Mardi Gras 2012

In Brazil, the entire country shuts down for Carnaval/ Mardi Gras.  To the best of my knowledge, only a select part of our great country truly celebrates Mardi Gras. The area includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama- centered around the central party area of New Orleans.  Well, since I live in North Carolina, I guess I better make my way down there.  

On board for the trip

Kristi Spartz, Meggan Lytle, Lindsey Shaw, and risen from the dead, you know him from the road trip, the legendary driver, Allen Bradley.

I attended Mardi Gras last year, and vowed to go every year until I died.  Mardi Gras weekend runs from Friday until Fat Tuesday. Last year I arrived on Saturday afternoon- just in time to get stuck in the incoming traffic.  This year, the plan was to arrive on Friday afternoon.  The drive is about 12 hours, so in order to arrive on Friday afternoon, looks like we're leaving on Thursday night at midnight.  Allen took the wheel in Marion and drove us all the way to New Orleans.  The girls slept in the back, while I stayed awake the whole time and guided us there.

To get from North Carolina to Louisiana, you get the privilege of driving through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  These states are awful to drive through- nothing along the route to New Orleans is in the least bit exciting, but hey, at least everyone in Alabama drives fast.

The only way to describe Mardi Gras is pure chaos.  I'm not exactly sure how things operate in New Orleans during regular business hours, but from Friday afternoon until Tuesday night, it's a madhouse.  The streets are packed from noon until the wee hours of the morning.  Parades start on Saturday and increase exponentially until Fat Tuesday when they start in the morning and end around 10 pm.  The protocol for Mardi Gras is basically wandering around in the afternoon, laying low in the late afternoon and spending some time in the casino and then getting back to the streets for the night shift.  If you have time to eat or sleep, that's great. 

Some observations from Mardi Gras.  

1.  The only rule of Mardi Gras is that you can't pee on the streets.  This may seem pretty mundane, but I have seen more arrests for public urination than anything else.  Other than that, anything else goes.  I have seen some cops shrug off some pretty crazy stuff.  

2.  There aren't open container laws on the streets.  I have seen (but wouldn't recommend) people walking around with entire bottles of liquor and cases of beer on Bourbon St.  If that isn't your thing, a cold 24 oz brew is pretty nice.  

3.  Bourbon St. is the place to be.  Our hotel was conveniently located 2 blocks from the start of Bourbon.  I have seen estimations that the 2012 attendance was anywhere from 350,000 to close to a million people.  A mil might be pushing it, but I would believe half a mil.  

4.  While most people protesting these days claim to be part of the 99%, a very small group of people were actually protesting on Bourbon St.  I have no doubt that they had good intentions but are we sure this was worth their time?  I mean, you don't see people going to the Super Bowl to protest football.  My guess is, their message did not reach very many people.  

    

5.  Many people wear costumes on the streets.  This guy definitely had the best one.

6.  This guy was pretty cool, too.  Not only could he sing, but he played the bango, the drums, and the harmonica.... all at the same time.

7.  You gotta feel for the city and what they have been through.  If you drive in from the east, you take a bridge right into the city.  From the bridge, you can see the outskirts of the city where houses are completely abandoned.  You can spot moss and grass growing on the rooftops from the aftermath of Katrina.  Some of these houses were almost completely underwater.  The fact that New Orleans can still host a couple hundred thousand people a few years removed from the hurricane is unreal.  

8.  The Gulf Coast region is certainly not the prettiest region in the country, but the city of New Orleans is pretty cool.  The Mississippi River runs right through it, the downtown area is nice, and the European influence can be seen in the French Quarter.  

The Mississippi River

Downtown

A street in the French Quarter

9.  The Parades are fun, but after about the 25th one, you have seen enough.  On Fat Tuesday, the parades run all day.  This is fun and all, until you have to wait 30 minutes for a break in the parade to cross the street, or you get hit by something thrown from a float.  On the floats, people are throwing beads and other itmes to the crowd on the street, and the goal is to get the most beads.  Most people would just catch as many beads as possible with their hands.  The ladies below took it a step further.  

Turn your umbrella inside out and catch as many beads as possible.  

If the umbrella isn't your thing, try the net.

