BRAZIL'S REAL-LIFE GOTHAM CITY? (São Paulo)
[Applause] I'm in Sal Paulo and I'm here to explore this concrete jungle the biggest city in all of the Americas [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Sal Paulo is home to 12 million people here skyscrapers stretch far into the Horizon and each neighborhood has its own completely unique character and personalities a million worlds coexisting in a single place the city is urban and gritty there's a kind of Darkness here and has an underbelly more exposed than most places yet there's an undeniable Beauty in its imperfections compared to the rest of Brazil the pace of life in Sal Pao is faster often drawing parallels to New York City's Restless energy but the Brazilian spirit is still very much alive [Music] here in a country as VI vibrant and colorful as Brazil it's impossible to prevent people from expressing themselves and in Sal Pao graffiti is the primary medium of this self-expression from Highway overpasses to the entire length of sky high buildings thousands of Minds shout their opinions worries anger joy and convictions all with a spray can some pieces document elements of Brazilian culture While others comment on specific political issues many make tongue-and-cheek observations about the state of Brazil today Bodo Batman located in The Artsy and hip neighborhood of v madalena may just be the most expressive place in Sal Paulo the alley is an open a gallery of street art featuring bold Brash colors and shapes a veritable Feast for the eyes Sal Paulo is one of the world's biggest hubs First Street are and this area is really Ground Zero of that even though you can see big pieces all across the city we're in Villa madalena at beodo Batman it's a touristic alley just covered in massive colorful murals and there's quite a cool Bohemian Vibe here you'll see a lot of hippie artist types selling handcrafted goods and jewelry it's one of the biggest tourist sites in Sal Paulo and for a pretty good reason it's actually pretty [Music] cool the sheer skill and individuality displayed in every single piece is stunning and each day brings about new art as an influx of artists consistantly start a fresh covering up other work in the process an art form that is by Design impermanent [Music] so how long have you been doing art [Music] in a graffiti has has never just been about pretty pictures and some forms of it are more controversial than [Music] others this is pishon an angrier grittier form of street art inspired by heavy metal album covers pishon is thick black paint applied an aggressive often elgible script hastily but intentionally scrawled all over the city in Sal Paulo Pichon is not merely a subculture but a visual language that dominates the city's landscape the practitioners are known as pador and the more challenging and sacred the location the more respect and notoriety they command among their peers this often involves scaling tall buildings risking arrest and even life-threatening climbs to achieve the ultimate placement pone is the most prevailing art form in Sal Paulo there some dispute that it's an art form at all is there any conflict between street art culture like this and P own culture [Music] [Music] so here in Brazil obviously it's useful to learn some phrases in order to get around but for us learning Portuguese goes One Step deeper Lena's family is from here so learning language allows me to make a deeper connection with my extended family and our friends here I've been using Rosetta Stone recently to practice Portuguese and I'm loving them so I'm really excited to be partnering with them what I love most about the app is that it actually incorporates real world phrases in full lessons so I can go out there and begin having conversations right away plus they use images that allow you to make that natural connection so the learnings really stick in your mind I also love their voice recognition tool it essentially matches your audio to audio from native speakers and it gives you instant feedback so you can ensure that your pronunciation is always correct Rosetta Stone has both a desktop app and a mobile app and I love the mobile app of course because I can just pick my phone up and begin practicing Portuguese from anywhere I am also if I don't have Wi-Fi they have an audio companion tool that you can download and access offline which is awesome so if you're learning a new language I highly recommend Rosetta Stone can get 50% off lifetime access to one language or 60% off access to all 25 languages so if you're interested I'm dropping all the information in the description box and you can go get started [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] there Street culture is really big here in sou Paulo right now we're at a laa that is really popular among skateboarders and people are just here skateboarding hanging out drinking beer and it spans all ages and the street culture doesn't really stop at skateboarding there's also a ton of street art and graffiti all around town There's a big culture surrounding that as well as hip-hop [Music] culture no he just broke his skatebo for doing a trick it was a dop trick though night falls and Sal Paulo becomes Gotham City its underbelly slowly exposing itself more and more lights cast an eerie glow on the streets Shadows drape over graffiti covered walls and there's a constant hum of activity no matter the hour this after all is a city that never sleeps that never stops did you know that the largest Japanese settlement outside of Japan is right here in sa Paulo [Music] we're currently in liberi which is the heart of sa pao's Japanese and other Asian communities today it's an incredibly vibrant neighborhood but this area actually has an incredibly dark history liberi was previously known as field of The Gallows it was a site for public executions during the colonial period many slaves and convicts were executed in what is now known as liberi Plaza in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the area began