Niterói Gay Pride and Rio without Homophobia

The Niterói Gay Pride Parade was last night.  Half of me loved the street party that started at about 5:00 p.m. and continued until about midnight.  The other half of me was over the noise and revelry after we were home and trying to sleep at 11:00 p.m.

The huge street party, closing traffic on the avenue along Praia de Icaraí, had traffic rerouted to the street just below our bedroom window. Drivers were not happy and let us know with their horns (Brazilian drivers love to use their horns).

I love a good party. And we went to participate in this party.  But us older guys go home sooner than the young folks that dominate these sorts of events. (Very cute folks, I might add.)  I laid in bed for a very long time listening to drunken revelers making their way home under my bedroom window.  But goddess bless them – I was there once. It was not a big deal.

Sign me up as pro-Gay Pride Parade in Niterói!

More importantly, the theme was once again “Anti-Homophobia.”

There is a very well-funded campaign by the Rio state government to combat homophobia. Lots of media and collateral print materials.

The campaign is called “Rio without Homophobia.”  Nice to see. But as Luiz (in his professional tourism capacity points out) would remind us this is an economic strategy in the build up to the World Cup and the Olympics. It is a tourist publicity campaign.

But that’s OK by me. If you can get hotels to display “Rio sem Homofobia” stickers in their front windows (and on their websites) to try and attract more clients (and actually be less offensive) then I’m all in favor of a legislative or economic campaign that encourages merchants to be less offensive.  Call me practical.

I know you cannot legislate tolerance – but if you can educate folks to be less offensive in an effort to see their business grow – well, I’m all for that.

The Rio Sem Homophbia campaign is robust. It was all over the Niterói Gay Pride Parade yesterday. Let’s hope it catches even more traction.

Check out the Rio Sem Homofobia campaign here.

You know you are in Brazil when

You know you are in Brazil when the city’s animal control department is rounding up hogs and horses from the streets.

I recently saw this item on Niterói’s municipal website (yes, I read their website). It seems there is an effort afoot to “clean up” the streets of large animals grazing along the edges of neighborhoods. The animals have owners, but the owners let them wander about to feed on grasses, etc.

On several occasions I have been on an urban bus in Central Niterói and have seen huge hogs lumbering about in public squares, presumably eating. The animals typically belong to poorer families living up on the hill that let them loose at night to fend for food. It is a real sight, let me tell you; unexpected. Niterói is a dense urban area – not a rural town.

In the case of this report from the City, seven horses and two pigs were recently rounded up. They will be held on a nearby farm for 10 days awaiting their owner’s arrival to reclaim them (including paying a fee). Then I suppose the owner will have to confirm they have more appropriate plans for the animals in the future.

The campaign to round up “stray” animals is meant to help avoid traffic accidents.

Slackline at Whale Rock at Piratininga beach

Slacklines are all the rage. When you go to the beach there are practice lines pulled tight between palm trees all over.

Here's a great video showing this sport taken to a higher level - and at one of our favorite beaches.

Flor de Luiz and Mother's Day

Luiz had a whirlwind weekend at the crafts fair.  Then again, Mother’s Day and flowers go together like cookies and cream. He sold 17 flower arrangements!

Saturday was so busy he had to work into the night to create new arrangements for Sunday.

As time goes by more and more people know his stand and return for what they are looking for.  And Luiz is gaining a greater understanding of what people seem to want in permanent botanicals (like more purple flowers).

To see his work in natural flowers, visit his website at Flor de Luiz.

Ivete Sangalo in concert

Yesterday was a scorching day in the sun dancing to music at a Mistura Brasileira concert in the park, featuring Ivete Sangalo.

The concert was a rare chance to see Ivete Sangalo in Niterói, and even better that it was in a relatively small venue, the Rio Cricket club (so the space is just a bit larger than a cricket pitch).

The gate opened at 2:00, so naturally we arrived just after 4:30 p.m.  Perfect timing.  The first of two warm up bands had just begun and the sun was just beginning to slope back down out of the sky. 

There was a vibrant street party going on outside the club with police trying to get folks to allow at least one lane of traffic to flow.  These scenes are mind blowing to the forever restricted and rules-following Americans.  Everyone has a beer or a cocktail in their hand.  Young men are holding liters of tequila or scotch overhead and hawking shots.  Circles of friends are pouring Red Bull and vodka for themselves, priming the pump before entering the field for the show.

It was blisteringly hot.  Once inside everyone was cramped under whatever shade they could find along the perimeter of the field.  The bands were terrific.

Occasionally the event organizers would cool the crowd down by shooting a fire hose fountain of water into the air.  People would run to stand under the refreshing “rain” to take the heat down a notch.  Oh the eye candy.

