Oi!
I recall that when I held my 'speech' at my despedida (goodbye party) in Brazil, I honestly told everyone that when I first arrived in Juiz de Fora, around the area near the bus station, I thought, 'Omg, where did I arrive?' Hahaha. In my guide book JF didn't get much attention from the authors, other than being referred to as the 'ugly industrial town' on the way between Rio and Belo Horizonte, two of the biggest cities in the area. However, even though the area around the station is not so pretty per se, I wouldn't put it quite that harshly. And by the time I got to the city center and my host family's house on my arrival day, I was already beginning to quite like the city.
What's funny, before I came to Brazil, I often associated South America with Shakira's song and especially videoclip 'Ciega, Sordomuda'. It's one of my favorite songs by her, and I don't know why, but I just love the video, and to me, it has this South American (Colombian?) flavour about it. In a way, I could draw a parallel between JF and the setting for this video, not because it's visually extremely alike, but because there is this... South American feeling about them both. And when I walked down the street in JF, I always enjoyed this feeling of just being there, this continent I've dreamed of, breathing in the air and the atmosphere around me. So when you get into JF town, though it's not exceptionally beautiful, you certainly can't call the city ugly! Ok, I've seen more stunning sights in Brazil, and as a tourist you wouldn't have much to do in the city, but it's my favorite place in Brazil. First of all, because of the people of course! My friends, my host families, everyone I had met, through AIESEC, at Saci, the kids, all the people I ran into through other friends when out in the evenings. With half a million people, JF is actually around the same size as my hometown in Russia. And now it's legitimally my Brazilian hometown for sure! Though there aren't many tourist attractions in JF, in its own way it's still so beautiful. And once you have your good group of friends to spend free time with, it's great!
The name of the city is actually kind of funny, as it's so strange - it literally means 'The judge from out of here'. It took a few people to explain this name to me before the meaning finally stuck with me. From what I recall, initially the city grew very fast back when industrialism began kicking in: JF's location near to Rio de Janeiro, on the border of Minas Gerais, spurred that growth. But there weren't any judges in town, imagine that. So, judges from other places had to keep coming to Juiz de Fora, and were referred to as the 'judge from out of here'. And so the name stuck and the city now proudly bears this fact from its history in it. Oh I do hope I got this story right!
I lived with two host-families in JF, first with Ana's (from AIESEC) family near the city centre, in a nice neighbourhood, with a few English schools around, the fancy night club Privilege not too far from there, and the viewing point called Morro do Christo a bit further up the hill, where you can see practically the whole city before you. I used to walk down a long central street (many streets in JF are interminably long) to get into town then, passing through the Parque Halfeld, which is the center of the city and the classic meeting and hanging out point for many people. It faces the shopping street on the other side of the street, called Calcadao, which is busy day and night. I can vividly recall walking down the Calcadao; after work, in the weekend, or just passing by on the bus. The city theatre, the Teatro Municipal it was called I think, is also located right in the middle of the Calcadao.
After a couple of months, I moved from Ana's house to live with Mariana, Cacau and their mother to another neighbourhood of town on the other side of the city center. This area is full of bars and restaurants, and has a small shopping center (with a cinema), so it's always busy and full of young people hanging out. It's the hip part of town :) As many bars were close by, including the one where AIESEC'ers would often get together at, it was so easy for me to get to. The area around the bars was also where people would gather to party after the World Cup games. I loved living in this area, the neighbourhood is lively and full of activity. There was also this cool trampoline around the corner from my house, where kids would always jump up and down, and I was always jealous of them :p
There are several other places around town I would want to talk about, but I'm starting to feel a bit like a tour guide ;) There is the beautiful park Manuel Honorio, with a lake, tall slender palm trees and swans; a lot of very nice churches, and interesting streets and squares in town. There is one epic place that deserves a mention, too: the club called Muzik. What's so special about a club you might think, but aside from their great Wednesday samba nights, for me it's just full of memories, among them my host sister wearing an angel outfit and passing around Valentine's cards to people in the club.
Beijos!
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