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Here begins our South America adventure. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks since we left Salerno - in fact I can't believe that's all it's been! In an attempt to see as many people as possible while we were back in the UK, we bounced around London and the home counties like mad men (sorry to those we missed - pencil us in for April!), contributing more than our fair share to the bottom line of Greater Anglia rail. We were also treated to a trip to Iceland which was amazing right from the very start - Reykjavik officially tops my personal ranking of most incredible views during landing. It was a bit of a shock to the system coming from southern Italy (18 degrees) to the edge of the Arctic circle (0 degrees - at best), but the contrast was actually really enjoyable and it was like no place I've ever been before. Sadly we missed out on the northern lights because of heavy cloud but we did tick off Thingvellir (national park), Geysir (three guesses), Gulfoss (massive waterfall), and some thermal baths (in the snow, lots of fun).
Our time at home was over way too soon and before we knew it we were loading up our backpacks and heading off again. We flew to Sao Paulo via Washington so all in all the journey was about 20 hours. The first flight was a dream, we played the honeymoon card (officially it is, albeit a year-long one!) and we were treated to a bit of extra leg room and a lot of free champagne. Those who know me well will know that I'm not a great flyer though and by the second leg I was starting to feel a bit on edge. This was not helped when we took our seats and I noticed that the woman across from me had a box labelled "human transplant material" at her feet. Even worse, throughout the flight she kept opening it to move the ice packs around - very disturbing. Thankfully I didn't get a look at what was inside, although I have to admit that (against my better judgement) this was not for want of trying.
We started our South America stint in Sao Paulo primarily because the flights were cheaper than those to Rio - a lot cheaper. It was only after we'd booked that I started looking into things to do in Sao Paulo and realised it's not exactly a tourist destination. Nonetheless, we made the best of it and, after an early night, set off on our first full day to explore the old town. We were spoiled a bit with English speakers (having been told there would be none) which was convenient because, although written Portuguese seems to bear some resemblance to other Latin-based languages, the pronunciation is so utterly bizarre that verbal communication is not really an option. Having said that, after a hilarious exchange with a guy at the metro station ticket desk (in which there was a lot of back and forth with us repeatedly making a sign of 4 - the number of tickets we needed - and him replying "twelve" - too many - until we finally realised 12 was the price), we concluded that English skills do not necessarily guarantee understanding, also on our part!
It rained pretty much continuously for the whole 2 and a bit days we spent in Sao Paulo - we're talking rivers in the streets rain - which limited our excursions (and enthusiasm) a bit. Amongst the sights we did see, those that stood out were the Banco do Sao Paulo building - one of the city's first skyscrapers which allows visitors up to the top to take in the view (basically loads and loads more skyscrapers in every direction) for precisely 5 minutes; and the Mercado Municipal - a covered market packed to the rafters with fruit and veg, in spite of which everyone seems to be walking around with a deep-fried cheese pastry in one hand and a litre beer can in the other (admittedly we also succumbed to the latter).
Probably the biggest highlight though was an evening at the Teatro Municipal. After only 3 days of backpacking, we were ready for a bit of sophistication which came in the form of a concert by the Sao Paulo symphony orchestra in this stunning building. The tone was only slightly lowered by the fact that the Teatro sits on the edge of a neighbourhood known as Cracolandia which, in case anyone is in doubt, translates to "crackland" and is the hangout of choice for the city's drug addicts. Perhaps unsurprisingly we decided to splash out on a taxi home.
We're now on a bus on our way to Ubatuba which apparently has 72 beaches to its name. It's still raining - a lot - so we'll see how that goes!
NB: The downside of travelling light means that we're pretty low on technology so photos will come whenever possible but probably less frequently than they have been - I'll do my best!
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