Parada Gay São Paulo

Avenida Paulista at the beginning of the Parade

Ok, so this happened last month but it's still worth blogging about.

The São Paulo gay parade is the largest gay pride event in terms of attendance in the world.  If you've ever experienced Carnaval in the streets (not the Sambadrome), it's basically that but with gay people and very loud house music.

This year on Sunday the 10th of June there were roughly 3 million attendees, which is less than last year's 3.5 million.  Apparently there were security issues last year (petty theft, homophobic violence).  I think there was a death one year.  Brazil is a traditionally Catholic country and, despite heavy support from the government, Parada Gay still touches a nerve with a lot of people.  However, this year's event went off without a hitch.

In typical Brazilian style, it started late.

Despite the huge amount of people on Avenida Paulista, there weren't any actual crowding issues.  If you wanted to, you could get into the mosh pit following each one of the 12 trio elétricos (giant floats).  Or, like me, you could calmly stand on the pavement bopping your head to the music.

The weather was sunny, the temperature was mild, the atmosphere was joyful.  It was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we walked down Frei Caneca (Gayville, SP) and stopped outside a lesbian bar that was blaring out house music and took part in a popular Brazilian pastime: drinking beer outdoors.

We went home about 6pm because I had been partying nonstop since Wednesday evening and I desperately needed to sleep.

The VIP area.  Politicians, mostly.

Me and Kelly (my girlfriend)

Me and a famous SP drag queen called Kchaka (I think) 

Giant floating condoms: "Protect your pride, wear a condom"

The theme of the Parade was "Homophobia has a cure: Education and Criminalisation"

Gay bar on Frei Caneca, later on in the evening.

Pavements in Sao Paulo, or the lack thereof

Being a pedestrian in Sao Paulo is a bit of a thankless task.  The city is clearly set up mostly with cars in mind.  Paulistanos love their cars.  Having said that, it's not set up particularly brilliantly for them either, but it's better than being a pedestrian.

In most cities I have known and lived in, the local government or City Municipality is responsible for maintaining pavements (sidewalks to Americans).  The local government in most cities is responsible for keeping pavements level, well-maintained, ensuring that they are accessible to the disabled, and safe to use.  Oftentimes, local government is responsible for keeping pavements gritted in cold weather to avoid accidents.  If a local government fails in this task and their negligence causes injury, they can be sued (and often are).

In Sao Paulo, this never f**king happens.  The Prefeitura (prefecture/city hall) doesn't appear to be in any way responsible for pavements.  Each individual property that opens out onto a pavement is responsible for the section of pavement directly in front of it.  Each property doesn't appear particularly responsible for keeping the pavement level, accessible, safe, or ensuring that pedestrians are able to step from one section of the pavement to the next without falling flat on their faces.  Some properties have well-maintained pavements and others clearly haven't bothered touching theirs for years.

Sao Paulo is also an extremely hilly city in parts - especially either side of Avenida Paulista (the main drag - think Oxford Street but not as obnoxious).  A lot of streets have very steep natural angles that are hard enough to deal with, never mind having to negotiate crappy pavements that go up and down without rhyme nor reason.

Paulistanas (female residents of Sao Paulo) are rather fond of high heels.  When I say "high heels", I mean the six-inch kind that could kill someone.  The fact that I have never seen a woman lose her balance or fall over in this type of footwear - given the atrociously unsafe state of the pavements in this city - never ceases to amaze me.  How the hell do they do it?  It's a major life skill - they should give lectures on the subject!

I personally have nearly lost my footing a few times, but they've always been near misses...and I wear flats...always.  As time goes on and I become more adept at moving myself efficiently around the city, my little 'trips' become more and more infrequent.

Still, some decent pavements wouldn't go amiss.

Chanukah in Sao Paulo

I actually started writing this during Chanukah, but shit happened - as it tends to do - so this post was somewhat delayed.  Still worth posting though:

You may/may not know this, but Brazil has the second largest population of Jews in South America.  Argentina has the most, with the vast majority of them living in Buenos Aires.  Brazil's Jewish population is roughly 100,000 and the city with the largest Jewish community is Sao Paulo, with a population of 45,000.  There is a shitload of intermarriage and assimilation so it's really very hard to tell exactly what the population figures are (i.e. there could be a lot more), but I found a page somewhere on t'internet where they were quoting stuff all over the place so I lifted the info off of it.

I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of Jews in Sao Paulo.  First of all, I'm one of them (ha), and secondly I've met quite a few without actually looking for them.  Those I have met are not religious, much like myself.  Sao Paulo's biggest congregation - 'Congregação Israelita Paulista' (something like a Reform synagogue) - has a membership of 2,000 families (that's a lot) and is the largest single congregation in Latin America.


So with all these Jews around, we've been looking for the usual signs of Chanukah.  The first one we saw was actually in our nearest large supermarket, Carrefour.  This one was up before Chanukah started (Tuesday night, FYI):

Sweet, innit?


Then our host Fernando told us they usually put up a large menorah at the end of Avenida Paulista near Consolacão, so we braved the Christmas crowds on Tuesday evening, past the throngs at Bradesco watching the Disney-like choir/weird-elf-like-people-prancing-around-with-cardboard-triangles performance, squeezed past the Christmas bridge, past a string quartet playing Bach/Brahms (couldn't decide which, could have been either), past a rather good Michael Jackson impersonator, until we got to Consolacão.  This is what we saw:

If you've read my blog on Christmas lights in SP, you will be aware that this Chanukah display, in comparison, is pretty pathetic.  AND they had all the arms of the menorah lit on the first night - WHICH IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.  You're supposed to light one extra each night until you've got a fully lit menorah.  DETAILS ARE IMPORTANT.


Yes, I'm a pedant.

Christmas lights in Sao Paulo

I was warned long before coming here that this city goes a bit doolally when it comes to christmas decorations, and I have not been disappointed.  So far, on Avenida Paulista, I have seen:

 

FIESP building

Probably a bank

I want to say HSBC...?

HUGE Christmas bridge over Av Paulista - apparently there's going to be a massive show. This is the first time, speaking as a Jew, that I've actually been *excited* about xmas.

Slightly spooky and quite beautiful LED display in Parque Trianon-MASP - this park is usually closed at night due to cruising.

Christmas tree in Parque Trianon-MASP

Itau Bank, which is in competition with the Jungle-themed bank. I think the jungle bank won, in my opinion.

The most interesting thing about the Christmas lights on Avenida Paulista are the crowds that come to view them every evening.  Most of the photos were taken on Monday evening.  There were thousands of people out and about late, around 9-10pm, with their families, taking pictures, walking around slowly and blocking the pavement (sidewalk, for any Americans reading this).  There was also a huge queue to get into the Christmas bridge.  I have no idea what's in there, but I intend on finding out, child or no child in tow.  My mother's small enough....maybe I can take her in...

Crowds outside Itau Bank