Bem-Vindo a Sao Paolo!

---

Greetings! I´m on the move again, traveling around South America this time.

This is going to be a short post because we just arrived last night, but I can say that a) Copa Airlines outperformed most US airlines that I usually use, and b) it is wonderful to escape the 100 degree humidity of Washington DC. For the next 3 weeks I will be traveling through Brazil, Argentina, and Chile making stops in Sao Paolo, Foz do Iguazu, the Pantanal, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Santiago. I´m traveling with some friends of mine who I met in Boston, and Toni and I arrived into Guarhulos Int´l Airport outside Sao Paolo around 1am last night. Note to fellow travelers: At that time of night, the $60 cab ride into the city is totally worth it. Especially when it is pouring rain. (Interesting factoid I learned from Wilkipedia: Sao Paolo is known as the "Cidade da Garoa" (city of drizzle) for its unreliable weather. Sao Paolo is also a huge city with something like 20 million residents, making it the 7th largest city in the world. Everywhere you look you can see hi-rise buildings, making Manhattan look like a modest and relatively small city. I think you could live there for 10 years and still not see all of the city. All in all, it is a bit daunting for jet-lagged tourists with only a smattering of Portuguese and 2 days to see as much as possible!

We are staying with a friend who lives in the Bela Vista neighborhood of Sao Paolo on Avenida Paulista, one of the main thoroughfares in the city. It is the middle of winter right now (July) but the temperatures are still in the low 60s. It was rainy and misty here today, but certainly nothing compared to a Boston or Breck winter.

After spending a lazy morning catching up on sleep, we strolled down Av. Paulista and stopped at the Casa das Rosas, a colonial-era mansion designed by a famous architect for his daughter. (If my Portuguese translation was right, that is...) It was beautiful, and there was a stained glass window that was really beautiful. (Photos to follow later).

Next, we wandered into a ritzy shopping mall in search of an English bookstore that came recommended. We never found the bookstore, but we did find some interesting food and noted that Brazilians, like their American counterparts, like to shop on rainy Sundays. After lunch we walked about a mile or two to Ibirapuera, a large park in the Jardins neighborhood where Paulistas go for exercise and relaxation. It´s a beautiful, large park with a couple lakes, museums, and monuments within its boundaries. We visited the Museu do Afrobrasil (Afro-Brazilian Museum) which was truly excellent. They have an extensive, diverse collection and we really enjoyed learning more about the history of the black Brazilian population. As an added bonus, it was free! Nearby are the Obelisque, one of Sao Paolo´s famous landmarks, as well as the Monumento as Bandeiras, a war memorial.

(cont...)

Our next two days in Sao Paolo involved lots of walking around and seeing the exterior of buildings, because most museums are closed on Mondays. In addition, Monday happened to be the 9th of July, which is celebrated as a holiday in S.P. (and presumably other parts of Brazil). We took the metro downtown to the Centro and started a walking tour around the older part of the city. Highlights included the Cathedral da Se, which was rebuilt in the early 1900s, the Teatro Municipal, the location for the opera and classical performances, the Mosteiro de Sao Bento, a monastery in the center of town, and the Mercado Municipal, a huge covered market where we got excellent Paulista street food at one of the bustling lunch counters. The pastel de bacalhao (salted cod pastry) was particularly good, as was my ham & cheese sandwich (can't remember the proper name for it!) We also ate lots of pao de queijo during our stay in Brazil, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me as it is a type of cheesy bread that is delicious and dirt cheap.

One our last morning in S.P. we stopped at the Pinacoteca, the art museum of the State of Sao Paolo located across the street from the Estacao da Luz, the principal (and picturesque) train station in the center of Sao Paolo. I highly recommend a visit there, as the building itself is very interesting and the collection of Brazilian art from colonial times to modern is excellent and well-curated.

The other fun thing that we saw in Sao Paolo was a group of urban "rock" climers rapelling off a BRIDGE right next to the Sumare metro station. It was surprising to say the least, and certainly a creative way to turn a monster of a metropolis into a playground! My lasting memories of Sao Paolo will be the guys rapelling down in with a backdrop of never-ending buildings stretching off into the distance as far as the eye can see.

---