Bom Retiro

After returning from Machu Picchu and Cusco, we spent a nice evening in the Callao neighborhood of Lima. We spent some time in the neighborhood park where men were playing futbol and women and children were playing Bingo. Nick spent some time playing futbol with and getting to know the boys from the neighborhood. While many of the buildings appeared run down, it was apparent this was a friendly neighborhood where families lived safely and with a sense of community. Almost all of the adults in this neighborhood worked at the airport, and it was considered middle class despite what it may have looked like to foreigners. We enjoyed our evening in Callao.

Early the next morning we were back at the airport and heading to Brazil. We arrived in São Paulo last night and manuevered through the bus and subway system to get to our Airbnb where our hostess Ligia (an architect and English teacher) welcomed us to her home. It is a three bedroom apartment in a high rise building with a balcony overlooking the city and the Mayor's office. There have been ongoing protests near the Mayor's office due to a hike in bus fares, some of which Nick was able to hear from the balcony last night.

Today we are walking along the Via Elevado Presidente Artur da Costa e Silva, a raised highway in the city that is closed to motor traffic on Sundays. There are many people out walking, jogging, and biking. The people of São Paulo are very kind. Rachel managed to buy groceries at the farmers' market despite not speaking Portuguese (and vendors were very nice about it!). Our hostess spent a long time giving us tips for today and then walking us to this road. We also saw a young man who had been in a bike accident and at least seven people from different backgrounds had all stopped to help him, as well as people from nearby apartment buildings offering to provide water or call for help. They saw we had water and asked us for some which we gladly provided for the man to drink and wash his injuries. It was an unexpected but sincere demonstration of the Brazilian culture of community.Read more