In true Brazilian style, beers were bought 10 at a time for your group.  The vendors filled a heavy plastic bag with 10 cans and a lot of crushed ice.  Instant cooler.  And you got a volume discount.

So we danced, and chatted, drank beer, met up with more friends and continued to dance waiting for Ivete.

Eventually she made her grand entrance and the place exploded.  True to her never-to-disappoint style of live performance, the energy started out at a “10” and never let up.  One song ran into the next, her 8 sidekick dancers never stopped, and she held the crowd in the palm of her hand for well over an hour.

It seemed everyone present knew every word to all her songs and sang along.  The crowd never stopped jumping up and down.

It was Brazil at its best for me.  I love being in that energy (even if I do not jump up and down for 90 minutes).  I adore music made buy a couple guitars, a saxophone and 24 drums and other percussion instruments.  And I really enjoy being in a crowd of all ages having fun together.

There was one reminder of how differently things are done here in terms of garbage.  There were no garbage cans, anywhere.  Tens of thousands of people were drinking from beer cans and using plastic cups (not to mention water bottles and soda cans) creating a mountain of trash.  The solution?  There was a small army of men and women in bright yellow shirts with stiff brooms and garbage bags wandering the site sweeping up after everyone.  Huh?  We were supposed to throw our trash on the ground because people had been hired to then pick it up.  Part of Brazil’s full employment program, I guess.  But I can’t help but believe that if there were large garbage cans set out they would be used properly.  Oh well.

Side note: Rachel recently did a post about the length of people's names here in Brazil. For the record, Ivete's full name is Ivete Maria Dias de Sangalo Nascimento.

Anyway – it was a blast.  Here is a clip of Ivete Sangalo to share the love.

Do pizza restaurants in São Paulo deliver - to Niterói?

Jana’s post describing the wonders of pizza in São Paulo and Ray’s full on reference guide to perfect pizza in SP comment got my stomach growling. 

It’s true, what Ray said, that pizza here in the Rio area sucks.  What they try to pass off as pizza just makes me shake my head: crappy crust, a full tablespoon of tomato sauce (if you’re lucky), a pinch of cheese, absolutely minimal vegetables or pepperoni evenly spaced apparently to make it look bountiful.  And if you are getting an extra fancy pizza with everything: one green olive placed right in the middle.   Did you see my previous post about ready-to-use pizza crusts at the grocery store?

Now I know we USA folks are fat and we don’t do portion control very well and we like our pizzas loaded, but not counting a Super Bowl Sunday bonanza extra large pie, I’m thinking every pizza in the US has more going on than what we find here.  To be fair, we have not visited every pizza joint...

We live directly across the street from a restaurant that hosts an all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta format every night.  We’ve been a couple times but have given up.  Actually, when we do go (usually for someone’s birthday) I eat the pasta and salad bar with maybe a little slice of chocolate strawberry pizza for dessert.

When Luiz and I want pizza we pick up an uncooked pizza from the bakery down the street and then add sauce, vegetables, pepperoni, cheese, etc. Then it resembles a real pizza.

I will tip my hat for the dessert pizzas, however.  Very clever.

Luiz has a cousin who got rich operating two delivery-only pizza outlets.  He used to joke that he used practically no ingredients and could sell it for a fistful of cash.

Zackary's unbeatable deep dish pizza.

If you’re thinking of moving to Rio or Niterói, check and see if Zackary’s Pizza in Oakland, CA is selling franchises.  Now that’s pizza! Then come open your shop near my apartment.  Please.



A delicious meal in a slice.



Rio and Niterói residents, do you have a recommendation?

The pharmacy lottery

I may be repeating myself, but it is important to do some comparison shopping when it comes to buying prescription drugs at pharmacies here in Brazil.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved here was that there is a pharmacy on practically EVERY corner.  There are more pharmacies here in Niterói than there are Starbucks in San Francisco.  Seriously.  Every corner.

The really weird thing for my US sensibility is that the prices of normal prescription drugs vary WILDLY from pharmacy to pharmacy.  Really – WILDLY.

Recently I needed to fill a prescription for an anti-bacterial regimen drug, plus an add-on drug to seal the deal.

I went to 8 different pharmacies (partly because some did not have what I wanted in stock and partly to compare prices).

Complex drug number one varied in price from R$121 to R$165.

Simple drug number two varied in price from R$23 to R$56.

All were the generic versions of the drugs.

So in the end I paid R$144 (including a free delivery) rather than a possible R$221.  That’s a R$77 difference.  What’s up with that?

You gotta shop around.

