São Paulo, Brasil – 8.-13. December 2017
It’s time to leave São Paulo. It has been an unusual stay. I spent a lot of time laying in the bed, staying at parks and slowly tasting coffee and brigadeiros. Even if the city is less holiday-ish as Rio, I don’t think that this is the “problem”. I have to admit that my spirit was generally more melancholic and thoughtful. The good days in Rio played a role, and a role has been played by seeing pictures and videos of a magnificent Berlin under the first snow. Also the worries of being in a for me new continent are now part of the past , so there was more time for introspection, that notably is my preferred self inflicted punishment.
One of the best thing I did during the stay in São Paulo was joining the guys from the Tamanduás-Bandeira, the first gay rugby club in Brazil. It was the first time I was training with a brother club and I really loved to meet these guys, that are launching right now this first inclusive team. After the training we went out for the most classic after-training beer, and I also had the occasion to join some of them at a nice party with a lot of music from the ’90.
Differently from Rio, São Paulo is well known for its nightlife more than for its points of interests. One of the main area for night life is the Rua Augusta, the alternative area of the city. There you can breath an atmosphere not far away from some from Berlin, particulary Neukölln.
When it comes about tourist’s hotspot, the area of Avenida Paulista offers lots of different activities to do.
The one that deserve the most is in my opinion the MASP museum. In the day I visited it there was an exhibition about the history of sexuality. Several pieces of arts, from the very famous Saint Sebastian painting from the Perugino to more modern photographic – and way more provocative – pictures, show how sexuality is or can be part of arts, also in form that are not immediately obvious. It has been a very good occasion to think again about the limit between arts and provocation that end in itself. Of course I don’t have an answer, but I know that it is thanks to some provocations from the past that I changed my point of view about several sexually sensitive topic, and I believe that we – as humanity – are still far away from having an healthy relationship with sexuality. So, well. Welcome provocation!
Altogether I can’t say that São Paulo is a must-visit location during a trip in South America. Still for me it has been a very good moment to take the very first break from myself, taking time to just stay at home watching the traffic from the window and letting the thoughts flow in me. Also a very good spark for some consideration happened while we were having a beer with the guys from the rugby team. We were talking about tourisms in Brazil, and specifically about how it relates with the Favelas. I deliberately ignored any offered tours to visit these parts of the cities, not because I am not interested, but because I would feel like a zoo visitor that look at his counterparts like animals. One of the team member “accused” me to not having any interest in the favelas because I am a rich man and I don’t want to deal with poverty. That’s actually a point of view that I never considered, also because I never saw me as a “rich men”. Of course I am aware I am very lucky for being born in a generally wealthy part of the world, but this “accusation” was for me a bit of a shock, forcing me to reconsider both what “rich” mean from a more global point of view, but also insinuating the doubt that I was actually ignoring poverty because it makes me uncomfortable. So again I don’t have answers for this new questions, but a suggestion came directly from the guy that “accused” me: there are organization in the favelas that promotes an healthy improvement of the people’s life, also offering cultural programs for tourists/”rich men” that are interested in supporting the people living there. It is something that definitely deserves my attention, and I want to experience more about this before I leave this continent.
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Song of the post: Francesco Guccini – Gulliver
Nelle lunghe ore d’ inattività e di ieri
che solo certa età può regalare…
In his long hours of rest and memories
that only a certain age may give…