3 beautiful girls, congratulations! Sao Paulo

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Sao Paulo is gigantic, we reached the outskirts on the bus, admiring the skyline that continued for miles. We were told this one city had a larger population than the whole of Australia. With a little unintentional detour we made it to our hostel and decamped our belongings.

Unfortunately Lucille was feeling unwell but Jane and I went out for a drink. We were joined with one of her friends from Madrid's friend who came from Sao Paulo. It was interesting to hear from a local about the city and Brazilian culture. He highlighted how the city was a ghost town compared to normal as most people go out of the city for carnival. Apparently one poet described Sao Paulo as the place where samba died - oh dear!

The second evening it was Jane who was under the weather so Lucille and I went out with a girl from the hostel called Alice. We tried a samba club with a live band and received notes, one saying "3 beautiful girls, congratulations! I can be your guide of Sao Paulo" (we didn't him take up on this offer).

During the days we went to:

- A renowned food market and enjoyed sampling the different fruits and meat.
- Football museum at the stadium, finding out the history of Brazilian football. We particularly enjoyed the parts discussing haircuts and what possible objects could be used instead of the conventional ball (a brick or a doll's head, just to name a few)
- Hired a bike and rode around a main park which had art statues scattered around.
- tried and failed to find open art galleries and join in on a blonco (street party) - on the list for next time!

On our last night we were able to get tickets for the Sambadrome to watch the carnival parade. We were impressed by the elaborate costumes and floats. We were unable to stay the duration which would have carried on through the night and into the next day but we felt we saw and danced along enough by the time we departed. 

Now moving onto Puerto Iguazu, town next to Iguazu Falls. 

Sent from my iPod

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