Guarulhos - Nazaré Paulista - 9 April 2016

I often used to travel to Nazare Paulista when my dearest friend Jaime Carlos da Silva aka Jaime Ponciano lived on a rural property near that ancient city. But since he died on 6 August 2009 I have stopped those trips except for a couple of times when I visited his parents and siblings. I have never actually lost contact with Jaime's siter Roseli Silva aka Tati and her kids Vitoria & Moises but my visits have become less and less regular. 

On Saturday, 9 April 2016 I made a point of traveling to Nazare again. I had tried it 2 weeks before but could never reach my destination due to some misunderstandings as to where to get the Guarulhos-Nazare bus. There were a few changes in the last couple of years since I last took that trip. 

In the meantime they have built a brand new bus-terminal - Terminal Rodoviário de Guarulhos - near Parque Cecap from whose plataform Viação Atibaia have a daily bus service to Nazare at 6:30 and 11:30 in the morning. 

Condominum Bahia is the block of flats nearest to the Terminal Rodoviario.

even though we're supposed to be in Autumn at Condo Bahia it feels like Spring... 

Avenida Odair Santanelli runs from Parque Cecap's Centro Comercial up to Alameda dos Lirios where the Terminal Rodoviario is. There are 4 blocks of flats along its course: Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, a vacant lot where (probably) Goiás should have been plus Espirito Santo and Bahia. 

Hospital Geral - General Hospital - at the back of Cecap's  Condo Bahia on Alameda dos Lirios.

Terminal Rodoviario de Guarulhos is actually a white elephant. It remains deserted most of the day... waiting for something to happen.

there is an eerie ghost-town-like sensation inside the Terminal... 

Not a living soul around in the Terminal at 11:15 PM.

apparently platform #6 is the only one used... this bus belonging to Viação 1001 bound for Rio de Janeiro was the only one I saw while I waited for the bus to Nazare Paulista leaving at 11:30. 

outside the Terminal taxis wait for no one...

Waiting for the bus to Nazare Paulista for about an hour at such a deserted place as the Terminal reminded somehow of the times I lived in the United States in the 1970 where I used to feel so free wherever I went. 

It was hotter than usual for an April day and I went out of the Terminal to find something to drink. After walking down the street up to Condo. Espirito Santo I thought I'd better return because I could get too hot and don't find proper refreshment. As I was approaching the Terminal again I saw a small market and went in. I bought myself a bottle of Gatorade for 3.27. Tangerine, my favourite. I felt happy somehow and sat myself down at the waiting place next to the bus platform and started thinking about my friend Jaime Ponciano when he used to live so near by. Ah, those years in the early 1990s were so good.

Talking about Gatorade I remember the first time I ever heard about it and didn't even know what it was like. It was in 1971 listening to Paul Simon's first solo album. 'Papa Hobo' was a lovely song about wandering away and Detroit. Somewhere in the bridge of the song Simon says: 'Sweep up / I been sweeping up the tips I've made / I been living on Gatorade / planning my getaway / Detroit, Detroit / got a hell of a hockey team... '

Jaime then shared a flat at Condominum Minas Gerais with his young sister Roseli who had had a small girl called Vitoria. Jaime's parents used to live in another flat not too far. Jaime taught kids how to paint and painted himself his canvas or T shirts at this flat that doubled-up as residence too. It was such a nice place. We used to buy Italian bread and eat it with cheese, blackberry jam and caffé-latte. So good!

I used to love those visits because Guarulhos International Airport was so close-at-hand and I felt a sort of elation just knowing I was so near a departing place (Paul Simon's getaway?) and fly some plane that would take me to New York, Buenos Aires or Sydney. It was so good to hear the roar of planes taking off.

Sometime along the line the Silva family left Parque Cecap and moved to a rural property Seu João, Jaime's father had in Cuiabá-de-Cima, around Nazare Paulista, some 20 km North into the mountains.

Then it was harder to pay a quick visit to Jaime where I always had so much fun. Visiting Jaime was a bit of paradise on earth. First thing he would do was roll up a joint which he lighted and we puffed away. Then we would talk about art or life or play the guitar and sing along those songs we had already taken the lyrics and chords. Jaime was a serious fan of Brazilian rock'n'roller Rita Lee. He also liked samba very much and tended to switch over to samba with the passing of time.

'Cá te espero' (I wait for you here) is a quaint name for a restaurant... on the road Guarulhos-Nazare. 

on my way to Nazare Paulista... 

