photo by James Nord
Joshua Kissi : It is evident that Brazil is a top bucket list destination for many and as expected we were ectastic to experience the country’s culture and people. After 10 strenuous hours from JFK Airport we landed in Sao Paulo, removed our American mindsets and what people told us to expect, we were now ready to soak in the Brazilian culture. We often try to write the majority of our ‘Travel Etiquette’ entires as we’re on our flight back home – while the experience is most fresh on the mind. We would like to thank many of you who followed us via our inspiration page while we were on the ground in Brazil, and now we present the complete article in full.
Sampa aka Sao Paulo was very similar to our home New York City in terms of landscape, transportation and how crowded the streets can become. In this case we were the usual curious tourist on Broadway taking up space to take a gander up at the towering buildings surrounding us. Sao Paulo’s people were as colorful and vibrant as the amazing street art found around the city. It’s great to see a form of art that was humbly birthed in the Bronx during the 1970s become globally interpreted in various ways.
The beneficial element about the Internet is the ability to connect with people all around the world by way of your computer. We had the great opportunity of meeting up with Jun Alcantara, a Brazilian musician/journalist and one of our readers who we contacted prior to our arrival in Sao Paulo. It was a pleasure to receive a more everyday life view of someone living in Sao Paulo, eating at a boteco, pick up football games, in the day relaxing at the park and at night partying like it’s your last day alive. You can read/view Jun’s entry on his blog Ubora of our stay there. It’s great to know you can travel all over the world and still connect with people who the similar views as yourself.
In comparison to the city of Itajai the two locations were polar opposites with Itajai full of many beaches accompanied by a much more relaxed pace of living. Itajai was one of the main reasons we had the great opportunity to fly down to Brazil with PUMA, and 4 other photographers/bloggers which included Justin Chung, James Nord, John Jannuzzi, and Ashley Simko.
To conclude everything it was an amazing trip, I learned a great deal of Portuguese, my first experience on a boat, fell in love with a drink called Guarana which has me experiencing withdrawal symptoms back in NYC, but also fell in love with the Brazilian people and culture.
Obrigado por ter nos recebido no Brasil. Nos divertimos muito e estamos ansiosos para voltar!
Viva Brasil!
Travis Gumbs: It has always been our aspiration to travel to different places and become one with the culture. Our week stay in Brazil was truly one of the best experiences of my life. From the food, to the people to the art, it is a place that really requires a second lengthy visit. We got the opportunity to go to both places as apart of PUMA’s State of Play Campaign. The idea was to have us experience the cuture, nightlife, music and people of both places (Sao Paulo and Itajai) as well as be apart of the Volvo Ocean race that PUMA is competing in.There is so much that transpired during our 7 day, 6 night stay that it would be impossible for me to recall it all. Here are some of the highlights of the trip
- The traffic in Sao Paulo is like non other, picture New York but with twice the amount of cars. A lot of the guys there are bike messengers and they run errands all day on their motocycles. These guys are crazy! Apparently they call themselves “vida loca” which translates to “crazy life” in English. Locals kept telling us that at least one of them die in an accident each day, a sad yet interesting fact.
- On our first day in Sau Paulo we took a trip to Beco de Batman which is pretty much a long ally with some of the most amazing street art I have ever seen. The art in the pictures above came from this place.
- We got a chance to check out the Afro-Brazil Museum. It showcased art that highlighted the culture of Black Brazilians / Indigenous Indians from the past and present. The exhibits were mind blowing – Brazil is a culture that is rich with history
-The food in Sao Paulo was amazing! I long to relieve those days of rice and beans, steaks, cassava and all the other foods that ignorantly failed to take the name and ofourse wash it all down with a glass of guarana.
- Itajai is like what Los Angeles is to New York. It felt a lot more laid back and nonchalant. Every three years the Volvo Ocean Race takes place. It is a very interesting boat that circles around the world. It just so happens that PUMA has a boat in the race and Itajai, Brazil was one of the race’s checkpoints. We had a chance to check out the state of the art sail boat and had our own mini race. Its pretty miraculous that these guys are literally sailing around the entire world on such a small, streamlined boat. We were on it for about an hour and the thought of being on such a boat, doing the work that they do to keep it moving for 9 months seemed impossible
- The people of Itajai sure love to party. I”m talking all night, nonstop dancing and enjoyment. I’ll say our most interesting night out was when we went to Warung Beach Club. Picture 3,000 people, pouring rain, and nonstop music until the sun came out.
- There is so much more I can talk about, like my embarrassing attempt at paddle boarding ( I eventually mastered the art) or the night Josh’s camera went missing accompanied by our experience being held at gun point at 3am, we literally went through every possible hurdle to get back to the beach where we hoped it would be. To our surprise it was sitting right on the beach, untouched. What a night!
All in all our trip to Brazil was an awesome one, I fully intend to make a return.
