Reblog, "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

I know everyone in the Brazil blogger circuit knows prices are crazy here but for my family and friends back home I just want to remind you every day how lucky you are to have inexpensive goods at your disposal. I love living in Brazil and feel very lucky for the experience but I am afraid sometimes we worry about being priced-out. My friends in more expat friendly neighborhoods are enduring the pain of landlords asking for double if they would like to stay and sign another lease. Renting an apartment that isn't falling apart or off in some area way outside the city for under $US1600/month is impossible. For the lucky ones that found deals early on and signed 30 month leases, we are literally scared waiting for the renewal ticking clock. Our good friends Suzanna and Jeff over at "Rooted Journeys," just wrote a great post after having lunch at a little sandwich spot in Jardins. No fru fru just a sandwich and a coke = us$26.00 Our neighborhood padaria (bakery) made new menus and you know what that means. Charging us$12.00 for a chicken sandwich with cheese and tomato (no free sides EVER) was way too cheap. Now its $18.


Rooted Journey's "Coming to Visit? Bring an Extra Suitcase."

I’ve officially been demoted from Rooted Journeys co-author to guest contributor. Not because Suzanna said so (she never did), but because it turns out I’m just not very good at motivating myself to actually sit down and write something. But here I am, so vamos-lá.

Generally speaking, it seems that many Americans view Brazil as a chaotic tropical wonderland – think Carnaval, string bikinis, palm trees, samba dancing, bossa nova, favelas, drug lords…you know, all the fun stuff.  In reality, one of the most defining features of Brazil as an expat in São Paulo is simply how ridiculously expensive it is. No matter how much you try to stop talking about it, and even more importantly, try to stop converting prices into dollars, it just won’t fade into the background as a simple fact of life. For those of us living it, it’s like a permanent fat lip – the moment you think it’s healing, you bite it again and want to take out your aggression on the old lady walking too slow on the street in front of you. That’s right, it makes you want to push an old lady. It’s that ridiculous.  Although, just for the record, I would never actually push an old lady.  And the prices here are worse than a fat lip.  Maybe that wasn’t quite the right metaphor, but there’s no turning back now.  Let’s keep moving.

A couple of recent articles have highlighted some of the effects of this charming Brazilian reality.  The cover story a few weeks ago for Veja (a popular weekly magazine in Brazil) was titled Pague Um, Leve Dois, Tres, Quatro…. English translation: Pay for One, Get Two, Three, Four.  The lead-off explains further (translated): “The favorable exchange rate alone does not explain the low prices that mesmerize Brazilians who shop in the United States.”  To drive home the title, the article cites the happy fact that the cost of an iPhone in Brazil is the highest in the world, leaving shelves for $1,650 (USD equivalent) in Brazil.  In the US, the same unlocked iPhone 4S (32GB) goes for $815.  That puts it at just over double the price for us lucky brasileiros.  But why stop there, it gets better!  Asics sneakers that go for around $200 in the US? A cool $457 in the equivalent Brazilian play money.  That’s 2.3 times the price.  A PlayStation 3 goes for 2.8 times the price.  Calvin Klein jeans are 3 times the price and a Guess handbag tops it off at 3.8 times the price.  Go Brazil!

These are just random examples, but they do give an indication of general price levels.  Not everything comes in at double the price, but it’s fair to say that São Paulo has justly earned its ranking as the 10^thmost expensive city in the world for expats and the most expensive in the Americas (Mercer Survey).  So, you may ask “why”, which we ask ourselves constantly. Of course there is no simple explanation, though the Veja article presents a pretty reasonable set of factors.  Here’s a summary:

