As I stated in the last post we finally reached our hostel in São Paulo around 1 am despite the bus driver's best efforts. We got to bed fairly quickly but were up the next morning quite early so we could take in the city's sights. We were drawn downstairs to the promise of coffee and breakfast and after a few minutes of chomping and discussing what we should do that day (actually just discussing how we have no idea what we're doing here and how we should have researched anything to do) some melon is placed in front of us and we turn around to find the source of this placing of the fruit. What our eyes find is an incredibly attractive guy we assume to be working in the hostel (hence cutting and giving of melon). He's tanned with green eyes, bit of a scruffy beard and rocking board shorts and a tank top. Hostel hottie will be the name I soon bestow on him, but we'll get there. We don't see him for the rest of that day, but we soon get some recommendations to plan our day and head out the door.

I made no mention of it in the last post but my bank card was hacked while we were in Ilha Grande which was a bit of a fiasco, but things were quickly sorted and my dad was able to send out a new card to a contact in São Paulo so first stop of the day required us to stop by his offices to collect it. That was all fine, we managed without too much effort and set out to do a bit of shopping at one of the malls as we're already quite tired of our clothing. I know, shocking...

The crazy thing about São Paulo is how freaking massive it is. We were well aware that the city proper is home to around 12 million people while the metropolitan area totals over 20 million. I've never been to a city even close to this size except New York City, which to me seems to be a bit smaller because the Burroughs, especially Manhattan, are confined to islands that cannot be expanded. São Paulo sprawls and sprawls. There exists no such thing as walking from one neighborhood to another because that'll take you at least an hour. The metro is quite good but expect to walk a substantial distance to your final destination as metro stops are spread VERY far apart.

In any case, following our shopping we headed to the centro to see the cathedral and the municipal market. Our timing was quite horrible as we finished all our touring right smack in the middle of rush hour and you better forget taking metro during the hours of 4-7 in the afternoon. What is one to do for two hours while we wait for a more manageable commute back to the hostel? Drink beer osly.

The next day we're incredibly slow getting going and basically manage to do nothing except talk to hostel hottie for the greater portion of the day. So his name is actually Felipe, but I'll being using the acronym HH for the duration of this post because his attractiveness must continuously be emphasized. Anyway, we learn he lived in Australia for seven years (hence the great English) and got like three different degrees so he could just continue to stay in the country on a student visa. His parents are divorced but both live in Boston and his sister is married to an Australian guy and lives with him down under. He's lovely. LOVELY. The way he looks at us and attentively listens to our stories and laughs at appropriate times is magical. I felt completely at ease in his company, like I could have stayed chatting for the next fifteen years. Negar, on the other hand, said she felt nervous in his presence because he was just too beautiful. "I think I would just faint every morning if I woke up to him each day." Direct quote, my friends.

Anyway, we ask him what we should do that day as we had plans to meet Negar's friend Cesar for drinks in the evening but had a few hours that needed to be filled. He tells us about a park that's just around the corner called Ibiripuera where we can walk/run or rent bikes. We then ask what he likes to do in the city as we think a park sounds nice but, lezbehonest, every city has a park. Maybe there's something more exciting, we think. "I like to go to the park," he responds. "Yeah, but what else?" we ask. "I usually just go to the park," he says. OK, I guess we have to now go to this damn park because that's the only thing he ever does in this city so it must be pretty damn fantastic. I'll just summarize our experience quickly: I got some coconut water as per his recommendation and that was pretty amazing, but on the whole... It's a park. Imagine the most exciting park you can think of... This was not it. It's alright - there's some lakes and lanes for biking - but I'm not sure why one would go there everyday.

That evening we are meant to meet Cesar for drinks in Vila Madalena, a fun bar area of the city. Negar knew Cesar from Dublin as he was a bartender at her favorite bar but a native of São Paulo. To reach the area HH informed us which metro stop we needed to get off at and then advised us to get a taxi as the walk to the bar area is said to be a bit confusing. We, however, had already looked up on our phones how one could reach it by foot (we have the eternal fear of being ripped off by taxi drivers as we're morons who don't speak Portuguese) and informed HH we would manage to make it on our own. "Are you sure? I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Don't worry about us, HH, we're pros.

