Ray: Sao Paulo, Brazil - via New York!
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2007
1
24
80
Trip End
Dec 28, 2008
Sao Paulo,
Brazil
Monday, March 10, 2008
We just sat around the different sections of the terminal either eating or reading. Sarah found this great wee bookshop and spent most of the time sifting through the shelves. I went to the humour section, as usual, and there were quite a few things I could have bought. We both had a good laugh at some of the material, a little too loudly at times. She found some serious stuff and I left her to it to find some computer or cellphone shops. Need to catch up on gadgets and games you know.
The trip to Brasil started off in a funny way with this burly blonde-headed Brasilian guy rearranging seats for him and his lady friends. He spent 30 - 40 mins moving people around, being told to return to his own seat, being given another seat and then trying to find space in the overhead lockers for his gear. It was a huge laugh and lots of people followed his every move with amusement. Once he finally settled down, he was the only one standing even though we were about to take off, the flight was pretty routine. 10 hours worth.
When we flew in over Sao Paulo I couldnīt get over the number of high rise buildings they had. As far as the eye could see. I thought New York was impressive but this was better. 20 odd million people live here and it shows. Customs was again a doddle and we couldnīt 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 accounts pretty safe. We ventured out in the dark again to find some tea. One thing I can say about the Brasilians is that they know how to cook food. We went to this open bar come diner place and couldnīt be bothered with a full meal so bought these croquette type things and man they were delicious. Chicken, pork and beef wrapped in potato herb dough and either baked or pan fried. They were only the size of your palm so we had a few, haha, along with a few beers. Awesome. We managed to attract the attention of the locals probably because of Sarahīs braids and of course our lack of Portuguese but everyone seemed friendly enough. Nice to see.
Next day there was breakfast first (weīve chosen a lot of places on the basis of free breakfasts) which was an interesting mix of bread rolls, jams, jellies, cake, some fruit, fruit juice, coffee and tea. Cake and jelly?! Anyway we decided to book a tour to see the sights but this proved to be extremely frustrating as any attempted contact ended unanswered. We tried three unsucessfully. We decided to brave it ourselves and took the Metro into town to do the Metro Tour only to find on our arrival that that dayīs tour was in Portuguese! We abandoned our quest.
We made a list of things to see only to find some of them were not open. We eventually decided on a street market recommended by others. It was great. We took the metro there and found a very busy and varied market place. Some of the items for sale were typical - rings, necklaces, clothing etc but others were very creative and exceptional quality. We loved looking at the variety of art styles from paintings to sculptures to multi-media art displays many of which we wanted to buy straight away but of course couldnīt. Sarah got lots of ideas of things she would like to try when we get home. We werenīt allowed to take any photos understandably but you couldnīt help but be inspired by some of the artwork. There was also a food area and the food being sold there was again fantastic. I got this big fried pattie thing which tasted great and then we stood by the cake stall, one of many, where you could buy a decent slice of some scrumptious creation - chocolate, caramel, strawberry, pineapple cake, covered in thick syrupy icing. Cakes, Meringues, Flans and Trifles. Yum yum. People were lining up and I kept saying, man we should have this at home! Iīve said that a lot about a lot of things here.
The bar/ diner and bakery thing is great too. Frustrating a little because you only pay for your food right at the end which means waiting for a while but hey, small price, for great food. All kinds of desserts are available in the same place you can buy all kinds of bread, different beers, takeaways and full restaurant meals. My kind of place. We stayed for about 3 days in Sao Paulo but a little disappointed at not being able to see all that we wanted. Yes, there is lots of poverty here too. Slum areas we passed on the way in from the airport. Even old prisons have been taken over by people desperately looking for somewhere to live. In our area we saw one or two homeless sleeping on the footpaths or dragging all their belongings behind them in a trolley. No street dogs though and not too many street sellers or beggars although even on the metro sellers come around and place packets of lollies on your lap or beside you then do their spiel for the passengers before going around to collect the packets people donīt want. Itīs funny, some want nothing to do with them and wave them away (weīve become very effective at this) and others are bemused by it all and you get one or two that buy something. Guess itīs better than fighting on the streets or becoming a crim. Next though itīs on to Rio.
