Estar Chovendo!

For me, summer is about flip-flops, tank tops, and avoiding the color black at all costs.  I like having an excuse to grab the scissors and slice open a blue freezie.  I love getting to indulge myself in the scent of Neutrogena’s spray-on sunscreen!  I enjoy the feeling of walking barefoot over blades of green grass, cool kitchen tile or squishy sand.  I appreciate escaping the air-conditioned workplace and stepping outside into warm sunshine.  Riding in the car with the radio blaring, the windows down and the sunroof open brings a smile to my face. I love summer in Minnesota, and right now it’s summertime in São Paulo.

São Paulo summers are a little bit different than Minnesota summers though.  Here, I drink about a gallon and a half of water every day.  This does not include the freshly-squeezed juices I’ve come to love, the variety of light cervejas (beers) I’ve acquired a taste for, or the avocado milkshakes (don’t knock it ‘til you try it) that cool me down each afternoon.  Of all the liquid I am consuming, I’d say about a gallon of it comes out in the form of sweat, so every night I take a freezing cold shower to scrub the dirt from my feet and cool my body down.  In the morning, I lather my arms, face, and legs with SPF 100 before exposing it to the scorching rays. 

 

Sunscreen is essential because I spend at least three hours outside everyday- walking from destination to destination in 85 degree weather.  Besides walking, the metro (subway) is my second main form of transit.  I have a new definition of “personal space” after riding the São Paulo metro during afternoon rush hour.  Shopping bags, wheelchairs, strollers, Mp3 players, suitcases and people in a hurry, pack onto the public transit tighter than sardines.  My five feet and two inches puts me at [the] perfect armpit level of strangers, and within seconds it’s clear which of my fellow riders needs a bath.  As the doors of the metro open, bodies spill into the station, like a school of fish flowing up the escalators and stairwells.  When I finally reach the metro exit, I look to the horizon to see a thick layer of smog lingering above the skyline.  One phrase seems to stick this week, “Estar muito calor!”  (It is very hot!)  Welcome to summer in São Paulo, Brasil.

But finally, eight days after my arrival - estar chovendo!  (It’s raining!)  Human faces are hidden under a sea of cheetah print, flowers, red stripes or classic black umbrellas. Umbrella salesmen place themselves strategically outside office buildings- making a killing from men discouraged at the prospect of ruining a business suit.  I step gently over the cracked sidewalks to avoid the miniature rivers that have interrupted my walking path.  The rain in São Paulo seems to have a mood of its own, the innocent pitter-patter, the angry sting, or the leaky faucet droplet.  And despite the lack of trees in this city, things just seem a little greener after a cool summer rain.  As much as I love summer time, I think I’m learning to love the rain in São Paulo just as much!  Estar chavendo!  Yay!