After spending a night in an overnight bus from Pirenopolis to sao Paulo at 7am we arrived in the centre of Sao Paulo and took an Uber pool, which is cheaper than public transport, to the hostel we were staying. On the way we saw a street market nearby so we went there to get something for breakfast. At the hostel we were told that their central par called Parque Ibirapuera is a must so we headed off there.

First stop was Boco de Batman which is a little street famous for its graffiti covered walls. Nearby was an art gallery - Choque Cultural, full of great street and urban art. An interesting place celebrating creativity with artwork both inside and outside the gallery. We took a ride on a circle skate and chilled in a Fatboy. After some walking we saw a small coffee place called King of The Fork, it looked really cool so we went in for our so far the best coffee in Brazil !

Jardins

On the way to the Ibirapuera park is a posh neighborhood called Jardins where we realized, for the first time, that the Brazilians are not feeling safe at all. There are huge walls with an electric fence around every house and on each corner there is a small booth with a security guard. Apart from that it’s a really nice area with lots of green and you can pick Acerola right from a tree.

Ibirapuera Park

Sao Paulo’s so called Central Park, Ibirapuera, is beautiful with a lot of black swans on a lake and another Niemeyer’s building (Ibirapuera Auditorium) and a museum of modern art MAM. We went in to see an exhibition of Volhi’s landscape and square/triangle paintings plus an exhibition of hysteria. We didn’t really like it so we enjoyed the park drinking some coconut water instead.

Late Afternoon

On the way back to the hostel we walked through financial centre with lot of crazy skyscrapers, huge shopping mall covered in gold and homeless families living in the streets…

It started raining and we were waved into a small restaurant by a hippie looking guy that introduced himself as Kaká. He gave us a free coffee and talked about Bahian food he is makinkg there. We were after dinner so we said we will stop by the next day.

In the evening there were two locals drinking beers in the hostel and they invited us to join them along with some Australian girls from the hostel to go to a party somewhere in the city. Kuba was too tired but I decided not to miss the opportunity ! It was a cool small club with a live music playing until 4am and after they finished we ended up hanging out with the locals and the band. It was a great experience of Sao Paulo nightlife and I ended up in bed around 7am..

Sao Paulo’s Centro

Having missed the opportunity to go out, Kuba woke up early to a sunny blue sky Sao Paulo and after skyping with his family in a hammock on hostel’s roof, he got one of the city bikes cycled to city centre. Paulistos were already busy and Kuba had breakfast at a Lanchonete just like locals do - deep fried chicken filled pie and coffee with sugar. There was a lot going on in the streets, music performances and never-ending markets of all kinds (clothes, electronics and food). However, what really surprised me was the number of homeless people hanging out in the streets. At the Republica square, in front of major financial institutions, around subway entrance - the inequalities was most visible here. There are skyscrapers (ask for edificios), which offer amazing views over Sao Paulo. I wasn’t lucky since the edificio Italia is closed to visitors and Copan by Niemayer is under a major reconstruction, so next time.. Before I headed back to the hostel, I visited the Arab neighbourhood and it really felt like being back in Istanbul - street sellers yelling their offer of the day to the street’s crowd. Sao Paulo’s centro felt like an urban jungle.

Back at the hostel, Simon was quite hangover, hungry. We promised Kaká that we’d come for lunch and so we did. Kaká was happy to see us and he prepared a traditional shrimp Acarajé and a shiitake mushrooms one as a gift. Acarajé is a piece of gluten-free bread, with a spread made from beans/peas on the top (seasoned of course) and a topping of your choice shrimp/mushroom/vegetables. We liked the mushroom one the best. We were already quite late and got to our BlaBla 15min late. It was because the subway was packed and there were people queuing for the metro - we managed to get in the 3rd one. Small world, we met a Slovakian surf girl Míša in our BlaBla ride, we had loads of fun in the next days!