Praça da República

The Praça da República is located smack downtown Sao Paulo and has a Metro station (subway) located on, and named after it. During the business week, it can be a spooky experience to visit, but on Sundays you will find that the city and the park itself wind down to a more human pace.

On its premises you will find an assorted variety of kiosks that sell all types of souvenirs like fancy rocks and beautiful birds carved in stone. Also some really nice paintings sold by the very people that created them.

Considering the high cost of living in Sao Paulo, the prices are not that bad, and you can buy very descent paintings for under 50 bucks.

O Orelhão

I´m amazed at how some people can be colourful (in a good sense) without effort. In more boring places you would need to hire a model an set up props to get a scene like this. Cheers to Brazilian originality.
By the way, these ubiquitous phone booths in Sao Paulo are called Orelhao, which translates roughly to Big ear.

Chilling with green coconut water

Over my many trips to Brazil and other tropical countries I have come to appreciate the benefits of fresh, cold green coconut water, served at many roadside barracks all over the country, in some cases the vendors will knock off the top of the coconut with a  single machete blow.
Besides being refreshing and rich in potassium etc. its something natural and a local fruit that only grows in tropical places. I laugh at people that travel half the way around the world and only drink coke, when you have dozens of tropical fruits with plenty of juice and exotic flavours that you will not find elsewhere.























Now here´s something that you might not know, and it is that on chopping the coconut open (done free of charge by the machete welding vendor), you can spoon out a white jelly , that is the coconut´s pulp  that´s also yummy to eat by itself or with sugar.

Colonia del Sacramento

 
Colonia del Sacramento is located roughly 200 clicks southwest of Montevideo, by the River Plate facing Buenos Aires, and also closer to it than Montevideo. Being one of the oldest towns in Uruguay, I was surprised by the small size of the original Portuguese settlement, since according to the tordecillas treaty, signed by Portugal and Spain, this town was founded by the Portuguese and later handed over to the Spanish.

The cobblestone streets are adorned by stategically placed old cars like this 48´Studebaker champion coupe, that reminds me of a composition I made in grade school that was titled " the Little red Broom Broom car.
Be advised that this is probably the most photographed car in the town, Ive seen it even in a bill board in Buenos Aires.
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From the Past: Villa Ojo de Agua

Some photos from a very picturesque small town in Santiago del Estero province in Argentina.
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