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Tuesday 29th Made it awake 520am, headache nearly gone. By 6am am fully packed, eaten breakfast and we're soon on our way to the Rodoviario where I can catch the bus. We arrive 640ish. I know there's a bus 721, but check if there others earlier - nope - and the 721 is now going 741 and is the first. Pay my R$67 and plonk myself in the waiting room. See the bus arrive and head out, load baggage and head onto my seat with my newspaper (hmm, Portuguese) and snack-pack I've been given. Bus driver tells us 2 hours 10 minutes to the stop where we get 20 minutes and total journey is 6 hours. The film then starts up and happy to see dialogue is in English... Something violent - think title translates as 'Lost to Society'. After the stop another film starts up. Unfortunately this time it's only in Portuguese and I think a bit esoteric so hard to follow, but I can read up on it afterwards: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So, it's now 1110am and there's still 3 hours to Sao Paulo. Feel a bit pants again today... Now thinking the only common thread
to all those days is the days I've been putting 100% Deet on - that's got to be no good to anyone!
Made it into Tiete for about 2pm, then saw an information desk so instead of an expensive taxi ride I can get on the Metro for about 70p most of the way. My lovely bag, on which one zip went last night, snaps at the main handle. Oh well! Metro is easy to follow and someone tells me which side of the Avenida Paulista to stand on to get a taxi, which seems to take a random route. Soon in the hotel, get to room, TV doesn't work and safe is locked shut... Once it gets to 4pm am getting cross as they're still messing around fixing things and I want to go out, so they move me to another room (in fact a 6 people apartment!) where everything works and I can go out. Decide to try and get to the tall building where can see all of Sao Paulo but instructions are rubbish and just have a quick look round Liberdade (where Chinatown is) before heading back to Av. Paulista. By this point is raining
The bus view for 6 hours!
Thankfully this first film was in English! pretty heavily - get back and dry off a bit. Get soaked again heading round to restaurant have been told is a Churrascaria - but it doesn't open til 7 so back to the hotel and make sure bags are pretty much packed. Still haven't found the hotel where I need to get the airport bus from so will get up early enough for that. Back to the Churrascaria - but turns out is not buffet style. Really wanted salad so just had that with sausage, and a chocolate mousse (probably not best plan as headache back with a vengeance)... Tasted great then back for a beautifully hot shower and lots of junk TV before another earlyish night.
Wednesday 30th Woke at 530am... Maybe my anti-jetlag plan will work! Oh, back to sleep til 730am! Shower, great breakfast and head out to find the Post Office (successful), the internet (found one but it wasn't working), and a notebook (maybe). Finally found the Maksoud Plaza where I need to get the bus - hotel had said it was an easy walk (yes, with no bags!). Return to hotel via MASP (Modern Art Museum) and Park Trianon. Back to the hotel
with 1015 - time to spare. Seems to be big queue for the lift and after 15 minutes am really fidgeting... They're both broken and I'm on the 13th floor. Need to be back at Maksoud by 11. Fortunately there's a maid's lift so I whizz up, quick check round and zoom down, pay my bill and grab a taxi. Get to bus with 6 minutes to spare and finish duct-taping all the broken bits of my bags! Now 1120 and am en route to the airport for R$28 (taxi would probably be more like R$100+ so had deliberately picked a hotel on the bus route http://airportbusservice.com.br!).
So, got to the airport just after 12 and had to wait an hour for the British Airways check-in to open. Easily through, then wandered around for quite a while checking out the shops and seeing if I could find the internet (apparently Terminal 2). No joy so went through security/passport control (fastest ever I think) and found was only Duty Free but managed to ditch my last R$26 and now 1540 am waiting for the call to board. We should take off 1610 and land 0720 Heathrow (not that you'll see
this til I'm home). We took off about 1650... my headphones don't work that well, but hoped they'd last the journey. Unfortunately they didn't but 'Cidade de Deus' and 'I am Legend' both came with British subtitles so I guessed at them as I didn't appear to be going to sleep!!
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