Being in Brazil. Being Brazilian.

Being in Brazil. Being Brazilian.
By now, I believe most of you know that I was born in Brazil. I moved to the US in 2001, when I was 25 years old. I spent most of my adult life in the US, enjoying all the perks that come with it.  And there are many. And despite all the problems in Brazil, there are some perks here too that I don’t find in the US.
Visiting my family and friends is a given. And anyone can have that anywhere in the world. Except that this time I met my newborn niece, and that was a whole trip in itself. Meet Nicole:

But what I want to share with you is what I see, smell, eat here… that is a different experience.
Yesterday I went to a popular store here (kinda like Target), and they had a new product among all the Panettones that festive italian bread that we are crazy about over here: a caramel panettone. OMG! Really??? One of my two favorite things combined. That blew my mind. For the chocolate lovers (definitely not me!), they have quite a few flavors also, the newest being Chocolate Mousse Panettone.

What about Guarana (the brazilian most loved soda) and coxinha (the fried dough with shredded chicken inside? I could have that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. Specially now that they have these fast food coxinha places, where they sell a container with 72 mini coxinhas for R$9 (roughly $3.50). In the US we pay an average of $90 for 100 of those.

And my new fav junk: Bolinha de Feijoada. You know Feijoada? The famous black bean and pork stew served with rice, oranges, “farofa” and collard greens? Yes, now they make it finger food version: a deep fried little ball with the beans filled with bacon and greens. Beyond my expectations.

Lots of garlic and salt, we don’t normally eat spicy food in Rio. Well, that is, they don’t, because I always have a bottle of Cholula Hot Sauce here imported from the US, that imported it from Mexico.

We drink a lot of water, juices, and coconut water. It is hot here! And humid!
Fruits are truly delicious. The other day I ate a pound of Italian grapes (my favorite ones, and you can’t find them in the US, but I did find them in France). Passion fruit the size of a grapefuit makes my favorite juice. Apple banana, the most delicious of all.

Today I am going to Downtown Niteroi. I mean, real downtown. With the whole crowd walking around, the tiny shops where they sell everything, food, heat, dust. One of my favorite places in the whole entire world. Anywhere I go I need to find these kind of places. They excite me and get my creativity going. I am counting the minutes to go and see what they have.
During this visit, I did quite a few photoshoots at Itacoatiara. In all these years I only shot there once. One of the most beautiful places in my hometown Niteroi. Surfer’s paradise, nature lovers’ heaven, I grew up going there, watching all the surfers, and having a crush on almost all of them. The surfers might’ve gotten old, who knows? They are probably bald, or chunky, they probably have kids and work at an office right now. Aren’t we all going that path? But Itacoatiara… not this one. Beautiful and full of life as always. Nothing has changed. I am so happy that this time around I will have done 4 photoshoots there. So happy to present it to you guys. Like a proud sister.  What was a thinking keeping it hidden for so long?

I still have a few more shoots before I go back to the US. Lovely locations to come: a fisheman’s village, a fort… Wish I could walk freely as I do in the US, where I can pretty much shoot anywhere my inspiration leads me. Not here. Itacoatiara is still pretty safe (not 100%, of course), and forts are beautiful and safe, but a lot of other places I would love to show are not really the best place to go with a camera. It is sad. There is so much beauty in the old constructions, the cobble stone streets, the simplicity of the colors, the richness of details, the kind of green we don’t see in Southern California, and how everything comes together so unpretentiously yet so perfect and in such harmony. You will just have to take my word on it.

Something else inspires me a lot when I am in Brazil: the design work. Print, patterns, windows. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Charming stores, unique patterns, creative products. The most beautiful reclaimed wood, windows, doors. Pricey, that is for sure, but a free boost of inspiration.

This time around I didn’t bring the kids with me, so I had the chance to walk around and window shop and just enjoy the view. All of them, and I see what I normally don’t see being so busy and rushed. I am pretty sure you could find joy in all the little things from where you came from. Or when you go on your next trip. Every city talks to us. We just need to be quiet and listen.

Chris Dowd, from All Colors Photography, is a natural light photographer.
Born and raised brazilian, she now lives in San Diego, California with her husband and their two boys.
She travels to Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro – Brasil 2 or 3 times a year to photograph and do/see all the good stuff.
To know more about her work follow her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AllColorsPhotographySD or subscribe to her blog.