360 degree images of favorite spots in Brazil

I've recently found this great website that has interactive 360 degree images of a lot of spots/events in Brazil.

Check it out:

The view from Corcovado.

An evening view around the MAC museum in Niterói.

NYE fireworks in Copacabana in 2009.

Living the life at a kiosk in Copacabana.

Be sure to click and drag your mouse to change the view, and you can turn off the sound by clicking the little icon in the lower left of the screen.

Cool stuff!

Celebrating New Year's Eve in Niterói

Our New Year’s Eve party was a lot of fun.  It was so much fun that we never pulled away to go to the beach to watch the fireworks.  **It’s hard to do everything!**

Luiz’s floating offering to Iemanjá played double duty as the buffet centerpiece.  As it turned out Luiz and I went to Itaipú beach the next day to set the boat afloat and offer our thanks.  The sea was a bit rough, so Iemanjá reached right up, grabbed the boat and sucked it under.  (That’s a good thing.)

Back at the house we celebrated the beginning of 2011 in all the usual ways: ham, pork loin, empadinhas, coxinhas, beans, rice, farofa, fruit, rabanada, Panetone --- and Jim cooked but no one ate: green beans (what!? a vegetable!!?)  Did I mention cold beer?

Marco Aurelio got a loud speaker and DJ software for Xmas, so he kept us in tunes.  In fact, I woke up early the next morning and Marco Aurelio was STILL seated in front of his laptop (asleep, however) keeping the music going.  I'm sure the neighbors were happy about the endless entertainment.

We had a great time.  It’s always fun to bring our group together.

Shopping for Iemanjá

Luiz and I spent our first New Year’s Eve together on Copacabana beach watching what were certainly the most spectacular fireworks I had ever seen.  The year was 2000, the turn of the millennium.  It was some party.

Unbeknownst to me Luiz had two gold wedding bands in his pocket.  After midnight, when the fireworks ended, we walked to the edge of the sea. Luiz stepped in and jumped seven waves.  Then he took the rings, submerged them in the water, and asked Iemanjá (goddess of the sea) for her blessing.  I don’t know exactly what he asked, but it appears we’ve been doing pretty well ever since.

Friday night we will be returning to the sea at midnight, this time at Itaipú beach.  Luiz is preparing an offering for Iemanjá.  It will include many of her favorite items: white flowers, perfume, a looking glass, a hair brush – all arranged in a little blue boat lit with a candle.  Luiz will set it to float away, to thank Iemanjá for all she has brought us.





We picked up the little boat a few days ago at a spiritualist shop in centro Niterói.  They also had a package with perfume, mirror, brush, etc. that forms the beauty items core of the offering.

On Tuesday we got up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the Rio flower market and get some flowers.  Luiz had a list and his mother (who has her own year-end ritual offerings) asked him to pick a few things up for her as well.

The place was a sea of white flowers.  There were countless vendors with white gladiolas, a favorite NYE flower that will be sold from nearly every street corner in Copacabana on Friday and into the night.  Residents and tourists alike will be taking their flower offerings to the sea in honor of Iemanjá.

Next year, 2011, the principal deity for the year will be Oxun, mother of fresh water, queen of the waterfalls.  Her color as known in the Candomblé religion is yellow.  So Luiz bought a few yellow flowers as well for him and his mother.  It will be a good opportunity to check in with Oxun, as the year gets underway.

We will be staying at the house this weekend and I will be away from my computer.  I promise to return with photos of our NYE celebration and Luiz’s modest gift to one very special Orixá. 

Happy New Year.  (I just ended 2010 by posting my 500^th post.)

Famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer celebrates his 103rd birthday

"It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve — the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman."

As a resident of Niterói, thanks to the Museum of Modern Art, I have come to admire the work and temperment of Oscar Niemeyer.

Here is a very brief biography modified from here.  Also, the video provides an overview of some of Niemeyer's more famus projects.

Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro on the December 15, 1907.

After graduating from the National School of Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro in 1934 he joined a team of Brazilian architects collaborating with Le Corbusier on a new Ministry of Education and Health building in Rio de Janeiro. Oscar Niemeyer worked with Lucio Costa and Le Corbusier on this project until 1938.

The Corbusian influence is evident in the early works of Oscar Niemeyer. However, the architect gradually acquired his own style: the lightness of his use of curved forms created spaces that transformed the architectural scheme into something that was heretofore unknown; harmony, grace and elegance are the adjectives that are most often used to describe the work of Oscar Niemeyer.

In 1964, his political affiliation with the communist party forced him into exile in France. There Oscar Niemeyer constructed the building for the French communist party. With the end of the dictatorship Oscar Niemeyer returned to Brazil, teaching at the University of Rio de Janeiro and working in private practice.

