Posts tagged with "São Paulo"

Reading Comprehension: Windows of São Paulo

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Feb 24 2010

We’re going to do a reading comprehension with a really cool feature from Estado de São Paulo’s “Olhar Sobre o Mundo” blog. It’s a post featuring a fantastic photo series of windows in the city of São Paulo.

Read the article, Janelas paulistanas, and the accompanying text here.

Excerpt: “Uma viagem poética pelas fachadas da cidade. Um mosaico de cores formas e contrastes. A São Paulo antiga, a São Paulo moderna, os bairros de classe média, os bairros da periferia. Janelas decadentes, janelas enfeitadas, janelas coloridas, janelas divertidas. Janelas com gente, janelas com bichos, janelas com plantas, janelas desabitadas. Janelas, janelas, janelas, janelas… Janelas por onde São Paulo é vista. Janelas por onde olhamos São Paulo, através deste ensaio do repórter fotográfico Hélvio Romero.”

Questions:

1. What are some of the types of windows featured, based on the paragraph above?

2. How do you say “facade” in Portuguese?

3. What is Marginal Pinheiros near?

Answers after the jump.

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Pico do Jaraguá

Posted by polyana No Comments
Feb 22 2010

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day in São Paulo.  This hasn’t been the case recently, so my friend and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and do something outdoorsy.  We decided on the Pico do Jaraguá, São Paulo’s city’s highest peak, since we’d never been and figured the view would be gorgeous.

Lying at a far western point in one of the largest cities in the world, the 1,135 meter (3,724 feet) peak certainly has nothing less than breathtaking views:

jaragua-sao-paulo

jaragua-sao-paulo-bandeirantes

What’s even more fun is the peak’s history!  Apparently it was first “discovered,” in the late 16th century because there were gold mines in the mountain.  This gold was explored and extracted until there wasn’t anymore towards the end of the 19th century.

At the peak, there are tons of satellite dishes which belong to media giants such as Globo and Bandeirantes. The mountain today also still has a Guarani indigenous community living there right at the entrance to the park (on the way up to the peak), where the members of the community live off their art and craft work, and begging.

Jaraguá is a Guarani name meaning, por onde a gente passou, or “through where we have been.”

Sources: visit to Jaraguá and Pico do Jaraguá website.

São Paulo Fashion Week

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Jan 26 2010

Last week was one of the biggest weeks in Brazilian fashion: São Paulo Fashion Week. Here is some of the coverage from the event, where you can see lots of fun photos and videos.

Vocab hint: in Portuguese, fashion is moda or estilo.

Flooding in SP and RJ

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Jan 6 2010

This week, there was terrible flooding from heavy rains in both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which caused mudslides in several areas.

In Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande, in the state of Rio, fifty people were killed by mudslides. On Ilha Grande, a mudslide destroyed an entire pousada and killed around a dozen people vacationing together in a rental home. There were other deaths reported throughout the state.

In São Luís do Paraitinga, in São Paulo, the town was devastated by flooding, and the town’s historic church collapsed. Many houses were also destroyed. Authorities estimate R$100 million will be required to rebuild the destroyed parts of the city, and as a result, Carnival was canceled in order to begin reconstruction.

Click here to read more and see photos of the destruction in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. If you’re interested in helping flood victims, click here.

Piranha Attack

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Dec 22 2009

This week, tourists in Ubarana, São Paulo had a nasty surprise during a day at the river. People swimming in the Rio Tietê in São Paulo state were attacked by piranhas. Luckily, no one was badly hurt and those who were bitten were treated at a nearby clinic.

According to the authorities, the piranhas attack every year. A barrier was built to try to keep the fish away from the artificial beach where people swim, but the fish manage to get around it.

Piranhas are omnivorous freshwater fish. They eat other fish, crustaceans, birds, small alligators, and sometimes even cattle. They sometimes even eat their own young. They are found in South American rivers, particularly in the Amazon, but even as far south as São Paulo.

Click here to watch a video about the incident.

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