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Published: September 18th 2010
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Starting to suspect that travelling a good distance across South America in the same time we did the much smaller area of Southeast Asia is a bit nuts. Has anyone watched that Graham's World program on the National Geographic channel? This liverpudlian lunatic is attempting to step in every country in the world in one year by any means except flying. I have no idea if he's succeeded or not but this is kinda how we feel, its all go go go. Anyway, enough moaning - Brazil!
So the Brazilian buses continue to eat away our funds, I think we'll soon have to go back on the bread, avocado and tomato diet of Chile and not by choice! After Puerto Iguazu we took another overnight bus to Sao Paulo arriving a bit bleary eyed in the dodgy bus station at 6am, prime time for getting robbed! Not to worry though we met a lovely girl on the bus called Camilla, her dad picked her up and they insisted on giving us a lift as our hostel was close to their home. They pointed out loads of sights in Sao Paulo on the way that we never would have known
about otherwise and then her dad insisted on buying us breakfast at a local paderia and dropping us off at the door of the hostel!
So Sampa really gets a bad rap for being an ugly, dangerous city with all the car hijackings and robberies. We just took precautions like you would in any other city and the areas we visited felt safe, however the camera wasn't taken out of the bag that much so not many photos sorry. The Musea de Arte São Paulo (MASP) has some good pieces. Liberdade - the Japanese district was really cool, it was a nice change to have sushi and dumplings again. The great thing about eating in Brazil is the comida por quilo restaurants (food per kilo). We found a really good one in Liberdade where you pile your plate up and pay by the weight rather than the kind of food. It was hilarious watching some people who just had a massive plate of meat or twenty rolls of sushi.
For anyone going to Sao Paulo and looking for somewhere to stay, the Vila Madelina Hostel is brilliant. Well actually, its the owner Tulio who really makes
it. This is a guy who loves his job and loves Sao Paulo, we only stayed one night and the way he treated us it was like we were long term live in's, we even ended up delaying our bus until the end of the day to go out and do some of the things he suggested. The cherry on top was that he gave us an 8 bed dorm to ourselves, talk about thrilled - we were bouncing around all the beds!
So Tulio talked up a samba club not ten minutes away, best place in the area for samba and a good night. Sounded fun, I even had a shower and put on a freshly sink washed top for the occasion! So we set off, walking a few blocks till we hit a graveyard then turned left and it should only have been a couple of blocks more to the corner. David, getting spooked by a couple of dodgy faces staring at us, wouldn't walk past the slightly creepy cemetery and demanded we turn back. Fair enough, I suppose he was just trying to keep us safe, but honestly, I was grumpy, I had a shower
for nothing! So we didn't get to sample any of Sao Paulo's supposedly New York-esq nightlife :-(
Leaving Sao Paulo we took a short bus ride (only 6 hours woot!) to Paraty, a pretty colonial town with cobbled streets and nice beaches. Paraty is also the home of cachaça, the sugarcane-derived spirit that makes Brazil’s famous caipirinhas. I'm not too sure what to make of caipirinhas yet, the first taste of them is reminiscent of a tequila mixed cocktail, which puts me off, but if you stick with it, you’re fairly drunk after the first glass and begin to develop a taste for it. It’s difficult to drink them quickly because the alcohol is so strong. I may need to sample a few more before I form my opinion! Caipirnihas for all!
While in Paraty we hired bikes and cycled up to see the local cachoeiras (waterfalls) and natural pools and natural slides! Great fun but it was a hard cycle mostly uphill. At one point we had huge black birds circling us overhead, I swear they were just waiting for us to keel over. David's main priority over the last week has been to ensure
that we were somewhere he could watch the Rangers - Man U game and he persuaded the hostel to play it. Seeing as our Portuguese is really quite crap, it's a good thing David speaks the international language of football!
Following Paraty we went to nearby Trindade for a couple of days relaxing and were hoping to get some nice weather for the beach. It rained most of the time but it didn't put anyone else off - people were in the sea, surfing, trekking - so we got stuck in too. Trindade is even nicer than Paraty and has some stunning sights on offer, a natural pool, beaches, treks through the jungle and a cachoeira (of course), so we soaked it all up. Our hostel was in the woods and we were the only guests! The owners were a couple about our age, once again overly nice and friendly, seeing a theme here in Brazil? They made us dinner one night, what is it with these Brazilians wanting to feed us?! Again, for anyone travelling to Trindade - stay at the Aquarium hostel - mega clean, just like staying in someone's house, fantastic hostess, super breakfast, 2
seconds from the beaches but also in the forest.
Also, dogs, dogs everywhere! I am a dog lover, but some of these dogs are huge, intimidating and follow you constantly. Even though the town is full of people on the streets, the dogs seem to hone in on tourists. David and I had a dog following us for about 7 hours in Trindade, we named him Zippy. It was actually quite nice, like having a pet for a day, I even bought him some dog food when we got lunch so he could eat with us at one of the cachoerias.
Right, enough waterfalls, cachoeiras or cateratas, whatever you call them. I'm being eaten alive here by mosquitos. Time to put on my 80 percent plastic melting deet!
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Graeme
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Caipirinhas...
Love them! The cheaper the cachaça the better too. Sagatiba is the big brand name one you can get in the UK, but you can find Toucan for about 13 pounds an it's better. Plus has a picture of a toucan on it! My Brazillian friend, also called Camilla, gave me a bottle once. It was plastic and had a picture of a naked woman and a tiger on it. She said it was the stuff people in the jungle drink. It was the best stuff I've ever had! When you get back go to loft on Byres road and speak to one of the bartenders, Chris Grant. He's got very large spacer earrings and looks a bit emo. We've been bartending together for years and will make you the (2nd) best Caipirinha in Glasgow. Well, I suppose it's the first now that I've left. Tell him I sent you and get Dave to do his 'Get to the chopper' Arnie impression and you'll probably drink for free all night!