Blogs from São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, South America - page 22

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 ... read more

Wowee! I arrived in Sao Paulo yesterday, to be greeted at the airport by my sister´s friend Marcos and a bolt of electricity. This place is absolutely amazing, pulsating with energy and activity and people. You really can sense excitement in the warm air. I got into Marcos´friends´car after groping my way through immigration and customs at the airport (rather less thorough than I would have imagined, but still gropable) and was inundated with amazing scenes. The road from the airport, which is on the northern outskirts of this sprawling city, follows the route of the Rio Tiete, once a river which has turned into an concrete walled, foul smelling, industrial waste depository. Driving down the road, along the river, was also rather interesting, as Sao Paulo´s 6 million cars make the streets rather crowded. Motorcycles ... read more

We ended up staying almost a week in Sao Paulo. Our central location made it easy to get around and to get out of the city. To us it seemed like a spacious and more modern version of Buenos Aires, but without the tango and steak! At the heart of the city is the Edificio Altino Arantes, Sao Paulo’s answer to the Empire State Building. It is known locally as the Santander Tower and previously as the Banespa Tower after its current and former owners, both banks. It took us three attempts to go up to the viewing platform. The first two frustrated efforts were impossible because of large groups of schoolchildren! On our third try the weather was glorious and we were happy to have waited. Two lifts (you change on the 26th floor) take ... read more

Sao Paulo Upon arrival in Sao Paulo we were met by Lara´s Brazilian friends who she met working in Cardiff on their gap year. We spent the first 10 days with them and had a fantastic insight into real Brazilian life. We stayed with them throughout this period, met their families and friends, had home cooked meals and were taken to some of the best local spots. On the first night we were taken to an outdoor club on an island by ferry and learnt to samba (well kinda!). We spent a few days in the coastal city of Santos, the home town of Lara´s friends and visited the remote seaside town of Bertioga. We are so lucky to have had friends here to welcome us and give us insight into their lives. Ilha Grande ... read more

As always our trip started with the crazy run to pack and get prepared. Of course, we new that the trip was coming but there were so many things to close before leaving, that packing and preparing for a month long tramping we must have forgotten:). Batteries, backpack, new hiking boots...all bought just 4 hours befor the flight. . . we spend a fortune. In the mean time I am also changing my job so I had to close on that... return laptop and all the equipment, agree on the separation package...crazy... Gave my office key back just 5 minutes before flight checkin stops ( furtunately the airport was 5 min away:))... and so we are sitting in the Business Launge - the best benefit of frequent traveller card. The cheapest flight we could get was ... read more