1/3
Arrived in Sao Paulo at 11am and greeted by Lorena and
Christine (Lorena’s mom). Always so
great to have someone at the airport to pick you up, especially in a city
you’re unfamiliar with. As a little
background, Lorena and I met back in 2011 when we were both living in
Barcelona. We met in the gym at our
residencia, got to be pretty good friends and stayed in touch for 5+
years. I had also met Christine while
she was visiting Barcelona so I think that made her more comfortable to let me
stay with their family. Christine headed
back to Santos and Lorena and I went to a friend’s apartment in Sao Paulo.
She has a swimsuit line and had a small event in the city at
night. I went for a bit but after the
16+ hours of travel I headed back early and went to sleep.
1/4
Lorena, Luiza and I went to breakfast together then Lorena
and I spent the day driving around SP delivering bikinis and checking out a few
different neighborhoods. Later in the
day, Lorena and I headed to Santos, a beach town about 1.5 hours from SP. Lorena’s family lives in an apartment on the
beach so the view was pretty amazing.
1/5
Lorena and I woke up and headed to Tijcopaea, where Lorena’s
grandfather has a beach house in a very exclusive area – we’re talking the
Hamptons of Brazil. The house is this
cute little yellow building with an outdoor pool and about 50 feet from the
water. Unfortunately the family was
renting the house in February so we couldn’t go in, but we walked down the
beach and looked at all the amazing properties.
At the far end of the property there was a small restaurant and a small
waterfall to walk through.
Heading back to Santos, we stopped to get acai at D'Boa
(18BRL/~5USD), a sushi restaurant that serves the most amazing fruit smoothie
dish.
At night we went to Cinza, a new bar in Santos that Lorena’s
friend runs. It was pretty uncomfortable
for me because most people didn’t speak much English and I felt bad making them
struggle through what they do know.
Later in the night I met a few people who spoke fluently so that made
things much easier.
1/6
In the morning Lorena and I went to the gym (50BRL/$14USD) and
I got a pretty good workout in. After
that we went to the beach at Canal 3. Even though Lorena lives near Canal 1 she
prefers to go to the beach further down because she thinks the
atmosphere/people are better there. I
don’t really care either way – just happy to be by the water. She also doesn’t go in the water because she
says it’s polluted but again, I don’t really care.
At the beach they have food carts where they sell pastels
and cha mate (pineapple/lemon tea) for 5BRL each. When we got back from the beach, Lorena’s
mother and housekeeper had prepared a traditional Brazilian lunch – brisket,
rice, beans and farofa.
Later in the day the whole family and I went to dinner at
the Ibis Hotel. The restaurant, Mercury,
had an Italian night which turned out to be pretty loud and the food wasn’t
great, I felt pretty bad for Christine because everyone was being a little rude
about her restaurant choice but I made sure to know I was grateful regardless.
1/7
After breakfast at Lorena’s house (which always includes scrambled
eggs, toast, fruit and fresh squeezed juice), Lorena and I picked up Luisa and
headed to her mother’s home in Boicucanga (Rua Hilariao Crisologo de Mattos,
113 – Boicucanga, Sao Sebastiao, SP). The
house was “simple” as Lorena put it but very cute. Bright white with blue trim and a blue picket
fence with bougainvillea hanging from the top.
The best part – a three minute walk to the beach.
We spent some time at the beach but I wasn’t feeling well so
I headed back to Luisa’s. Memories of
how ill I was in Southeast Asia always get me a little concerned but so far no
serious problems, I think in part because I’m pretty careful about what I
eat/drink and the daily probiotic use.
We got ready for the small town’s Carnaval festivities and
headed to the town square. Men were
dresses as women and women as men, and everyone was throwing confetti and
spaying foam canisters everywhere. It
started to rain pretty heavily but nobody cared. The party followed a big truck that was
playing music, and we walked through the town and down to the beach where
everyone jumped in the water. The waves
were pretty intense and I had been drinking so I opted out. The party continued pretty late into the
night but we turned in a little early.
1/8
After breakfast and thanking the family for letting us stay
there for the night, Lorena, Luisa and I packed up and headed to Barra Do Sahy
(the islands). We took a boat to a
nearby island (100 BRL for the three of us) and lounged on the beach. We also explored some nearby rocks and a
little underestimating of how strong the waves would be got us in an
unfortunate situation. Video available upon request :)
We headed to Gulero (in Juguehy) for lunch where I had filet
mignon w/ farofa, squash and rice. The
drive back was a little brutal, taking over four hours because of pretty heavy
traffic. Had a great time with the girls
though.
1/9
After sleeping in and getting some grad school apps done,
Lorena’s family and I headed to a BBQ spot for lunch. The restaurant is run but a friend of
Lorena’s and the food was very good.
Starter was spiced onions in olive oil that you eat with French bread –
so good.
Later that night Lorena headed to Cinza to meet some friends
and I went to a different, local hangout spot with Luisa for caipirinhas. I tried bolina de bacalau, which is a pretty
popular fried fish ball here. It was not
my favorite dish but I don’t like seafood so that was expected.
1/10
In the late morning Lorena and I headed to the beach to meet
a few of her friends. My gringa skin did
not need any more sun so I stayed in the shade for the majority of the time. In the afternoon Christine and Eduardo (Lorena’s
brother) took me to the mall to do some shopping. When we got back at 8pm Lorena was feeling
pretty bad so she went to the doctor, turns out she had a bacterial infection
and wouldn’t be able to make it to Rio.
I had a pizza dinner with Eduardo and Lorena’s dad.
It was a very interesting experience staying with Lorena's family and I am extremely grateful for their hospitality. As I was preparing to leave, Christine said that she would miss me because I was always smiling. Got me thinking about how differently People's perceptions of you can be - maybe need to do some reflecting as to why my friends and family back home probably wouldn't describe me as the same.