to transform as Housing Development sprang up and Japanese and other Asian immigrants moved in this dark past was quickly forgotten and today liberi is the energetic Hub of Asian culture in sa Paulo home to the largest Japanese Community outside of Japan Japanese immigrants began coming in big numbers in the early 9 Century to work in agriculture and they initially settled in this neighborhood around that time as well because property prices were really cheap at that point and now you can see signs of Japanese culture over the neighborhood and the businesses restaurants and of course events like this which is aanes [Music] [Music] this time I [Music] want and of course some of the best Japanese food can be found right [Music] here and isaka is a type of casual Japanese bar and restaurant you come here to drink some sake eat some bar food and there's usually like a counter like this that we're sitting at right now what's your favorite part about sa Paulo [Music] [Music] [Music] change keep delicious it's an omelette filled with cabbage and shrimp smelling and looking pretty awesome and it's really cool because we saw the owner make the food in front of us even though it's a bust restaurant it has a really cool intimate Vibe like being in your family's kitchen or something this is called cuni it's brazed pork rib and broth it's looking awesome so tender the broth is really light with just a hint of Ginger these are octopus balls it almost looks like it's like alive cheers [Music] in a country where life isn't always easy you can always count on a party once the clock hits 5:00 p.m. on a Friday it's game time Brazilians take their weekends seriously [Music] through inequality through corruption and through the constant threat of Senseless crime the partying has never stopped in Brazil whether you're rich or poor young or old a good band a good crowd and free flowing alcoholic beverages are the great equalizers that bring Brazilian people together who you up going to be a shower after this [Applause] one Brazilians do it different man if you know of the country that parties harder than Brazil let me know in the comments below cuz I haven't found one yet woo [Music] this is the most famous Market in Sal Paulo the Marcato Municipal it's a traditional market and today is Saturday and it's absolutely insane Sal Paulo's Marcado municial is 136,000 square ft of everything Meats produce fish dried Goods so this is a calaba that's cured far beyond a simple area of Commerce though the market is a meeting place for pistas on Saturdays and Sundays for food and socializing with friends it's an endearing Brazilian tradition kind of like church on Sundays we're here for a true poista favorite a monolith of a sandwich 300 G of cold cut Mortadella warmed up on a flat top grill smothered in melted cheese and served in between crispy french bread Heaven look at that that's an ungodly amount of lunch meat and to wash it down bolo bakalo it's like a fried cod pastry to my head for scale quite the sandwich I don't even know how I'm going to eat [Applause] [Music] this the things I do to maintain my girlish figure Maro Municipal was founded in 1933 and some vendors have been around for the majority of its existence ask him what it mean in the past family lore in Brazil was passed down via spoken word and poetry nothing was written down but generation after generation heard stories from their parents that they then passed on to their children today this tradition is largely lost and Levy a poet and Brazilian national treasure is a custodian of the art form at 91 years old he is still incredibly Sharp with a memory better than most half his age if you don't speak Portuguese it's impossible to fully grasp the death of Levy's poetry he touches on Brazilian culture and politics as well as his life often using intricate and meaningful word play leaving us non- Brazilians just outside the full appreciation of his Artistry yet through his words we still get a peek into Brazil's past and present in a quiet neighborhood in Sal Paulo all is calm most businesses have closed for the evening their shutters down and signs dark but in the distance lights as you get closer the hum of people chattering grows punctuated by occasional laughter and the sounds of caps popping off beer bottles and glasses clinking together in toasts you've arrived at the neighborhood bco a staple of Brazilian social life we are at a botco it is a casual type of Brazilian bar and one thing I love about Brazil people love having a good time no matter what day of the week it is it is a Wednesday evening and this place is packed and at every botco worth their salt they serve you beer in the 600ml bottle and this has a very special name lenzo what is that it's called Kamia or a condom in [Music] English and a big part of bco culture is the food and you have to eat food specifically with a lot of fat and salt the specialty here the food is always fried these Areo G bakalo or little Cod fritters they smell really good cheers so good another fried ball cheers [Music] this one has meat tastes like sausage it's crunchy [Music] delicious God just the amount of fried chicken you need for two people this is Fango pasano it's a very common bar food here in Brazil served at every bco and it's fried chicken so we all know what it tastes like but what's a little bit different about this one is how fried it is you can see that it's fried to the point where it's just super super super super crispy and this is really common in Brazil they like their meat well done like this it's really got that Crunch and numerous fried balls and beers were consumed and enjoyed by [Music] all it would take a lifetime to see all that Sal Paulo has to offer this concrete jungle is a story without an end each chapter more compelling than the last vibrant dark and everything in between its characters deserve a novel of Their Own until we meet again Sal Paulo your story continues and we'll be back for more one day [Music]
2024-08-17 01:14
