Eternal Rivals

Every body knows that soccer in Brazil is serious business.We love it, we breath it and we pay a lot of money to keep it running. But there is a place in this country where it goes beyond the game and gets personal.

In Rio Grande do Sul, there are two main teams: Esporte Club Internacional and Grêmio Foot-ball Porto alegrense.

These two are like flesh and blood (or blood and blood), because when they are playing agaisnt each other, the thing goes crazy. If you live in Porto Alegre, you have to choose between these two teams, and be loyal to them as a religion. You have to know the songs, go to the stadium, buy t-shirts, hats, pillows and collectors items. 

This fanaticism goes through generations, fathers buy little team clothes for the babies, and then, bam! you have a fanatic fan. But sometimes there exceptions, sometimes the kids, as we would say, "viram casaca", that means they switch teams, I did it by that way, but in the name of love.

Some smart brand use Grenal as a way to lure consumers. As an exemple, I bring a beer called Polar: 

Here in Porto Alegre, the most popular event is the Grenal, Grêmio VS Internacional. It fills up the stadiums. People from all around the city, and also, from inner cities. More than 50 thousand people inside the house to watch those gladiators playing. And they play for real.

Depending on the score, on the other day there will be always jokes and pranks with the losers. Both teams had won a World Championship, so their both have banners and outdoors saying their are the best.

But this competition gets worse, when fanatics starts to fight outside, ignoring families with little kids, throwing rocks, molotov's and sometimes idiots are carrying guns. There are sad facts about killing because of these fanatics. That kind of rivalry is way not healthy.

The best side of Grenal is to see couples cheering for different teams, but still loving each other. Families watching games together, making soft jokes and having fun.

Vamo vamo Inter!

Porto Alegre Museums

Hello! I know you are curious and like to learn about science and technology, so today I am going to talk about cool museums here in Porto Alegre. Places where you can find dinossaur bones and things that make your hair up.

MCT - Museu de Ciências e Tecnologias PUCRS

This is one of the most complete interactive natural cience museum of South America and reach a top 10 list of the entire world. There you can find more than 700 interactive experiences where the visitor can participate and watch its results. In the same museum there is a whole collection of natural sciences from all around the country. To bring up some of the interactive objetcs there is this energy coil thing that makes your hair go up! There is also a human gyroscope that makes you dizy, very dizy. You can check more about this museum here http://www.pucrs.br/mct/.

MARGS - Museu de Artes do Rio Grande do Sul

MARGS is an art museum located in Porto Alegre with more than 50 years of existence. There are more than 2.700 works of art from Brasil and international artists. The coolest thing about this place beside the pieces, is that you can have a coffe or even a dinner there, you can call this a "cult meal". You may have more information here http://www.margs.rs.gov.br/index.php.

Fundação Iberê Camargo

Iberê Camargo was one of the most important names of brazilian artists from 20th century. He was born in Rio Grande do Sul in 1914 and passed away with 79 years old, in 1994. He left a huge collection of more than 7.000 work of arts. The museum was created one year after the artists death, as a way to pass further his legacy. The building itself is a master piece and serve as a shelter and a school, they teach lessons of art and culture. In this museum, they also host expositions, seminaries, courses and workshops about Iberê's work and other renamed artists. Depending on the time of the year, you can sit outside to have a coffe and watch the most beautiful sunset of Rio Grande do Sul, by the Rio Guaíba.

PAP - Porto Alegre Parks

Today I am going to talk about grass, trees, birds, people and their dogs having a great time at parks.There are three main parks here in Porto Alegre that you must visit when passing by: Parque da Redenção, Parque Moinhos de Vento e Parque Marinha do Brasil. Each one of them has a distintal public and things to do. Lets start with.

Parque da Redenção:

As know as Parque Farroupilha, the Parque da Redenção is the older park in Porto Alegre. Founded in 1935, this park served as military practice field and todays holds lot of attractions for parents and kids, sportive people and much more. It is a MUST that you go in a sunny day, because it can be a little muddy after rain. You will find a great wood where you can set a picnic up and have a cold beer with snacks, or even practice some yoga. There is a cafeteria called Café do Lago, that serves exelent cakes and tasty coffee and, as the name says, it is near a lake, where you can rent a paddle boat and have some fun. This park also has a mini-zoo, with monkeys, rabits, ducks and turtles, your kid is going to get exausted there! One of the most tradicional event in Parque da Redenção is the Sunday Fair. Craftsmen, collectors and people all around Porto Alegre set up their stands to sell antiques, paints, discos and even things for your pets. It is very cool to wake up early (starts at 9am) to take a look at the fair. Parque da Redenção is a great place to chill, take a walk, have an ice cream or just to chill with your family.

