standing there in the subway...kinda nervous, kinda confused. if this were any English speaking city, Id be fine, but a new city, that speaks mainly Portuguese and is larger than every other city in the world except for one other is kind of intimidating..... get on the green line (verde) at concaloco, get off at clnicas, take the dr arnaldo exit, then turn down teodoro until you get to the bus stop. take the 817c to lapa.
i did it.
the fighting kites of so paulo
So Paulo is a city built in the mountains. once you get out of the busy areas with the sky scrapers, and into the more residential areas, you can look out from the top of the hill and see the huge city spread out on all the hills around you. all the houses are Latin America villa style houses. theyre almost completely made of concrete and have adobe brick roofs. usually theres 2 houss to a lot and one yard, with a gate at the front by the road. because its warm, people usually just lock the gate and open all the doors and the houses stay naturally cool.
since the city is built in a way that allows you to see above everything, people will often stand on the street corner at a hilltop and fly a kite on a windy day. its kind of nice to see the home made kites fluttering so high, and if you watch long enough, youll see them all flutter away in the breeze one by one until one last victorious kite is flying high over the heads of so paulo, shooting about, back and forth, up and down- that last kite has defeated its enemies and must celebrate its moment of glory.
people of all ages fly kites here. theres a twist on it though. when you have your kite made up, you take some glass and crush it into a fine powder with a hammer, when thats doen you cook it on the stove with some glue, then you coat the string and the tail of your kite to make it sharp. you fly your kite, and try to cut the string of the other kites. it gets pretty competetive, and grown men can occasionally be seen fighting over kites.
sometimes the sharp strings cut into telephone wires, and sometimes motorcyclists have been decapitated by the sharp strings, so now theyll sometimes mount a verticle stick with a hook on the front of their bikes.
....more stories to come....
i did it.
the fighting kites of so paulo
So Paulo is a city built in the mountains. once you get out of the busy areas with the sky scrapers, and into the more residential areas, you can look out from the top of the hill and see the huge city spread out on all the hills around you. all the houses are Latin America villa style houses. theyre almost completely made of concrete and have adobe brick roofs. usually theres 2 houss to a lot and one yard, with a gate at the front by the road. because its warm, people usually just lock the gate and open all the doors and the houses stay naturally cool.
since the city is built in a way that allows you to see above everything, people will often stand on the street corner at a hilltop and fly a kite on a windy day. its kind of nice to see the home made kites fluttering so high, and if you watch long enough, youll see them all flutter away in the breeze one by one until one last victorious kite is flying high over the heads of so paulo, shooting about, back and forth, up and down- that last kite has defeated its enemies and must celebrate its moment of glory.
people of all ages fly kites here. theres a twist on it though. when you have your kite made up, you take some glass and crush it into a fine powder with a hammer, when thats doen you cook it on the stove with some glue, then you coat the string and the tail of your kite to make it sharp. you fly your kite, and try to cut the string of the other kites. it gets pretty competetive, and grown men can occasionally be seen fighting over kites.
sometimes the sharp strings cut into telephone wires, and sometimes motorcyclists have been decapitated by the sharp strings, so now theyll sometimes mount a verticle stick with a hook on the front of their bikes.
....more stories to come....
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
you need an excuse for that?