Feriado on Ilha Grande

Following a few very busy city weekends in São Paulo, I decided make the most of the feriado and my last weekend in Brazil and travel to the island of Ilha Grande in Rio state, to destress before my upcoming holiday to Colombia - life's tough! 

After having fun at the pre-feriado holiday disco at ACER, I packed up a bag and headed to Tietê bus station to meet Vanessa. 7 hrs later, having caught up on a lot of sleep, we arrived in Angra dos Reis to catch the 30 minute speed boat to the island.

I felt all the stress of bustling São Paulo instantly disappear as we pulled up to island's colourful harbour. After checking into our brilliant hostel, we ate a much needed snack at the padaria and headed off, on what we thought would be a short hike, to Lopes Mendes beach - recently voted as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. 

3 hrs later and having done rather more exercise than intended, we arrived, hoping to find some food but we were too late, all gone! After relaxing for a while and becoming increasingly more hungry we took the taxi boat back, treated to the most beautiful sunset from the water.

The next morning - after the best hostel breakfast I think I have ever had, I definitely made the most of it, we boarded our our speed boat to start the tour of the island. On our boat there was a Czech couple, French, Argentinian and Brazilians, needless to say my role for the day was designated interpreter! We stopped at lots of good snorkeling sports and had the best day. That evening we also went to island's Festa Junina which was good fun. Our last full day on the island was divided between hiking and beach, a perfect combination for me.

The bus ride home was surprisingly traffic free, very unlike São Paulo, topping off the the perfect weekend! 

One last week of work here and then on Saturday morning I leave for Colombia - lots to look forward to but also will be so sad to leave, it really has begun to feel like home.

Virada Cultural

Time is going so so quickly here, this weekend I will already be half way through working at ACER. I absolutely love the work I am doing, so interesting and I am learning so much. This week I have been mainly working on presentations to give to companies that we hope to get funding from and also another fundraising proposal.

The volunteer house has been busier than usual as we are hosting three football coaches, who are running a course on using football for social impact. I took part in their training session on Monday which was good fun, In the evening there has been lots of cake baking - I made brownies from the office which disappeared in record time!

As usual I rushed into São Paulo after work on Friday and this time met Fellipe and his friend Pepe. We then drove back to his home on the outskirts of the city and had a delicious supper, before heading to 2 of my favourite clubs. As is to be expected when Fellipe is involved, we had a great night! The next morning I got up early and Fellipe's mother gave me a lift to the centre on the way to her Hungarian class! I was determined to do pack as much culture and general São Paulo appreciation into my day, even if I was feeling a little worse for wear.

I started by a much needed Starbucks before heading into Jardins for a bit of window shopping. I spent the day revisiting all my favourite places and just managed to make myself feel very nostalgic. From brilliant art exhibitions, to vintage shopping on Rua Augusta, to açai at my favourite ice cream shop, I was reminded of just how much São Paulo has offer.

However the main event to report back is the Virada Cultural that took place all over São Paulo last weekend. The Virada Cultural is 24 hrs of nonstop live music, hosted annually by the city government. Choosing which shows to go to was hard enough as there were 1500 in total - We spent Saturday night at the Monobloco show and then on Sunday went to Emicida and the closing show given by Caetano Veloso. They were all brilliant and the fact the shows were free meant there was such a mixed audience which was so great to see and is certainly not normally the case at paid concerts in São Paulo. I headed back to Eldorado exhausted but happy that I had another productive weekend!

After another busy working week, I am finishing off some last minute tasks, and then will pack a bag and head into SP once again. Tonight I am taking part in a friend's Masterchef competition so need to decide what to cook!

Reunited with the Caipirinha

One week down and I'm realising just how much I'm going to have to pack into my remaining 5 weeks!

Despite my flight being delayed for 6 hours in Madrid and only arriving at ACER at 1am, I keenly volunteered to help out at a picnic that the NGO had organised at a park in central São Paulo.
At 8am we collected the supplies from the supermarket, packed up the combi van and set off for the city centre. After setting up the picnic under a shelter in the centre of the park, we had a wander round and waited for the families to arrive. The park was situated amongst the skyscrapers in a wealthy neighbourhood, next to the city's most exclusive shopping centre JK Iguatemi. The innequality between our guests and the park's everyday visitors could not have been more stark. 

Parque do Povo

                                   

After serving the picnic to our 100 or so guests (hard work!), we spread out into the park and enjoyed the sun. It was really sweet to see children of the everyday visitors lending their bikes and toys to the children of the Familia Guardiã; for most of them it would have been their first time on a bike. It was also great to meet the families and my new colleagues in such a relaxed setting. After another round of sandwiches we took a few team photos, packed up the van and headed back to Eldorado.

