Carnaval do Pernambuco 2011 - Pictures!

Here they are!!

After a lovely day at the beach... lovely cold coconut water...

Is there anything more fun than cartwheels and pretend capoeira on the beach? I don't think so..

We were sooo ballin' on our rooftop pool goofing around!

bonecos gigantes!!! probably one of the most fun parades in olinda.

look at how PACKED it was.

getting ready for a day in olinda!! with mini skol cans in hand :-)

LOVED these guys. We were dancing around them ALL night.

Ending the day in Porto de Galinhas, hangin' on the beach.

MARACATU!

Beautiful Recife Antigo where all the concerts were!

A little out of order, but still a nice little sneak peak of how my Carnaval in Pernambuco was. Where did you guys go for Carnaval? After seeing my pictures would you go to Pernambuco?

beijos!

About the Blog

This blog started in February 2008 when I moved from the U.S. to Brazil. I was born in Brazil, and raised in the U.S. After 20 years of never stepping foot in my mothaland, I "returned," so to speak, for myriad reasons. Disseram Que Eu Voltei Americanizada (They Say I Have Returned Americanized), is a song that was interpreted by Carmen Miranda, famous Brazilian singer from the mid 20th century who was shunned in Brazil after living in the U.S. for a while. In her good humored fashioned, she made a joke out of it with the song saying nothing and no time abroad will take the brasileira out of her.

This blog is an ode to that optimistic and care free nature. A nature that describes me quite well.

I invite you to peruse through my posts whether you're interested in Brazilian culture and society, are looking to moving [back] to Brazil, if you're looking to travel to Brazil, or even if you're just looking for a fun new blog to read!

I also like to write about Brazil and other things too on other blogs and sites, and would love to be your girl for the job if you think I would be a good fit for your project/post/article.

If you can't find what you're looking for but think I can help you, please feel free to contact me. I just ask you mention you found me via this blog, or else I'll just label you as spam and/or creepy.

Enjoy my Americanizada musings!

beijoss,

-poly.

Carnaval do Pernambuco 2011 - Videos

I don't have any pictures from my Carnaval in Pernambuco yet, but just so I don't leave you all SUPER anxious, here are a few videos I found from Carnaval in Olinda and blocos I could have been found to be in at some point...

My friends and I, on Saturday afternoon, were at this esquenta, or pre-game of sorts, for this one famous bloco called, Eu Acho é Pouco:

We saw this parade there on Tuesday which was hysterical - Desfile dos Bonecos Gigantes

One of our favorite things to do was dance behind the Maracatu blocos and dance around these drums!

And then there were the concerts!

Two we got to see were Mombojó...

And the legendary Alceu Valença - both from Pernambuco.

Whew! That was definitely a music filled Carnaval. How about you guys? What did you do for the holiday?

beijos!

Brazil, Country of Contradictions

Last night I saw a couple of my high school friends who were visiting family in São Paulo and whom I hadn't seen in years! One of them, Rachel, and I went to a bar before getting dinner with their family, and we have a lot of the same opinions when it comes to politics, culture, society, etc. and we started talking a little bit about how South American politics have some weird contradictions (i.e. Is Hugo Chavez an extreme leftist or right wing dictator? Is PSDB more like Republicans or Democrats? etc...). Besides the intense politics banter, it was a great time at the bar over Busca Vida caipirinhas and lots of catching up and "So what's so and so up to?" type conversations.

Then, this morning I got back to thinking about contradictions, and I was writing a guest post/100 word blurb on tips for gringoes in Brazil, but it took a wrong turn, and somewhere along the way, I came up with this...

Brazil is a country of bizarre contradictions. The high rises in large cities neighbor the biggest slums in the city. We are willing to die for the soccer teams we root for but accept high taxes and corruption. We eat our avocado with sugar and our mangoes with salt. Our bikinis are small, but we hate thongs. We’re the friendliest and coolest people in the world but are quick to make fun of gringos… to their faces… and they may not even realize it. We can complain about our country, but like family, we're the only ones allowed to complain. Nobody else.

Can you guys think of any other Brazil contradictions? (Without bashing on my country, thanks. haha)

New Layout & Carnaval

Ok, so 3 things.

1. Carnaval weekend starts... NOW! Well, tonight.

I'm going to Recife and Olinda, one of the biggest Carnaval spots in Brazil (just behind Rio & Salvador... don't know which is first) with 4 of my girl friends and meeting up with a bunch of people there, so I'm super excited and will definitely have tons to tell you all when I get back :-)

2. IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS ON A FEED YOU MUST OPEN THE BLOG AND SEE MY NEW LAYOUT!!

There's still some tweaking to do, but my fabulous friend PH who's a web designer and flash developer (since I'm an SEO, I couldn't possibly allow any flash on my site) put together this super fun layout for me (how creative was he with the Statue of Liberty/Cristo Redentor?). Thanks PH!!

and

3. Can we discuss how hysterical this video is?