Hey, my cable is STILL not working - São Paulo

More of my favorite electric and cable wire spider webs in São Paulo

Starting July 5, I am on vacation in San Francisco, California and my posts are pre-scheduled and short photo and captions. See you back on July 15!

Roadside Bar - Joanópolis

Here's my favorite roadside bar on the way back from the fazenda. Of course it hasn't been open in a few years but there is always potential, no?

Starting July 5, I am on vacation in San Francisco, California and my posts are pre-scheduled and short photo and captions. See you back on July 15!

Flying by the police - São Paulo

This news clipping is from the Folha de São Paulo and is about a crack user who is suspected of killing a college student at a party. It's from the "Cotidiano" or "Every Day" section of the São Paulo newspaper...a section my mom would call "Murder and Mayhem" much like the Metropolitan section of the NY Times used to be (and maybe still is).  Cotidiano is filled with robberies, murders, traffic jams, weather and other "every day" occurrences in the city.

In the second paragraph there is one of my favorite police-isms (sorry, give me a little grammatical license, okay?). It says that the suspect "já tem passagem pela polícia". The phrase means that the suspect already has a history with the police. He has a file. But since "passagem" is also an airline ticket, it always makes me think of the criminal 'flying by' the police station. And unfortunately, that is frequently the case. The Brazilian justice system means that anyone who has committed a crime with a penalty of fewer than four years does not even stop over in the police station. No prison. Robbery? Under 4 year penalty--out on the street. Most domestic abuse cases--under four years, out on the streets. Drug abuse? Under four years...out on the street. So to call it a "passagem" or fly-by is really quite accurate. The reason for this is mostly prison overcrowding--they save the choice long-term spots for the "serious" crimes--and yes, murder is one of them.

La Maquina Roja - Bridgeview, Illinois

Yesterday I took my kids and my parents to everyone's very first Major League Soccer (MLS) game. The Chicago Fire was playing the San Jose Earthquakes (a natural disaster face-off) at the Toyota Park in Bridgeview. The town is only about 20 minutes from my parents' house though it took a bit longer with rush hour traffic combined with people trying to get to Chicago's fireworks display. It always amuses my husband that we have fireworks on July 3 when the actual holiday is always July 4. Yes, we were promised fireworks after the game.

We were able to park in an actual parking lot. This as opposed to the usual park on the street and paying off the street guy in Brazil. Traffic was directed by portly cops. I had pre-paid parking so we just handed over the receipt, followed the gesticulating pony-tailed college kids (girls and boys) to our spot. And then passed by the tail gaters who had been there since 3 pm, charcoal grills and all. Does any country tail gate like the US?

The field is beautiful--red brick outside and modern and metal on the inside (open air). It is used only for soccer and is not an oval--the 30,000 capacity was about 70% full. We were in the fifth row practically on the goal line and I definitely could have touched  a soccer player or two. There was no line of policemen protecting the players looking constantly at the crowd. In fact, security in general was much different from Brazil. On entering the stadium, there were no patdowns (standard at all games in Brazil) and they took only a cursory glance at my small backpack filled with sweaters, and cherries (the boys do get hungry, you know). For a country terrified of terrorism, it certainly did not carry over to the Chicago Fire crowd.

We easily found our numbered seats and sat down just as the teams came on the field. The color guard came out with the US and Chicago flags, and then we got the obligatory wanna-be opera singer to do the national anthem. There are several differences from Brazil here. First of all my kids always want to know why they need to stand up and take off hats for the national anthem. Never mind that we stand up for the Brazil anthem--for some reason the US one is much more respectful. Second of all, the national anthem of the US is almost always sung live at sporting events (used to be an presidential inaugurations too). And it is almost always sung badly. Maybe we should follow Brazil's lead and have the anthem recorded and piped in. It would be less cringe-worthy then, I suppose. We have no second stanza to the the American anthem so we don't have any way of making a political protest as in the Confederations Cup when the crowd refused to stop singing the Brazil anthem after the first stanza. Our singers are usually bad enough that we are praying for relief at the end of the octave-and-a half torture.

Food and beer and drinks are all available at your seat. Mostly beer. I had to get up and go after hot dogs (only $2!! Okay, Polishes were $9 So were Corona, Dos Equis and Modelo beers. Rather an ethnic beer choice, no?) for the boys and also bottled water.  The concession worker unscrewed the bottle cap on the water and gave it to me. What? She explained that you cannot keep the bottle cap at Toyota Field as people throw them on the field when they hate a call. Hmmm. New one for me.  I passed quickly the doo-dads and clothing concession--they wanted $70 for a kid's jersey, and $27 for a scarf with "La Maquina Roja" on it.

