From Canada to Brazil.... with love! :)

[Taller, Better]

Here are some photo's I took on my recent Brazil trip.. I would like
to thank all the people I met on my trip as I was treated with royal
hospitality and friendliness everywhere, despite the fact I look
distinctly non-Brazilian! Brazil is a breathtaking country, and this
time I visited only São Paulo, and one of my favourite beaches in
the world, Ihlabela. The first thing you notice when you land in São Paulo
is the sheer immensity of this city of 19 million souls...
I have tried to roughly group these pix, but some may be a bit
out of order. I was lucky to travel very extensively throughout the
city, and also stayed in a suburb which gave me a real feel of the
lifestyle. A big Obrigado to the good folk of São Paulo and I hope you
all enjoy the pictures!!









a beautiful old, but abandoned building downtown on Avenida Paulista:



an interesting area of arts and crafts vendors; Praca da Republica





one of the many thousands of street dogs who run wild but are very friendly



A late night stroll through Vale do Anhagabau lead us to the magnificent Opera House, built around 1903, with lovely Art Nouveau sculptures:























and jump on the subway (Metro) to Trinon stop to see the Museum of Modern
art:









and just some general city scenes of Sao Paolo, Guaruhlos, and other
neighbourhoods, starting with a loga de Ubanda (Voo Doo Shop)

[IMG]



















and nothing is more fun than finding a group of people dancing capoeira:



Famous Brazilian churrascaria:





and everywhere, lovely cold beer, beer, beer... as cheap as 50 cents
Canadian currency. Drinks sold 24 hours per day, anywhere and everywhere
and it was quite a novelty for me to drink beer on a bus or in a taxi! LOL!



Then jump on a coach bus, on the road to Rio, for a few relaxing days at
the superb Ihlabela (beautiful island).... perfect weather and beaches:









[IMG]



an evening shot from our lovely colonial style guesthouse:





I hope you enjoyed this little tour, and I hope I did not post too many pictures
to create a slow download. If I did, just let me know. Saude!

[tkr]

hey, nice pics dude! and good to see you enjoyed the trip

hmmm, churrasco with a bohemia.. just great.. Ilha Bela, even better..

[gutooo]

Great pics!

I hope you liked your trip!

[rise_against]

I wanna go now...looks beautiful and friendly. I wish Brasil was closer to Canada

[Taller, Better]

Thanks guys! Glad you liked the pix! I took around 500 so it was hard to narrow it down. The flight is not so bad... about 10 hours from Toronto, and it is overnight so you can sleep. If you are into cold beer, delicious caipirinhas, gorgeous people, amazing music, dancing and exotic beaches, then it may be for you!
I made it my mission to personally inspect the inside bottom of as many Bohemia beer bottles as was humanly possible!! . Best way to cool down a sweaty gringo!

[tkr]

So, you came alone, rite? And are you planning to come back? If yes, I suggest you to try southern Brazil next. Florianópolis and the cities around it... good cities, great beaches and nice people.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by shosho

So, you came alone, rite? And are you planning to come back? If yes, I suggest you to try southern Brazil next. Florianópolis and the cities around it... good cities, great beaches and nice people.

No, I went with my partner who is from Brazil originally. I will probably come
back to Brazil once a year. I just assembled a small kit which I can use
to cheer Brazil this year at the World Cup! LOL! Normally I only cheer for
England, but I see no reason not to cheer for two countries...

[schmidt]

Hey! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and liked our country so much.

Sao Paulo's hugeness is amazing, I can't imagine someone in SSC that wouldn't get hypnotized by it. I don't know Ilhabela, but my dad's already been there and he only talks marvels about it, must be really wonderful.

Thanks for the pics, they don't only catch our cities, beaches and architecture, but also a bit of the Brazilian soul and lifestyle.

[Luis_RiodeJaneiro]

Taller, as a brazilian i´m flattered by your kind words about my country and its people ! I´m so glad you enjoyed a lot your trip ! But, next time...COME TO RIO !!!!!!!!how come you come to Brazil and doesn´t come to Rio ! São Paulo and Ilhabela are great, for sure, but in Rio you will get astonished by its beauty !!! :-)))

[AJ215]

great pics..

