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Published: October 18th 2010
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Saturday 2nd October 2010 A six hour bus to Sao Paulo went quickly thanks to Stephen Fry reading us our first Audio-book, Harry Potter (thanks Suz & Jon x). After a couple of Metro Trains we arrived a Saci hostel & decided to get on with our day and go straight for a walk. We headed toward the football stadium to see if we could catch a game, but as we approached we could hear the raucous cries from the crowd and arrived just as the game was finishing. We made our escape back up the hill to avoid being enveloped in a crowd with thousands of fans.
Take away pizza for dinner was pretty awful, as was the in-house entertainment which sounded like a cat being strangled, so we departed to find some nightlife in Villa Madelena. After walking forever we found a gem called the Favella Bar, with a live band playing Portuguese rock music. It really was the pick of the bunch - we stayed for a few hours but Joanne was falling asleep at the table after a long day so we headed home around 2am.
Sunday 3rd October 2010 It didn’t occur
to us to buy coach tickets to Foz do Iguacu when we departed our bus the day before (silly us), so we made our way back before walking into the centre via the shopping mall, where we were failed (yet again) to find a memory card that didn’t cost the earth due to it being a Sunday, and voting day, so most of the shops were closed.
A long walk into town along the wide smoggy highway finally took us to a lovely park by Luz station, a real sanctuary considering it’s surroundings. Enclosed in one corner was an outdoor gym (with stone weights like the Flintstones!) where we exercised (AKA: played) for a while.
Venturing onto the alleged ‘sights’ through more high rise concrete jungle, finishing at Se Square where Sao Paulo (St Pauls) Cathedral is situated - not the prettiest but certainly dominates the local area.
Richard wasn’t feeling too well, so when we got back Joanne cooked dinner and we had an early night (travelling can be very tiring).
Monday 4th October 2010 Our 2nd set of Rabies & Hep B vaccinations were overdue so we headed to Clinicas which seems to
be ‘the’ hospital in Sao Paulo. Within the hundreds of buildings along this road we found the address corresponding to our paperwork, but they wouldn’t let us in! After being given the brush off we had a rethink and decided to try one more time - thrusting the name of the doctor under their noses seemed to do the trick... 5 minutes later (+ a rather faint Richard) and we were immunised, against what we’re still not quite sure? But they were FREE, so who cares!!!
With aching shoulders and heavy arms, we made our way to the tallest building in Sao Paulo which has a bar, restaurant and observation deck on the top floor... unfortunately there wasn’t much to observe! With a R$17 cover charge (each) just to sit down, we sneaked a peak at the ‘panoramic views’ (certainly not something we’d hang on the wall) and flew back down to the lobby.
An overnight bus to Foz awaited us, so we collected our bags and ended our day drifting off to the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry on a very cold bus.
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Mum
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CITIESAREN'TUS
WELL WE KNOW YOU'VE MOVED ON TO SMALLER AND BETTER PLACES BUT WE ENJOYED THE PICS. THE BAR REMINDED ME OF OUR FORAY AT MARIAS MUSIC BAR/BARN UP THE GOAT ROAD IN TORROX. (REMEMBER). GYM LOOKS GOOD TO ME ESPECIALLY AS I'VE GOT THE SACK (MAYBE BECAUSE I HAVEN'T WORKED THERE FOR A YEAR!) FREE INJECTIONS YEEEAAHH, WHERE DO I SIGN UP? MISSING YOU. LOVE YOU, MUM XXX