10.  At midnight on Fat Tuesday, and literally, exactly at midnight, the cops align at the beginning of Bourbon St. and attempt to stop the madness.  The blue lights come on and a row of cops on horses as wide as the street slowly make their way through the crowd to break up everything.  It is the unofficial, abrupt end to Mardi Gras, but hey, if you have anything left in the tank by Tuesday at midnight, you're a better man than I am.  

If you were wondering about my casino adventures, I have no good stories for you- I'll admit I lost a few bucks.  However, my 2nd trip to Las Vegas might entertain you, but hey, we'll talk about that one later.    

RIP JHW 3

  

Brazil Part 3- 21 things in Sao Paulo

Check out the first posts from Brazil in Atibaia and the beach if you missed them.


If you don't know the whole story about my reasons for visiting Brazil, my family hosted an exchange student, Fabio, while I was in high school.  Some 6 years after high school, Rachel and I decide to visit his family.  After a week staying at his parent's place and then the beach, it was on to Sao Paulo to stay for the last 6 days.  Sao Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil, and one of the biggest cities in the world.


For a refresher....


Fabio- Our exchange student
Gustavo- Fabio's brother who was also an exchange student at McDowell High School
Denise-  Their mother
Carlos-  Their father  

Rachel and I stayed at Fabio and Gustavo's apartment in Sao Paulo for the last 6 nights before flying home after a 2 week visit in Brazil.  I can't thank their family enough for taking us in like we were part of their family.  When we were picking an exchange student, we just read people's profiles, saw pictures and had to pick from that.  We picked a complete stranger from Brazil to live with us for a year, and it couldn't have worked out better with Fabio.  We will forever have a connection with a great family.  It was a hell of a trip guys.    


To recap Sao Paulo- and of course, to celebrate the beautiful game of blackjack, since Brazil doesn't have casinos- here are 21 stories, people, places, and ideas (Ways of life, customs, etc.) in Sao Paulo.  In no particular order......

1.  Arriving in Sao Paulo

We left the beach right after their lunch/ senior citizen dinner at 5 pm to head to Sao Paulo that night.  After a 2 hour drive, we arrived in Sao Paulo and began wandering through the massive city.  When we pulled up to a red light, my window was down, and I was checking out the city/ people watching.  Fabio was driving, and told me, "Hey man, you should probably roll up your window."  At first I didn't really know what to think, but begrudgingly rolled up my window.  I then asked, "Why should I roll up my window?"  

"Because it isn't safe."  Oooohhhh.  Come to find out, especially at night, people are known to ride up on bikes and reach into cars and steal stuff..... at redlights!  Approximately 20 minutes into experiencing Sao Paulo and I'm already scared.  Oh gosh.


2.  The View from the Apartment

We got to Sao Paulo at night and first stopped by their apartment.  It was on the 25th floor, but at night, you don't really think about this.  We stayed out all night and luckily, woke up the next afternoon, in their apartment, on the 25th floor.  I walked out on to the balcony, enjoyed the view, and then went to take a shower.  Instead of fans in the bathroom, why not just open the window while showering.  If the window is open, you might as well enjoy the view, right?  

The View from the Balcony

The View from the Shower

3.  The Italian House

One afternoon, the Lemos family took us to a building with almost a 360 degree view of the city of Sao Paulo.  I alway stress the importance of getting to a high point in a city and checking out the vantage point.  The bigger the city, usually the better the view.  It was super windy this day and a storm was on the horizon; even better for viewing.  You could see the storm approaching, and tell throughout the city where is was raining, and even where it was sunny.  

4.  The Big-Ass Apartment Building
Right near the Italian house, there was this massive, strange shaped building beside it.  It was apartment complex that had over 1,100 apartments and housed over 5,000 people.  Over half of my hometown of Marion would fit in this building….. and this building took up one block in the city of Sao Paulo.

5.  Art Museum

We checked out an art museum while in Sao Paulo.  I'm not one to go to an art museum and spend all day there, but I enjoy going through and checking out a few cool pieces of art.    I don't think we followed the "Art Museum Etiquette." Fabio was told twice to put his phone on silent after it rang loudly in one of the galleries.  Gustavo was told to step back after crossing the line drawn on the floor near the pictures to keep people from touching the art.  Rachel was told to not take pictures in one room.  By the end, there were two people following us around the art museum to make sure we didn't screw up.  


