It’s 2AM on Saturday morning and you leave the club early because you’ve had a long-ass week at work and you’re tired and you just want everybody to shut the hell up already and go to sleep. You work your way past the line of partiers, in various states of inebriation, waiting to go in […]
2AM in the Biggest F*ckin City in South America Read More
São Paulo presents ample opportunities to sate every human desire, from food to finance to fornication, and I love her for that. The videos below offer up images of the world’s biggest underrated city, from its adolescent growth spurt to its mammoth adulthood and accompanying developmental issues. Don’t sleep: São Paulo, 1943: This propaganda-soaked documentary,
Growth of a Megacity Read More
A few weeks ago, I took a tour of downtown São Paulo and the bohemian ‘hood of Vila Madalena (aka Madville – just coined by yours truly) with one Flavia Liz Di Paolo, professional travel guide. Flavia Liz, full of spunk and moxie and who speaks, like, seven languages, offers personalized tours of São Paulo
A (Not Quite) Three-Hour Tour Read More
Posting this from Hart-Jack (that’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for the newbies), on my way home to the ‘ville for the weekend. Sorry for the delay, readers; I’ll have a couple of posts in the bag beforehand from now on. So… São Paulo in numbers* (versus unofficial rival New York): 588 – area of São
These whirling women lead rituals during the syncretic Festival of the Divine Holy Spirit, a tradition in the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão. They’re here in São Paulo for one week (everything comes here). The elderly lady who opens the video is in her 80s! She was being possessed by the orixá, an African spirit
Dança das Caixeiras Maranhenses Read More
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From the AV Room: My City, Five Ways Read More
Through all the color and pageantry of seven samba schools competing for the top prize on the first night of São Paulo’s Sambadrome competition, one dark and controversial issue reared its head in the most beautiful and touching ways. The Acadêmicos do Tucuruvi samba school (less a school in the traditional sense than a Carnival
“Reconheço Meu Valor” Read More
Last summer, Wallpaper* magazine published its “Born in Brazil” issue, a 210-page design-focused exposé on the established names and up-and-comers in the realms of Brazilian work and play. Along with the print version, the magazine included on its website this beautifully-shot, beautifully-scored look at the remarkable energy – and traffic – of São Paulo, as
A Tale of Two Cities – Part One Read More
So, I’ve settled into a new one-bedroom apartment in Downtown São Paulo. The place has character: huge rooms, high ceilings, French doors leading out to a small terrace where I can sit and write (theoretically), with my feet being massaged on top of the clothes dryer. My street is one of those formerly-grand boulevards gone
The View from the Crib Read More
First, I want to start the new year giving thanks to you, my readers, for traveling with me this far. I know I’m not very communicative via the comments section, but I sincerely appreciate every person who looks at my blog and takes away even the smallest bit of inspiration – be it to travel,
A Thank You and a Goodbye Read More