Which brings me to La Maquina Roja or the Red Machine. This is the organized cheering section for the Fire. I had just said to my husband that I didn't know if there would be anything like the Mancha Verde, the huge cheering section for Palmeiras or the Gaviões da Fiel (Corinthians) or any of the many organized groups in Brazil. There was: La Maquina Roja. I was impressed. A section behind the goal which started around 50% full became 100% full by half time. They stood and sang the entire game. They did not bounce like in Brazil. They played the drums and strangely enough-- a trumpet. Also they played Yankee Doodle. And lots of songs from the 80s which were changed to include the Fiiiii-iire in the lyrics. I was very very entertained by them. They rolled out a large banner with every goal and shook flags from Chicago and the Fire. Good on them.

It was as entertaining as a soccer game can be for me (I'm not really such a fan). The Fire got three goals, the Earthquakes two. I missed one goal on a French fry run for Lalo, I missed another when we left a few minutes early to avoid the mess at the end. But I never really missed them because here they have a huge TV at one end of the field with all the replays.

We heard Spanish and English during the entire game with a possible bias towards English. The Mexican population is pretty large around Chicago and I was expecting more Spanish. All announcements on goals and player changes were first in English and then in Spanish.  It was a nice crowd--many women, many kids, no swearing that I heard. Nobody yelling insults at the players (from their own team or the other team--it always shocks me the "coaching" that Brazilians give their own team).  It is as different as you can imagine from Brazil.

Or not. The Fire Stadium was built by the last mayor Daley. He chose Bridgeview as the location of the stadium because he grew up in that working class area. Seems a little sketchy. But then I think that Mayor Daley was part Brazilian. He also decided he didn't like Meigs Field airport anymore and the state house was taking too long to act so he blew up the runways late one night. True story.

On the way out of the stadium, Purina gave out tennis balls and free kibble for our dogs. We skipped the kibble and the kids each got a tennis ball.  We saw the fireworks from the car. It was an incredibly pleasant way to spend an evening. I'll be back, Chicago! Go Fire!

La Maquina Roja - before the game. This section was full by the end of the game. And fun.

Service Plaza - Joanópolis

Here's the cheese shop we pass on our way back from the country house. As you can see, we are already on the main asphalted road...though as you can also see, it is pockmarked by the same goat-eating potholes as the dirt road. This small shop is a fairly recent addition on to our trip--I think it opened up around 4 years ago. And we never quite know when it will be open--some weekdays it is closed and some Sundays it is open. My son Nicolas starts clamoring to stop there for cheese when we near it from a mile in any direction.

On this particular day, we had two boys napping and didn't stop on our way to São Paulo. Usually we get some of the buffalo milk mozzarella and occasionally a coalhada (a sort of sour cream). There are some other cheeses there as well but my Brazilian husband is quite snobbish about cheese so they have not been deemed acceptable.

Note the Fusca or VW Beetle in the parking area. I swear those things are indestructible. There is also a public telephone called an orelhão or big ear (in yellow).

The Road Less Traveled - Joanópolis

Here's the view out the front of the our AWD car on the ride back from our rented country house in Joanopolis. I mention the AWD because you're really going to want to have one if you ever visit us there. Unless you feel lucky. This photo is from about 5 minutes down the gravel and dirt road, and before things start to get hairy. As in lumps and bumps and holes that have swallowed small goats.

The dirt road from the fazenda (ranch) house to the asphalted main road to Joanopolis is 27 km. On one side there is pretty much a constant wall of earth, frequently topped by rows of eucalyptus trees. The other side generally has a sharp drop-off to lower fields and farms. The turns are hairpin and the source of constant terror to me as we frequently meet enormous flatbed trucks carrying huge tree trunks.  On my last solo trip to the fazenda (not a trip I relish--3 hours with two crabby boys) I was stuck for 15 minutes as two tree trucks met and had to maneuver carefully past each other by shutting side view mirrors and clearing an electric pole by one inch. I closed my eyes as one truck leaned precariously to one side--the side with the free fall drop 70 feet to certain death.

Not all cars are four-wheel drive. The most common car on the dirt and asphalt roads of Joanopolis is the Fusca, or the VW Beetle. Old, creeky, rusty, marvelous. I say marvelous as they seem to be able to get through the muddy season swamp and the dry season ruts. There are so many Fuscas in Joanopolis that I often refer to it as "Fuscopolis"--my record on one trip through town was sighting  52 Fuscas (in a town of 12,000 people, that's pretty impressive in an afternoon).

During the rainy season, the roads are awash with mud, and there have been minor landslides in the area. Especially where neighbors have cut the eucalyptus. Friends have gotten their small Peugeut stuck--a friendly local truck driver helped them push it out. A couple of friends have simply not shown up when they turn back. One spent the night in his car when he got stuck late at night. Since there is no phone service or cell phone service at the ranch, we have to just assume the best. Yes, we are Brazilian--we assume the best.

This looks like Brazil - Coloma, Michigan

According to my son Nico (age 6), this looks like Brazil. This is a McDonald's in Coloma, Michigan (road trip emergency stop). Not sure what to do with that information. 

In his eyes.