On a random/ semi-ticked off rant, I love how, if a normal person throws a bunch of random colors or designs on a piece of paper, you get laughed at and it's a joke.  But if a respected artist does it, it's "abstract" art.  


"Excuse me sir, it looks as if your 4 year old son ate paint and then spit it onto the drawing."
"Ma'am, it's called abstract art."
"Oh, I'm so sorry sir, I thought I was mistaken, here is that $500,000 you wanted for that painting."   

And then this guy had an entire gallery of paintings.  Each was of the same person..... himself.  

6.  No Driving After 5

We had talked about checking out the art museum one afternoon while we were out and about.  This was a few minutes past 4 o'clock and we decided we would drive over to the art museum and then back to Fabio and Gustavo's apartment.  On the way there, Denise realized, oh no, we can't drive past 5 o'clock.  "It is going to rain really hard, or will traffic be awful then?", I thought.  No.  Come to find out, they legally weren't able to drive past 5.  This is done in an effort to reduce traffic on the streets and to encourage people to use other means of transportation, like teleportation.  It went by the last number on the license plate of your car, so for example 1s and 2s couldn't drive on Monday evenings, and 3s and 4s couldn't drive on Tuesday evenings.  And apparently, if you like driving, this isn't something to try and get away with.  This lead us to....


7.  The Insane Subway  


Denise dropped us off at the museum and we decided to take the subway home.  We either made it into the subway station at rush hour, or there was a riot happening on the other side of the city and everyone was rushing to get there.  In the station, we ended up on the wrong side of the hallway and tried to get across to go a different direction.  This was clearly not happening.  We couldn't hardly move and had to walk forward with the crowd about 100 yards just to get to the other side of the hallway.  I have never seen anything like this in my life.  The pictures were taken very quickly from my iPhone in an attempt to not get killed by the oncoming people.    

8.  Corinthians Game

Like how Canadians love soccer and Americans love fast food, Brazilians love soccer!  A trip to Brazil wouldn't be complete without going to a soccer game in Sao Paulo.  There are 4 top level soccer clubs in Brazil, and we went to watch their favorite team, Corinthians!!! We showed up to the stadium an hour or so before the game and watched warmups in the meantime.  As people began piling in, there were clear distinctions to where everyone sat.  Since this was Corinthians home stadium, the visiting team's fans sat on the far side in the corner.  The semi-serious fans sat in one section, the fans who didn't attend every game sat in the middle section (this included our group) and the die-hard fans who- chanted the entire game/ missed a game under no circumstances/ went into a depression if their team lost- sat in another section.  They started chanting and cheering right before kick-off and didn't stop until the final whistle.  This place was crazy!  If you don't really like soccer, you can't appreciate going to a soccer game that ends up in a 1-0 victory, but the one goal Corinithans scored brought down the house.  I have to go back for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  

  

9.  Soccer Museum

A few days before the game, right near Corinithans stadium, we stopped by the Sao Paulo soccer museum.  In here, you got a glimpse of how big soccer is in Brazil.  It takes about an hour and a half to go through and each room was devoted to a different aspect of the game.  For example, one room was dedicated to the top 25 Brazilian soccer players of all time.  Another room had displays for every World Cup.  The museum was legit, and it just had so much history there with all the talent that Brazil has produced.  You could also try and score against a virtual goalie by kicking a ball at a massive computer screen.  This seems unsafe to do to your actual computer screen, so don't try this at home.  No pictures allowed inside, so use your imagination for this one.




10.  Going to a movie theater in Brazil

After almost catching the sunrise the night before, what better way to lay low for a night than to go watch a movie.  We ended up watching "The Help".  This was not in the top 5 of current movies that I wanted to see, but since the others were sold out, what the hell.  We approached the ticket counter and ordered our tickets.  After this, the lady working the counter asked where we wanted to sit.  She then showed us a map of the inside of the theater, and we were able to pick our seats from what was available.  Our tickets then printed and we sat in numbered seats in the theater.  I don't know what movie theater you go to, but I have never sat in one with assigned seats.  


Since Brazilians speak Portuguese and the movie is American, the movie had subtitles at the bottom.  I asked Fabio and Gustavo if they could understand the movie.  They said parts of it, but they had to look down at the subtitles sometimes to tell what was going on.  To their credit, the movie is set in the south, and southerners aren't known for being the easiest group of people to understand.   

