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Today is workers day in Brazil and so the majority of people have a public holiday. Fernanda has the day off so we are going to have a day to spend together walking and seeing the city. I was up early but let Fernanda sleep late as she works everyday and really needed the extra sleep. At around 10am I made breakfast and some mate and we chatted before taking off for the day. We made it to our first destination the street market which was another treat for the senses with new foods. It wasn't long before Fernanda and I were trying the most delicious and fresh fruits from tropical mangos to pear/apple manifestations and talking with the very interesting people that work the stalls. I also hunted out and found the stall selling dried fruits, nuts and baked goods trying a very delicious coconut slice and a chocolate and biscuit slice. The market was quite big with everything; fruits, vegetables, meats, preserved goods, dried goods and little resteraunt stalls. It took us a good hour to go through the whole market and on the second time through we brought mangos, oranges, lettuce, bop choy, avocado and tomatoes. After our big shop we took everything back to Fernandas and went again. We walked just over an hour into the city and it was quite strange as not only was every shop closed but there was very little traffic and no people on the streets - it was a little eary also because the weather was quite stormy with strong winds. A free festival for workers day was taking place in the main square (quite contradictory most of the people attending were not workers). At once i noticed how uneasy Fernanda was in this environment and this made me also uneasy. We tried to find a place to see the stage but everywhere was blocked. Observing the people at the event scared me more with many people drunk, crazy and many many thiefs and bad looking people - and it did not help that I stood out like a soar thumb. We found a nice place to watch from very far back but within minutes bad people were hovering around us, people kept walking passed suspiciously and we both felt incredibly uncomfortable. One guy in particularly kept following us and he had a very bad look in his eye so Fernsnda grabbed me and we moved to an area where there was no people and we were on a huge raised platform. Finally we could relax a little and enjoy the beautiful music. Unbelievably my favorite Brazilian singer: Michele Telo came on stage and sung his world famous song - I literally could not believe it and am still having trouble letting it sink him that I could to see the most famous Brazilian singer randomly at a free festival in São Paulo. After Michele Telo finished we made our way to the Mercado Municipal but it was unfortunately closed so we headed back to the main square and found a very cheap resteraunt chain called Habibis (arabic) to eat lunch at. Fernanda gave me the run down on typical Brazilian fast food which included a lot of Arabic influence and many things from meat, spinach, cheese pies to deep fried meats, fish, pastries and potatoes, also a lot of pastas, pizzasa, italian foods - sandwiches are also very popular here but also very expensive. On the way back to Fernandas we walked through Republica Square and came across the start of the Gay Parade (the biggest in the world) which consisted of a stage and various singers entertaining the crowd of many thousands. Quite a contrast to the other event; I felt far more safe here because the people were more working class and not get drunk. We watched a few performances then wondered around the various tents observing all the interesting people. I got a really great photo with a couple of brightly dressed Drag-queens who joked about wanting me to come to their gay club. As it started getting dark we began our walk back to Fernandas stopping to see the very unique S-shaped apartment skyscraper and some very interesting street art. When we walked passed the cemetery Fernanda and I were in deep conversation and didn't notice this guy come up infront of us and basically he wanted our things - as in to rob us. As I cant understand any Portuguese I had no idea what was going on - just that Fernanda grabbed me and forced me to walk back to where we had come from and the guy followed for a short while and then stopped. Thinking about it afterwards we realized the error in walking into a dark area with no people on the wrong side of the street and not being aware of our surroundings so lesson learned. A quick stop at the supermarket for a bottle of Argentine wine and then we were back to the apartment; at the same time Paula was arriving. We both had bottles of wine and bags of shopping so good food, wine and good times are on the cards for tonight. I made dinner for the girls tonight which was a soy meat creation with a very fresh avocado salad with all our market brought fruits and vegetables. A friend of Fernandas; Diego then came around to join us for a few glasses of wine - also bringing a bottle of red to add to the two we already had. Diego spoke English incredibly well and I learned a great deal from him about Brazil and the various regions. We chatted, laughed, translated and drunk wine into the wee hours of the morning before it was too late and we had to call it a night.
OBSERVATIONS
- Many public holidays in Brazil
- thoughts, topics and what we talk of can become reality through our dreams; can we therefore control, influence or create our dreams?
- the morning is the most peaceful (before 8am) in São Paulo - you can hear the birds
- Drink driving - Brazilians have right to deny test
- Centro very dangerous
- favelas 30km outside of city
- Habibis resteraunt - eat for $3-$4
- people like to party but drinking, drugs also
- Gay Parade - big presence here, very well accepted here, church acceptance
- Red Wine from south Miolo
- most workers get lunch allowance and transport allowance
- Places people can eat lots for $1
- street market - somewhere in city everyday
- a lot of Arabic influence in food
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