Sao Paulo Othon Classic

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.

Following a 16 hour bus ride (complete with teenage boys determined to carry on the party throughout) we arrived into a rainy Sao Paulo at about 11.30am. Escaping the hectic bustle of the central bus station by taxi, we sped our way across the city towards the "very hip,boho" (acc to RG) area of Villa Madelena. After a rather tortuous check-in at the Casa Club Hostel (thanks to the incredibly sweet but painfully slow lady on reception) we bundled into our new teeny-tiny home ...

... ktery rikal, ze maji otevreno jenom o deviti do jedenacti, a at prijdu zitra...nechtelo se mi cekat zase dalsi den, tak jem se rozhodl, ze pojedu pres noc do Ouro Preta a turistickou kartu si udelam nekde jinde...
Na nadrazi jsem si koupil listek, uschoval batoh a vyrazil se potulovat do mesta. Byl jsem na mistnim trhu, v metru poslouchal koncert a jinak se celkem poflakoval...v osm jsem nasedl do autobusu a snazil se nejak spat...

Poczatek wyprawy zaczal sie z przygodami, czyli zaliczylam dodatkowy kraj na mojej trasie (Brazylie). Po wyladowaniu w Sao Paulo gdzie mialysmy przesiadke do Santiago okazalo sie ze ja lece innym lotem niz moja kolezanka Chila. Roznica byla w 20 minutach na nieszczescie moj lot byl opozniony (oryginalnie mialam leciec o 8.05.

Firma lotnicza umiescila nas w hotelu zebysmy ...

... both roughly on the originally planned route, which would take me south towards Buenos Aires. Accompanying me was Dave, a Dutch guy, on his way to Rio, who was telling me how much he enjoyed the Amazon and Colombia. By the time I got to the ticket counter, I was already sketching out in my mind the massive vuelta, which will take me to Brazil's north east, into the Amazon, then Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and only then Argentina. We'll see what actually happens...

Took a six hour bus journey to Sao Paulo from Paraty. Sao Paulo is a huge city, even bigger than Rio. It has 12.6 million living in the city and 20 million in the greater city. It is the main business hub of Brazil much more so than Rio. It is not as attractive as Rio but supposed to be more cultural in many ways. Marcio kindly met us at the bus station which was great as our bags appear to be getting heavier even though I have bought barely anything. Tonight we are staying in ...

... the combo which turned out to be a cup of thick melted chocolate...we loved it! Great way to start the day. Taj´s combo came with some sweet pastries whilst Olivia´s had bread and butter plus a plate of small dough balls which were cheesy. First stop was the information centre where we collected a map of the city. We then walked down to the Municipal Theatre of Sao Paulo which is an impressive building in the downtown area. We caught the subway to Praça de Sé which is ...

... similar. LOVE IT! Plus every day I try a whole bunch of new foods, on that day we had some weird mousse of a fruit I forgot but it ends with -buça from the amazon. The fruit is big and brown and has a strong smell. (I haven't said it so neither should you, Dad.) Anyway I didn't much care for it and I liked the coconut one alot more. I also ate a tapioca (I was mislead. I thought it was a tapioca pudding, like the ones we used to have when I was a kid. I was wrong.) It was good, but I ...

... Sao Paulo neighbourhoods; the houses are expensive; it's filled with high-end, but cute boutiques; the restaurants are nice; and it's gay-friendly. Most importantly, it's relatively safe to walk around during nighttime--something of a rarity for Sao Paulo neighbourhoods. Returning to the variety of a large city, we grabbed sushi for our first night. The fish was decent, but not stellar. We finished the night visiting a crowded ...

Greetings from Crazy SP! So right after I wrote my last blog entry, I headed home. It began to get windy. I got on the bus, and then it began to POUR. Literally I have never seen anything like it. As we traveled through the streets, I saw motorcycles that had been parked now wedged under cars, people standing on busstop benches etc because the water was so high. A little kid on the bus with me also thought it was crazy, I'm glad I wasn't alone in my thoughts that it was ...