• Exchange Rate – the Brazilian Real (currency) is about 25% stronger against the dollar than its long-term average making goods more expensive accordingly, especially imports.
• Demand – quite simply, growing demand is outstripping the country’s productive supply capacity. High demand + low supply = high prices.
• Tax Burden – the Brazilian tax burden is 36% on average versus around 25% in the US.  The difference is even greater when considering additional taxes on goods Brazil classifies as “superfluous.”  Plus, Brazilian import taxes are triple what they are in the US.
• Inflation – while the days of hyper-inflation have passed (hopefully for good), inflation is still significant and widens the price gap over time (6.5% inflation in Brazil last year versus 2% in the US)
• Competition – as a matter of policy, the US government prioritizes competition over protectionism and Brazil vice-versa.  For example, whereas the US government made cheap credit available to US auto-makers to help them become more competitive with cheaper Asian imports, Brazil has chosen to simply elevate import taxes to artificially raise prices of the foreign competition.
• Economies of Scale – US companies generally focus on selling more at a lower margin whereas Brazilian companies tend to focus on a small market at a high margin
• Productivity – it’s just not rising fast enough relative to labor costs (due to low unemployment, a lack of qualified labor, insufficient investment, etc.)

The result?  Prices that make your eyes pop and a growing class of Brazilian consumers that have become America’s big-spenders.  It’s no wonder so many Brazilians take annual shopping trips to Miami and New York – they easily recoup the cost of the trip in savings on their purchases.  Brazilians now spend more in the US than visitors from any other country – on average, $5,400 per person per trip in 2010 (article).  Japanese tourists came in far behind at number two with $4,300 in spending per person.  So next time you see people filling up suitcases with stuff in the mall, try a warm bem-vindo.  Good chance they’re our neighbors.

So, please have some patience when you hear us (constantly) complaining about the prices here and be generous with your suitcase space when you come to visit – we’ll be filling it up.

PS – I  had a coke and a nice sandwich for lunch today (filet, brie, arugula).  No fries or chips or any extras.  The tab was R$45.  That’s about $26.  For a sandwich.

Like

my first novela run

is over. Small tear.

(tatatosatt.blogspot.com)

Just finished the finale of "Finas Estampa," the 9pm Novela that began back in August and ended this weekend. There were moments (loooong moments) where I didn't miss an episode (watching at least 5 of the 6 nights a week it comes on) and then months where I forgot it was still going. I caused a ruckus at home when for 3 weeks I refused to go out to dinner so as not to miss a wandering eye or a sneaky in-law even though they have an online globo recap. Then Christmas rolled around and it was hard to keep up so the show and I took some time off. But like all breaks I missed the routine and there I was in January trying to refigure it all out again.

In the end, it was good to see it all wrap up and come full circle.  The good guys won and in true scary movie fashion, the evil Tereza Cristina just wouldn't die. We never did figure out who "Cro" the secretary's lover was but all the nasty splits patched their wounds and life in Barra returned to normal.  Not sure if I am going to start the next one, "Avenida Brasil" with the same momentum as before but I am certainly addicted to the concept. When you watch you are one with the maids and taxi drivers, the ladies at the nail salon and just about everybody you come in contact with. Its a cultural phenomenon and name dropping a novela star gets you an extra nod of approval.  I'll never forget coming back from Rio on a Saturday night and seeing Milena Toscano grabbing her bag off my flight. I acted like a total tween about it and couldn't wait to tell my novela watching friends. Every magazine mentions them, my old portuguese teacher would review lessons around the drama and I finally knew a guest every once in a while on Mais Voce. For the past 7 months I felt like a part of the cool club. And now my nine pm network family is finally off for a much needed vacation.  What a crazy thrill that was! 

sorry its stuck

in my head. over and over and over and over and... you get the point. when this happens there is nothing better than to share it and cause the same damage to others. ahh those catchy Brazilian songs...

To new beginnings....

According to a recent pin on Pinterest, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Verdade.

After 16 months in Brazil, I experienced my first dinner in Portuguese. We met a wonderful Brazilian couple in Mendoza and they ended up purchasing a bottle of wine for us. As a thank you, we insisted on having them for dinner back in Sao Paulo. This week couldn't have fallen at a worse time climatically speaking. 90 degree days with 89 degree nights. We don't have air conditioning so we gave them the option of coming over in sungas and bikinis or meeting at a favorite restaurant. As much as everyone wanted to dine in small pieces of lycra, we concluded one of our favorite new restaurants, Oryza might be a tad more classy.