Recognized as one of the first to pioneer new concepts in architecture in this hemisphere, his designs are artistic gesture, with underlying logic and substance.

His pursuit of great architecture linked to roots of his native land has resulted in new plastic forms and a lyricism in buildings, not only in Brazil, but around the world. Oscar Niemeyer was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1988 in recognition of his lifetime of achievements.

Although semi-retired, Oscar Niemeyer still works at the drawing board and welcomes young architects from all over the world. Oscar Niemeyer hopes to instill in them the sensitivity to aesthetics that allowed him to strive for beauty through the manipulation of architectural forms.

This scant biographical statement does not do justice to Mr. Niemeyer.  If you are interested, I suggest you read his Wikipedia entry here.

Hey, today is Wednesday.  That means entrance to the museum is free.  I think I'll go take a look.  Maybe they will be hosting a birthday party...

Lebanese food in Niterói

We have the most wonderful Middle Eastern restaurant hiding under a bushel in Centro Niterói.  Lima Restaurante on the first block of Rua da Conceção.  Unfortunately they do not have a website.

My grandmother was born in Lebanon.  My mother learned to cook particular dishes at her mother’s side, when vovó would let her clutter the kitchen.  The meals of high holidays or birthdays or big celebrations in our house often included the food from Lebanon.

Finding an authentic Lebanese restaurant in Niterói is like finding gold.  There is a very large Lebanese population in Brazil, some put the number at 6 million people.  But given that, finding good food in our area beyond take-out has been a challenge.

This place rocks: stuffed grape leaves, stuffed zucchini, stuffed eggplant, stuffed cabbage, cooked kibe (kibbeh) raw kibe, esfiha, kebabs, real tabouli salad, babaganoush like it’s supposed to be, hummas with rich flavor, cheese and olives… OMG.  And it’s a comida à kilo restaurant!!

Well, only on Wednesdays do they put out Middle Eastern foods.  But that makes it the singular day we go to that place for lunch.  Fantastic.  I always work the buffet.

It tastes like home.  Really.

Fortaleza Santa Cruz in Niterói

Entertaining out of town guests is always a great opportunity to see the local sights – some of which we rarely get to on our own.

Everyone has heard from a 45-year old Rio resident who reports he has never been to Corcovado, or from the Carioca grandmother who has never seen the view from atop Pão de Açucar.

I think I lived in San Francisco, CA for 18 years before I visited Alcatraz Island, and then only because I was accompanying my out of town friend.

This week we went to visit the Santa Cruz Fortress that sits at the very lip of the entrance to Guanabara Bay. Bill, one of our guests, grinned with curiosity when I mentioned it as one potential day outing. He is a tribal art dealer and has a strong interest in all things combat.

The location could not be more scenic, that’s what I enjoyed. The details of the numerous ways prisoners were tortured and killed kept Bill engaged, but were it not for the need for translation I would have wandered from the tour group.

Here are some facts as reported to us:

- the defensive site was first effectively occupied by the Portuguese in 1584

- the fortress, an earlier version of what now stands, was first built in 1612
- from the beginning the fortress has contained the biggest and most powerful cannons available

- the fortress now encompasses 7,153 square meters in an irregular polygon shape (the shape being quite traditional as fortresses go throughout history).

- starting in 1831 the place became a self described political prison and torture chamber

In 1748 on French traveler wrote:

"The Fortress of Santa Cruz, the country's most important, is situated on the edge of a cliff, a place where all boats entering or leaving the port are required to pass at a distance less than the range of a musket shot. The fortification consists of a compact piece of masonry from 20 to 25 feet tall, lined with white stones that seem fragile. Their artillery has 60 pieces of cannon, 18 and 24 inches in diameter, installed to cover the outside the harbor entrance, passage and a part of the bay [Guanabara]."

Present day visitors are encouraged not to miss:

- the sun dial, dated 1820

- the Chapel of Santa Barbara (tiny but cute)

- the dungeon (complete with grizzly tales of alleged torture)

- the place where people were hanged (again, the young male army tour guide smiled with tales of inhuman behavior)

- the wall of shooting (do you see a pattern?)
- the prison (where prisoners were not meant to survive their imprisonment)

Ah... war, fortresses, cannons, torture, hangings… no wonder we have not visited this place often.

Since 2005 the fortress facility has been the Headquarters of the Artillery Division of the 1st Army Division. It is an active army facility.

But the views of Rio are great!

The site is open from Tuesday through Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is R$4. Guided tours are hourly.

And there is a terrific, creatively designed bar/restaurant with good food and relatively good prices just outside the fort entrance. Very nice.