Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Thursday, 12th of November:
The flight arrived without delay at 12.30 and my bag was on the belt when I arrived to collect it. I went straight to the exit following the signs for onibus and then for bus tickets. There was an office for Airport Bus Service and I bought a ticket for the next bus at 1pm to Avenida Paulista costing 42 real (€10). I had chosen my hostel intentionally to be close to the stop for this airport bus as I would have to return to the airport the next day to meet the lads.
The bus was grand and having left at 1, I got off at the stop on Paulista Avenue at 2pm. The hostel was just across the road which was great.
The hostel I had booked was called Soul and was 49 real for the night (€12.25) - not bad for a central area in a big city like São Paulo. The hostel was belting out the tunes. It doesn't have much of a social scene but would do the job for the night.
I got lunch around the corner - some meat dish and rice and veg for 20 reals (€5).
I then chilled in the hostel planning some stuff and then went for a walk along Paulista Avenue. It was pretty nice with lots of business people and some fancy shopping centres. It is however ranked number 6 or there abouts on tripadvisor and I can see why São Paulo isn't on top of the traveller's bucket list with that Being the case.
I nipped into Cinemark at 6pm to watch the new James Bond movie for 28 real (€7) - not cheap - and then hit the hay pretty early.
The next morning, I checked out and then took the metro to the Pacaembu stadium where the Football Museum is. The Triana metro station was around the corner from the hostel and I got off two stops away on the same line at Clinicas station. It was then a 15 minute walk to the museum. Entry was just 6 real (€1.50) which was very reasonable!
The museum was pretty good but was pretty jam packed which made things difficult to enjoy!
After that, I got back on the metro to Liberdade or Japan town and walked around there for a bit. I wandered into the centre then and had a look at St. Paul's cathedral and a monastery before stopping for lunch. I also checked out the Banco do Brazil culture centre which had a cool exhibition on!
I was pretty shocked at times with the extent of the homeless on the edge of most of the streets in the centre and how bad their general well-being seemed to be. This says something considering the many poor countries and poor areas I have been in on my travels this year.
After lunch, I got the metro back to Paulista avenue where I stopped in MASP or the museum of art São Paulo. It was a bit pricey for entry at 26 pesos (€6.50) so I used my student card and got it for 12 (€3). I was glad I didn't pay anymore as half the museum was closed and the main exhibition that was there was an exhibition of women's clothes that were in no way unusual and it was like window dressing in a female clothes shop!
I took a wander in the park across the road and then went back to the hostel to chill for a few hours. I got some dinner in the shopping centre around the corner and then got a taxi from the hostel at 7.45. It cost 40 real (€10) to get out to Congonhas airport where I arrived at 8.30.
Jamie, John and Ste arrived at about 9.30 and soon after Barbara arrived to collect us. Barbara is an old friend of Steve's that he met in Dublin gigging.
It took 2 hours to reach Guajuru where we would be staying in Barbara's beach house for the weekend. The apartment was on floor 14 with a balcony and beautiful views over the ocean.
We ordered in pizza and had a few beers before hitting the hay.
Saturday, 14th:
It was good to spend my birthday with friends from home.
We got up and got some breakfast and then hit the beach.
We had beach chairs, surf boards from Barbara's apartment and a football.
It was a beautiful day - about 35 degrees and we all had considerable tans (burns) at the end of the day.
The lads treated me to dinner for my birthday in a really nice restaurants do we then went for some ice cream. We played cards and hit the hay.
Sunday, 16th:
We woke up the next morning to rain and after a lie-in, decided to head for São Paulo earlier. We went to Cidade jardin - an upper class mall where we all tried tapeoiras - Brazilian style pancakes made from a special flour.
We then went back to Barbara's house and hung out and played with her dogs. A giant Bernaise called Axel and a little blind poodle called Pluma.
We then went to this amazing sushi restaurant called Aoyamara - we had all you can eat Japanese for 80 reals a head (€20). It was my first Japanese and i thought it was delicious!
We went to Tiete bus station where we managed to get tickets to Paraty with Reunidas for 60 real each (€15). We left at 22.40 and arrived ahead of schedule At about 4am.
I would remember São Paulo well thanks to Barbara's kind hospitality and for the lads making their arrival!
- comments