I dream of wine

Mendoza is a dreamy place. It's easy to see why we ran into so many honeymooners and world travelers while there, the romance grabs you and swings you into a whirlwind. The tree lined streets are magnificent, there are parks on every other corner, stained glass buildings and old world passion.  Authenticity is around every corner, in the wine, green spaces and red meat daring you to take another step. The color pallet is a simple one; the bluest blues of a dry hot sunny day, perfect fruit of the loom purple, deep forest greens, oaky wood and white capped mountains. In the span of a sip one understands life's greatest balance, the perfect blend of sun, water, vines, energy and sugar.

Natura: The Store

As I have mentioned before, Natura is a wonderful Brazilian cosmetics company. Their direct sales model is the only thing I have ever been frustrated with. While I think it works well in certain income classes among Brazilians, it isn't flexible for other markets, making it hard for expats and tourists to buy into the brand when they need to have a consultant. How do you select makeup color from a magazine? There is a constantly changing variety of native scents for bath and body products, how do you know which to choose? What if people want to bring it to their home country as gifts? Happens all the time and the little kiosk in the airport doesn't offer much.

A glamorous rise and fall...Daslu

Most outside of the international luxury-shopping sphere have probably never heard of Daslu. It is ranked #13 of 236 things to do in Sao Paulo by Lonely Planet but it’s recognition goes far beyond what I imagined when I first started researching its history out of curiosity. Known as the premier place to shop in South America if you are amongst the (.0)1%, its status as one of the most luxurious fashion emporiums in the world now joins the ranks of Lehman Brothers, Enron and Arthur Anderson… well sort of.

Brazil hosts one of the most beautiful streets in the world

Porto Alegre, a beautiful city in the south east of Brazil just added a new reason to visit. "Is This the Most Beautiful Street in the World," stirred a great street debate the other day on a landscape architecture forum.   Gonçalo de Carvalho looks like a winner to me and what makes this story so wonderful is

Watch out the gringos are coming!!!!

We were at the movies last weekend and one of the pre-preview commercials had a voice singing, "the gringos are arriving, are you ready?" and we were the only ones in a crowded theater that burst out laughing for quite a while. Anyways, now I am hearing it all the time on tv and its just too funny. Cel-Lep is a language school that I actually first started taking lessons from and well I ended up with an interesting teacher that enjoyed making excuses for why she couldn't make our class at least once a week (and if she actually showed up she continually asked if I was pregnant, loved grabbing my cheeks and prayed for me to have a baby. but thats besides the point). The package was unfortunately paid in full and I am one of those people that needs to learn how to complain more when I receive bad service because instead I just felt bad for her and never said anything. Well thats over with now, but hopefully they have employed a more motivated crop of teachers for this latest influx of hopeful brazilians frantically trying to get ready for the gringo explosion!

Enjoy

Sao Paulo Fashion Week

I am still trying to meet the right person to hook me up with a way in to see something during Sao Paulo Fashion week but until that happens I rely on other's photos. "The Face Hunter," a fashion blogger and avid people watcher always goes and always has a great series to check out. Here is his visual diary of pictures from the last week, an eclectic mix of fashion and city.

The way the DR. should be

With almost a year under our belt, I finally decided to take a few friend's recommendations and get a doctor. And this is not your average stethoscope trotting white coat wearing man of the infirmary, this guy is Pele´s medicó! Boo-ya sickness and health my knees are going to shine like a hall-of-fame national hero!

Our first consultation was akin to meeting up with an old friend at their house. His office is in one of those big beautiful old coffee planation houses on Avenida Brasil and minus the secretaries at the entrance I climbed the granite stairs to the second floor and went straight into his comfy office. In true brazilian fashion I was offered coffee, water  and fresh squeezed juice.  He greeted me wearing jeans, loafers and a t-shirt and we got to business while he ate some lunch.