11.  Villa Mix and VIP

On our first night in Sao Paulo, we decided to go to a night club, Villa Mix.  First of all, I have never seen this many good looking women in one place.  Second of all, we ended up in VIP section, again.  Gustavo somehow knew someone who knew someone, and before I know it, our group of about 10 people were in the VIP section.  Drinks were like 18 bucks, the band was awesome, and I had a damn good time.  Even Denise came out with us for an hour or two.  We stayed until the wee hours of the night, leading us to...

12.  Burger Joint at 5:30 AM

Fabio and his cousin Victor tell me that we have to go this awesome burger place, yes, at 5:30 AM.  This bacon cheeseburger was exactly what you expect food to be at this hour- awesome, greasy, filling, messy.    (Unless, of course, you are eating breakfast to start the day)  What really got me, was how, after going in and sitting down, I realized that not only was this place packed, but people were still filing in.  We left a little after 6, and people were still stumbling in.  In fact, the burger was so awesome that we came back a few days later, but this time at about 3 am.  

At 5:30 in the morning

Since we started talking about food....


13.  Bologna Sandwiches

After taking a tour of Sao Paulo one afternoon, we stopped in at a market place for their famous bologna sandwiches.  I have had plenty of bologna sandwiches before- take one or two pieces of bologna out of the package, possibly add cheese, and have at it.  A decent sandwich, but nothing to brag about.  What was that, you don't like bologna sandwiches?  Well check this out for a bologna sandwich.  

14.  A Brazilian Hot Dog

While we were watching a group of singers and dancers practice for Carnaval (See below), I was hungry.  "What are my options for food around here?", I asked.  "They have hotdogs downstairs."  "Ok, well I don't care what the other options are, where is the hot dog stand?"  I walked down to scope it out, and everything was pretty standard for a hot dog stand- until they handed me the hot dog and directed me towards the toppings.  I hadn't but any thought about what to put on a Brazilian hot dog prior to this point.  I went through the toppings, picked every topping that I liked, regardless of whether it would go good on a hot dog.  I ended up with mashed potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup and mustard on my hot dog.  This may sound like a strange assortment of toppings, but believe it or not, it was pretty good.

15.  Fogo de Chao


Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian steakhouse.  We all know how American steakhouses work.  A Brazilian steakhouse operates a little differently.

First, you don't order from a menu.  There is a loaded salad bar and then 12 different types of meats.  The different cuts of meat are cooked in a special room on huge metal cooking rods.  Once they are finished, a server takes the finished meat, still on the cooking rod, and walks around the restaurant, offering it to each table.  You can take as much of one cut as you want, or pass and wait for the next meat.  They had chicken and lamb, as well as about every cut of meat from a cow that you could want.

Each person starts with a two sided card beside them at the table.  One side is red and says, "No, thanks."  The other side is green and says, "Yes, please."  The card starts on red, and you can enjoy the salad bar or whatever else before the festivities begin.  Once that card is turned over to green, every server walking by offers you whatever cut of meat that they happen to have.  As long as that magical card is on the green side, the food doesn't stop coming. 


This meal was great and all, except for the fact that we ate Fogo de Chao for lunch and still had to carry on with the rest of our day afterwards.  By the end of the meal and before we even left the restaurant, my head was on the table, I was moaning, and there might have been drool coming out of the side of my mouth.  I felt as if I had ran a marathon.  

The cooking room

16.  McDonalds at the airport before the flight home

Our flight home left Sao Paulo at 1 am in the morning.  At 11 pm, after going through check-in at the airport, the only option for food was McDonalds.  I don't like to eat American food on trips, but what the hell, I don't plan on starving.  I ordered a Big Tasty.  I'm not really sure what's on a Big Tasty- meat, some random sauce, cheese- but it's not important.  I ordered it, sat down to eat, and realized that it was very cold.  I walked back to complain and requested another.  They hand me another and I walk back to the table to take a bite.  The 2nd burger is also cold.  I return and request a third burger.  The hand me one, apologize, and watch as I take a bite out of the burger at the counter.  This one was only lukewarm, but after 3 burgers, I figured this might be the best one I get.  I scarfed it down before heading off to the airplane.  Don't trust McDonalds in foreign countries.  Bob Kelley will be hearing about this.  

