Massis Five Stars Sao Paulo

... Sau Paulo´ is not really set up for tourists... We made it to a market in a slightly rough area but the meal I had was nice. Then back on the bus and for the last 4 hours had to sit as part of a young family gathering. Which I enjoyed even more when the youngest child started vomitting...

Still now in Paraty and it is beaches and hot weather all the way...

Everybody told me "why are you going to Sao Paolo, there is nothing to see" but it is wrong. Thanks to Clarissa I have had such a great time, met lovely people, ate yummy brazilian food and saw beautiful places. The city has a very european flair and its trendy.

... which once housed the city’s gold. Next was the Mercado Municipal (giant food market) where we saw everything from massive lobsters to lush fruit and veggies to fragrant herbs and spices - and as Christian seemed to know everyone there we managed to do a fair bit of try before you buy!
Then it was time to leave and Christian kindly dropped us at the bus station from where we caught a 6 hour bus ride to Paraty – a quaint little colonial town by the sea to the north of SP ...

... na przepustke).

W koncu sie udalo dostac na sale odpraw niestety nie bylo zadnych informacj o locie. Po dlugim oczekiwaniu i awanturze z policja (niektorym ludziom puscily nerwy) w koncu wylecielismy o 20.30 czyli po 12 godzinach oczekiwania. Po 1.00 w nocy dolecialam do Santiago gdzie czekali na mnie Chila i Antonio rowniez zmeczeni oczekiwaniem na wiesci odemnie.

... dragos, nu, ca el este un delicat. Bombanea ca nu a luat izoprenul, sa doarma pe jos, ca aurolacii. Am lasat ceva bani pe acolo, k era un real (cca 1,5ron) sa te duci la baie si am tot fost, un sandvis a fost 9 reali, iar eu mi-am luat un meniu de la Bob,s (pronuntat Babbs) cu 13 reali. Plus ca, daca nu ai ce sa faci, mananci - salate de fructe, chipsuri si alte porcarii. Intr-un final apoteotic s-a facut ora 14 si ne-am dus sa ne imbarcam. Dezamagire. Fata de celelalte ...

... a drink in there included a service charge of 30 Brazilian Reals. (David: Equal to about 8...er...well, whatever excuse we have for a currency these days. Would have been equal to about £6 last month.) Ridiculous so we left, we had the photos. It had been a really interesting stopover in Sao Paulo....but we were glad we were leaving. The next day we packed our stuff up once more and left for our domestic flight to Rio Baby YEAH!! Ups and downs in Rio.... Love, us xxxxxxxxxxx

... seems to be more comfortable with portugese, which in my case im probably at the 3 year old level. So i basically feel like an idiot here with a college education that cannot communicate. I guess im at the point where, i wouldnt mind understanding whats going on around me. I mean, ive been in a foreign countries for 4 and a half months and sometimes no one speaks any english. Im not complaining at all and its part of the experience, but i think it would be nice to be ...

... discovered that for some unfathomable reason our useless travel agents (Trailfinders) had managed to sell us a round the world ticket which did not include the relevant departure tax for Brazil, so we had to pay this separately!

We stuck this on my credit card and bemoaned yet another hidden cost for a ticket which was mis-sold to us in a barrage of lies and false claims all those months ago.

If you are thinking of buying a round-the-world ticket, I would ...

... but have since realised that there is a BIG difference between classes of bus here. Our latest bus ride was that kind of journey, where you drop off to sleep for a few moments and in your nightmare see a scary looking vengeful judge pointing his accusing finger at you "I sentence you to 12 hours on an Util bus. Your seat will be broken and the icy air conditioning will be blasting for the entire journey...". Well ...

... Pollyana. After several months of emailing back and forth and finding out that she was moving back to Sao Paulo we arranged to meet and go out for dinner. I got a little nervous and started to think "have I changed, has she changed, what if I don't recognize her and vice versa". As soon as we saw each other, it was almost as if nothing had changed ...