The Return to Sao Paulo

After Itai, I decided to continue on with the Chicago amigos as they spent a day in Sao Paulo and then went to Rio. I’m not a big fan of Sao Paulo, but even though I was there less than 24 hours this time around, I got to see some things that I hadn’t before.

No homestay this time, it was hostel for us. Last trip, I stayed with my friend Thiago & his family in a neighborhood very far from the center, so it was a very different experience. Here, we had our own room to the 6 of us, so we were not really disturbed too much by random people coming in and out. When we got there, we dropped our things and headed out pretty quickly. Two things they wanted to see were the Mercado central, and also the tallest building in Sao Paulo. That worked out great, because I hadn’t seen either of those.

We took the subway to the center. We walked into an old, huge church that I had been to the first time around. Then we headed to the tallest building (I don’t remember the name). The funny thing is, I believe this building is only 37 stories or so. The thing about Sao Paulo is it just doesn’t have a skyline. It is basically mid rise buildings, in every direction. It was a perfect day out, so visibility was great in all directions. No smog for us!

Walking downtown Sao Paulo:


Sao Paulo:


Midrises:




We walked around the center some more. We ended up going in the wrong direction while looking for the Mercado Central, but it was ok, because we found our way to the main plaza in the downtown, the Praca de Se, which has a massive church. The plaza is also filled with nutjob preachers, preaching nutjob stuff in crazy person ways, surrounded by nutjob followers (or spectators laughing, like myself). So that was good/comical to see.

Hanging out in downtown Sao Paulo:


Cathedral in Praca de Se, main square:


We ended up walking about an hour more before we finally were able to get our bearings and found the Mercado Central. It is in a huge airplane hanger sized building. There are stalls selling fresh cheeses and meats, stalls with an incredible variety of fruits, dessert stalls, fish stalls, and random souvenir stalls. Basically, you can get almost anything there. We had our lunch there in one of the restaurants on the 2nd floor, so you know you are getting a fresh meal. After, I was in a fruit tasting mode, so we went down to one of the stalls and tried/bought a bunch of odd looking fruits that you can’t find in the US. The best was one that was green on the outside, looked like a brain on the inside, and tasted like straight sugar.

Entering Mercado Central:


A fruit stand:


Dried Meats & Cheeses:




Brain fruit that tastes like sugar:


That kind of concluded the Sao Paulo day tour. At night, a girl we met in Itai, who lives in Sao Paulo, picked us up at the hostel and we went out to a young Paulista joint with pizza and drinks. And it was good.

I still maintain I am not a big fan of Sao Paulo. It certainly has alot to offer, but does it in a more in your face, polluted, diverse, overpopulated way than cities like Buenos Aires or Rio.

Rocio and Theresa helping her down to go out to Pizza. Those high heel addicted women from Brasil:


The following day Chicago folks had a flight to Rio. Since I didn’t really plan anything I figured I’d just take a bus and meet them there. The ride is about 6 hours, so I left about 8 hours before they were scheduled to arrive in Rio. Unfortunately, I slept through my alarm (I never do that!) and woke up an hour late. I got up at 7:44 am. Within 5 minutes, I checked out, and left. Took the subway about 8 stops to the massive terminal Tiete bus station. Bought at ticket at 8:23 am for the next bus to Rio, and it was headed out at 8:30 am. Not bad timing, 46 minutes from waking up to arriving at bus terminal, buying ticket, and being on my way. In the end, I arrived at the hostel in Rio more than an hour before them! (...and my ticket was a paltry 30 bucks and came with amazing bus scenery, a definite win in my book).


Rocio dissects why napkins are so thin and useless in Brazil over lunch in Mercado Central:


This building downtown had a peice of graffiti under EVERY single window:


The bus to Rio:

3 Months Already?

Holy Crap! It's been more than 3 Months! I made a top 10 list to recap, if simply for my own enjoyment & recollection. There are really many many runner ups, but hey, anything more than 10 would just be weird.


1) Carnival in Rio: This would have been a cultural explosion without the host I had. But with Brian and his family, I spent my days like a regular Carioci, going to the best blocos, meeting all his friends, eating home cooked feijoada, and participating in the official Carnival parade in the Sambodromo. Unbelievable.

