Golden Tulip Paulista Plaza Sao Paulo

After travelling for the whole day I was supposed to meet Daniel at the station so that we could get on a different coach to some mysterious location. As usual, I didn't know the station, where we're going, and whether Daniel would definitely be able to meet me on my arrival. He ...

... rush of street sellers frantically pushing wheelbarrows covered by poystyrene bags to another area, then suddenly they stop because the threat of being caught has abated for the time being. All of this is to a noisy background of people shouting and selling their wares along with 70's disco tunes being pumped out of steros every few metres. It's like th Ko San Road in Bangkok muntplied by a 1000! We managed to purcahse two trolleys to put our rucksacks on so that we could wheel ...

... to what was on offer. Tuna carpaccio, roasted garlic cloves, loads of salad, salmon...the list goes on. There´s also a pasta station with some very tasty stuff! There´s a local custom on the 29th of every month that if you have a plate of gnocchi, you place a one dollar bill with your wish list of what you want most e.g., a car. They must be material items (no world peace on these lists) and you place the list ...

... 1$, 20 items (1 box) is $20... There's a Sam's (Walmart) where imported things are three or four times the price than in Canada... and other cheaper places of the same concept...lesser quality... and one more (we didn't go to) that's practically falling appart (way cheaper).... These pics are from Aug 14 & 15 :)

Yesterday we adventured around the neighbourhood... for me, this place reminds me of a mix between Chile and the Dominican Republic... some places are very modern, big buildings etc... others... not so much... and the cows are not too far away either... :) so far. I'm loving it! - Specially the food!!!! :) Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love food... so as I discover some yummy things I'll post them to share them with you :)

Took a local bus to visit a small town about 30 km south of Paraty. There really is nothing in this town... except 3 beautiful beaches. The 4 of us from the hostel spent the day sunbathing and exploring the beaches. I even took a nice little nap. Wish I can come back tomorrow... Unfortunately, I will be taking an overnight bus to Sao Paulo to catch my flight to Buenos Aires. I guess it is time to say - Goodbye, Brazil. Hello, Argentina!!

... that it needs to be repacked, (which is fine) and she is removing clothes from said bag, but it's not THAT HEAVY.....well I'm off to repack my bag *sigh* I am not saying anything else because I am probably going to eat my words. But I travelled before with a bag the size of a small country and it was quite bad, this bag is considerably smaller and lighter and I really dont have a problem with it's weight, but I guess we should have the same kind of bag weight so off I go. It begins...

... salty, sweet stuff is overly sweet, just potent in general but theres such a huge variety of things we dont have in NZ and Ive never tried anywhere else that it's mind boggling, and I'm still getting used to it. We went to a place called Liberdade in SP which was really cool, but there were soooo many people and it was crazy, I bought some more DVDs, we ate Japanese food and went with a big group, Andy's cousins, brother, sister in law and sister ...

... t wait to find a taxi, which cost 100 reals, about 80 bucks NZ, and onto another hostel. The hostel itself was nice, nice design and seemed reasonably new. Internet, Sky TV, free drinking water, guitars, DVDs, music, beers, chips and a pool table. No, not in our room but nice to have access to. We had to wait a couple of hours for the cleaners to finally get it ready but it was worth it. Sao Paulo is a huge city and the area we are staying is by all ...

... Perfect end to an amazing time, and essentially the end to our groups time together. I have to tell you, I was not prepared at all for how HARD it was going to be to say goodbye to these kids. Mark was first off in the morning, and neither of us slept after the party before I sent him off at the station at 6:30 AM. Strange, I´ve spent EVERY DAY for 8 months with the kid, and thats it...gone until London. It was unreal amigo, couldn't have had a better companion and ...