PORTO ALEGRE

"Say cheese!"

How to consume maté - NB hot water is involved

                                                                                I spent nearly two weeks in Porto Alegre, hosted by the very lovely Ana Paula and Rodrigo seen here in front of a curiously spiky tree, with thorns on its trunk.  They live in downtown Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil's most southerly state and the home of 'gaúcha' culture.  There are many guys wandering around the city streets wearing boots, big baggy trousers, scarves and cowboy hats, sipping maté through a bomba from a cuia and looking more Argentinian than Brasilian.  As you can see from the clothing of the delightful pair above, RGdoS enjoys a more temperate climate, which is now entering its wintry stage...

I arrived in PoA feeling a bit ropey after a dodgy Bahian fish lanch, but soon recovered thanks to the great cooking of Rodrigo and the delicious pinha (industrial-sized pine nuts R$3 the kilo) plus a fantastic evening at Odomadé Ponto de Cultura, where I had my feet and hips seized and forced to move around vigorously by the seductive power of samba (video above, below or across, depending on where the program editor decides to put it - I've given up trying) 

MUSIC of SALVADOR

First up
Samba da Roda

This band were playing in a sort of community space, attended by members of the local community.  They are playing the medley of samba tunes that you would expect from such an function, but listen to the African influences in the guitar playing
Following this, I wandered the streets of Pelourinho and chanced upon the following duo playing outside a bar, on the street to an appreciative crowd of 40 or so.

The singer/guitarist has a fine voice and guitar style, but the drummer really stole the show with 2 hours of ever-renewing invention which I hope the following short excerpt will give a tiny idea of... Next time...Porto Alegre in gaucha country


Pad
 

SALVADOR

I bade an ate pronto farewell to Gobira, Tyr and Dona Tereza, stepped on the bus and set off for the aeroporto to catch the plane to the North-East.
There was a traffic accident in the middle of Belo Horizonte, the bus was an hour late at the rodoviaria and what should have been a leisurely trip turned into a race against the clock and bus timetabling but luckily I made the onibus connection  with minutes to spare, boarded TAM flight 3226 after a curious 10-minute conversation with an old guy from Scunthorpe who appeared very discomfited by meeting a fellow Brit (either he was just odd or he had unsavoury motives for visiting the city - either are possible), and four hours later was sitting in a taxi thinking "I must remove the hoodie IMMEDIATELY!".  I spent the night in a cheap hotel in Itapua, lulled to sleep by the rattle of the ceiling fan but feeling strangely unprotected by the single sheet covering the bed (entry for cheap detective novel start)

pregnant sky over baroque cathedral

The next day I awoke at 6.30 with bright sunlight streaming through the windows.  However, by the time I had located another hotel closer to the centre of Salvador and got a taxi there, clouds were gathering over the 400-year old city, the precursor to four days of rain heavy enough to confine me to a room, reading and writing (re-vamping my file of workshop activities, adding more activities and organising them into four chapters).  However, I organised a very positive meeting with Jackie at Cultura Inglesa, who encouraged me to continue composing more complex activities after I showed her the linguistic activities collection that is growing in my documents file.
In a hostel I stayed at in Pelourinho the old city centre I met a very charming French flight attendant called Alex who had the strongest Manchester accent I"ve heard in a long time and asked me "Do you know Blackley?".  How odd to be discussing the maternal birthplace thus!  Pelourinho is a bit raggy round the edges but will be buzzing in a few years time when the world cup happens.  Best of all is the amount of music to be experienced there, which will be the second blog, to appear soon once Iṽe figured out how to upload the video using Linux, whcih is the only way to connect to the internet where I am just now...
At this point in my stay the clouds parted and also the wonderful Bira Azeveda returned to Salvador, and offered me a floor to sleep on at the flat he shares with an English teacher from Albany NY called Andy della Rocca until my flight to the south...Bira was up to his ears in preparations for a show involving 700 people to be part of the celebrations for the beatification of Irma Dulce, a Brasilian Mother Teresa figure.  His show opens on May 22nd.  Break a leg, Bira!!
Watch this spacef for Salvadorean tunes

Sunset over Bahia de todos os Santos

Paddy