Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are like Vancouver and Toronto or L.A. and New York. Both are big, beautiful, cities but one has the reputation of being exciting and the other of being a business hub. Rio with its beaches, mountains and rain forests is fun. Sao Paulo with its towering office buildings and Ave. Paulista does have a more professional feel. You notice the difference in simple things like all the Paulistas wear shoes, where as a lot of Cariocas wear flip-flops.
It would be a shame to be in Brazil for
six months and not visit Sao Paulo. So when a group of guys from the
Connection Rio house went for the Brasilieros, we tagged along. The
first two days were spent at the tournament watching the blue and
purple belts compete. At the end of the second day when everybody
was done competing and nobody had to make weight, we celebrated by
eating at an all you can eat pizza buffet. Some guys had been
“dieting” to make weight so this dinner was a big indulgence. We
all ate so much pizza, especially delicious dessert pizzas (Nutella
and ice cream, Nutella and white chocolate, banana/cinnamon and
condensed milk) that one guy had to throw-up when we got back to the
hostel.
The next day Mareen and I did some
sight seeing around the hostel and in central Sao Paulo. Batman
Alley with its murals/street-art seems to attract a strange mix of
tourists, locals, photographers, and models. Having travelled
around for a so long, I can't help but compare Batman Alley to places
like Valparaiso, which has murals and street-art throughout the
entire city. This was nice in its own respect, everything
concentrated to one easy to explore area.
A fellow Canadian told us about a tradition he has of applying a submission on statues whenever he travels to a competition. So while exploring downtown, we came across a park with lots of statues that were perfect for submission (armbars, kimura, chokes etc.). I went with an Americana on a statues. I know my technique is sloppy but the statue had some bird poo and spit on it, so I decided not to sprawl across it.
After a few nights of partying, Sunday
was going to be a slow and easy day. At least that was the plan but
Sunday was the big Pride parade in Sao Paulo. It is the biggest, if
not one of the biggest in the world. So, we joined a few people from
the hostel and went to the parade. I've never been to the pride
parade in Toronto and never thought that my first Pride experience
will be in Brazil. It wasn't as wild as I expected it would be.
Yes, there were a lot of costumes and provocative clothing and yes,
there were a lot of breasts visible, but not on females :) There were
also a surprising number of teenagers and families at the parade.
Well maybe my impression of the Pride parade is wrong or the one in
Toronto is a little more extreme!
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