We get out of the metro and check out our screenshoted map as our phones have no service on this lovely continent. We see some big road and assume that's not the one we need but we can't seem to locate the other big one on the map, the one we need. We wander down the road and ask at a sandwich shop. The man makes some motion to go down the hill and turn left. We walk down the hill but because our instincts were telling us that turning left was incorrect (we know better than a native Paulistano osly), we turn right and head on our way. None of the roads along the way match up with any on our map. "Let's just see what the next one is," was probably said about fifteen times. We ask some guys standing next to motor bikes, they have no idea what we're talking about. We walk another ten minutes and ask some bus drivers. "Vila Madalena?!?" the one bus driver asks. b****es (I imagine he's saying in Portuguese) you are so far from there, get a cab. So we do this and discover we went the clear opposite direction and that sandwich shop man had in fact pointed us in the right direction. What we didn't realize is that coming out the metro, which was very high up, that the road we needed was in fact UNDERNEATH the metro. How were we supposed to know that, is repeated a few times on our way. We immediately decide HH cannot be informed of us getting lost and getting a cab. He can't win. (His beauty, however, makes me cave the next morning at breakfast after I try lying that we found it just fine and he laughs his adorable laugh.)

We get out of the cab twenty minutes after the time we agreed to meet Cesar and we find him nearly finished with his first beer. We apologize profusely and sit down for another few beers. He's an incredibly lovely guy and it's interesting to hear about what he's been up to back in São Paulo after having spent four years in Ireland. We wander to another bar that's around the corner and sells Chilean empanadas. Negar and I aren't even very hungry but we munch on empanadas stuffed with Brazilian sausage. Simply magical.

Cesar then wanted us to be able to hear a bit of live music and took us to a small club where old school samba is played. I've never felt so out of place in my entire life and our causes aren't helped by the fact that the place is completely packed. When I say that hips were being thrown in every direction it's not an exaggeration. At least a handful of couples we're dancing around us and basically hitting us with either their hair, hips or feet so Negar and I were trying to make ourselves as tiny as possible and held our beers close to our bodies to prevent any spillage. We were simply overwhelmed but I think Cesar got the impression that we weren't having fun. On the contrary! It was incredibly interesting to see and I have such admiration for people who can dance so well to music that has such a slow rhythm. Negar and I had no idea what the hell we were doing.

All in all a very fun night. The only thing that I think both Negar and I were bothered by is the fact that Cesar insisted on paying for everything - all the beers and food and our club entrance. It really was so incredibly generous of him but Negar and I were both raised to believe that men and women are equal and therefore I should pay for what I consume. Latin men seem to have been raised differently and can get offended when you continue to insist on paying after they've already told you more than once to put your money away. I have a Latino friend in DC, he who will not be named if you will, who always insists on picking up our tab and one time when I threw down my card to pay and the waiter took it away before he could react he said, and this is a direct quote, "I hate when you do that s***, Allison." But whyyyyyyyy?! Why can't I pay for myself? It's so kind of you to offer but I'm a grown woman and sometimes I want to treat you to drinks or dinner. Let me. Please.

Negar said she had similar experiences in Mexico or Cuba where the waiter would immediately hand the bill to either her male friend or her dad. A woman paying the bill would be completely insane... It's a tough continent for feminists some might say.

On Thursday Negar and I tried something we had never tried before... Couch surfing! We initially told the guy we would come round at about 1 in the afternoon so that we would have time to drop off our bags before we went into town to do a free walking tour. We, however, got stuck staring at HH again and then had to go straight from our hostel to the walking tour. We then told him we would be around at about 7:30 pm. Yet again, we got stuck staring at HH and didn't make it his until about 8:30 pm. He must have thought we were cray cray. We then decided we would cook dinner for him (or that Negar would and I would drink wine and watch) so we went to the shop and picked up some ingredients and wine and before too long Negar had whipped up a lovely meal. Pekos was his name and we were later informed that he doesn't drink much but that evening we drank EVERYTHING and stayed up until 3 am talking about everything on the planet. Such good fun and I don't think we could have gotten any luckier with our choice of host.

On Friday Pekos took us into town and we did a bit more sightseeing. Afterwards he took us to the university where he studied - a very cool urban campus - and then we set out for his sister's apartment across the street. We didn't make it though because torrential downpours then pretty much paralyzed the city. We ducked into a pizzeria that was just about to close and hung out with the staff for a solid half an hour while we waited for the storm to pass. The streets were flooding quickly, which sounds terrible, but Pekos told us São Paulo is facing major water shortages and could be out of water within a month. His water was even cut off twice the previous week, he said. So rain water: good for São Paulo, bad for us. We eventually make it to his sister's flat and play with her adorable golden retriever puppy that was a little demon. So freaking precious on the outside but he managed to bite my wrists and ankles and knees and thighs... How... I'm still not sure. But his sister and brother-in-law were so lovely and fed us some good food until we had to head out to meet Negar's friend from grade school and Cesar yet again on one of São Paulo's busiest streets for nightlife.

