Friday, August 26, 2005
´Like Everything in Brazil, the girls get in for free, the guys pay 10 Reals´
...so, due to creative differences Em & I will be posting our own blog entries ;) Here we go...Sao Paulo - first impressions : big, polluted, dirty, street poverty, congestion, policemen with shotguns. I remember GCSE geograpy case studies about urban growth and development issues (shanty towns or favellas) and it´s all here. As Em said, the architecture is a lot influenced by 60´s-70´s high rise. Apartment living seems to be the norm here. 
Everyone drives everywhere it seems, and the smog, pollution and jams are pretty shocking. There´s a political scandal going down at the moment, as far as I can make out, it´s to do with President Lula´s ruling party receiving a large contribution (´pocket money´) from a business sponsor but the money´s from an undisclosed source. Corruption seems to be the norm here, whether it´s bribing a military policeman or in politics. The Brazilians themselves don´t seem to have the will or the means to sort out the corruption issues...life goes on as usual and after all there´s always Carnival!!! These guys really know how to party, and the people here are so friendly. Paty introduced us to her friends and family and they are all so generous, warm and laugh a lot - there´s a real ´joie de vivre´ here. Culturally, this place really reminds me of Europe but so much friendlier.
We went to a Brazilian carvery - kind of cheesy but so much meat. There´s a `yes please / no thank you´sign on the table, and when it´s set to ´yes please´ the meat just keeps coming. They carve it at the table - so much meat. 18 reals (10 Aus dollars) for as much as you can eat. Em loved it as they kept sticking slabs of meat in her face.
...oh one more thing, the sewage system isn´t that great here so toilet paper doesn´t get flushed (there´s a bin next to the toilet) :o Em says this is the norm in a lot of countries but as I haven´t travelled that much seems a bit unusual to me !
Tchau Tchau
Pete
Everyone drives everywhere it seems, and the smog, pollution and jams are pretty shocking. There´s a political scandal going down at the moment, as far as I can make out, it´s to do with President Lula´s ruling party receiving a large contribution (´pocket money´) from a business sponsor but the money´s from an undisclosed source. Corruption seems to be the norm here, whether it´s bribing a military policeman or in politics. The Brazilians themselves don´t seem to have the will or the means to sort out the corruption issues...life goes on as usual and after all there´s always Carnival!!! These guys really know how to party, and the people here are so friendly. Paty introduced us to her friends and family and they are all so generous, warm and laugh a lot - there´s a real ´joie de vivre´ here. Culturally, this place really reminds me of Europe but so much friendlier.
We went to a Brazilian carvery - kind of cheesy but so much meat. There´s a `yes please / no thank you´sign on the table, and when it´s set to ´yes please´ the meat just keeps coming. They carve it at the table - so much meat. 18 reals (10 Aus dollars) for as much as you can eat. Em loved it as they kept sticking slabs of meat in her face.
...oh one more thing, the sewage system isn´t that great here so toilet paper doesn´t get flushed (there´s a bin next to the toilet) :o Em says this is the norm in a lot of countries but as I haven´t travelled that much seems a bit unusual to me !
Tchau Tchau
Pete
# posted by Pete @ 3:57 PM 
