Thomas Locke Hobbs

Currently: Buenos Aires

The Big Worm

The Minhocão, or Big Worm, as it's popularly known is an elevated expressway running thru downtown. It's sort of São Paulo's Cross Bronx Expressway. It's universally hated and blamed by many for contributing to downtown's decline. It was built in the late 1960s during the military regime when wanna-be Jane Jacobs' were thrown in jail and tortured.

On Sundays the expressway is closed to traffic and free for pedestrians and bicylists. I enjoyed looking right into the 2nd story windows of all the belle epoque buildings lining the formerly fashionable Ave. São João. The whole area is gritty and rundown. The place is cruisy and reminds me of the Christopher St. Piers before they were renovated--the glare of the sun, the heat reflected off the blacktop, men idling improbably. It made quite a contrast from the previous Sunday's wanderings on the beach in Ipanema in Rio.

Graffiti from the Minhocão

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Hi. I'm a 32 year-old American currently living in Buenos Aires. Before that I lived in California, Sao Paulo and New York and if you browse through the archives below you can see photos of all those places. I also have an old geocities page with some outdated information but also more photos of Buenos Aires, friends and my 9/11 pictures.