[Smileyface]

Amazing photos, thanks for those. I'll be landing in Sao Paulo on Easter Sunday for my first ever visit to the city and in fact to South America and I just can't wait. Expect a similar thread from myself in about a month when I get back to the UK

[diogoap]

Oh! Nice view of São Paulo! Thanks for share this pics!

[gutooo]

Originally Posted by Smileyface

Amazing photos, thanks for those. I'll be landing in Sao Paulo on Easter Sunday for my first ever visit to the city and in fact to South America and I just can't wait. Expect a similar thread from myself in about a month when I get back to the UK

If you need any help you can contact me or any other brazilian forumer!

Im sure we can help you!

Thats for everyone!

[ditto]

Thanks for the pics. Brings back great memories from my trip to Brazil as well.

If my friends want to escape to warmer weather I tell them to skip the Caribbean and head for Brazil, it's worth the 10+ hour flight (from Toronto)!

[AcesHigh]

dont come to souther Brazil outside the summer... tomorrow temperature at morning will be 6C in Porto Alegre...

nice pics, the only weird thing is that you dont expect foreigners to go to São Paulo on vacations (usually they go to Rio or to the northeast states)

I am not sure, but autumn (march, april, may in southern hemisphere) is kinda rain season in a big part of the coutnry... may not be good for beaches, but I guess its great to visit the IGUAZU WATERFALLS.

No really... you canadians must go there and then come back here to tell your own comparassions with Niagara (without bias of course )

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

despite the fact I look distinctly non-Brazilian

Really, that isnt true. Brazil really has all races, although the predominance of each race or mixture varies greatly among brazilian states. If you mean you look non brazilian for being tall and blond/blue eyed, you may think differently once you go to Santa Catarina or Rio Grande do Sul states...

[AcesHigh]

btw, TallerBetter, can you post this thread on Skyscraperpage.com????

[Taller, Better]

I'll check it out; I had never heard of skyscraperpage.com.
Next year I think we will also travel to Rio, and Salvador too as my
favourite music and dancing comes from Bahia. Again, thanks for
all the nice comments everyone, and here are a few more pix from
my collection, starting out with a taxi ride in a Volkswagen, which
was an exciting first for me! In fact, most car/bus/taxi rides in SP
tend to be on the exciting side due to the driving habits! Those
are probably my white knuckles you see in the picture! This guy
drove FAST.



Here is the amazing red soil, which in Canada is similar to that in Prince Edward Island:





The McCain HappyFace Potato on this plate cracked me up!!!






Here are some buskers on Avenida Paulista, the main business street of Sao Paolo:



More of the beautiful statuary around the old Opera House:









a famous SP intersection:





a very sweet young girl acting as a bus conductor for one of the thousands of little
private vans that dart around the city vying with the official city buses for customers.
The action is entertaining to watch... the buses cut each other off, steal passengers,
and the drivers and conductors wave their fists and yell at each other!!







another of the dingo like dogs about town:



While on Ihlabela, we took a schooner cruise, which took us to a private beach
owned by a previous President of Brazil:








And, apparently, a little bit of Toronto in Brazil!














Here was a school that teaches young children to sail in little tiny sailboats:







more capoeirai... the music and rhythms are hypnotizing, and show the strong
influence of African music and dance. I think this type of dancing came from
the North coast of Brazil, but I could be wrong:







I would recommend a visit to Brazil for anybody... the kindness, warmth,
and generosity of spirit of the people I met was unforgettable. As for the
safety factor, be careful and don't walk down empty streets at night, but don't let it stop you seeing the city. Just keep your wits about you and don't
draw attention to yourself with money, etc.. especially if you see street-
kids nearby. I find it difficult anyone could visit Brazil and not fall in love with
it!

[AcesHigh]

I am not sure where capoeira appeared, but basically, it was created by the slaves, because the masters woulnt let them train fighting or anything like that (which could be used in a revolt). So the slaves created capoeira, which is a martial arts camouflaged as DANCE! And the masters would think "look how interesting these african lowbeings dance to express their primitive cultures" then WAAAAH, a kick in the neck of the master and he is DEAD!!!

[AcesHigh]

dude, did you drink anything but beer?

[Arpels]

Ilha Bela is a paradise