The evening was great fun but Negar and I were wrecked from the previous night and our fuses were a bit shorter than usual... Although we've only been on the road for a little over two weeks we seem to have the same damn conversations over and over and over again pertaining to our trip and what we've seen and what we've still to see. This is usually then followed by endless advice giving on where we should go and "why aren't you staying for carnival?!" and "why aren't you going up to the north of Brazil?!" and so on and so forth. I feel like handing out flyers whenever someone asks me one of these cookie-cutter questions explaining where we've been, where we're going, why were doing this trip, why I'm not staying for carnival, why I'm not going to every single place on the continent, etc. because we're both exhausted from having the exact same conversation Every. Single. Day.

Our last day in São Paulo was a very lazy one. We didn't emerge from our room until around 11 and we then found Pekos' roommate Vanessa making breakfast for us. What an interesting girl. She has lived all over the world and had love affairs in as many places as she has lived. Her hearts been broken but she still pines after an Irish guy but also wants to settle down and have kids. Her life, it's safe to say, would be a very successful telenovela.

Afterwards Pekos took us to the park. On leaving the house the clouds all around us looked dark and ominous but we were convinced that since we had decided to go to the park there would be no rainstorms today, there was no way there could be. Off we go to the park and within the hour the rain is coming down in buckets. For a while we're trapped under a tree but Negar and I have to go to the bathroom so we leg it across the road to the park bathroom and hang out there for the remainder of the storm. Yep, we, along with about 10 other ladies, could be found hanging out in the bathroom having the banter. For the second time in 24 hours we were trapped by the rain. Again, good for São Paulo and their water shortage, bad for us.

On the walk home I was a bit further ahead of Negar and Pekos so that at some junction I decided to turn around and wait for them a bit. Worst choice. At the exact same moment a bus drove past into a puddle splashing my whole right side with pollution water. Pekos said the driver must have thought I was dirty. Ha ha ha...

Our final stop in São Paulo before our evening bus to Florianopolis took us to the best place on planet earth. No joke. Coxinhas usually consist of dough that has some sort of meat filling, I've seen chicken for the most part, and they're very popular in Brazil. We were informed on Friday night that São Paulo is famous for cheese coxinhas. Like what?! Is this heaven? So Pekos took us to a bar/restaurant called Veloso where the best coxinhas on the planet are produced. Oh my goodness, kids, I've never had any food ever that tasted as good as these doughy balls of goodness. I'm not even going to attempt to describe them as I won't be able to do them any justice. Just amazing. If you're ever in São Paulo hit this place upppppp.

Then it was off the metro to head to the bus station. Boarding our bus, and the last exciting thing to happen in São Paulo, a guy who worked for the bus company fell in love with Negar. Her eyes mesmerized him (as she was informed in his whatsapp message) and he can't wait for her to return to São Paulo. Soz, bro, it's gonna be a while.

We had a lovely time in São Paulo and I'm so incredibly pleased we decided a few days in the city (many travelers just skip the city in favor of beautiful beaches). We met great people, ate great food and got to see what diversity truly looks like. What I've come to realize over the past few years and especially during this trip (even just two weeks in) is that the best part and most meaningful part of the traveling is also the most painful at the end of the day, namely meeting so many great people. Every single day on this trip someone has come into our lives and taught us something, made us better if you will, and then just as quickly as they came into our lives they're gone again - back to their own adventures and respective lives. I sometimes feel physical pain in my heart thinking how great this person is or how interesting they are, but this is the last beer I'll ever have with them, the final conversation we'll have and most likely the last time I'll ever see them. Often times hearing people's different stories and experiences acts as a sort of natural therapy for me where I realize that others are just as confused about life and their future as I am, but we're all having fun and enjoying our time as we sort ourselves out. I can't help thinking under different circumstances (ie: we both lived in the same city) that we would be inseparable. I'm truly grateful to have already met so many amazing people on this trip (isn't that the point of traveling, anyway) and I don't think I've learned so much about people and the world around me as I have in São Paulo the past few days. The beach will always be nice and relaxing but nothing challenges me and my way of thinking the way new cities do. To see how people live in such a diverse metropolitan city and hear about their lives and their opinions on a variety of topics is naturally going to be eye-opening and educational. We're heading to the island of Florianopolis as I write this, so back to our beach bum lifestyle for now, but I'm very much looking forward to the other major cities to come. Experience, in my opinion, is the best form of education and I can't wait for the learning to continue!