Eu Estou Doente – I’m Sick

Unfortunately I’m sick this week, so no training for me. But I’m still having a good time. There are these little bakeries called Padarias. I’ve been told that most Padarias are run by Portuguese families. Here are a few of the goodies I picked up there.

São Paulo is quite a bit different from Houston, as I’m sure you could imagine. So many people use public transportation here. They have buses, trains and subways like the one below. Because it’s so hilly here, the subways are not always underground, but most of the time they are. You see a lot of people walking also. But trust me, there is plenty of traffic here from cars and motorcycles. There are also lots of favelas (ghettos) spread throughout the city, whereas Rio has one big favela (and maybe some smaller ones, I’m not sure).

Alliance is Getting Ready for ADCC

This past week and next week we are doing all no-gi in class. They are getting ready for ADCC. We worked some pretty cool takedowns this week – double legs, ankle picks and some other stuff. I’m going to try to get a private lesson or two in before I come back home, but I’m not sure what Fabio’s schedule is like yet.

I’ve had a chance to do some driving around São Paulo. I’ve been driving a little 1 liter Fiat hatchback. It’s pretty fun, but it feels a bit dangerous as well. People drive very different here. They have two different types of stop signs. Some are like the ones in the U.S. and some are just painted on the ground. But “Stop” is more like a suggestion here so you need to be careful when passing interesections. And there doesn’t seem to be any traffic laws for the motorcycles here, except when there are police around. It’s pretty crazy.

These Guys (and Girls) Are Tough

The Alliance Team has been doing a lot of sparring in class, getting ready for a competition this weekend. The guys and girls here are really tough. The warm ups are proof of these guys toughness.

Things are pretty cool here. There are a ton of motorcycles and most of the cars are pretty small. It’s very hilly here and everyone drives manual transmissions, which is pretty impressive to me. I’m sure it’s a real challenge to start driving when your stopped at a light going up hill.

The Jet Lag Is Over And The Training Has Begun

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get you guys updated. I arrived in Brazil with zero sleep on the plane, which was expected. I took a two hour nap before going out that night and it took me over a week to catch up on sleep. My sleep schedule is still a little off, but I`m pretty rested for the most part. My first day at the Alliance Academy with Fabio Gurgel was on the following Monday. The school is about 3 hours away from where I`m staying, so training there takes about 7-8 hours out of my day.

Mondays are sparring days in the advanced class. We did a 15 minute warm up before moving on to 8 minute sparring rounds. I was lucky to go with Fabio the first round. I was pretty tired when I arrived there so I was pacing myself. I spent most of the round watching what he was doing. He went pretty easy on me though. I can’t wait to go hard with him. Have you ever been excited to see how badly you could get beaten?

My trip has been pretty awesome so far. The food is amazing. There is this place that serves lunch just down the street that we go to almost every day. Amazing. They have McDonalds and Burger King and a Arabic fast food place called Habibs. I went there once. It’s not bad, but I’ll stick to Brazilian food while I’m here.

I’ll try to get some pictures for you soon. I have a really nice SLR camera, but it’s too dangerous to take most places. But I’ll do what I can. And I’ll try to keep you updated at least weekly from now on. Take care.

Back To Brazil

I’m planning another trip to Brazil soon. I will be leaving August 22nd and I will be back in Houston in October 18th. I will be training at with Fabio Gurgel in Villa Olympia. I look forward keeping you up to date on my training in São Paulo.