Guarulhos-Nazaré Highway...

the friendly bus conductor collects money from the passangers at Viação Atibaia bound to Nazare Paulista. 

As soon as I got off the bus at Vicente Nune's main road's second bus-stop I was greeted by Vitoria who had parked her car near the curb and was waiting for the Guarulhos bus to arrive. Vitoria took me to her mother's house 50 metres up a road that forks up from the main drag. There is a court-house at the corner where Moises works. Moises is Vitoria's younger bother. I was glad to see Roseli and see that everything's right with her who has had a rough patch raising two kids on her own. 

By the way if you wonder who Vicente Nunes is, well, it's a town (more likely a suburb of Nazare's) just across D. Pedro I Highway (Rodovia Dom Pedro I) from Nazare Paulista.

It was really good seeing Tati again. We talked non-stop trying to make up for the time we didn't know about each other. 

Photo taken from Atibaia's highest peak shows Nazare Paulista in the foreground and the long bridge that spans the resevoir. One can see part of São José dos Campos' skyline in the background.

Marcio, Roseli, Vitoria & Luiz Amorim...

Roseli aka Tati blows the candles with all her might.

Marcio & Tati; Tati & her son-in-law Felipe.

Roseli da Silva aka Tati has her birthday on the 5th of April, so her daughter Vitoria prepared a half-surprise birthday party for her and here are some of the snapshots taken at Vitoria & Felipe's house in Vicente Nunes, Nazare Paulista. Marcio & his wife Valquiria were also present. Vitoria's young brother Moises took the pictures on the night of 9 April 2016. 

Fernando Sabino & Clarice Lispector. 

BUTANTAN in 1942

Estrada do M' Boy - 25 July 1942.

photo shows the bridge over Rio Pinheiros; most of what would soon be University City is nothing but lanes...

PINHEIROS 1950s & 1960s

Largo de Pinheiros in the early 1950s... the new church was already under contruction.

Largo de Pinheiros circa 1963.

tram car Pinheiros-Pça.Ramos de Azevedo #29 in its last trip some time in 1963. 

1960s Rio Pequeno seen from Belgium

Through this blog I received a message from a Brazilian woman named Eglantine Eglantines who has migrated to Belgium some decades ago. She told us she lived in the Rio Pequeno area in the 1960s with her parents and some time with her grandmother. Here are some things Eglantine shared with us.


Eu nasci em Dezembro de 1953. Fiz os 4 anos do curso primário - 1961 a 1964 - no Grupo Escolar do Rio Pequeno. que era uma escola feita de madeira e pintada de verde-claro, no local onde, nos anos 1970s, seria construído o Ginasio Estadual Professor Daniel Paulo Verano Pontes, Avenida Joaquim Seabra, 1.187. 

Em 1961, eu morava na  Estrada do Rio Pequeno (atual Avenida); três casas antes de uma padaria na popularmente-conhecida como Praça do Sossego - esquina da rua Jorge Ward & da referida Estrada.

Minha avó materna morava numa casa ao lado da igreja de São Patricio, na Rua Otacilio Tomanik, e ajudava tomar conta da igreja. Me lembro que o padre passava na casa dela para tomar café, ainda usava batina preta. A gente tinha que pedir benção e beijar-lhe a mão.

Minha avó mudou-se, então para uma casa no início da rua Engenheiro Heitor Antonio Eiras Garcia, que nós chamávamos de 'Mercadinho'. Ali tinha muito mato naquele tempo. 

Minha avó faleceu em 1967, quando eu tinha 13 anos. Me lembro que chovia naquele dia e para chegar à casa dela tinha que descer um barranco e os pés ficavam com muito barro vermelho. Ainda era comum o caixão ficar na sala da casa antes do enterro.

Parte da Estrada do Rio Pequeno ainda era de terra. La na Corifeu de Azevedo Marques havia um quartel da Força Pública. Tinha circos ou parquinhos-de-diversão que eram instalados em terrenos baldios da Estrada com a Otacilio Tomanik, que no verão eram alagados pelo transbordamento do Rio Pequeno correndo em direção ao Rio Pinheiros. Os circos ficavam no local algumas semanas. Era a maior diversão para a gente aos domingos, mas para ter direito ao dinheiro para diversão no parque ou circo, a gente tinha que limpar a casa, ir à missa e ter feito toda lição-de-casa. 

Eu ia p’ra escola por uma trilha no meio do mato, com muitos pés de mamonas. As vezes, na volta, nós fazíamos ‘guerra de mamonas’ entre os colegas, que grudavam no cabelo da gente. 