What I loved most about the experience was the lack of paperwork involved. He had his computer set up with an online form that we filled out together. He went through family history and basically every part of the body head to toe asking about issues and problems past and current. He also gave me a nice lecture about eating right and living a stress free life.  Happy minds = Healthy minds and I was advised to get to the beach and relax as often as possible. I'll take that prescription any day! He was also plugging his book, which talks a lot about mind over matter of which below there is a photo with Pele and his little health bible. After our 2.5+ hour chat we went to another room in his office for the checkup. From eyes to toes to ekg's and blood draws he tested for anything and everything. I came with allergy questions and left feeling like if anything was wrong well beyond my recent aversion to the pollution, he would get to the bottom of it.

Before going in for the blood draw I noticed my name on a list with just about everything checked off. Strange, but he reminded me it was standard procedure. 31 viles of blood later I practically fainted in the lounge chair. I wish I was kidding but this guy tested for EVERYTHING. I guess that is normal? I just kept telling myself if the guy apparently treats a world phenomenon he knows what he's doing so I am awaiting the file cabinet of results.

In sum, I am impressed and happy to finally have a doc here. Its those little big things that help with adapting in a new place. It is quite common in Brazil for the doctor to give you their email, home and cell phone numbers to be available at your disposal. During our almost 4 hour appointment he was answering many a text message from his clients... over 5000 of them. Clients that is but I would imagine over the course of a flu season he hears from all of them. Most of the time he can even cure common illnesses over the phone and then send a motoboy to fetch your prescription at any hour of the day, any day of the week. Super bonus!  It wasn't a cheap consultation but the follow up is included and the subsequent appointments (so long as they aren't more ekgs or other ex-rays etc.) are covered by insurance. For all the american copays I've shelled out over the years its nice to finally see a doctor!

Pele with my doctor's new book

Rio Sex Comedy

An interesting find on itunes, this movie is in portuguese and english with subtitles. Basically it talks about the lives of a few expatriates in Rio and their various quests for "social justice and personal pleasure." A french woman is working on an anthropologic quest to find out if maids wish for a better life by studying home help. Then an ambassador goes missing in the favelas by his own accord (he ran away to hide) and is found by an american favela tour guide. So from there the audience gets a little tour of the Rocinha Favela, one of the more famous communities in South America. The third story revolved around the pulsing world of plastic surgery where regardless of wealth, people are equal in how they feel about themselves.

This movie does a good job showing realities of Brazil and what life is like in a culture that is very class stratified. The idea of what a favela means comes up several times, the dweller defining pride in where they live, an amazonian tribe too good for life in a "slum," and a wealthy american enjoying his escape there and wondering what he can do to help. It is full of satire and comedy and I encourage you to check it out sometime...

I just want to work out!!!

My gripe list is short. Well sometimes I might be lying, but outside of traffic nightmares and pollution I seem to be meshing okay to the brazilian style of life living. However when it comes to the gym I am hard pressed to think the transition will ever happen.

Most brazilian gyms (mine and those of friends) have the so called 'professor," which is a quasi personal trainer. My gym is decent sized so depending on the hour we usually have between 1-3 to pace the floor eager to assist you in reaching your fitness goals. At first I thought, great a free trainer (even though you definately pay for it and you can't opt out) that can help motivate me through the boredom I get after about 45 minutes. But that isn't realllllly what they do. They should be called gym buddies. Can't find a friend to chat next to you on the elliptical? Never fear, your professor is here! They chat and chat and chat and this chatting has no barriers. Like when you are the ground doing abs, running on the treadmill or really just looking to be fully engaged with your ipod and magazine obviously not in the mood to giggle and gossip, they happily come over to interrupt with curiosity to know exactly what you are thinking, what you did last weekend and what you plan on doing this coming weekend. Okay, so its great portuguese practice but at this point there is still a lot of pictionary going on when the words are coming. So with me there is usually a lot of standing and watching, but RIGHT NEXT TO ME, waiting for one of us to understand what the other is trying to say.

