonderful European-style high tea - however the
highlight was the view of Sao Paulo at sunset: a ghostly, surreal, and quite stunning sea
of "10,000" skyscrapers disappearing into the smoggy night. That evening (Tuesday), many
of us attended a live samba show. Brazilians in general believe in going out to live music
venues (another reason to love them) and even though it was a very middle class bar and
people would be working the next day, the place was packed. What was very interesting
to me was that all the patrons, young and old, knew all the words to all of the songs which
were in a variety of musical styles including samba, forro, and very sad love songs. Needless
to say, my course of speed Portugese was inadequate to the task of understanding song
lyrics. This was embarassingly brought home when the performer, Javier Rodrigues, who apparently mistook me for a Brazilian, thrust a mike in my face at the end of his show and
asked me to sing along! I sheepishly managed to say in Portugese that I was an American
(Trust me, I am now more determined than ever to master the language. Berlitz, here I come!)
Last night, Wednesday, I took the subway to the Japanese bairro(neighborhood) in order to
shop for souvenirs. Some of you may not know that Brazil has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. After returning to the hotel, many of us went to have
pizza (Italian culture is very strong in Sao Paulo due to the substantial migration of people
during the late 19th and early 20th century). Food here is tasty, nutritious, and very diverse
because of the mix of cultures. And the coffee is wonderful, very strong (although I could drink
it in larger quantities than is the Brazilian norm).

We have attended daily lectures by various academics and other professionals on such
topics as the Brazilian Political Parties, Amazon and the Environment, the Brazilian Educational
System , and today, a visit to an encampment occupied by a group that is part of the
Landless Workers Movement (poor people who are pressuring the government to institute
real redistrubution of unused or underutilized land). Anyone of these topics is worth a blog
on its own, but I will probably save these discussions until my return when I see my
colleagues at PVAMU. These talks just whet my appetite for more time here and more
discussion. I know that I will return to Brazil so that some of my questions can be answered.
My faculty colleagues and I are starting to bond, across lines of age, ethnicity, and the
wide spectrum of academic institutions we come from. It's a good group and we are enjoying
each others' company as well as the fascinating culture we are privileged to be glimpsing here.
Most of us are here for the first time. Well, enough for now. Tomorrow it is on to the seat
of Afro-Brazilian culture, Salvador, Bahia. Until then friends, boa noite (goodnight)

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Comments

[anonymous]

Wish I were there!
This sounds so fantastic, Vic. Sounds like a great experience. Have always had a facination with Brazil, myself. Your travel blog makes me want to go. - Yvonne Moss