Oh...Sao Paulo!

The title of this post should really be Oh...Vila Madalena! I absolutely fell in love with VM...I had been very nervous about going to Sao Paulo and had not received much encouragement from others to go there. But thanks to Auveen's suggestion that I stay in the Vila Madalena neighbourhood, I was in a lovely area of the city that was safe, fun, plenty going on, I met lots of interesting people, caught up with Grant & generally had a blast for a week. In fact I was having such a good time there that I ended up staying longer than originally anticipated and I intend to go back by the end of the month.

My first day in Sao Paulo (a Friday) I arrived exhausted after my early morning (read late night) flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at my hostel The Vila Madalena Hostel with the wonderful Tulio as host. Despite not having a reservation I got a room in a 4 bed dorm and crashed out straight away. I woke up about 5pm absolutely starving and craving sushi. After enquiring at reception, I was directed to a sushi restaurant a couple of blocks away. I got there to early, an hour before opening, so I wandered around the block for a coffee. Found a cafe, and sat myself down to people & traffic watch. I immediately liked Vila Madalena – it's a real artsy neighbourhood, with lots of little boutiques on each street, people wandering around and sitting on the pavement outside cafes smoking & chatting. My sushi restaurant eventually let me in, and even though not being a budget place to eat, the food was amazing and worth the expense (still cheaper than Dublin too). I headed home satisfied and crashed out early again.

On Saturday I got up, full of enthusiasm for...shopping! It felt like an eternity since I had been in a proper shopping centre after Chile & Bolivia. Thinking back the last time I was in a shopping mall was when I was studying Spanish in Cordoba. Not that this is a bad thing...given my tendency to overspend. I got directed to a nearby shopping mall where I indulged in a day of pure unadulterated window shopping J. I drooled over clothes in several fancy shops and eventually settled on a purple halter neck – type dress and a pair of black havaianas. Sufficiently guilty for spending money on fashion, I headed out that night to a BBQ with Grant & his friends wearing my new purchases – I was completely overdressed of course J but I didn't care, it was so nice to semi-dress up for a change.

Sunday afternoon I went to Liberdade, the Asian area of Sao Paulo to the market there, bought cheapy earrings at one of the stalls, visited the Japanese Immigration museum where I didn't actually find the Immigration exhibits but instead a Japanese singing competition in aid of Womens' Liberation or something of the kind (see video) – it was strange & entertaining.

I also filled my belly at one of the many eat-by-the-kilo Chinese/Japanese buffet restaurants in the area – and had a great jelly & cream desert that reminded me of my grandmothers' trifles J.

After eating, I took off to MASP – Musee Arte de Sao Paulo, saw the Max Ernst exhibition which I was really impressed by and a whole heap of European art. Sunday night, I went to Bar Filial in VM with a friendly Brazilian girl from my hostel, Isabelle. Isabelle used to live in Sao Paulo and was the perfect hostess, telling us about the area, Sao Paulo in general, Brazilian food & drink. I am addicted to Bar Filial's Caipi-vodka con Frutas Vermelhas – absolutely delicious (& potent)!

Monday Isabelle invited me to join her at a free concert by a famous Brazilian musician who plays 7 string guitars. I invited Grant along as well. Unfortunately we underestimated the popularity of this guy and the demand for tickets so we couldn't get into the live venue but the promoters set up a big screen upstairs with chairs so the unlucky did not have to miss out completely. Yummy pizza for dinner afterwards. Then back to Vila Madalena to watch circus practice (very cool!) in the local school playground (see video)...and then Bar Filial for another session of Caipi-vodkas J.

I was supposed to have left Sao Paulo at this stage for Curitiba/Paranagua/Ihla do Mel to get some sunshine before heading off on expedition, but I was having fun and the weather reports did not sound great from further south so I decided to stay where I was. But in an effort to at least prepare for Biosphere, I tried (again) to get some camping/trekking supplies – I had previously tried in the shopping centre but the sports shops were strictly limited without fail to gear for football, fitness and tennis. The ever helpful Tulio gave me directions to a downtown street that had lots of fishing/camping shops there. After getting there, I understood people's reservations about Sao Paulo – the area was seeeeedy! I went into the first fishing shop I came across, quickly bought a sleeping mat and got back on the metro ASAP. Tuesday night went to a bar recommended by the hostel for live music & dancing.

Wednesday, my last day in Curitiba, I went on a walking tour with Dave, an English guy I met in my dorm. He wanted havaianas & I wanted a long sleeve shirt to protect me from mosquitoes in the rainforest. We missed our turn several times but eventually found a shopping street where he got his havaianas & I got my shirt – in a men's shop on the bargain rail. While rifling through the rack I found a t-shirt with a print for Roundwood Army Nature Camp in Wicklow from 1988! Bizarre!

Wednesday night went to a jazz bar recommended by the hostel again – very good even if jazz is not really my kinda music.

Thursday got up, packed, checked out and finally made my way to the bus station to go to Curitiba – I can't wait to come back to Sao Paulo!