#467 - Sao Paulo tips, annual reviews, and climbing Christ
Ola do Rio de Janiero! So far this city has delivered in spades everything I expected from Brazil - people are friendly and gorgeous, there’s copious sun and sand, all with massive high rises sandwiched in between even larger rock structures in every direction.
I greatly prefer it to Sao Paulo already and feel confident saying you should skip SP in favor of Rio if you have limited time in Brazil. Sampa is the 9th largest city in the world and has everything, but it didn’t strike me as that different from other big cities.
That said, if you go, here’s our tips:
Ibirapuera Park was a decent park, as a respite from the city.
Beco do Batman and the nearby Vila Madalena neighborhood for street art and nightlife
Paulista Avenue and Augusta street for NYC-esque architecture and nightlifte
Centro downtown during the day (don’t go at night cuz unsafe) for colossal urban projects from yesteryear. This highway is open to pedestrians on Sundays too, apparently.
Also the new Knives Out Glass Onion movie was really, really good. Director and actors just having fun with the whole thing.
Tech
Many friends do an annual review this time of year. Davids below is one.
Personally I consolidate my year’s worth of journals to abstract out the people places ideas and events that were important to me that year, going from monthly entries to an annual one.
Then I think about what I’d want the next year to look like, keeping in mind the last one. My practice is more of a reflection than a forward looking motion. Like pausing from a run to see where one is.
Lifehacks
I only just learned that the island of Vieques off Puerto Rico was a military bombing range for decades until 2001. Just like Kahoolawe off Maui - at least this one is still beautiful.
Yeesh, what is it with the US military and bombing gorgeous tropical islands? I get that these are super strategic locations with military bases, but still, do you need to test your arms out that vs wherever they’re manufactured?
Fun
Now that I’m in Rio I had to revisit this classic urban exploration video of some crazy Russians sneaking onto the top of the Christo Redentor statue here. What a classic - and they’re still at it around the world on their channel!