All the different colors in the photo really bring out the Carnival/Rio experience:


2) Easter Island: Like a paradise. Free to walk anywhere on the island amongst the roving horses and view the Polynesian plants, see waves crashing against the cliffs, and view amazing sunsets with a backdrop of Maori statues.

Hanging with the Maori:

3) Hiking Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina: Never will I climb on a glacier again with crampons. Incredible scenery. Plus, the freshest water I’ve ever tasted my entire life.



4) Staying with a family in Ushuaia, Argentina: I could not have learned more about the farthest south city in the world without this family. Plus, we went on amazing hikes I would not have gone on, and shared many homecooked meals.



5) Spending 3 weeks in Buenos Aires. Meeting many people in many Rotaract clubs. Making great new friend with Lautaro, whom I couchsurfed with for about 4 days in Feb and 5 days in April (plus who helped me replace my lost credit card!). Staying with and going out with Brian from Columbia/Jersey. Sucking at the Tango on two occasions. Making friends with all the people living at the hostel I stayed at for 10 nights. Wandering the plazas and parks.

Three weeks requires at least two photos:




6) Being taken, 100% unknowingly, to a whorehouse in Sao Paulo. It is #1 for most uncomfortable experiences. It was topped off with the fact that Bruno, whom I had met about 30 minutes prior, didn’t speak 1 word of English, and thought he was doing me a great service. Shopping para mujeres, as he calls it. Maybe I should learn the phrase ‘Get me out of here ASAP’ in Portuguese before I go back to Sao Paulo. Hilariously awful experience.

I have no photos of this or of Bruno (sadly I did not get any with him). So here's my friend Thiago in Sao Paulo:


7) Floods in Montevideo with Gonzalo: I don’t know why , but it was a thing to remember, having to run from the Governor’s palace (which we were inside afterhours, nonetheless) to the car with my friend Gonzalo in Montevideo, getting 100% drenched, then driving home for 30 minutes whilst not being able to see a damn thing, and watching stuff float down the streets. Inundacion.



8) Drinking Mate with hosts: Mate in Montevideo. Mate in Buenos Aires. Mate in Mendoza. Mate in Bariloche. Mate in Santiago. Mate everywhere. Gotta love this stuff and how ingrained it is in the culture of Uruguay, Argentina, and somewhat in Chile.


9) Bus Rides: Truly the best way to see the countries. The winding road between Mendoza & Santiago was the most ridiculous stretch (especially considering that the Aconcagua mountain is the tallest in the western hemisphere).

10) Lima: By far the most chaotic, disorganized, city of my trip. For simply that, I actually liked the city. Taking a bus is truly an adventure there. Thank you Marco & Renzo for helping me negotiate the system and preventing injury when my Spanish sucked royally. It’s a pity every traveler I have met says they hate the city. It has a lot to offer, even if you end up with the runs.



I’m sure once I go to Paraguay, return to Brazil for awhile, make my way back through the Pantanal to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, & Colombia, the list will double, haha.

*Most terrifying moment: At 3am somewhere over the pitch black Brazilian jungle, the plane started moving violently then did one of those very large instant drops. The whole cabin screamed. I thought I was gonna plummet into the Jungle at that point, haha.


Other really cool stuff:
-Going to a semi final soccer match in Rio at Maracana Stadium. Vasco da Gama vs Fluminese. The subway after was ridiculous afterwards between Carnival & Soccer people.
-Eating Anticuchos in Lima
-Going to a Parilla in Montevideo & a Churrascaria in Rio.
-Feria de Matadores in Buenos Aires
-Visiting wineries in Mendoza
-Going to a birthday party with Ulises in Maipu, outside of Mendoza
-Going to Nati's friends aunt's house in the mountains outside of Santiago, Chile.
-Parque Tierra del Fuego Ushuaia.
-Going out with Brian & his Colombian friends in Buenos Aires.
-Learning to make empanadas twice in Bariloche & Ushuaia.
-Rush Hour subway rides in Buenos Aires.
-Seeing the houses on Ancud, Chiloe & Punta Arenas, Chile
-Seeing people use horses as a method of transportation in Montevideo & elsewhere
-Walter's Birthday festivities in Parana

Airport

Well, I made it to Sao Paulo without having my bags end up in Lima, hooray.

