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Trip Start Sep 06, 2006 Trip End Sep 01, 2007 Next
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  Sao Paulo, Brazil
Friday, September 8, 2006

Our rucksacks are the first to appear on the conveyer belt, we saunter through customs with ease with a trolley that doesn`t act like its been in a Tesco´s supermarket for years. Rather smugly, as other travellers consult their Lonely Planets and look for the bus stop, a sign with Cath and Nick appears in front of us held by the beeming Luiz and Irene, who by the way are the parents of our friend Vanessa and who are dressed for a Siberian winter complete with thick winter coats and gloves and look quite oddly at out flipflops and vest tops, for its 6am and only 19 degrees outside, this is Sao Paulo`s winter. We´re ushered out of the airport and into the car, Luiz and Irene garbling Portuguese at us, hmmmm not so smug now are we, what the f*ck are they on about???? Cue hand gestures, smiles and confused tired looks. Luiz is a Brazlian of Italian descent, a 72 priest and missionary, he has a little church in his house and he drives like a flippin` maniac, partly I suspect to wind up his wife but mostly to petrify us, much to his own amusement

Luiz, Irene, Cath and a coconut

. Cath, Nick, welcome to the crazy world of Brazilian driving, a world without rules, without breaks, without lights, seatbelts, indication, Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh!

We´re treated to a full Brazilian breakfast, consisting of lots of bread, cheese, bread ham, some more bread with bread and the ubiquitous strong, sweet coffee which is drunk in very small cups and the four of us manage to hold an animated converstion for well over an hour, Nick and I only speaking English and our hosts keeping up the Portuguese side of things - thank goodness for the disposable place mats, where would we have drawn all our descriptive pictures? From their rooftop you can do a 360 degree turn and see nothing but a metropolis of building upon building, skycraper against skyscraper, with no indication of where the city ends and the jungle begins. Sao Paulo, like the whole of Brazil, is mind boggingly HUGE! 20 million people live there and if you want to leave the city you have to travel for at least 2 hours in any direction. There are more private helicopters, armed vehicles and armed security personnel in Sao Paulo than in any other city in the world so that might give you an idea of how rich the small elite of Paulistanos are and also how security conscious they have become in light of increasing violent crime rates - a new one at night is to rob drivers of their possessions and cars at gun point when in queues or at red lights

Our guides - Douglas and Luciana

. Are we sure we want to go out tonight?? Well yes, if going out means Nick gets to consume large quantities of meat and beer, it does.

There is a brilliant type of restaurant in Brazil called a Rodizio or Churrascura. In Nicks case the object really is to consume as much meat as possible to the point where you burp consistently for about an hour and conversation is lost. You can of course take things at a slower pace if you want, wander around the buffet and help yourself to the vegetables, salads, pastas, sushi and chinese nibbles on offer, take a seat, order a few beers which are brought to you in ice filled buckets, turn your little card over to green and begin to taste small succulent cuts of meat from the kebab like skewers that are brought to you by the very attentive waitors. If you dont want anymore meat you decline or more easily just turn the card over to red so the waitors know you are full. Nicks card did not turn red for at least one and a half hours and not realising he was eating chicken hearts he plowed his way through those aswell. This was all much to Douglas´enjoyment (Douglas is Luiz and Irenes grandson and a top top bloke) who was very happy to take such a willing person as Nick out because after a lifetime of this kind of restaurant it kind of looses its appeal (i´m sure nick could challenge that point of view but anyway) and he insisted on paying for dinner. We were just so lucky to spend our first few dazed and confused hours with Vanessa´s family, and are so grateful for their kindness, really, we were very touched - Sao Paulo would have been a very over whelming place without them.

But now we`re on our own, just great! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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