Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Last Full Day in São Paulo, Brazil


Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Today was another action packed day full of Adventure and Exploration.

Every day requires a nutritious breakfast, so I sought out a good one.

This stand near a park and
a Metro station got the call
 
A deep fried pastry shell loaded
with roast pork and cheese
was a good option

Pay no heed to those grease spots on the paper, they're an optical illusion, I'm sure.

It was delicious.

By the look of this man's nose,
he may have died of leprosy

The bust is of Dr. Luis Lázaro Zamenhoff, the inventor of the silly Esperanto language.

One of Brazil's premier soccer
club's team store

Prophetic as I was on a forced field march to Brazil's Museu do Futebol.
 
Tall communication's tower

We've seen a lot of these sentiments
all over South America in the last month

Colorful mini-park

A tribute to . . .

. . . the French . . .

. . . Republic

I strolled past this nice swim stadium

Home of the Museo do Futebol
Seating Capacity of 40,199

Interestingly, this stadium is also the part-time home of four Brazilian powerhouse teams.

Corinthians, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos all play home games here when their home field has a scheduling conflict or it is under renovation. 

Happiness is the Museo do Futebol

The Museo was packed with
trivia and information

The Kaiser Cup

Sweet looking dog

Bicycles with some cool dudes
in stripped jackets on the right

Tough wearing this one with all
of the pro-Palestine sentiments

The greatest player, Pelé, performing
one of his famed bicycle kicks

Marta on the pitch

Same Pelé, same kick

"Knowledge of Brazil comes from football."

I have no clue why these two
had a picture in the Museo

Old school women's futebol

Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça
Brazil's premier Goal Keeper
from 1911-1922

Colorful outfit

The Sporting Life

Carmen Miranda made it into
the Museo, why not?

These indigenous people
made it in as well

Excellent displays everywhere

Come to Brazil in 2027 if
you like Women's Futebol

The result of the first ever
futebol game in Brazil in 1895

The Maracanã Stadium in Rio de
Janeiro can accommodate
200,000 rabid fans

The 1950 World Cup was a disaster
for heavily favored Team Brazil

All that they needed to win the World Cup under the tournament rules in those days was a win or a tie over Team Uruguay.

The game was played at the Maracanã Stadium in front of a packed house.

The scoring went from 1-0 Brazil, to a 1-1 tie and finally to a 2-1 Uruguay World Cup Championship.

A dark, sorrow filled room has a looping video of this disastrous game. Brazil is still mourning what might have been. 

Brazilian Team Flags

This was an excellent museum that I highly recommend to all sports fans.

Next up was a ride to the eclectic Beco do Batman or Batman's Alley and its graffiti splashed alleyways.

It all started in the 1980s when someone illegally painted Batman on one of the neighborhood walls.

The rest is history, let's take a look at Beco do Batman artwork.

The young lady is stunning

BATMAN!

Of course there was dancing in the
streets while I was eating lunch

I ordered this traditional Brazilian
dish served only on Wednesdays
and Saturdays

Called feíjoada, it is a concoction of black beans and pork seen in the bowl in the upper left.

Of note was the oddly refreshing pink lemonade beer, a local artisanal brew that came in that colorful can.

A good lunch indeed!

Mysterious

Who does not love a toucan?

A naughty Batgirl

Commissioned by the
FitzGerald Family, I suspect

The REAL Batman!

The absolute BEST graffiti in
Beco do Batman

I felt a lot of love in the area

Aren't those mushrooms poisonous?

Isn't that The Rock?

I really liked this one

Nathan's Hot Dogs in Beco do Batman

The happy owners of this restaurante

What a face!

Damn those dragons!

What is that green monster doing?

The Beco do Batman is another great spot to visit when you come to São Paulo.

The final stop of the day was at Parque Ibirapuera.

The Parque was in a Christmas mood

But I was in the Parque to visit another museum.

African Brazil Culture on display

Like in the USA, Brazil imported slaves from Africa until this terrible system was outlawed here in 1888.

The African culture's influence on current day Brazil is both obvious and awesome!

I'm big on colors

Rasta Truck

I liked those mini-churches on top

Three heads, one snake

It makes perfect sense to me.

Contortionist

All about the Women

Jobu?

Brazilian L.A. Rams fan?

How did St. George and the
Dragon get in here?

Love the dresses

Another fine museum, I had three fun Adventures to be sure today and did a lot of walking yet again.

Now THAT's a park bench!

The Monumento às Bandeiras
greeting you at Parque Ibirapuera

Controversial, it commemorates the 17th-century settling expeditions into the interior of Brazil and has stood on this spot since 1954.

The controversy stems from the fact that the bandierantes, as these settlers were called, killed and enslaved many of the indigenous people whose land they coveted.

Sounds familiar.

There are regular acts of vandalism with red paint covering this epic statue signifying the blood on the long ago bandierantes' hands.

It was time for a late night snack, so I headed around the corner to the Estadão Bar & Lanches for the third time this week for another one of their amazing pernil sandwiches.

Rogue bikers got there before me

Their funky shorts and helmets intimidated everyone in the bar but I fought through my fear.

I needed another roast pork sandwich smothered in tasty mustard and I would not be denied!

It was good.

Another great day of exercise, now
if I could just keep this up at home

All good things must come to an end and this trip to the Southern Hemisphere's biggest city has indeed been spectacular.

The long trip home to Camarillo starts Thursday night and will last for about 17 hours including a short layover in Santiago de Chile before changing planes.