Antes de entrar em classe, a gente fazia fila de dois-em-dois no patio, cantava o Hino Nacional, com a mão no peito, subia silenciosamente para as classes, sentava cada um em sua carteira determinada. Quando a professora entrava, a gente se levantava e rezava com ela.

Tive duas professoras: dona Irdes e dona Alice. Como eu era a primeira aluna da classe, sempre fui a queridinha das professoras. Dona Irdes morava no Educandário e, de vez em quando, pedia para eu ir à casa dela buscar ou levar alguma coisa. Eu ia com o maior prazer e como eu era alta e de pernas compridas, fazia o trajeto bem rápido. A alegria era depois, quando ela me cobria de presentes, quebra-cabeças, joguinho-de-roleta, lápis, cadernos etc.

Em dias de festas e feriados como o 7 de Setembro, a gente mesma fazia os instrumentos de forma artesanal.

Televisão não era todo mundo que tinha; tinha que ir ao vizinho; todo mundo se sentava no chão da sala para assistir.

Também íamos à pé à Rodovia Raposo Tavares passear no meio das florestas que tinham por lá ou fazer pic nic. 

Sai do Rio Pequeno em 1967, aos 12 anos. Fui morar no bairro do Ferreira com minha tia, mas voltava sempre, pois minha mãe continuou na mesma casa.

Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de S.Paulo; Decreto n. 35.063, de 29 Dezembro 1959 do Diario Oficial do Estado de S.Paulo:

Plano de ação: dispõe sobre a desapropriação de imóvel situado no bairro do Rio Pequeno, necessário à instalação do Grupo Escolar local. 

from Rio Pequeno to Sao Miguel Paulista - 11 Oct. 2015

Our lovely friend Claudia Possoni invited a few of her friends to visit her in Sao Miguel Paulista on a Sunday afternoon in October 2015. As I live in the West Side exactly the opposite side of town I had to start up early if I wanted to get to São Miguel on time. Considering that Sunday is the worst possible day to get hold of public transport in Sao Paulo (especially busses) I got started as early as I could. 

I took a bus on Avenida do Rio Pequeno formerly known as Estrada do Rio Pequeno towards Butantã. 

This is the awsome building that houses Butantã underground station. It's a queer looking building. I still don't know whether I like it or hate it.

going down Butantã underground station... 

deep down Butantã's train platform.

at Bras train-station ready to descend to the train-platform going towards Calmon Viana.

CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Transportes Metropolitanos) & a maze of overhead cables...

at Sao Miguel Paulista train-station 11 October 2015... 12:13 AM.

map of Sao Miguel train-station vicinities

this is the fork where Avenida Marechal Tito turns left and Avenida Nordestina goes up-hill.

pay-phones in Sao Paulo or Sao Miguel are all dead but not quite gone yet...

a pay-phone on Avenida Nordestina, Sao Miguel after being vandalized... See those little stick-up ads? They were a way for prostitutes of both sexes to ply their wares... Love for sale!!! indeed!

we're almost at the top of the hill...

Avenida Nordestina goes a long way up...

Avenida Marechal Tito with Avenida Nordestina forking to the left in 1975... exactly 40 years before... 

Claudia was still busy cleaning and preparing the food for the afternoon snack...

Claudia's mother dona Albina's orchidea...

cona Albina's Portuguese lace (renda-portuguesa)

Patricia arriving for the Sunday avo do... Claudia & Eduardo...

Beto Abrantes, dona Albina, Claudia & part of Eduardo's head...

the Host & her Beau, Eduardo...

Pat, Millene Fernandes & Beto Abrantes... Patricia was telling us about the joys of motherhood...

... talking about mothers... this is Claudia & her mother Albina on the day of her Christening in Aparecida do Norte-SP - 25 June 1972. The idea was that since Monday, 12 October is Children's Day in Brazil we would bring photos of our childhood.

Well, Antonio Marcos was not there. He's been dead now for 23 years... but still in our hearts when it comes to Sao Miguel Paulista.

Antonio Marcos was a rock ballad singer who was born on 8 November 1945, in Sao Miguel Paulista from a working class family. He was bound to be great and at 21 was already a popular singer having left Sao Miguel for ever. His family lived the rest of their lives in Sao Miguel. Toninho died on 5 April 1992. He was only 47 years old.

Cine São Miguel on Rua da Fabrica in 1963.