But brazilians love this attention and know no different. I even try to follow the greeting rules when I arrive, kisses on the cheeks to the 'professor(s)' and the long drawn out 'how are you' which always goes a little something like this: "Hey, how are you? Great, how are you? Great! Thats great! Im so glad everything is great for you? Yes and I am so glad everything is great for you too! Great! Great, ok see you soon (more like in 5 min). Great!!!" But then I like to retreat to the treadmill and be left alone.

Ohh no I didn't. I didn't just attempt to ignore the professors as they make their rounds to make sure everyone is STILL GREAT. Like today for example, I tried so hard to just do a quick walk in, work out and go and I was stopped as I tried to quickly hurry out, if everything was ok? I looked sad? I looked upset? What is the matter? NO, I am not upset, just in a hurry to beat this storm and get to the grocery store. Ohhhhh ok so "how are you? Great! How are you? Great! How was your weekend? What did you do?..........ETC

AARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG leave me alone, I just want to work out!!!!!

Here ends rant. 

Rio or Sao Paulo?

While I am in Article Forwarding mode...this article is taken from The Economist (scroll to the bottom for an audio guide)

Doing Business in Brazil

Rio or São Paulo?

Aug 24th 2011, 18:31 by H.J | RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO

• 
  

LAST year Paulo Rezende, a Brazilian private-equity investor, and two partners decided to set up a fund investing in suppliers to oil and gas companies. Although this industry is centred on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second-largest city, with its huge offshore oilfields—and fabulous beaches, dramatic scenery and outdoor lifestyle—they instead established the Brasil Oil and Gas Fund 430km (270 miles) away, in São Paulo’s concrete sprawl. Even though it means flying to Rio once or twice a week, Mr Rezende, like many other businesspeople, decided that São Paulo’s economic heft outweighed Rio’s charms. But the choice is harder than it used to be.

For many years, São Paulo has been the place for multinationals to open a Brazil office. It may be less glamorous than Rio, as the two cities’ nicknames suggest: Rio is Cidade Maravilhosa (the Marvellous City); São Paulo is Cidade da Garoa (the City of Drizzle). But as Mr Rezende sadly concluded: “São Paulo is the financial centre, and that’s where the money is.”

Edilson Camara of Egon Zehnder International, an executive-search firm with offices in both cities, does 12 searches in São Paulo for each one in Rio. The biggest mistake, he reckons, is for firms to let future expatriates visit Rio at all. “They are seduced by the scenery and lifestyle, and it’s a move they can sell to their families. But many have ended up moving their office to São Paulo a couple of years later, with all the upheaval that entails.”

From a hamlet founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1554, São Paulo grew on coffee in the 19th century, industry in the first half of the 20th—and then on the misfortunes of Rio, once Brazil’s capital and its richest, biggest city. The federal government abandoned Rio for the newly built Brasília in 1960, starting a half-century of decline. Misgoverned by politicians and fought over by drug gangs and corrupt police, Rio became dangerous, even by Brazilian standards. The exodus gained pace as businesses and the rich fled, mostly for São Paulo.

Now, though, there are signs that the cost-benefit calculation is shifting. São Paulo’s economy has done well in Brazil’s recent boom years and it is still much bigger, but Rio’s is growing faster, boosted by oil discoveries and winning its bid to host the 2016 Olympics (see table below). Last year Rio received $7.3 billion in foreign direct investment—seven times more than the year before, and more than twice as much as São Paulo. Prime office rents in Rio are now higher than anywhere else in the Americas, north or south, according to Cushman and Wakefield, a property consultancy.



Community-policing projects are taming its infamous favelas, or shanty towns: its murder rate, though still very high at 26 per 100,000 people per year (two-and-a-half times São Paulo’s), is at last falling. Brazil’s soaring real is pricing expats paid in foreign currencies out of São Paulo’s classy restaurants and shopping malls; Rio’s recipe of sun, sea and samba is still free. Even Hollywood seems to be on Rio’s side: an eponymous animation, with its lush depictions of rainforest and carnival, is one of the year’s highest-grossing films.

