Blogs from São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, South America - page 18

Hello Peeps, We have been in Sao Paulo just under a week now (arriving a little tired after our mammoth 29 hour flight - which wasn´t so bad due to the amazingly luxurious Emirates plane that we flew in for the last 14 hours). Brazil has been a challenge as hardly anyone speaks English and our Portuguese is terrible at best. But we have got by with a mixture of pointing and trying every concievable way of pronouncing words! The Brazillian versions of a greasy spoon does a better steak for under a fiver than most posh restuarants in London, so we have been gorging ourselves on a daily basis. We had been here a few days before a local, that befriended us, told us that Sao Paulo has 23 million residents! The city is absolutely ... read more

M: Our last evening in Parati took a surprise turn when we stumbled across some incredible Capoeira players on our way to get dinner. Capoeira is one of my favourite ever things - so graceful, beautiful, respectful and bloody impressive physically. I have long harboured dreams of getting my arse in gear to learn, but having seen their phenomenal strength and acrobatics that evening: shattered dreams. Last morning in Parati was somewhat marred by plans to cycle in the jungle prior to evening bus to Sao Paulo going down the drain. Decided to be "organised" and visit the bus station to get tickets in advance - all sold until next day. Ensued frantic conversations in Portuguese/Spanish/French/English/Boninfantoddian with tourist office, various bus companies, travel agents etc, to work out how to reach our Paulista (SP bods) homestay ... read more

Ah Sao Paulo....what can I say about Sao Paulo? Well...the bus station comes complete with all the desired modcons (toilets, more than one shop, choice of restaurants etc), the subway is uber efficient and the restaurants and bars pricey. The three amigos spent one night there, the main purpose to split up the journey between Iguazu and Rio. Job acomplished. Most of the time was spent, if you couldn´t tell, at the bus station or on the subway. We saw the cathedral and chilled in a nice looking park for a few hours but other than that...not much to report.... read more

Moikkis, Mihis se mun matkusteluinto oikein havisi, taalla ollaan samassa paikassa kuin kuukausi sitten!? No onhan se hyva valilla vahan hengahtaa ja kun kerta seurakin on oikein mukavaa, niin turha tasta mitaan ongelmaa on tehda. No kaytiin me 2 viikon lomalla Uriguayissa ja Argentiinassa, kun viisumin uusiminen sita vaati, no nyt voin elella taalla ihan laillisesti marraskuun puoleen valiin asti. Buenos Airesia oli monet hehkuttaneet, mutta ehka juuri korkeiden odotusten takia, ei siita muodostunut mikaan paratiisi maan paalla. Olihan siella kauniit ja isot puistot, jotka varmasti kesalla ovat viela eloisampia, mutta eurooppalaisille yksi eurooppalainen kaupunki lisaa ei mullista maailmaa. Ihmiset olivat kylla ystavallisia, nain vanhan kaverini Meksikosta, joka sattui olemaan siella lomallaan ja yovyttiin toisen tutun luona, johon tutustuin Portossa, Portugalissa puoli vuotta s... read more

The sun came out for us in Sao Paulo, but we were only here for a night in transit. The only thing to say about this city is it is MASSIVE!!!!! For as far as the eye can se on the plane, the city pushes on, full of clusters of large buildings. With 11 million people, it's one of the biggest cities in the world. Went straight to the pool at the hotel to try and get a bit of colour in to our pasty bodies before we headed out to check out the shops. Unfortunately we heard and the saw the afters of a guy who got hit by a car. Unsure whether it was the fault of a lunatic driver or a lunatic pedestrian, could have been either. We went to Bar Favela (funny ... read more