...and the art! Graffiti from Guarulhos, Sao Paulo, Ihla Bela, and Rio de Janeiro

We have a lot of pictures here, so other than location, I'll let them do the talking. These are from Guarulhos:








This was on display at a train station in Sao Paulo:




Back in Guarulhos for this:


Ihla Bela--these were printed pictures on silk, used as curtains. They were so beautiful


Also Ihla Bela--Francis of Assisi is very popular throughout the areas of Brazil we visited


On the bus to Rio..


Rio de Janeiro:


We met the kids who did this one:




This was a door in the Maze, our hotel / hostel in Rio:


We went to an art show at a different hostel in Rio de Janeiro--below are the works and pictures of NuevePolar, a couple from Colombia. Tavo's family is from Colombia, too--so everyone was speaking quite rapid Spanish (except Lini--who inserted elementary Spanish when needed)








If you'd like to see more work from NuevePolar, here is their contact info:
www.flickr.com/9polar
www.myspace.com/9polar
They are planning on relocating to Sao Paulo soon.



Ghandi and Tavo in Centro Rio:


Near Corcovado--not far from Christo Redentor


Fluminense football club logo--although we stayed in an area that was strictly Flamengo--we did cheer on Fluminense when they played (and BEAT) Argentina!




Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niteroi (Museum of Contemporary Art--pretty nuts..)


In the Lapa section of Rio


Our California friend, Ryan, and his room at our hotel, the Maze. Bob, the proprietor, decided the corner needed a face


Malu, Bob's wife walks into the breakfast area where Bob's paintings hang..


Leaving Rio--this is near the bus station (Rodoviaria)




Back to Sao Paulo, where we stayed the last weekend before heading back to the States


And who could not take a picture of my favorite Pizza joint?


In Newark, waiting for our plane to Atlanta

Guarulhos, Brasil

Hop on the friendly MARTA train to take us to the airport...


Need to partake of one last Atlanta beer--here's Tavo waiting for his Sweetwater 420


I'm actually drinking water here. And holding delicious peanut butter crackers.


And we arrived the next morning in Guarulhos, a suburb of Sao Paulo. Don't be fooled by its appearance, though--Guarulhos is quite large and definitely very cool. There is a college there, and Tavo managed to sniff out the cool bars and hip corridors of the town.

Yeah! We're here!!


We stayed on the Sex floor (I drew nice arrows to help the dark picture)


The view from the hot tub overlooking Guarulhos--
hooray for hot tubs!


What's that? It's an Antartica, in a Brahma coozy. Most every place we went served beer in 22 oz bottles that we shared. I love this concept! Beer stays colder than in a pitcher...also it often came with the super size plastic coozy.


I'm the only girl in this bar--representing in my white shades and white jacket.


Indoor football--and you can buy a bottle of beer and watch from the sidelines. We wandered in to a few of these clubs to watch.


And now its time to really check out that hot tub...


and try the always sanitary, Itaipava.


I went with a Skol.


And got an enormous bottle of water the next day's exploring


At night, we didn't take our camera with us--but this place was bumping. Hundreds of kids skating, drinking, talking, hanging out...and getting tattoos.


We went to a small restaurant--and I'll admit it took more than a few days to figure out what food was what. None of it was in our Portuguese dictionary! I ordered pizza, Tavo ordered a hamburger and juice--and this was set in front of us. Huh???


Ah HA!! Deep fried pizza pocket and deep fried hamburger pocket. Everything is better deep fried :)


And with that, we decided to board the bus and head to Sao Paulo.


After posing the with the notorious Banana Brasil.

Sorry for the month long hiatus!!

...and we still haven't resized all the pics from Brasil--so just sit tight. Our neighbors and their free internet have moved away, so access is a bit spotty right now. Here's a quick meme that I did to speed up the afternoon :)

We should get pics up by the end of the week. Oh, and we're running the Peachtree Road Race (biggest 10K in the US) on the 4th--wish us luck!

-Lini

Six things I could live without, but really wouldn’t want to:
Pizza
Car
House
Beer
Weekends
Summer

Six movies I’ve never seen before:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Soylent Green
Catch 22
National Velvet
It’s a Wonderful Life
Mask of Zorro

Six of my pet peeves:

Having to work 40 hours a week
The cost of gas
My Tupperware containers disappearing
Bland food
Being interrupted while reading
People knocking on the door when I’m in the bathroom

Six things I really love doing:

Drinking beer
Listening to music
Reading
Traveling
Walking
Talking with my friends

Six things I was into as a kid:

Reading
Running
Making up games
Camping
Climbing trees
Swinging


Six things I was into as a teenager:

Going to Detroit Film Theater
Painting
Long walks
Playing in the sand dunes
Hanging at the beach
Waiting tables (yeah, I used to like working!)

here´s where we eat breakfast...

we weren´t lying--here´s Snoop and Pharrell at the Maze (see when the kid runs down the alley) which was filmed at our hostel. All the favela scenes are where we are staying--check the view. (not the palace thing, the place with the crazy broken tile floor at the beginning..)

Rio--even the poor have a good view

Wow--its not any surprise that we love Brasil. The amazing thing is that our hostel, in a favela (shanty town) no less, was written about in Newsweek International this week. Congrats to Bob and his family for running a fantastic hotel!!!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/137488

An article about our place in Rio de Janeiro--yeah, we´re staying in the same place as Snoop Dogg--we know what´s up ;)

crazy, huh? we´ll post pics as soon as we get home to our camera cord, that I decided to leave in Atlanta. Meanwhile, here´s a pic of the second most famous favela in Rio, (not the one we´re in--I have better pics of that!) This is Rocinho:

Rain SUCKS>.....

Hello ALL,
WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A internet cafe in RIo and the weather is not cooperating. Rain rain rain since yesterday and we are getting tired of this crap. The good thing is the cafes are cheap and you can buy beer here....so you can unerstand where we have been all afternoon. Hope the USA is treating you guys good. |TSALK TO you soon.


g and J