Red-carpet treatmentRio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, has big plans for capitalising on the city’s magic moment. The sharp-suited, English-speaking lawyer has set up a business-development agency, Rio Negócios, to market the city, help businesspeople find investment opportunities, and advise on paperwork and tax breaks. Though all investors are welcome, it concentrates on those in sectors where it reckons Rio has an edge: tourism, energy, infrastructure and creative industries such as fashion and film. “A couple of years ago, foreign businessmen would come to Rio and ask what we had to offer,” says Mr Paes. “We had no answer. Now we roll out the red carpet.”

The political balance between the two cities has changed too. In the 1990s São Paulo was more influential and better run: it is the stronghold of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), the national party of government from 1995 to 2002. Now the PSDB is in its third term of opposition in Brasília, and though it still governs São Paulo state, it is weakened by internal feuds. In Rio, by contrast, the political stars are aligned. The state governor, Sérgio Cabral, campaigned tirelessly for the current president, Dilma Rousseff—and received his reward when police actions in an unruly favela late last year were backed up by federal forces. Mr Paes and Mr Cabral are from the same party, and their pre-Olympic plans for security, housing and transport mesh well.

São Paulo’s socioeconomic segregation, long part of its appeal to expats, is starting to look like less of an advantage. Most of its nicer bits are clustered together, allowing rich paulistanos to ignore the vast favelas on the periphery. In Rio, selective blindness is harder with favelas perched on hilltops overlooking all the best neighbourhoods. But proximity seems to be teaching well-off cariocas that abandonment is no solution for poverty and violence. Community policing and urban-renewal schemes are bringing safety and public services. Chapéu Mangueira and Babilônia, twin favelas a 20-minute uphill scramble from Copacabana beach, are being rebuilt, with a health clinic, nursery and a 24-hour police presence. The price of nearby apartments has already soared. Several other slums are also getting similar make-overs.

Central do BrasilRio’s Olympic preparations include extending its metro and building lots of dedicated bus lanes, including one linking the international airport to the city centre. By 2016, predicts City Hall, half of all journeys in the city will be by high-quality public transport, up from 16% today. São Paulo’s metro extensions are years behind schedule, and the city is grinding towards gridlock. Its plans to link the city centre to its main international airport (recently voted Latin America’s most-hated by business travellers) rely on a grandiose federal high-speed train project, bidding for which was recently postponed for the third time.

Rio is still unpredictably dangerous, and decades of poor infrastructure maintenance have left their mark. Its mobile-phone and electricity networks are outage-prone; the língua negra (“black tongue”, a sudden overflow of water and sewage from inadequate hillside culverts) is a staple of the rainy season; exploding manholes, caused by subterranean gas leaks meeting sparks from electricity lines, are a hazard all year round. All in all, still not an easy choice for a multinational business—but it is no longer foolish to let prospective expats fly down to Rio to take a look.

Audio guide:

they got an awful lot of coffee in brazil....

oh yes they do and its gooooooood, and did you know mr. sinatra did a song about coffee in brazil? well I didnt and I feel silly and one of my best friends shared it with me.. because its a great little song

my favorite sunday ritual

Hall Pass: Natura

Natura Cosmeticos is one of the most recognized brands in Brazil. Started over 40 years ago, they pride themselves on sustainability and that is evident from start to finish in the manufacturing of their naturally aromatic products. From the packaging to the ingredients everything is harvested and executed with Brazil's ecology in mind. The suppliers typically live in small areas within the amazon and it is an important part of Natura's business that even if they abandon a specific material they do their best to ensure that the community can sustain without them. Known for always giving back, be it through k-12 educational funding or environmental charity, the company is a poster child for sustainable marketing and business strategy. Their motto, "bem estar bem," means to live well, with yourself, your relationships, nature and the world around. The company is set up as a direct sales model only, so to purchase their products you either have to have a consultant in the same way that Avon and Mary Kay operate or you can pick them up at Duty free in the airport as well as at their first ever store in Paris, designed by a distinguished Sao Paulo architect, Arthur Casas.