On Monday it was straight to work- I´m helping to write a project proposal, using football as a tool for social change, to try and obtain funding from a new grant that is being awarded. I am still working on it now, it was a steep learning curve at first but it has been such an interesting process and it will be interesting to see how it is received. On Tuesday night after work, I managed to help out with an art class which was really good fun and it was cool to get to know some of the kids better. I haven't had a lot of spare time to be able to sit in on other classes, but there is so much going on here all the time, from African dance to Capoeira to cooking classes, the charity is doing such amazing work.

On Thursday we headed back to my old office at the British-Brazilian centre, to celebrate the Queen's birthday party with other Brits in São Paulo. Everyone always feels so much more patriotic when they are abroad, although I am sure the caipirinhas did play their part in helping us belt out the national anthem! 

Queen's Birthday Party

After another busy day of work on Friday, I quickly packed a rucksack and headed into São Paulo to meet Vanessa in my old neighbourhood of Vila Madalena, where she takes pole dancing classes!! Let's just say I doubt I will ever be giving it a go! We got back to her ap, ordered pizza and caught up on all our news. We had planned to go out but chatting and an early night seemed so much more appealing after such a busy week. 

Following a much needed lie-in while Vanessa had an Italian exam, we took the bus to Jundiaí, a city of about 300,000 an hour from São Paulo, where her parents live. We arrived to the most delicious feijoada cooked by Vanessa's mother. While the sofa did look rather appealing at this point, we got our act together and drove to the biggest outlet shopping centre in São Paulo! Brazil has got to be one of the most shopping-obsessed countries for sure. No luck for me, my big feet and height don't help!

Feijoada

                      

We then headed to a food fair that was taking place at the local football club to celebrate their anniversary. It was good fun and there was so much interesting stuff to try, even if the Beatles cover band playing was slightly dubious! 

Sunday was a much needed chilled day. After a long lie in, we went for a walk in the roasting heat. June weather in São Paulo is all over the place, cold and rainy to 30 degree heat in the space of a few hours. After another delicious lunch, we drove back to São Paulo where I said bye to Vanessa and began the long journey back to Diadema. The perfect first weekend, bring on the next one. 

              

My second week has begun just as busily as when I stopped in Friday. We are now in the final stages of the proposal writing and I even went to a concert this evening, given by a Scottish band featuring a man dressed as a rabbit, who says there's not a lot going on in Diadema! Excited to see what the rest of the week holds and then looking forward to the Virada Cultural; 24hrs of free live music in São Paulo.

The Countdown Begins

The boredom of essay writing and revision is constantly causing my focus to drift to summer plans! Determined to make the most of my last long holiday for a while, I have packed lots in, returning just in time for work in September (my family are a little worried that I will be gone for good!). 

In exactly 7 weeks I will be at Heathrow about to board a very early plane to São Paulo, having finished my last exam the afternoon before, a slightly speedy turn around! 

There, I will be volunteering with an NGO for 6 weeks. ACER, Associação de Apoio A Criança Em Risco or The Children at Risk Foundation, was founded in 1993 to 'offer an alternative way of life to vulnerable children and young people living on the streets of São Paulo.' Here's a video of Lewis Hamilton and Jake Humphrey visiting ACER for Sports Relief.

I will be focusing on learning about the finances and marketing of a specific project that the charity runs called Family Guardian (http://www.familiaguardia.org.br/index-pt.html). It supports extended family members caring for children that have been taken away from their parents by the justice system, due to abandonment or negligence, so that they don't have to go into care.

ACER is situated in Eldorado, a favela in Diadema, one of greater São Paulo’s most violent suburbs according to Wikipedia! Although it is still classed as São Paulo, it is actually 2 hours from the centre which shows just how huge the city is. From living in one of the most middle class neighbourhoods, Vila Madalena, during my year abroad I will now be living in one of the poorest. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see this amazing city from a different perspective.

I'm also really looking forward to staying with friends in the city

centre at weekends and revisiting the incredible restaurants/nightlife/culture that São Paulo has to offer. Hopefully I will discover some new gems that I'll be sure to write about on here!

After São Paulo, I will be backpacking around Colombia for a month, a country that I have wanted to visit forever - suggestions for what to do and see are very welcome!

So, now I just have the small obstacle of 13 exams! Until then I will be dreaming of this place...

Selva de pedra, São Paulo

Hopefully see you on the other side!!