Yes, I went to the jogos. Yes, I survived the jogos. Nope, my body cannot and will not handle a second round of jogos, and here's why....
So the jogos (games) are normally held between two rival schools of a certain subject, so I attended to law school games between PUC (my portuguese language school) and Mackenzie, our rival. The games do indeed consis of football and volleyball (among other sports) tournaments that the athletes of the schools attend and a few students saunter over to check out one day or the other. The rest of us hang out in the 'arena' where there are blow-up games, unlimited beer (Skol, the crappiest of course) and those wonderful Brazilian street hotdogs that I can't get enough of. Oh yeah, and they serve 'cup of noodles' too which is exactly what I crave on a super hot day to wash down my crappy beer with....hotdogs YES, hot noodles....no way. The arena lasts all day and then off to a dance at night (if you're still alive, I only made it one night) for live bands and more unlimited (yet crappy) drinks. This is SP spring break and Easter in one = hella good time :)
We slept on air mattresses in public school housing (yep, like a second-grade classroom) all lined up in rows, took showers in bathing suits and were awakened sporatically by delighted young, most likely drunk, gentlemen playing the Titanic theme song while demanding breakfast (this happened around 5 or 6, brekky was from 8-10). Somehow by noon we were ready to do it again and DID. Also ate a lot at the local shopping mall food court, apparently that's something to do on the weekends.
All in all it was amazing, met a lot of young bright-eyed students that made me feel old but wise and limped home to enjoy a beautiful day at the park. Here's a local band jamming at Praça Victor Civita.
This eggs spill over as you cut them, the right side is grilled octupus which was smoky and delightful :)
My current favorite tapas place, per suggestion of my awesome Argentinian roomie Tom is Sanchos, where they have the BEST ceviche I have had in SP thus far along with an array of tasty tapas that won't empty your wallet but WILL fill your belly....and their sangria is tasty too...
grilled veggies smothered in goat cheese
chicharrones (with meat, not guatemalan style haha!)
I have also been venturing out to Praça Kantuta on Sundays, home to the only Bolivian market in SP where you can get some delicious Bolivian food, wire money to Bolivia (yep, they have a Western Union on site) or buy some homemade artesan stuffs (bags, bracelets, etc.) You can also catch some live performances, here's a student group practicing that were pretty good (and very enthusiastic). I have definitely been missing Guatemala, so I made a decent Guatemalan brekkie the other day, just wished I had Santa's tortillas!
So if you're not salivating yet, here's a couple of other delicious things I've had in the past couple of weeks (I promise the torture will be over soon :)
for the veg heads: grilled egglplant parmesan salad with bals. ving
for the meat heads: slow-roasted bbq ribs from Bob's, simply astounding....
for the sweet tooth: this dessert was awesome, filled with this light chocolate pudding mousse, a must try!
Sorry I've been outta touch, once again life catch-up time! So here's what you missed in March:
Amazing seafood with Sofia and gringo folks in Vila Madalena, this medley had everything from prawns to oysters to salmon to calamari all doused in a terrific sauce and served piping hot with bread to dip, delicious!
St. Patty's Day Morn: did the half marathon in under 2 hours which felt great, but can't wait to have a running buddy next time :) I did feel great after to start the glorious day with a pint 'o green! We did an awesome pub crawl thanks to Mariza's strategic planning: O'Malleys, Buddies, Cervejaria Nacional. Car bombs, green ale, chicken wings, nachos, but unfortunately no fish 'n chips......*sigh* next year amigos!
This was at Buddies......oh Chicago, how we ROCKED St. Patty's last year!!!
The first of a few car bombs....
Chicken wings with funky breading, miss you BW-3!
No pain, no gain on St. Pattys..... don't worry, I made it home safe and sound and am ready for next year!
So the jogos (games) are normally held between two rival schools of a certain subject, so I attended to law school games between PUC (my portuguese language school) and Mackenzie, our rival. The games do indeed consis of football and volleyball (among other sports) tournaments that the athletes of the schools attend and a few students saunter over to check out one day or the other. The rest of us hang out in the 'arena' where there are blow-up games, unlimited beer (Skol, the crappiest of course) and those wonderful Brazilian street hotdogs that I can't get enough of. Oh yeah, and they serve 'cup of noodles' too which is exactly what I crave on a super hot day to wash down my crappy beer with....hotdogs YES, hot noodles....no way. The arena lasts all day and then off to a dance at night (if you're still alive, I only made it one night) for live bands and more unlimited (yet crappy) drinks. This is SP spring break and Easter in one = hella good time :)
My current favorite tapas place, per suggestion of my awesome Argentinian roomie Tom is Sanchos, where they have the BEST ceviche I have had in SP thus far along with an array of tasty tapas that won't empty your wallet but WILL fill your belly....and their sangria is tasty too...
