Thomas Locke Hobbs
| Currently: Buenos Aires |
Niteroi
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| Across the bay from Rio is the city of Niteroi where there is the Contemporary Art Museum designed by Oscar Niemeyer. It looks like something out of the Jetsons but it was actually completed in 1996. Essentially the building is a cone segment inscribed by a angle determined by the slope of the Sugar Loaf across the bay. There isn´t much of a collection. The main exhibit when I went was a selection of Niemeyer´s drawing & poems. The words self indulgent come to mind. |
Labels: brasil
Hang-gliding in Rio
| Before I bore you to death with modernist architecture, here are some photos of the day I went hang-gliding: |
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| This is the ramp we were launched off of. It´s above Barra de Tijuca. The mountains on the left are the Dois Irmãos above Ipanema. I was hooked in with my pilot. The instructions were pretty simple: don´t stop running and don´t touch anything. The overall message was basically: don´t fuck up. |
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| Ben and I in our gear. I´m not sure how useful the helmet is (altho I guess it would be useful in landing). |
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| This is my glider being positioned for take-off. There were six of us and we took off like rush hour planes at La Guardia. The experience was incomperable. Truly it was like flying (actually, I guess is was flying). I didn´t take any pictures on the way down because, really, how could I capture such an experience. |
Labels: brasil
Helipads
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| Continuing with São Paulo clichés, here are a couple of photos of helipads. Many buildings have these on their roof. They´re so executives can scoot around town from meeting to meeting without mingling with the horrendous traffic. I haven´t actually been seeing all that many helicopters flying about. I wonder if having a helipad is not some sort of expensive signaling mechanism for real estate developers to attract more expensive tenants, sort of like putting viking stoves in new condos. I´ve actually been in Rio all this past week (tough life, I know). Soon I´ll be posting more boring building & architecture photos from that beautiful city. |
Labels: brasil
Avenida Paulista
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| Avenida Paulista is São Paulo´s new(ish) downtown. In the 1970s businesses moved out of downtown and built along Paulista (now there are other newer centers further now, eg. Faria Lima). The avenue follows a ridge so, while it is flat, streets descend sharply on either side. Look down a street and you´ll find yourself staring at the top of a 20 story building. Because it´s one of the highest points in São Paulo, the buildings are topped with scary looking TV antennas adding to the overall Bladerunner feel of the city. |
Labels: brasil
Minha Coxinha
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| Salgados = cheap, salty, snacky foods. I really like Coxinhas which are a fried potato mush with shredded chicken in the center. One of these will cost between U$D.30-.60 |
Guaraná
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| I first tried Guarana, the national soft-drink, when I was 17 on a Varig flight down to Buenos Aires stopping over in São Paulo. The flight was full of Brazilian foreign exchange students returning from 9 fattening months in the United States. They were all crazy home sick and wouldn´t stop ordering guarana, a soft drink that´s somewhere between Red Bull, ginger ale & apple juice (Naturally, I drink the diet version). |
Labels: brasil
Bandeira do São Paulo
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| Paulistas seem to be very proud of their city & state. I see the São Paulo flag almost as much as the Brazilian flag. I like the harsh black & white stripes. I´ll have to find some t-shirt with it. |
Vista da Casa
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| Here´s the view from the apartment I stayed at my first few days in São Paulo. You wouldn´t know it from the view but the area is called Jardins (gardens) |
Labels: brasil
Last Baires Post (until Sept.)