A few months ago I booked a roundtrip flight from Lima to Rio de Janeiro, stopping in Sao Paulo. The intention was on the return flight to just hop off in Sao Paulo, and say to heck with the ticket to Lima. It was significantly cheaper (as in many hundreds) than two separate one way flights, Lima-Rio, Rio-Sao Paulo. Grand total of $300 round trip sounded good to me. So, when I got to the airport in Rio to check in for my ‘return’ flight to Lima via Sao Paulo, I was of course worried about my bag. I’ve had to check it every time so far, and I did NOT want to check it through to Lima when I was getting off in Sao Paulo. Airlines are really strict about these things, and my bag is borderline too big….in San Francisco, they wouldn’t let me bring it on the plane.

I asked if it was OK at the ticket counter in Rio, and miraculously they said no problem, even after I saw the shoebox sized ‘acceptable bag should fit in here’ thing they have at airports. I proceeded to security, and they had no problems at all. A big relief! The catch, however, being that as I was checked all the way to Lima, they took my immigration card and stamped me through to Lima. I couldn’t really get out of that one, and didn’t really want to tell them I was hopping off in Sao Paulo, or they might say something. Luckily, when I got to Sao Paulo, I was able to go through an immigration line. They didn’t want to stamp my passport , though. I had to explain the situation, the border official went back and brought me to the manager, I explained that I was going to be in Sao Paulo until Monday and was coming from Rio and needed a new entry stamp. Reluctantly, they gave me one, so hopefully no problems when I fly to Montevideo on Monday. Moral of the story: Flying protocol blows.

Random Rio Pics:

Telephone booth!:


View from the Christo:


Christ the Redeemer:


Crazy Rio Hot Dog with like 20 things on it:


Some Brazilian Fruit:

The First Steps!

After days of reasearching flights to different parts of South America, scouring the internet, and trying to find the cheapest way to get to Rio, I found a flight to Lima for only $332! Awww shucks, looks like I'll have to go to Peru for a bit... :)

One thing that was pretty crazy was the difference in price between one-way and round-trip flights. For example, my ticket to Lima is $332, ROUNDTRIP! I fly from SFO-Miami on Feb 7th, have a 3 hour layover in Miami, and have a red-eye out of Miami on Feb 7th that arrives in Lima at 5:30 in the morning on February 8th. I have a return flight to SFO on Feb 23rd, which I won't be using. Maybe I can sell it to some unsuspecting Peruvian, like a scalped cubs ticket....jk..Looking up one way flights to Lima and other South American cities though, some of them were even in the $1000 range! To go directly to Sao Paulo or Rio was going to be at least $700. Guess I'll take a 3 day stay in Lima! Whoohoo! I'm flying this one american too, so I'll rack up some more mileage.

I then booked yet another roundtrip from Lima-Rio, only $300!. I leave Lima at the buttcrack of dawn, 1245AM, on Feb 11th, so I guess maybe I'll end up heading to the airport in early evening. The best part of this gig is that there is a plane change in Sao Paulo on both the departing and returning flight. Well, I was planning on going to Sao Paulo for awhile anyways before or after Rio to visit my buddy Thiago, who I met through Rotaract last year. So, I'll end up using the first leg of the return flight Feb 18th and just hop off in Sao Paulo for a weekend or so! Sweet! The flight from Lima-Rio also flys into the smaller Rio airport (SDU), which is right downtown. I've read this is the best way to get into the city quickly as opposed to the main Rio airport, I'll be able to access public transport on my way to my homestay.

Next up, I need to decide when to leave Sao Paulo & find a flight to Montevideo. After that, ground & water transport only to Santiago! Oh yeah, and get a Visa to Brazil, it might come in handy. Looks like its going to be a pain the the arse to get one. Guess theyre sticking it to us for sticking it to them. Equality for the win.

Hooray for the first post! Hopefully improvents to layout will ensue!