I recently got a tour of their plant and central offices in Cajamar, which is about 40 minutes from downtown Sao Paulo.  It was a beautiful campus where people truly work, play, eat and nurse in nature! Nurse? Yes, there is a nursery and a children's day care on site next to the restaurant and cafe, as well as a large gym with a pool nestled into the hills. The building itself is completely open air with offices surrounded by windows for great daylighting. If LEED was around in Brazil at the time of design, this would surely be at least LEED Silver. If only everyone could work in an environment like this...

the pearly white halls...

boxes = furniture! 

employee store

educational wing

the picking area.... 7 days a week its rolling

move, eat, learn: incredible watch

"3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....

= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn"



MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.




LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.




EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.




*picture from their flickr site

Reliving my childhood....Sao Paulo Style

I was a kid with an architect for a dad. No complaints, that just meant we got to travel a lot with one consistent caveat, it was always in search of some building. I remember arguing over an 8 hour drive on our way to some random house in the middle of nowhere that dad planned as a, "family outing." The moment I was old enough to compile a decent strategy to avoid such adventures, my mom finally chimed as well, as if she had needed reinforcements all those years and the architect lost his battle. But only briefly as I came to find it was hard to discover a new city without knowing its architectural bones.

The past few weeks my parents have been visting and guess what we spent our time doing?

Exhibit A.

And so somewhere in between all the trips to various pieces of architecture, I realized that I actually enjoyed it and probably took for granted all those years as a juvenile student of the modern american landscape. I feel like I could lead a tour now on all the prolific design spots in this city as my dad made a detailed map of everything we saw! I had a planned to check out a few before their visit and while at the the Building Museum (Museu de Casa Brasileira) on Faria Lima a few months ago, I met an architect couple setting up a wonderful exhibit on wood in architecture. Turned out they spent 2 years in Chicago living three streets from where my husband grew up. We've stayed in touch and they offered to have my family over to their beautiful home one evening.  Thanks to their gracious hospitality we filled in the missing pieces we hadn't yet found, and forged a global building friendship!

- SESC Pompeia

- Oscar Niemeyer's Latin American Memorial Campus

- MUBE (Museum of Brazilian Sculpture)

- MASP (Museum of Art Sao Paulo)

- Parque Burle Marx

- Niemeyer in Parque Ibirapuera

- Paulo Mendes da Rocha's addition to the Pinacoteca (he is a Pritzker Prize winner)

- Architecture School at University of Sao Paulo

- Centro Cultural (+sweet green roof)

- Home of our dear friends, Marta and Marcelo

And there are plenty more places. I didn't take my nice camera around the city as we criss crossed around but I managed to document those with a point and shoot and my phone.  It was a great trip; I enjoyed Sao Paulo's extensive collection of interesting buildings and I feel like I really know the city now (from a concrete perspective!) and....in the end good ole dad won. 

A satisfactory way to have a coronary

Today I thank the Italians for settling into Brazil some good time ago. The Mortadella Cheese Sandwich… don’t worry about it. It’s greasy, guilty and shameless. It is what the Chicago hot dog is to Wrigley Field, you just don’t go there without getting one, its a disservice to your fanhood.  Anthony Bourdain sort of put it on the map for Americans that have yet to encounter this delicacy a la Sao Paulo. A friend and I decided to travel straight to the source for the best, the market of markets, Mercado Municipal. There you will find several places to indulge your fancy. Instead of playing obvious tourist and eating where Bourdain had his first, we asked one of the locals. It was a little more off the beaten path I should say, but it was also where the soccer played on repeat, the chopp (local draft beer) poured like wine and the sandwich of sandwiches held its court. You couldn’t look a vegetarian in the eye for a week there is so much meat on those buns. It’s the pride of the market and yet it’s so simple: bread, ridiculously yummy cheese and mortadella, lots and lots of mortadella. Melanie and I split one, it’s probably against the rules but we couldn’t possibly move had we each finished our own. Plus we had to make room for dessert, you can’t just go there for the cake, you have to eat it too! Chocolate covered strawberries and a side of flan later we circumvented the Mercado waddling and merry. It is probably one of the first places I will take friends and family when they come to visit. It’s cheap, authentic and so very incredible! Happy thanksgiving to me!!