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Hi from Sao Paulo! Well we arrived safely in Sau Paulo on Thursday. The six hour bus journey did go very fast and we viewed some excellent landscapes on our journey here. Brazil is full of rolling hills which seem alot greener than England. Sao Paulo is connected via a metro train station which was situated at the bus station so we found the hostel easy enough. The metro is about 1quid to anywhere in the centre of the city. This hostel is paradise in comparison to the Rio Nature (Which I have now added photos of). We decided that the Rio Nature should have been called the Rio Nature Slum instead! Haha. This hostel is alot cleaner and more comfortable and we have access to alot more homely accessories (Kitchen etc). Also we are only sharing our dorm with one other person which is better. However on the first night we met a lovely Brazilian couple around our age who could speak a little English and where also staying in our hostel. We went for tea with them and they told us about their way of life and asked us questions about ours. They also helped us translate the menu as nothing is in English! Its a good job we are not fussy as its a matter of ip-dip-do! Good fun though! On our first full day in Sao Paulo we ventured into the main centre. Here we discovered that it was the 458th anniversary of Sao Paulo so the city was alive with street entertainment, live music and lots of street stalls. However because of this we had to be extra vigilent as Sao Paulo also has many poor people (most look completly off their face). You could virtually spot a pick-pocket a mile off as they stood slightly higher than everyone else gazing around at people instead of watching the entertainment. There was alot of police about though so we wasnt to worried; we just kept an eye on our pockets and my shoulder bag. We ventured to the Municipal Market where we tasted our first proper Brazil Cuisine a 'Pastel De Bacalhau' which translated to a Cod filled pasty! Very nice! The market was half closed because of the carnival day but some stalls where open and there was a variety of fresh fruit and veg, fish etc. We wandered some more around the city taking in the various Cathedrals, Municipal Theatre, St Benedicts Monastry, Republica Square and being extra carefull not to tread on the homeless sleeping across the centre of the walkways. (You cannot comprehend how many!). If you look at my photo of St Benedicts Monastry you will see a couple in the foreground. Unfortunately I didnt take many photos as it wasnt very safe to keep pulling my camera in and out so I only have a few snaps of the city. After we wandered around and found most of the sights we headed back to the hostel. Today it has rained for most of the day, however we still decided to stick to plan and we ventured to the city park - Ibirapuera Park. Plastic Ponchos at the ready! This was ok, just your usual park really but alot bigger. It probably would have been alot nicer in the sunshine as the park holds a lovely big lake with lots of Geese and other birds so would have been nice to sit on the grass to watch them. We had a look around and then went for some more local surprise cuisine 'Frango Assado' which we found out was chicken in tumeric with rice and black beans. It was very good. Our budgeting isnt going to bad on the whole. We are spending around 40-50 quid for both of us a day. This includes all excursions around the city, food and the hostel itself. (Doesnt include onward travel tickets to other cities though). This is Brazil though and it is meant to get cheaper as we will venture further into our travel plan. Anyway we are off to Curitiba tomorrow and we have booked into a cheap hotel! yay! We have decided to skip Uraguay and go to Paraguay instead. The buses and journey is easier if we do this and we really want to see the Iguazu waterfall from both the Brazil and Argentinian side. Bye for now! Hayls and Jonathan x
- comments
Ma and Pa Great blog entry Haylz and very informative. Can't wait to see your next one. Love you both, ma and pa. xx
Amanda Have u been to a little village in between rio n São Paulo called parachi?! (Not sure how u spell it) A beautiful little village, a dream place I loved it. Sounds like u your having an amazing time.
Bob L Hi Hayley. Keep the Blogs going. I cam imagine standing beside you as you describe the scene.