I wasn't looking forward to Sao Paulo. In fact I was dreading it because that's where Ric's South American Adventure came to an end and I got left solo again for the first time in 3 months.
We arrive at 5am from Iguazu and by 7 we were back in bed in Hostel Verguiero. A strange hostel, very few people, very basic and owned by a small chinese man who doesn't smile very often. The bus journey wasn't great and the drivers were some of the rudest I've encountered, they wouldn't turn the telly up for us even though the film was in English and they wouldn't let Ric off to smoke yet they both stood outside the bus smoking themselves! Awful people.
The city is enormous; 17 million people and skyscrapers in every direction as far as the eye can see. Yet it doesn't have the feeling of chaos that Lima has. Everything is modern and the metro system is really good. The main plaza, Praça de Sé, is really pretty in spite of it being home to the largest congreation of homeless people I've ever seen; dozens of them sat around in gangs just chillin and stinkin out the place. The centre is really busy and full of beggars, religious nuts shouting and street performers blowing their effing panpipes! Every other shop is a juice bar/bakery selling exotic fruits and funny shaped pastry things such cheese burgers hidden inside bread rolls.
South of the centre there's a huge park called Parque do Ibirapuera. It has big ponds, nice flowers and black swans (I've never seen a black swan before, I might take one home to show to the Queen!). We went on a scorcher of a day, 32 degrees, and sat in the shade eating ice lollies and trying not to melt. Behind the park you can see all the sky scrapers along the horizon, its like Central Park in New York (according to Ric, who's actually been there, I've not, but I've seen it in Friends...)
We also went to Edificio Italia, a sky scraper that's open to the public. We went to the the 40-something-th floor where you can go outside and walk around the building on this lovely viewing platform. The view is amazing, so many high rise buildings and the city seems to go on forever. You can see loads of helicopters flying from building to building and landing on the roofs, probably rich business men going to meetings. I really liked it plus we went on a really sunny clear day.
Avenida Paulista is like the main high street where all the main banks and shops are. We walked along there at night and all the buildings, even the telephone masts, were lit up different colours. We went for our final meal along there (snif snif) and had a bit of fun trying out our newly acquired Portuguese skills - we ended up with 3 beers instead of 2 and an extra portion of chips that we didn't want and couldn't finish!!
I am well out of my comfort zone here with this Portuguese business! I've just spent 5 months in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina and before that 7 months in France, where I could speak more or less fluently and make myself understood, then I arrive in Brasil where I haven't the first idea about Portuguese! Its scary. Its written similar to Spanish so I can at least hazard a guess at signs and stuff but the pronunciation is completely different and no one understands if you speak Spanish to them! Arrrgh!
So Ric left today :( 3 whole months later than he had planned to go home! Saying goodbye was horrible. After travelling together for so long, spending every second of the day together and living in each others pockets, its a bit strange to be on my own again. I keep expecting him to walk back in.
But I'm not going to mope about. I'm goin to man up, get a tan, learn this daft language they speak here and then get my arse home to see my beautiful family, my wonderful friends and the amazing man I fell in love with in South America.
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