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Calle Guatemala in Palermo Viejo
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Avenida Figerora Alcorta
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Marcos in the quincho on the roof
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Remate de Remeras (t-shirt sale)
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| Un Choripan. My last day in Buenos Aires I went to MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) In the basement they had a group photography show that I enjoyed, particularly the work of Gustavo di Mario. I´d seen and liked his work in Paper magazine without realizing connecting the name. He has a lot of sexy pictures of guys who don´t fall into the traditional stereotypes of models. There´s a higher resolution version of that photos on his website but it´s all flash and I can´t link to it directly. |
More Buenos Aires Buildings
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| This blog is going to be nothing but pictures of concrete apartment highrises constructed in the 1970s from now on (not really). I´m fascinated by these buildings in Buenos Aires and here in São Paulo there´s nothing else. The top building is Edificio Kavanagh on Plaza San Martin. It was the first reinforced concrete high rise built in Latin America. It´s my favorate building in Buenos Aires. It´s from when they thought they would compete and surpass New York as the center of the New World. The rest of the buings come from more modest times. |
Em São Paulo
| As we left Buenos Aires on a 32 hour bus ride, the attendant served us whiskey on the rocks. I knew then it would be easy trip. Still, I arrived this morning at 5am, in the rain, to a city of 25 million people where I don´t know anyone. It was a little ominous.
Cool - the keyboards here make it easy to type that little squiggly thing ã and this letter: ç. More randomness, the radio is playing a duet between Shania Twain and Elton John. Since when did they record anything together?? I could go on about the South American love affair with Shania, but I digress... Here are a couple of pictures of my friends in Buenos Aires, respectively Martin and German. |
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Menu del Dia
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| The day's menu. I mut credit Line of Sight from whom I stole the idea for these photos. Tonight I'm off to Sao Paulo on a 32 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires, so postings my be scarce until I'm settled. Also, I've got about a dozen more baires fotos to post... |
Signage
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| There are fewer chains and more independent businesses, each with their own quirky, often hand-painted, signage. |
Palermo SoHo
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| The part of Palermo Viejo that Marcos lives in has acquired the name Palermo "SoHo". When I first heard this I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. The area, tho, is ever more trendy with the neighborhood's houses converted into clothing and high-end design stores. On the weekend it almost feels like an outdoor shopping mall. So, in that sense, the process of gentrification is actually quite similar to NYC´s SoHo. Then there´s Palermo Hollywood, but that´s another post... |
Cosas de Bs.As.
| Pictures of some random, "typical" things of Buenos Aires that have caught my eye of late: |
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Cartel del Inmobilario
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| All the apartments and buildings for sale have these wedge shaped signs advertising their status. These days, as the economy has gotten better, a lot of them say "vendido" (sold). I don´t know why this building has four signs hanging off it. |
Persianas
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| All the windows here have these exterior blinds (persianas) which roll down and form a nearly light-tight seal--a very useful thing when you come back from the disco at 10am and need to sleep until 4pm. |
Cobble Stones
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| Lots of the streets here in Palermo Viejo still have the original cobble stones. In addition to being charming to look at, they slow down cars to a safe speed. In Manhattan the few remaining cobble stone streets are almost like landmarks. I have only a passing familiarity with the outer neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, but I wouldn`t be surprised if half the residential streets here still had cobble stones. |
Medialunas
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| They call croissants "medialunas" or half-moons. Yummy! |
Stencil Buenos Aires
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| Stencil graffiti in Palermo Viejo where I`m staying. A google search for "stencil buenos aires" led me to Nate Williams´ Buenos Aires photos, including a hilarious one with dancing empanadas (2nd picture down), which I`ve yet to see. Also interesting, Line of Sight, a blog by an American expat here in BsAs. |
Un Dia en el Campo
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| Sunday we drove out to a "country" as they say here. A friend of Marcos has a small place about an hour out of Baires. We spent Sunday there, lounging by the pool and eating enormous quantities of grilled beef (mmmm..). Afterwards we washed it down with mate & cookies. |
Edificios
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| Buildings here in Buenos Aires tend to occupy the entire footprint of the plot. The sides of the building abutting adjacent properties are plain, without windows, since someday there will probably be a building of equal height next to it. I like the boxiness of these concrete high rises. They don´t have the charm of old casas chorizo, but they´re very economical. I used to live in building like these . |
Un Bife de Chorizo
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La Empanada Perfecta
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El Cafe de la Mañana con Clarín
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| Back in Buenos Aires, enjoying a few of my favorite foods. |
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 | For more about me, please go visit my old geocities page. |