17.  Tour of Sao Paulo

How can you see one of the biggest cities in the world in 6 days?  You can't!  That's why they have tours.  We hopped on board for one that took our whole group- myself, Rachel, Fabio, Gustavo, Denise, Carlos, their cousin Victor, and one of Denise's good friends, who somehow became to be known as Turtle.  We got to see all around the city of Sao Paulo…. in the rain.  At least we only caught one bad day of rain on a 2 week trip.  The tour came complete with our own personal tour guide and our own bus for the day.  

Memorial for Brazilian Independence

L-R Gustavo, Victor, Carlos, me, Fabio, Denise, Rachel and Turtle

The Pope visited this spot

Empire State Building in Brazil

18.  Visiting an Old Friend- Gui

When Fabio was an exchange student with my family, a good friend of mine, Paul Limone, also hosted a Brazilian exchange student, Gui.  Gui became food friends with Fabio and our family throughout their year in McDowell.  Gui also lives in Sao Paulo, so I got a hold of him through Facebook and he met up with all of us one night.  We were all of age so we legally enjoyed a beer together.  Good to see an old friend.

It just so happened to be Paul's birthday the night I was hanging out with Gui, and we thought we would try and get a hold of him.  Paul's friends back in Raleigh were throwing a party for him, and we found someone with an iPhone there. I got online through the Wifi at the bar on my iPone, and talked to Paul and a bunch of friends at the party through Facetime.  They could see us, we could see them, and we could talk. Oh yea, this happened from Brazil.  Technology man, technology.   

Gui on the far left, along with a few of Fabio and Gustavo's friends

19.  Paulista Avenue/ Bullet Proof Cars  


Paulista Avenue is one of the most well-known streets in Brazil, and space on the this street is very coveted.  The buildings are all very modern and the street is located in one of the nicer areas of town.  With nicer areas, comes nicer cars.  In Brazil, if you have a nice car, you might want to protect this car.  So, go ahead and buy extra insurance.  Ok, that wasn't the case..... these nicer cars had bullet-proof windows.  After spending a week in Sao Paulo, it seemed unlikely that bullet-proof glass was necessary in everyday life.  But what the hell, if you drive a $100,000 car in a city filled with a lot of people living in poverty, maybe you should protect this car a little bit.

20.  Carnaval Practice

Brazilian Carnaval= Mardi Gras.  Except, instead of part of the country taking time off and raging, (Anywhere near New Orleans) the entire country of Brazil shuts down for a week so everyone can party.  Really, school is canceled and everything.  

During the celebration of Carnaval, there are huge, highly competitive competitions between groups- complete with a band, singers, and dancers.  Carnaval was about 4 weeks away at this time, and we were fortunate enough to see one group practice.  We go to the area where the group was practicing, to find that there was an entrance fee to get in.  That is, if you don't anyone important inside.  Gustavo calls one of his friends who gets us in.  His friend talks to us for a few minutes and then the next thing I know, he is being interviewed by a television crew.  Fabio tells me that the television station is one of the biggest in Sao Paulo.  "Hey Gustavo, how do you know that guy?", I ask him.  "Ah man, I don't know, he is one of my friends." 

Okay, so after Gustavo's friend gets us in, we pay a few bucks to get on to the balcony of the building, or to make it sound better, the VIP section.  We had a good view of the street and all the festivities.  The band starts singing, and then keeps singing the same song that repeats every 2 minutes…. for about 45 minutes.  Hundreds of people are doing a choreographed dance during the song that is supervised by group leaders.  After this 45 minute rehearsal, the drum line took a 30 minute break and then did another 45 minute rehearsal while all the bystanders were invited on to the street to dance.        

21.  The Legend of the Guy in the Orange Shirt

My favorite person from the Carnaval practice was the Legend of the guy in the orange shirt.  As I'm watching all of this dancing from the balcony, I spot an older gentleman in a bright orange shirt dancing and having the time of his life.  He looked very out of place and at one point, I thought security was going to escort him away because he wasn't supposed to be out dancing with everyone else.  Come to find out, he was just a part of the group and was doing his part.  He may not have been the best dancer out there, but he was having the best time.  

                       Carnaval Practice

                    The Legend of the Guy in Orange Shirt


RIP JHW 3