The sound of Sao Paulo

So, I am staying with my friend Thiago at his families home in a neighborhood called Freguesia do Ó. Seems like a typical neighborhood, not rich, not poor.

My first night, I got to sleep in the front room next to the street, which proved to be much more of an adventure than even sleeping near the a window in Lima.

Went to bed the first night at about midnight. At about 430am, for about half an hour, I start to hear all these children gathered outside. Not sure if they had just been dropped off by a bus or just began to congregate for school, but nonetheless, the chatter of the 20 or 30 kids went on for maybe half an hour. Then, silence finally ensued.

Then, the two dogs that live in the front yard began their morning noises. One sounded like a coyote with its 10-20 second howls, they other rapid firing barks, this being right outside the window of the room Thiago and I are sleeping in.

Then, from two houses down, some crazy sort of Chinese mountain music starts playing, and this goes on and off for several . The weirdest thing ever. It kind of fades in and out. No, I was not dreaming or on drugs. Finally, traffic starts to pick up on the street, with the occasional truck rumbling by or guy pumping some music .

A hilarious night indeed, though not necessarily full of sleep. The funny part is, Thiago snored through it all. Maybe by night 4, I can sleep through it and throw in an earthquake and meteor strike at the same time. Muito bon. Ciao.