A Brazilian Big Appel

Praça de Sé, Sao Paulo

Here I am in one of the biggest cities in the world : Sao Paulo.

First thing : the "metropol" title is well deserved. The city is huge.

Everywhere, when I said I wanted to stop there, people asked why. Nothing to do in Sao Paulo they say. No smoke without fire, they say. So it's a little bit true there is nothing to do.

A little bit false too, because one only needs to appreciate urban landscapes and architecture to stay busy... at least one day.

Good news are it is possible to slow down in Sao Paulo. Paulista Avenue is probably the most interesting, especially because of the decorated phone booths and the strange buildings. Museums will keep the arts lovers busy, especially the MASP, where you can find art pieces from Van Gogh and Cezanne.

My favorite was the Image and Sound Museum, where they had an exposition about Georges Méliès with french writings... and a lot of movies.

But the most interesting part of the city was my hostel, Hey Hostel, opened only since last week. One of the owners, whose my age, traveled around the world for seven months two years ago. He now travels through his clients. It gives me ideas for when I'll be back home.

Have I said I tried a "wine", or a kind of cachça made with grapes, which I could drink?

Iguazu

I stayed in Sao Paulo for one extra day. If I planned on flying to Iguazu Falls today, I had a small problem with my bookings. The brazilian websites won't let you book anything without a brazilian ID number. But they still ask which country you're from. Nothing to understand.

People at the hostel were kind enough to pay the ticket with their credit card in exchange for the same amount in cash. While doing that, we found a flight on Wedenesday, with Web Jet, which was 40 $ cheaper. Way cheaper than taking the bus. And cheaper than flying on Tuesday.

In the air, Iguazu is about two and a half hours away from Sao Paulo. On the road, you must allow 18 hours. I win all the way.

The other good news is I might reunite with a friend I met in Vietnam. She's in Argentina until Sunday. We'll see what we can arrange.

In the end, have I said it is impossible to dry clothes in Brazil? Humidity is too high. When I left Paraty, even the clothes I didn't wear we're damp.

Six shooters later

Paraty, Brazil

Warning : no "Oh my God" neither any joke will be accepted after reading this post.

--------------------------------------------------

The man finally left the postcard landscapes of Rio de Janeiro for the little town of Paraty, somewhere along the road to Sao Paulo.

Even if the road is beautiful and the bus comfortable compared to all the rumours you can hear about them buses down here, I used those four hours of traveling to catch up on my sleep.

(Parenthesis, literally, about the buses. The city buses, on the other hand, are not as comfortable. Suspension? Never heard of that.)

In Paraty, what is there to do? Almost nothing, it seems. But I enrolled in a horseback riding expedition in the brazilian jungle. A really good choice.

On Cassiqui back, a white horse who seemed to obey less to my directions than his need to follow the other horses, I experienced galoping, dirt paths and rivers to cross. We stopped at a freezing fall where our group of three went for a "polar" bath.

From there, we visited a cachaça distillery, where they make that brazlian alcohol with sugar canes. Yes, I tasted it.

It was my luck. After the "pure" cachaça, there were still five sorts of that drink, from the worst one to the one with caramel in it. Had a shooter of each. Got a confirmation from the Australian girl next to met, who never drinks either : six shooters in three minutes, it's enough to feel tipsy. Five tipsy minutes while horseback riding...

We came back just before I started thinking of complaining about some pain... Felt nothing but it sure will catch me tomorrow.

After pure tourism and problems in the last few days, this adventure allowed me to go back to the discovery part of my round-the-world trip.

I also met a Danish journalist who have been writing about politics for eight years. It'll help if I ever discover myself some talent in the danish language... And it helped with interesting discussions.