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Published: March 6th 2007
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Parque Nacional de Itatiaia
Taken from the bus, while traveling from Rio to Sao Paulo My first time was only for a few hours, while I changed airports and planes when flying from Salvador to Rio.
The first time was quite good, as TAM provided a free shuttle bus and sitting next to me on the bus, was a guy called Marcel. He spoke very good English and acted as a sort of tour guide. He was also a Civil Engineer and every so often we would go past a tower block and he would say "that's one of mine". This time, I spent two days in Sao Paulo and two days in Campinas (100km north of Sao Paulo), for the wedding of Kambiz (a work colleague) and Katia.
While I was in Sao Paulo, I stayed in the Jardins neighbourhood of Sao Paulo, which was an extremely posh neighborhood. I went for a wander around the neighbourhood on my first night and it so resembled Beverley Hills. There were designer boutiques everywhere and mansions behind high locked walls. (One even resembled a mock tudor mansion).
As I was only in Sao Paulo two days, I decided the best thing to do was an intensive tour of the city, involving walking
Avenida Paulista
Perhaps the most famous street in Sao Paulo. This photo does not show the true amount of traffic on this road. between the main sights and going on a couple of metro trips. I did my first art gallery of my trip - the MASP, which had lots of European artists represtented, including Picasso, Rembrandt and Constable. There was also a slightly odd photography exhibition, which featured a numbered of repeated photos, the only difference between the photos being the location of four numbers etched on the photos. Apparently what mattered was the journey through the exhibition and not the photos themselves. I think the artist was right, as it only seemed to make sense when you viewed many photos together.
I also visited the museum of immigration in Sao Paulo This was very interesting, as it had lots of photos, newspapers and other relics from the time the building was the main hostel for immigrants. The scary thing was to see how little space these people got to live in - no more than a bed. There was also an old dental chair with associated drills exhibited - which was particularly gruesome.
One night I went to a bar called "All Black", which was an irish themed bar. It was an interesting experience. For a start, I was
given a card on entry, which all my drinks were charged to and so I could pay on exit. It also had ale, so I got to drink "Old Speckled Hen" in Brazil, the only problem being that it worked out about four pounds a pint! There was also a band present who played a lot of indie / rock covers, there was everything from Franz Ferdinand / the Killers to Bob Dylan and even Kate Bush! Another interesting experience was being the only person eating in an Italian restaurant, which according to the waiter, was because everyone was broke from carnaval...
I learnt one thing from travelling to Campinas, Rough Guide books can be wrong - I got to the Barra Funda Rodoviaria (bus station) expecting to be able to catch a bus from there to Campinas, only to find I needed the Tiete bus station. This meant an extra metro trip to get to Tiete. I think in my two days in Sao Paulo, I covered virtually all of the metro system.
Kambiz and Katia's wedding was good. Being a Baha'i ceremony, I didn't quite no what to expect. It was unlike a Christian ceremony as
Sao Paulo Skyline
This photo was taken from the top(44th) floor of the Edifico Italia office building in Sao Paulo. I just walked straight in and got two lifts to take me to the top floor. My guide book says that you're meant to pay for the privilege but I didn't! there was no hymns, only prayers. It was also bi-lingual with readings alternating between Portuguese and English. One of the readings on the Baha'i view of marriage was particularly poignant. The ceremony was held in the grounds of a large house, with the reception inside. The reception featured lots of appertisers, the waiters would bring round one at a time. This meant because it was an evening ceremony, we didn't have the main course till after 11. Also being a Baha'i event: there was no alcohol, so we toasted the bride and groom with alcohol-free wine. The music was a typical Brazilian DJ, mainly featuring a mix of Brazilian, English and American music. Afterwards I went to a bar in Campinas with some of Katia's Brasilian friends. Apparently if anyone wants to move out here: you can buy a 250 square metre house with swimming pool for about one hundred thousand pounds.
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