Parque Moinhos de Vento:

Is another type of park. Due being in a "high society" area, surounded by offices  and executives, this park is frequented by them and mostly by class A and B people. It was once a hippodrome, but then it became a park. There is a beautiful lake with ducks, fishes and turtles and a little waternill. You can have a great time sitted on the green grass, watching people jogging, playing with their dogs or try to walk on ropes, aka slackline. You can also rent a bike to take a full ride around the park, and then step by the lake to feed the ducks with popcorn. Parque Moinhos de Vento is also called "Parcão".

At last but not least, 

Parque Marinha do Brasil:

It is the biggest park in Porto Alegre, with an area of 70,70 hectares. Most know because its skate area, its a huge park filled with sportive areas, including soccer, basketball, volleyball and a circle for rollerskate. There is also a playland like inside the park, with a little rollercoster, a big slide and some other kid stuff. Its near the Praia the Belas Shopping and Internacional stadium (the awesomest soccer team ever!). In this park you can rent a bike for 4 persons, and since its a BIG park, its a good idea to get that bike with your friends. For those who like to workout, there is a place with weights and benches for exercises. You can search for a mini-zoo too, feed and pet the rabits and go for a place in the shades to get some rest. On the west side of the park, you can watch the sunset while having a chimarrão (typical gaúcho drink, like a tea). Its beautiful.

From all the three parks, my favorite is Parcão, I love to have a walk with my girlfriend and our dogs there.

Churrasco Gaúcho

Well, the brazilian barbecue, as know as "churrasco" is one of the most famous food in Brazil. Unlike everybody thinks, our barbecue is totally different from the american way, and the most tradicional process to prepare it came from the south of Brazil, that means Rio Grande do Sul (the state where I proudly live). The concept of a churrascaria is a far cry from the steak house, where you pay for one single meat and still hungry. The way real gaúchos makes it is like... rough. I will explain why. Gaúchos used to make a bonefire, impale a huge piece of meat and let it cook. Sometimes it takes like 12 hours or so to get it ready to eat, but when you bite it, it feels tender as butter. A churrascaria is restaurant where the waiters walk around tables, serving lots of different meats from metal sticks. Some of the churrascarias have the green/red card system: a card that stays on the table and you flip it, green for "I am hungry!" and red for "I am stuffed". Most of times they offer you a "caipirinha" (I am pretty sure you've heard about it), that fits really well with a churrasco.

That is like the whole cow.

Three expert gaúchos getting ready to cook.

Can you see those huge ribs? Those bones come out easily.

A little bit about Gaúchos

First of all, let me introduce myself: the name is Carlos Augusto Pakulski da Silva, a real gaúcho, from Porto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil. I was born here, in a hospital that I can't remind the name, but anyways, I was born a fat and healthy baby. As I already said, the name is Carlos and while I was growing up I spent my time doing what all kids do, getting in trouble, making pranks and becoming bandaid's best friend. Then i passed through a lot of adventures (that someday I might wrote about depending on my memory) and after 27 years, here I am, writing on this blog.

This is me being a baby.

Ok, now that you know something about me, let this aquarius guy explain what gaúcho means and it's origins.

Actually as I was trying to figure out the origin of gaúchos, I discovered that there are a bunch of veins and theories about it, so I decided to make my own.

Once upon a time there was a lady called Gaú (gha-oo). She was a brave warrior from her tribe, killed thousands and thousands men until she met this one guy named Cho (sho). He was as brave as her, a conquer who discovered lands, and made some other cool stuff too. So they met and felt in love with each other. Then they had their only son, but as much as they were brave, they weren't creative, and called the kid Gaúcho, the brave-jr. 

Rumors say this was Gaúcho, The brave-jr asking for milk.

Years passed and Gaúcho grew up. Became a warrior (no kidding) and a reference for all. One day, Gaúcho was walking on fields, having a thoughtful time when he saw slaves, thousands of them, and they were being punished by some bad guys. Gaúcho started to run against those evil pests and slain them all. The slaves were so thankful and made The brave-jr their God. They also started to call themselves as Sons of Gaúcho.

And that's where the name Gaúcho came from. A God, a warrior, a brave-jr, a saver.

Todays, from heritage, we call ourselves Gaúchos.